skinny or normal

[ogkenny]

Hey this is my first chameleon im pretty sure he is a male and he is skinny at the sides he is very young just a little bit bigger than my pinky he is a couple weeks old but I can see his ribs when he breathes and I dnt see him drinking I spray water on the leaves and he eats about 5-8 crickets everyday he doesnt like mealworms and he is always brown in his cage but bright.green when I handle him

 

[carol5208]

Post some pics and where did you get him so young? Pics of the tail base, vent area to see if he is male or female.

 

[ogkenny]

This picture is earlier today I got him at petco for 60$ I know the tank is to small for him im getting a screen cage soon

 

[zlew]

if he is a little bigger then your pinkie, he might be a little older than a couple weeks old. He doesn't look skinny in the picture, but typically it's not great to buy from petco/petsmart/petanything. They tend to not treat the chams well and open them up to a myriad of health problems. I would get him to a vet just for a general checkup pretty soon and definitely upgrade his cage if you think it's too small. make sure you take a look at this care sheet and post any questions you have:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[ogkenny]

Thanks and he sometimes turns brown when I turn his heat lamp on and he doesnt like the light because whenever I turn it off he goes back to his regular bright green and he is calm but I currently have a uvb light a heat lamp and a reptifogger humidifier

 

[sharp229]

Turning brown does not mean he doesn't like the light. They turn darker to absorb more heat, and will often flatten out angled toward the light as well. Just make sure the basking temp does not go over 85F for his age.

You can also check out the care sheet below:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

Like Carol said, I would recommend posting pics of the back of his back feet to verify his gender, unless you are already sure there are spurs. The chain pet stores usually can't determine gender.

 

[carol5208]

Sorry I thought it was a panther for some reason, which are sexed at a young age by the tail base area. You have a Veild and its gender can be determined by the back of its back feet. The males have a little point that sticks out called a tarsal spur and the female does not. Post pics of the back feet if you are unsure and we can tell you what sex it is. Sometimes the ribs will show like that. It does not mean that he/she is too skinny.

 

[ogkenny]

Thanks this is right now when I got home from class he is brown the heat lamp was off but the uvb was on he ate about 5 crickets and at times he will go against the wall and try to climb it (he/she is in a glass terrarium) but he keeps trying until he gives up theres a pic of the back legs

 

[sharp229]

He's a male. That little bump in the middle of his foot in the picture is a tarsal spur.

Can you post pics of the entire cage? From the current pics, it looks like he may not have enough foliage and enough areas to hide and climb. This is likely to be the cause of him being darker colored. I would also make sure he always has a basking area (should be around 85F) available since he may turn darker to absorb heat as well.

 

[ogkenny]

Thanks! and yes i feel the same way about the decor and space he is sleeping right now he likes when the lights are off at night he goes back to bright green and sleeps the whole night until i wake up at around 6:20 am for class he is on top of the humidity gauge by the small branch

 

[sharp229]

Yes, he will need a new screen cage with lots of foliage and climbing branches/vines before he will improve. At least an 18x18x36, but when he is an adult he will need a 24x24x48. There should be no substrate to prevent ingestion.

They turn bright colored when asleep because that is the natural resting state of the chromatophores in their skin, which are responsible for the color changing ability. So it does not indicate their emotional state, only that they are asleep.

 

[diananana]

I agree with the other posters, you need to fix his set up ASAP!!!

Get rid of the substrate on the bottom, only paper towels should be there, or he could choke or become impacted. Get a nice big cage, screen, and TONS more foliage. You should also try a digital temp probe.

Are you gutloading the crickets? His diet is a little concerning.

 

[ogkenny]

im getting one in a coupled days a screen cage and what do you mean by foilage? and im using calcium without D3 for his crickets and mealworms those are the only feeders my local stores sell

 

[inlinefourpower]

Seconding what the others say about the cage. He needs some more cover and will eventually need a bigger cage. It's a male, they get bigger. My other advice would be to ditch the thermometer you have in there. Next time you're at the store where you got it if they have three or four in stock hanging out the on shelf right next to eachother compare them. Maybe I just saw a bad batch or something but when I see these in the store they all say wildly different things. Not too precise. Someone said you can get a pretty nice combo temp/hygrometer thing from walmart. If you hop out of the pet specific realm you can get nice ones for pretty cheap.

I can tell you're going to take good care of the little dude, though, these are little details.

As a recent convert to raising my own crickets I can tell you that if you choose to go down that route it's not as bad as you'd think! I have my crickets in a 10 gallon glass tank with a screen top. I feed them Oxbow Critical Care (some rabbit food or something) mixed with some water. I buy them 250 large for 10 bucks at a pet store near here. You wouldn't want to get large, though, probably small realistically. Once I run this stock down to nothing I'll powerwash the little cage out and start all over again. Since changing over to crickets with better food my chameleon has been eating quite a few more than usual.

 

[ogkenny]

to basically breed your own crickets u feed them then basically let them do there own reproducing?

 

[inlinefourpower]

Not really sure about true breeding or what kind of population you need to sustain a chameleon. I imagine they might reproduce, I've seen some tiny, tiny crickets in there. I think it's probably not worth it to sustain a breeding population large enough to feed a veiled chameleon.

It's more just about less trips to the pet store, lower cost due to bulk and controlling their health and thus quality as a feeder.

My first purchase for your chameleon, though, would be some more foliage for cover. You could even get a small umbrella plant or something else live. My guy always liked his draconera (I think?) best. Just head to Walmart and find plants you like that might fit and cross reference them against the safe plant list on this site.

Alternatively some vines with leaves or other plastic plans can be used to generate some cover high up in the cage. I always get the feeling my veiled is living the dream when his whole body is concealed in leaves and only his head pokes out.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

What you need to aim for in a cage is TALL.

Chams are arboreal, so something like the setup that you have now will be stressing him out, as he can't get high enough to feel comfortable at all. They feel very vulnerable when they see things that are higher than themselves.

An XL Reptibreeze or equivalent will be ideal for a male veiled chameleon. Lots and lots of branches, vines, and a couple of real plants are what are needed, these give the chameleon lots of places to hide, as well as warm and shaded
areas, so that they can thermoregulate.

I have a year old male Veiled and below is a picture of the setup that I have him in.

 

[inlinefourpower]

I was going to PM you to ask but I suppose I might as well ask in public where maybe the OP and others can benefit, too. I really like your setup you have there, could you describe more about how you anchored everything? I've got a tall exoterra mesh cage and anchored everything with neodymium magnets but your setup is so much better looking than mine : P

I mean, my chameleon lives like a king and all but I'd really like some pointers and they would probably be general purpose enough to belong in a thread like this. Would you mind posting more details about how you arranged your setup and what kind of plant you have and all? It looks like maybe the rods coming out of the plants are the main structure and the rest is zip tied on? Also, what kind of dowels did you use? I'm assuming some have treatments that might bother a chameleon?

Sorry for the sudden outflow of questions, I guess I didn't realize i had so many questions about terrarium layout until I saw a really nice looking one : P