Tips for a First-Time Owner?

[KamJam]

Hello! I am a first time chameleon owner and 4 days ago, my 2-3 month old male veiled chameleon, Rudy, was delivered. I'm posting because I would like insight from experienced owners I would like to know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.


Enclosure Specs: A custom 2×2×3 poplar frame with 3 aluminum screen sides (including door) and one Plexiglas. The ceiling is also screen. Two of the screen sides are covered with free-hanging outdoor fabric to try and help maintain humidity levels. For ease of cleaning, a PVC shelf and tray sit at the bottom. Two lights are mounted ~3 inches above the top screen: one basic 75W white bulb for heat (reaches 85-90 degrees in basking location) and one UVB bulb. A dripper is set for periodic drips throughout the day. Lights are turned on at 7:00 a.m. and off at 7:00 p.m. and the room is almost completely darkened.

Enclosure Furnishings: Two Reptivines of varying sizes are suspended within the cage plus additional plastic leaf foliage (can't remember brand). A medium-sized schefflera (umbrella plant -- not the toxic species) sits potted on the shelf and the soil is blocked by sanitized river rocks. Rudy spends most of his time basking on the large vine near the top and has slept either in the schefflera or fake leaves every night so far.

Pictures:



Eating/Drinking: I hand-mist the enclosure 3 times a day (once when I turn the lights on, once in the middle of the day, and once when I turn the lights off). I live in an arid region of the US, so the humidity wants to settle around 45% but it raises to between 65 - 70% after misting. It takes about 3 hours for the humidity to drop back to 45%. I have not seen him drink at all.

I have small crickets and mealworms to feed Rudy, but he has only eaten crickets. I try to keep about 3-4 crickets (free range) in his cage at all times so he is free to hunt at his convenience. The crickets are not perfect size. Some are a little big but he seems to have had no problem eating them. I keep the mealworms + apples and carrots for the crickets in a small plastic bowl on the shelf next to the schefflera pot. I have dusted all but his first batch of crickets with Repti-Calcium (without D3).

Behavior: Rudy spends most of his time basking and usually has a brown tone. He occasionally switches to green or striped (as shown in pictures below). If I watch him, he rotates to the back sides of the vines as if to avoid me. I try to avoid misting him directly, but when I mist, he moves quickly down the cage.
The first day, Rudy was mostly green and ate 7 crickets. He ate 4 crickets on day 2 and I'm not sure if he ate at all on day 3 or today. Should I be worried? Should I take the crickets out of the cage?

The last two days, Rudy has also kept his eyes closed for 5-10 seconds at a time. I know this is could be a sign of stress but I'm not sure what could he triggering it. Even though his eyes are closed, they are still rotating around.

Handling: I have not yet tried handling Rudy although I would like to socialize him at some point. Any tips on how I could get him used to me? I have spent quite a bit of time watching him from my desk (adjacent to his cage) while I work.


Please respond to this thread with any criticisms or tips that you have for me regarding my set-up and post. Also, let me know if there are things that I have been doing correctly so that I can consciously continue. I want my chameleon to live a long and happy life and would love to be able to hold him some day.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Pictures:

 

[Traildrifterphalanx]

I'm responding very late and I'm very tired, but wanted to make some quick suggestions.

Firstly, you have such a nice enclosure. He would love more plants to fill the empty space you want enough in there that he becomes difficult to find at times.

And I'd also recommend not misting right before or after lights out. If you mist too late and the lights go out, he could get chilled.

My little guy is on a 12hr light schedule with 4 mistings, 5minutes each time, every three hours. 6-6 is the lights schedule, 6, 9, 12, and 3 are his mist times to allow the enclosure to dry between mistings, and make sure it's dry before lights out.

Take into consideration I'm also very new, and could be incorrect, but off hand those are my sleepy suggestions

 

[maclainpdx]

Yeah, add more greenery. Chameleons don't need much open space. My veiled loves to hide in all different places. Always makes it hard to find him.

 

[jamest0o0]

Don't feed mealworms, they are a waste. Someone said, it's like eating fingernails. Add some variety: roaches, silks, horns, bsfl, flies, butters, etc...

How long are you misting? I like a long 10-15 minute misting as soon as lights go on, that's when they drink often. And then a handful of 2-3 min mistings throughout the day(stop 2 hours at least before lights off).

You need to be supplementing with d3 and vitamins 2x a month on alternating weeks.

As for plants, I'd add a few more, maybe a pothos or something that can dappled the light a bit at the top. So the light shines through the leaves. I'm going to say something that contradicts what I've said, and many others have said: furcifer pardalis(panthers) are most commonly found out in the open. They arent usually found in dense rainforests like parsonii. So with that i will be keeping more openings in my cages with lots of branches. Still use plants, they help tremendously, but the traditional 'stuff the cage with plants' just doesn't seem to match their habitat in the wild. Give them room to move around, get light, etc but have plants for them to retreat to. What I'd do is string a pothos or wandering jew across the top of the screen and have a trailing plant go from one side to the other, along with the plant you have now.

Also raise the cage above eye level. It stresses them out to be lower than you.

 

[KamJam]

Thanks for the insight. Do you all have anymore suggestions about feeding? I'll scrap the mealworms but he seems to have lost interest in crickets. Should I keep some in the cage at all times? If so, how many? It's hard to track how many he's eaten. Also, if I get different worms, how do I get him to eat them?

Lastly, I would love to be able to handle him on occasion. What can I do to get him acclamated to me?

 

[KamJam]

Don't feed mealworms, they are a waste. Someone said, it's like eating fingernails. Add some variety: roaches, silks, horns, bsfl, flies, butters, etc...

How long are you misting? I like a long 10-15 minute misting as soon as lights go on, that's when they drink often. And then a handful of 2-3 min mistings throughout the day(stop 2 hours at least before lights off).

You need to be supplementing with d3 and vitamins 2x a month on alternating weeks.

As for plants, I'd add a few more, maybe a pothos or something that can dappled the light a bit at the top. So the light shines through the leaves. I'm going to say something that contradicts what I've said, and many others have said: furcifer pardalis(panthers) are most commonly found out in the open. They arent usually found in dense rainforests like parsonii. So with that i will be keeping more openings in my cages with lots of branches. Still use plants, they help tremendously, but the traditional 'stuff the cage with plants' just doesn't seem to match their habitat in the wild. Give them room to move around, get light, etc but have plants for them to retreat to. What I'd do is string a pothos or wandering jew across the top of the screen and have a trailing plant go from one side to the other, along with the plant you have now.

Also raise the cage above eye level. It stresses them out to be lower than you.

I'll try to add some more greenery soon. I've heard that changing the cage can cause stress, though. How should I go about making the change?