Veilds.. constantly climbing... why?

C

CesarGueretty

New Member
Hello. I have a question I think may have a simple answer.
My two veilds CONSTANTLY climb around in their cages. It seems to me like they're looking for something, or maybe waiting for something to happen.

I took a short video but every time I pull the camera out they stop. lol

Is there a specific reason they do this?

Here's the video link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ymblJ2vduw

Also I've included the info about their cages and them below, in case this helps anyone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - I have two veiled chameleons and one is a female and one is a male. They are a little over a year old.

Handling - The male puffs up and moves away from me and hisses if I try to hold/touch him but the female lets me hold her. I don't do it more often than once a couple of weeks to reduce stress levels.

Feeding - I feed them 20 medium crickets daily. I gut load them with 3 different types of gut loaders

Supplements - I use zoo-med repti calcium with every feeding and I'll use the exo-terra multi-vitamin dusting about once a month or so.

Watering - I mist them twice a day, once in the morning before I go to work and once in the evening when I get home from work. I try to mist them more often than that but I can obviously only do it when I am home. At the very least they get the two mists a day for about a minute on each cage.

Fecal Description - Their droppings seem normal. Black plus the white urates at the end. Tested for parasites and they are clean.

History - They were born and raised together. I was actually looking to buy only one chameleon but they guy told me they do better in pairs and that they've grown up together so I felt bad separating them.
I learned that they need to be apart so they each have their own cage now.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Their cage is completely screen all the way around and is about 1.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep and 2 feet tall for the girl. Mambo's is about 3 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

Lighting - I turn their UV light on in the morning when I leave for work and I turn it off when I go to sleep at night. Their infrared light is always on for warmth. UVB light is exo terra and was recommended again by the expert at Prehistoric Pets. the infrared light is "All Living Things" brand.

Temperature - Their temperatures range from 85-90 degrees during highs in the basking areas to 70-75 in the lows during the cold nights. I don't have a thermometer at the bottom of the cage but I can feel the difference in temperature.

Humidity - I try to keep it as high as possible while I am home but when I am not it drops to the low moderate levels.

Plants - No live plants. All synthetic.

Placement - Salsa's cage is on a desk at the end of my room. The boy's is nest to her, about a foot away. They are both next to my window.

Location - Where are you geographically located? I live southern California in Orange County.

Current Problem - They both climb around in their cage continuously like if they're trying to get something done or waiting for something.

Thanks again!!!

~Cesar
 
You need to separate them ASAP! They are probably moving a lot because they are stressing each other out. Chameleons can not be housed together. (Unless they're pygmies)

20 crickets for EACH chameleon, or 20 total for both? Either way, thats too much, especially for a female. It can lead to her clutches (groups of eggs that she lays) being more frequent and large. Feed them around 6-8 each every other day or so.

As for supplements, you need calcium WITHOUT d3 every day, calcium WITH d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month. Repashy calcium plus has everything in one that can be used every day.

They do not need an infared light. At night, they should have no light in the cage at all. Just complete darkness. It helps them sleep better. As for the UVB light, I haven't heard of that specific one. I don't know how effective it is, but all of us on here most commonly use the reptisun 5.0.

What do you gutload them with specifically?

Hope I helped! :)
 
why do fish swim??? its just what they do. i let mine explore outside his cage from time to time so that may help. can they see eatchother? if sso they may be trying to mate/ fight eatchother. also do u dust with calcium with d3? i didnt see it in your info
 
@pilot

They are separate. Sorry. I copied and pasted my old info and skimmed over it to update it. They are in separate cages. They eat about 20 each so I will give them less and every other day as you said.

@miller

I figured they just do that as they are arboreal, but I wasn't sure. These are my first and they look and behave very healthy. I just wanted to make sure this wasn't an early sign of anything.
Secondly, yes they can see each other. They are about a foot away from each other.
Third, I dust with d3 every feeding. As Pilot mentioned, this will change. I was told to do as I have been, but obviously that is incorrect. I was reading the exact info pilot provided in other threads.

Thank you both for the quick responses.



Here's another question..
You can hear in the video how the female's nails get stuck in the tiny holes of the cage while she's climbing around... she has to pull very hard to get them out. I know I shouldn't clip her nails but I'm afraid she'll hurt herself!!!
 
CesarGueretty said:
@pilot

They are separate. Sorry. I copied and pasted my old info and skimmed over it to update it. They are in separate cages. They eat about 20 each so I will give them less and every other day as you said.

@miller

I figured they just do that as they are arboreal, but I wasn't sure. These are my first and they look and behave very healthy. I just wanted to make sure this wasn't an early sign of anything.
Secondly, yes they can see each other. They are about a foot away from each other.
Third, I dust with d3 every feeding. As Pilot mentioned, this will change. I was told to do as I have been, but obviously that is incorrect. I was reading the exact info pilot provided in other threads.

Thank you both for the quick responses.



Here's another question..
You can hear in the video how the female's nails get stuck in the tiny holes of the cage while she's climbing around... she has to pull very hard to get them out. I know I shouldn't clip her nails but I'm afraid she'll hurt herself!!!
Click to expand...
No problem! Were here to help! :)

As for her nails, that is normal with that type of cage. Sometimes their nails get ripped out. If it rips out below the skin, it won't grow back. Thats okay though. They can live without some of their nails. Just keep an eye out for infections if they get ripped out.
 
Pilotman800 said:
You need to separate them ASAP! They are probably moving a lot because they are stressing each other out. Chameleons can not be housed together. (Unless they're pygmies)

20 crickets for EACH chameleon, or 20 total for both? Either way, thats too much, especially for a female. It can lead to her clutches (groups of eggs that she lays) being more frequent and large. Feed them around 6-8 each every other day or so.

As for supplements, you need calcium WITHOUT d3 every day, calcium WITH d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month. Repashy calcium plus has everything in one.

They do not need an infared light. At night, they should have no light in the cage at all. Just complete darkness. It helps them sleep better. As for the UVB light, I haven't heard of that specific one. I don't know how effective it is, but all of us on here most commonly use the reptisun 5.0.

What do you gutload them with specifically?

Hope I helped! :)
Click to expand...

You did help, thank you!

Another question... The female is a year and about 2 months now... she has never laid eggs... Should I be concered? Should I let them mate? (I'd rather not have the babies, but I'd definitely not give them to people I know won't care for them as much as I do)
I think this is the only stage of their lives I have not encountered yet. I'm not sure if he wants to mate, and/or if she wants to mate with HIM. He's pretty aggressive so I just leave him be. :p
 
CesarGueretty said:
You did help, thank you!

Another question... The female is a year and about 2 months now... she has never laid eggs... Should I be concered? Should I let them mate? (I'd rather not have the babies, but I'd definitely not give them to people I know won't care for them as much as I do)
I think this is the only stage of their lives I have not encountered yet. I'm not sure if he wants to mate, and/or if she wants to mate with HIM. He's pretty aggressive so I just leave him be. :p
Click to expand...

She should be laying a clutch soon if she has not already. Especially if she has been getting fed 20 crickets per day. They can lay eggs without mating, the eggs just won't hatch. You should get a laying bin in her cage ASAP. Ill provide a link to a blog about it right now, I just have to find it.

The female will only mate when she is receptive. There is an educational video on that as well that ill provide a link for. Do not put her near the male when she is not receptive.

Im sure he would LOVE to mate with her. Its just whether or not she wants to mate with him.

Im going to find that blog and the video for you now.

edit: Here is the blog about egg laying. It belongs to Jann, not me!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html



And here is the video about the cham being receptive. It belongs to Dez, not me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yEzFSW1tB8


What do you gutload with?
 
this couldn't come at a worse time!!!

As I'm reading about the signs of he having eggs, I see her walking around the bottom of the cage and "digging". She doesn't not have a place to lay them so she was digging at the bottom where use bark that kind of looks like shredded steak.

The trouble is that I am leaving to Italy for 2 weeks on the 27th of this month! I am having some friends watch them for me in the meantime! Do you think, if she is carrying, that she'll lay before then??? I'm going to run to the pet store to get a laying bin and some sand.
 
Mine just laid her eggs- she scoped out the laying bin scratched around one day. Next day I could not find her she was in the bin digging away and laid them same day. I don't know if they are all like that mine is a vield and it was her first clutch.
 
2 things. I believe your exo terra is a compact bulb. You should have a linear bulb. The one you are using is for dragons not chameleons. You were told wrong.

You don't need a special purchased laying bin. Get a cheap trash can, I use one like you would have in a bathroom, about 12" tall. Fill it with very damp playground sand. You can buy this at Home Depot or Lowes for about 3 or 4 dollars. Really cheap. Make sure it is damp enough from top to bottom so you could make a ball out of the sand without water dripping from it. Put it in the female's cage so she can get into it from her plants. It will take her about a day to dig a tunnel, lay her eggs and cover them up, then fill in the hole. You will know she is done when she goes back up into her plants.

You can dig up the eggs. They will be at the bottom of the container. Take a plastic shoe box and punch two small holes in the top with a thumb tack. While you are at Home Depot or Lowes get vermiculite without fertilizer. Make sure it doesn't have fertilizer or it will damage the eggs and the babies won't hatch. Dampen the vermiculite well. Try to squeeze a drop of water out of it. At the very most, you should only get a drop, no more. Gently place each egg into a little indentation in the damp vermiculite. I'm sure you have seen pictures of other peoples eggs here on the forum. Put the eggs in a dark closet where they will be safe and kept at about 72 - 75 for about 8 - 9 months. That's how long it will take them to hatch.

Good luck.
 
If it were me, I'd put a plastic side on one of those cages so they can't see each other. While it's unlikely they can see each other well through 2 layers of screen, it's still possible and that's not generally a good thing.
 
Do you only feed your chams crickets? You might want to think about adding in other feeders to give them a more diverse range of not only vits and minerals, but also stimulation.

Also, I think they could possibly benefit from larger enclosures? Especially the female...
 
I put her in the bin and put a lid on it as suggested by some. She still didn't lay. :(

Should I try again tonight? I left her in there overnight last night.

**edit**
I did leave her in there with one little branch though because I was thinking she might get cold on the sand. -_-
Tonight I'll try it without the branch cuz I don't think she ever climbed off of it.
 
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