Quick(ish) Introduction

[el chamino]

Hello all, I am gIad to have found this forum and even happier to have finally joined up. I have been learning large amounts already, but not nearly enough.
I am a first time Cham owner (I will get I will tell how that came to be in a later post), super nervous about it, and want to give it the best life I can. So now for the important stuff. if there is anything I need to do different or better or just need to do, please let me know. thanks in advance.

Chameleon - Veiled, male, unsure of age, roughly 2-4 weeks (baby from LLLReptile). In my care 2 days.
Handling - Twice, less than 30 sec.
Feeding - Crickets. He finally ate 5-6 today. Currently cup feeding between first two mistings. Gut-loading with Flukers orange cubes for now, but will be switching to real food soon.
Supplements - ZooMed calcium w/D3 and Reptivite w/o.
Watering - Poor mans dripper, 5-6 hrs total.
Spray bottle misting, roughly 2 min./8 oz.
I have seen him drink a couple times from dripper water.
Fecal Description - He finally made a poop today (hooray!). It looks good I think, like a brown and white grain of rice. He has not yet been tested for parasites.
History -As I said above, he came from LLLReptile. When I opened his container he had good color, but immediately became stressed and has been fairly stressed from then on. He has good color when he wakes up in the morning, then goes light gray. Color seems to be gradually improving daily. He is very active unless basking.

My avatar is a pic of him when he arrived.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Large Reptibreeze (18"x18"x36")
Lighting - Zoomed Reptisun hood w/ 18" Reptisun 5.0 UVB. ZooMed mini deep combo w/ 60watt Day bulb and 60watt Moonlight bulb. UVB 8am-8pm, 60watt Day bulb 8am-2pm then intermittently until 8pm (afternoons have been very hot here lately so I am trying to keep overall temp in room down)?
Temperature - Typically 70-72F, 12" from floor, but it has gone near 80F in the afternoon (thus the intermittent basking light) . Basking is usually 84-86F. Lowest overnight is probably 64F. Using Zilla digital Therm/Hygrometer
Humidity - 40-45% static, 70-80% after misting.
Plants - No live so far, but soon
Placement - Currently in bedroom corner. No vents or fans in room, but fans outside room to assist airflow (no central air or AC in room)? Top of the cage is between 5.5' and 6' from floor.
Location - Nebraska

Current Problem - Feelings of inadequacy and unpreparedness.
Temperature issues and proper feeder care.
Also curious how long before he realizes I'm not gonna eat him.
Will have more pics later, just trying to let him settle in and destress for now.

thanks

 

[kinyonga]

Hello all, I am gIad to have found this forum and even happier to have finally joined up. I have been learning large amounts already, but not nearly enough.
I am a first time Cham owner (I will get I will tell how that came to be in a later post), super nervous about it, and want to give it the best life I can. So now for the important stuff. if there is anything I need to do different or better or just need to do, please let me know. thanks in advance.

Chameleon - Veiled, male, unsure of age, roughly 2-4 weeks (baby from LLLReptile). In my care 2 days.
Handling - Twice, less than 30 sec.
Feeding - Crickets. He finally ate 5-6 today. Currently cup feeding between first two mistings. Gut-loading with Flukers orange cubes for now, but will be switching to real food soon. At that age it should be eating a lot more than 5-6 appropriately sized crickets. Appropriate size...approximately the length of the space between its eyes. The crickets can be fed and gutloaded with a wide assortment of greens such as dandelion greens, kale, endive, escarole, collards, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc and a bit of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc. When the chameleon is a bit older you can offer it the same things in addition to insects.
Supplements - ZooMed calcium w/D3 and Reptivite w/o. It's recommended that you dust at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder, twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder.
Watering - Poor mans dripper, 5-6 hrs total.
Spray bottle misting, roughly 2 min./8 oz.
I have seen him drink a couple times from dripper water.
Fecal Description - He finally made a poop today (hooray!). It looks good I think, like a brown and white grain of rice. He has not yet been tested for parasites.
History -As I said above, he came from LLLReptile. When I opened his container he had good color, but immediately became stressed and has been fairly stressed from then on. He has good color when he wakes up in the morning, then goes light gray. Color seems to be gradually improving daily. He is very active unless basking.

My avatar is a pic of him when he arrived.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Large Reptibreeze (18"x18"x36")
Lighting - Zoomed Reptisun hood w/ 18" Reptisun 5.0 UVB. ZooMed mini deep combo w/ 60watt Day bulb and 60watt Moonlight bulb. UVB 8am-8pm, 60watt Day bulb 8am-2pm then intermittently until 8pm (afternoons have been very hot here lately so I am trying to keep overall temp in room down)? There's no need to have a light at night.
Temperature - Typically 70-72F, 12" from floor, but it has gone near 80F in the afternoon (thus the intermittent basking light) . Basking is usually 84-86F. Lowest overnight is probably 64F. Using Zilla digital Therm/Hygrometer at that age the basking temperature can be in the low to mid 80's F.
Humidity - 40-45% static, 70-80% after misting.
Plants - No live so far, but soon Live non toxic well washed are best for veileds.
Placement - Currently in bedroom corner. No vents or fans in room, but fans outside room to assist airflow (no central air or AC in room)? Top of the cage is between 5.5' and 6' from floor.
Location - Nebraska

Current Problem - Feelings of inadequacy and unpreparedness. Welcome to the world if chameleons!
Temperature issues and proper feeder care. More specifically?
Also curious how long before he realizes I'm not gonna eat him. Maybe soon...maybe never!
Will have more pics later, just trying to let him settle in and destress for now. Good idea!

thanks

Good luck!

 

[Graves923]

Looks like you are on the right track with your husbandry! Definitely switch your gutload for the crickets to fresh leafy greens like dandelion greens, escarole, kale along with a good dry gutload like bug burger.

It may take a few weeks or more for the cham to become tolerant of your presence in the room. Doing quiet activities in the same room while ignoring the cage and cham could help him adjust. If you have to remove him from the cage for cleaning or emergencies never grab at him.

If your veiled is like mine, he will hold a grudge against you if you constantly do something he doesnt like or that stresses him out. Mine will puff up whenever I open his cage ever since I had to give him oral meds for a skin infection. But if my girlfriend is doing the cage maintenance, he will climb out on top of his cage and onto my girlfriends head and just hang out.

General rule of thumb for keeping these guys is to have patience. Be observant for any changes in behavior as well.

Good luck and dont be afraid to ask questions here! There are a lot of helpful and experienced keepers on these forums.

 

[el chamino]

Thanks

This little guy isn't actually "mine", he is a gift for my son who turns 14 tomorrow and has been wanting one for a long time now. We have both been animal lovers from a young age. About a year ago my wife, who works in a flower shop, found a baby Brown Anole skittering around the floor at work. After we brought "Little" home, my son and I both felt the need for more reptiles. I started looking into beardies and chameleons, while my son kept informing me how much he wanted a chameleon. A while ago, when he was again saying how much he wanted a chameleon for his birthday, I made it clear to him that if he truly wanted one he needed to put serious effort into learning all he could about caring for them. I told him to come here because of how much I had learned from the forum. Since then, we talk about chameleons daily and he tries to find out things that I haven't discovered yet

So... since Friday I have a baby Veiled in my bedroom. And a knot in my stomach. Because we live in rural Nebraska, online ordering was the way to go. Because his birthday is on Tuesday, we had to choose delivery the Friday before and try to hide it from him. All was well until yesterday when he saw a "glow" in the bedroom. Lol. So now Tuesday can't get here soon enough, so he can meet the little guy.

 

[el chamino]

Today is my son's birthday!!
Some moments and gifts are priceless. The baby Veiled has a name now... Ferdinand.
Pretty awesome.

 

[Chamaniac]

Thanks

This little guy isn't actually "mine", he is a gift for my son who turns 14 tomorrow and has been wanting one for a long time now. We have both been animal lovers from a young age. About a year ago my wife, who works in a flower shop, found a baby Brown Anole skittering around the floor at work. After we brought "Little" home, my son and I both felt the need for more reptiles. I started looking into beardies and chameleons, while my son kept informing me how much he wanted a chameleon. A while ago, when he was again saying how much he wanted a chameleon for his birthday, I made it clear to him that if he truly wanted one he needed to put serious effort into learning all he could about caring for them. I told him to come here because of how much I had learned from the forum. Since then, we talk about chameleons daily and he tries to find out things that I haven't discovered yet

So... since Friday I have a baby Veiled in my bedroom. And a knot in my stomach. Because we live in rural Nebraska, online ordering was the way to go. Because his birthday is on Tuesday, we had to choose delivery the Friday before and try to hide it from him. All was well until yesterday when he saw a "glow" in the bedroom. Lol. So now Tuesday can't get here soon enough, so he can meet the little guy.

I love your backstory, my son and I are in the same situation minus the birthday. I can't wait to watch as this thread grows. Congratulations to you both!