Clovey__
New Member
This is my first time posting so I don't really know where to put this, but my 7 year old male veiled chameleon tries to bite his tail. He seemed perfectly healthy and happy, but a couple years ago he bit his tail pretty bad and we had to bring him to the vet as an emergency because if not it probably would have gone septic. His tail got amputated and it was healing up but it didn't heal well so we had to take him back again... and again. He has seemed okay for the most part, but sometimes since then I catch him trying to bite his tail. I thought he was over that. Now I don't know what to do about it. Other than that at his visits, they say he is doing well.
He's in a 4ft tall 2ft wide mesh screen enclosure. He has a hibiscus tree that I couldn't keep alive so I covered it up in fake vine leaves. He has a hammock in there, as well as little wooden ladders my mom made for him. He has a water dripper and I see him drink water often. He eats 7 bugs every other day. Usually black soldier fly larvae and crickets. Ocasional wax worms. He's been a consistent weight for the longest, so not worried about that. He's on a calcium supplement that my vets gave me and said to use it every feeding and no more d3. It's repashy calcium plus. The warm side of his cage is usually around 85f and low around 73. During night my room is consistently at 68 degrees because im always freezing cold. He gets misted a few minutes at night and in the morning. Humidity is usually in the mid 40% during daytime and from the misting its in the upper 70s, though not sure for how long. I have 2 towels on the side and back of his enclosure to try and keep the humidity in. He has a linear UVB lamp, the brand is a zilla(i think thats the name)tropical fixture or something like that but im planning on switching to arcadia because i saw they have good uvb for chams.
As for handling, he absolutely loves it. When i go into my room he crawls to the door of his cage and when i open it he crawls straight onto my wrist and turns happy colors. I can go on about how goofy he is, always trying to steal my food and as much as i wish he could eat human food I don't let him because he's a reptile. And theres not even an excuse of the food looking like a bug because he tried to snatch an uncrustable pbj from me before. If he sees me eating he tries to take some, never been successful. He loves sitting on a lamp and digging in my hair. He's the best critter i could ever have gotten. Literally my soulmate and spirit animal. I just want him to be super happy and healthy with no more tail biting. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get him to quit? This might be me overthinking and sound really crazy but it gets me wondering if he enjoys getting handled too much and he gets bored in his cage? Usually i catch him trying to do that when i am in my room for a long time without getting him out right away. When i get him out he never tries to mess his tail up. Not sure if he tries when im not home, but i assume not because his tail is always okay with no bite marks. Maybe look into making a climable free roaming area in my room for him if he might be bored in there? Maybe he'd do better free roaming in my room to a certain extent? Also curious how long the oldest veiled cham is if anyone knows? But mainly want to know if theres any cause of the tail biting along with possible tips so I can try to get him to stop if anyone has dealt with this issue before?
I would also love to hear any improvements I could make to better the old mans life involving diet like if it is necessary to give them occasional greens and maybe fruit sometimes as a treat every once in a while, learn more about chameleons free roaming and how people set it up? Thanks.
He's in a 4ft tall 2ft wide mesh screen enclosure. He has a hibiscus tree that I couldn't keep alive so I covered it up in fake vine leaves. He has a hammock in there, as well as little wooden ladders my mom made for him. He has a water dripper and I see him drink water often. He eats 7 bugs every other day. Usually black soldier fly larvae and crickets. Ocasional wax worms. He's been a consistent weight for the longest, so not worried about that. He's on a calcium supplement that my vets gave me and said to use it every feeding and no more d3. It's repashy calcium plus. The warm side of his cage is usually around 85f and low around 73. During night my room is consistently at 68 degrees because im always freezing cold. He gets misted a few minutes at night and in the morning. Humidity is usually in the mid 40% during daytime and from the misting its in the upper 70s, though not sure for how long. I have 2 towels on the side and back of his enclosure to try and keep the humidity in. He has a linear UVB lamp, the brand is a zilla(i think thats the name)tropical fixture or something like that but im planning on switching to arcadia because i saw they have good uvb for chams.
As for handling, he absolutely loves it. When i go into my room he crawls to the door of his cage and when i open it he crawls straight onto my wrist and turns happy colors. I can go on about how goofy he is, always trying to steal my food and as much as i wish he could eat human food I don't let him because he's a reptile. And theres not even an excuse of the food looking like a bug because he tried to snatch an uncrustable pbj from me before. If he sees me eating he tries to take some, never been successful. He loves sitting on a lamp and digging in my hair. He's the best critter i could ever have gotten. Literally my soulmate and spirit animal. I just want him to be super happy and healthy with no more tail biting. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get him to quit? This might be me overthinking and sound really crazy but it gets me wondering if he enjoys getting handled too much and he gets bored in his cage? Usually i catch him trying to do that when i am in my room for a long time without getting him out right away. When i get him out he never tries to mess his tail up. Not sure if he tries when im not home, but i assume not because his tail is always okay with no bite marks. Maybe look into making a climable free roaming area in my room for him if he might be bored in there? Maybe he'd do better free roaming in my room to a certain extent? Also curious how long the oldest veiled cham is if anyone knows? But mainly want to know if theres any cause of the tail biting along with possible tips so I can try to get him to stop if anyone has dealt with this issue before?
I would also love to hear any improvements I could make to better the old mans life involving diet like if it is necessary to give them occasional greens and maybe fruit sometimes as a treat every once in a while, learn more about chameleons free roaming and how people set it up? Thanks.
