ellisgoward
New Member
Hi guys,
I bought my chameleon of a friend a few months back and really wanna look after him as best I can iv been doing as much research but I have some things I wanna make sure I'm doing right. Also there are a few things he does which worry me at times.
He's a male yemen veiled chameleon and about 1 year old and a really friendly cham
He has a Komodo 15W UVB 5.0 Bulb---> See Product
And an EXO-TERRA Infrared Basking Bulb---> See Product
The basking bulb is on between 7am - 7pm
and the UVB is on 8am - 8pm
On average his temps are:
Day 30c/86f
Basking 34c/93f
Cool 28c/82f
Night 20c/68f
He eats about 3-4 Locusts a day
Mon - Fri They are dusted with Calci-pure---> See Product
Sat & Sun They are dusted with Nutrobal---> See Product
I Mist him during the day and aim for about 70% humidity I always drip the spray bottle near his and give him the choice to have a drink some times he does sometimes he don't.
I usually boil up the water that I spray to help possibly kill any germs from the tap and obviously let it cool down before spraying.
One thing that I am quite confused about though is when I got the cham I was told by the previous owner to add drops of grapefruit seed extract to his water before misting.---> See Product
Is this OK to do? Will my cham have any benefit from this?
He does currently have a floor substrate Komodo Tropical Terrain---> See Product
I plan on getting rid of this as I have heard that using this does not really benefit me chameleon. Am I right here? Also he came with a heat mat, is this necessary?
So the main things that a worrying me:
1) most days i am at home during the week and he is fine, he'll come out and chill and have a wonder up my curtains but am out during a few hours in afternoon on other day time. The other week I was at home on an afternoon when I am usually out. I walked past the viv and heard really loud hissing, not like he has ever hissed before, he's mouth was wide open, he sucked in his belly so he was thin and tall and he did not look happy to see me, His skin was a very bright cool green colour with thin defined strong black stripes and the few dark specks on his head were all very black and defined. I moved right away from him and he continued to hiss (not as loud) until he hid at the bottom of his viv under his dangeling leaves where he stayed for a few hours.(once he was there he seemed normal and even let me put my hand inside to stroke his head a few hours later)
This brings my to my 2nd and final worry, the spot he retreated to..
2) The angry hissing incident has happened one time after this and on both occasions he went to the exact same place to hide. he has slept in this place, on the floor a number of times now and I worry if there is anything wrong with that.
Also tonight is the second time he has slept on the mesh roof of his viv the first time he was OK and seemed fine, this time he fell trying to get up there. but straight away he climbed back up there to get comfy and went straight to sleep. He didn't seem to like me trying to get him down from the top so I placed his hammock high and under Neath him incase he fell again, should I just let him get annoyed and safely get him down of is he ok?
Sorry there is so much there, I would really appreciate anybody's time and input on the way I'm looking after him.
Please be honest and as critical as you need to be! I Really want him to be as comfortable and well as possible
Here is a picture of the little guy too
See Picture
I look forward to any responses
Ellis
I bought my chameleon of a friend a few months back and really wanna look after him as best I can iv been doing as much research but I have some things I wanna make sure I'm doing right. Also there are a few things he does which worry me at times.
He's a male yemen veiled chameleon and about 1 year old and a really friendly cham
He has a Komodo 15W UVB 5.0 Bulb---> See Product
And an EXO-TERRA Infrared Basking Bulb---> See Product
The basking bulb is on between 7am - 7pm
and the UVB is on 8am - 8pm
On average his temps are:
Day 30c/86f
Basking 34c/93f
Cool 28c/82f
Night 20c/68f
He eats about 3-4 Locusts a day
Mon - Fri They are dusted with Calci-pure---> See Product
Sat & Sun They are dusted with Nutrobal---> See Product
I Mist him during the day and aim for about 70% humidity I always drip the spray bottle near his and give him the choice to have a drink some times he does sometimes he don't.
I usually boil up the water that I spray to help possibly kill any germs from the tap and obviously let it cool down before spraying.
One thing that I am quite confused about though is when I got the cham I was told by the previous owner to add drops of grapefruit seed extract to his water before misting.---> See Product
Is this OK to do? Will my cham have any benefit from this?
He does currently have a floor substrate Komodo Tropical Terrain---> See Product
I plan on getting rid of this as I have heard that using this does not really benefit me chameleon. Am I right here? Also he came with a heat mat, is this necessary?
So the main things that a worrying me:
1) most days i am at home during the week and he is fine, he'll come out and chill and have a wonder up my curtains but am out during a few hours in afternoon on other day time. The other week I was at home on an afternoon when I am usually out. I walked past the viv and heard really loud hissing, not like he has ever hissed before, he's mouth was wide open, he sucked in his belly so he was thin and tall and he did not look happy to see me, His skin was a very bright cool green colour with thin defined strong black stripes and the few dark specks on his head were all very black and defined. I moved right away from him and he continued to hiss (not as loud) until he hid at the bottom of his viv under his dangeling leaves where he stayed for a few hours.(once he was there he seemed normal and even let me put my hand inside to stroke his head a few hours later)
This brings my to my 2nd and final worry, the spot he retreated to..
2) The angry hissing incident has happened one time after this and on both occasions he went to the exact same place to hide. he has slept in this place, on the floor a number of times now and I worry if there is anything wrong with that.
Also tonight is the second time he has slept on the mesh roof of his viv the first time he was OK and seemed fine, this time he fell trying to get up there. but straight away he climbed back up there to get comfy and went straight to sleep. He didn't seem to like me trying to get him down from the top so I placed his hammock high and under Neath him incase he fell again, should I just let him get annoyed and safely get him down of is he ok?
Sorry there is so much there, I would really appreciate anybody's time and input on the way I'm looking after him.
Please be honest and as critical as you need to be! I Really want him to be as comfortable and well as possible
Here is a picture of the little guy too
See Picture
I look forward to any responses
Ellis
