Update on my little bike trail Cham.

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NarcanNinja

New Member
He’s been thriving in his recently expanded cage and his mouth is looking much better than when I found him, appetite is WAY up with crickets.

My big problem is how terrified he is if I even walk past his cage he turns dark and goes to his favorite hiding spot (same spot everytime)

How , if possible at all, can I regain his trust? I haven’t been handling him just misting his cage and feeding him crickets cause if I try to handle him he death grips a branch and tries to climb away, no biting. So I didn’t want to force it and stress him.

Any advice ?

new pics and whenI first found him too..!
 

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The best way to get him accustomed to you is with food. Try putting a treat (roach, super worm, silkworm, etc) in a deli cup and hold it out to him. I don’t often feed crickets so this is how I feed both of my veileds. I also will put a silkworm on the back of my hand and hold it out to them. They’ll never like me or accept handling, but they have come to associate me with food so I’m tolerable.
 
MissSkittles said:
The best way to get him accustomed to you is with food. Try putting a treat (roach, super worm, silkworm, etc) in a deli cup and hold it out to him. I don’t often feed crickets so this is how I feed both of my veileds. I also will put a silkworm on the back of my hand and hold it out to them. They’ll never like me or accept handling, but they have come to associate me with food so I’m tolerable.
Click to expand...
He’s eaten several hornworms, and dubia roaches out of my hands before, so I suppose I’m on the same list as your veiled put you on.
When I walk by he gets dark and tries to hide behind the vine lol.

but holding a bug out he’ll eyeball me then go for it.
 
Anyone have an idea of how old he might be?
 

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He's definitely dehydrated. You can tell by the way his eyes are sunken in. Like Brody said you can't tell age after they have become a few years old. Your cham is fully matured. You need live plants for more cover so he can get out of the sun when he wants, more misting and a dripper in that outside enclosure.
 
mkeBob said:
He's definitely dehydrated. You can tell by the way his eyes are sunken in. Like Brody said you can't tell age after they have become a few years old. Your cham is fully matured. You need live plants for more cover so he can get out of the sun when he wants, more misting and a dripper in that outside enclosure.
Click to expand...

he’s got 3 live plants in there and gets 3 mistings a day for 5-10 min at a time and his cage is shaded except for the morning sun from about 8-11am, with a little bit of sun hitting the top of his left cage from 3pm to 5pm.

He sheds constantly so I figured his hydration was good considering he was in the woods for at least a year there with just the rain Florida offers us in Delray Beach Florida.

ill install a dripper next but he most definitely has plenty of places to hide from the sun.
 
May also be worth mentioning the last pic of him as well as the one of him on the bike trail we’re both the day I found him, so he was dehydrated.

he had been seen out there a year previous and still stayed somewhat hearty. But the heat and lack ofgood bugs was getting to him.
 
Dehydration may have contributed to the sunken eyes but they are sunken in like that from stress, extreme stress.

look at it from his POV, as far as he’s concerned he’s sure he’s just been grabbed by a huge ass predator and that your about to eat his liver while he’s still alive! So, yeah stress.

....Hmmm, dare I use the same dad joke two days in a row explaining what’s going through his mind in that pic...? Nah, too easy...
 
Brodybreaux25 said:
Dehydration may have contributed to the sunken eyes but they are sunken in like that from stress, extreme stress.

look at it from his POV, as far as he’s concerned he’s sure he’s just been grabbed by a huge ass predator and that your about to eat his liver while he’s still alive! So, yeah stress.

....Hmmm, dare I use the same dad joke two days in a row explaining what’s going through his mind in that pic...? Nah, too easy...
Click to expand...

Eyes look good today not sunken in, just still a scared Cham.

Extreme stress from walking around the forest I found him in wherever he was released to. No other Cham sightings there, and very little rain around the month I found him. I imagine having limited food, lots of predators, and lots of heat didn’t help the process. Now he’s able to thrive safely!
 
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If your set up is outside for good be mindful that the black bottoms can really get cooking if in direct light.
 
NarcanNinja said:
Eyes look good today not sunken in, just still a scared Cham.

Extreme stress from walking around the forest I found him in wherever he was released to. No other Cham sightings there, and very little rain around the month I found him. I imagine having limited food, lots of predators, and lots of heat didn’t help the process. Now he’s able to thrive safely!
Click to expand...
To clarify, I was referring to his capture, not saying your overly stressing him now.

Back to the constant shedding, full body, patches?

Are you running a proven supplement/gutload schedule with him?
 
Brodybreaux25 said:
To clarify, I was referring to his capture, not saying your overly stressing him now.

Back to the constant shedding, full body, patches?

Are you running a proven supplement/gutload schedule with him?
Click to expand...

Id say it is a full body shed and comes off in patches.
He’s getting calcium without d3 (due to being outside) dust on crickets and multivitamin 1x a week on crickets.

All the roaches and crickets are gutloaded pretty well, I feed my adult bearded dragon them regularly.

any tips and advice is welcomed! I want him to live his best life.
I’m curious what his potential age is, he’s obviously full grown but any idea how many years?
 
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Are his eyes always sunken in?
What color are the urates? (Not the poop).
Why are you saying he was out there for year?
 
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