Veiled cham with darkening head ridges

[roadkill595]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled who has been in my care for about 2 months now
Handling - once every other day for 15 min. Or he spends .5 -1 hr on a houseplant in my room.
Feeding - He gets about 4 med crickets a day free range in his cage. They are gut loaded with fresh apple/bananna/calcium paste. He has been offered meal worms but is not interested. Half of the time they are dusted.
Supplements - Calcium suppliments. not sure of the brand right now.
Watering - He has a steady drip system as well as 4-5 good mistings a day. I have never seen him drink
Fecal Description - brown grey slightly watery with a white area
History - Acquired from a reputable pet store.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass with screen top, 2 foot high (with a fan)
Lighting - UVb
Temperature - 75's in the basking spot
Humidity - usually around 70
Plants - 1 umberlla plant
Placement - In a quiet, seldom used living room, top of cage is about 4.5 feet off the floor level
Location - Florida


Hello, I recently became the keeper of a male Veiled cham and I have some questions. Firstly I've noticed that his head ridges have been getting consistently darker in color. I'l upload better pics when I can but you can see how the tips of his head ridges are a brown color. I've also recently noticed some black spots on the back of his head as well.

I've also been attempting to acclimate him to people a little bit more lately. I've tried putting him on cham safe house plants outside of his cage in areas where he will be within proximity to me yet not feel threatened with handling. I have noticed that he seems to really like eating dead leaves from the bottom of some of these plants. He will move from a dense umbrella plant into a more sparce (and recently moved inside) lemon tree in order to eat dead leaves from the soil of the lemon tree. He also will use his tongue to pick up said leaves. As the tree had been outside for a while the leaves he is going after are mostly oak. Anyone else have experience with this? I think it might have something to do with mineral cravings? Thanks!

 

[zsazsa85]

Can you post better pics?
With veiled chams it is normal that the ridges on the head are darker. When they grow up it is more darker.
The basking spot should be higher a little bit! Do you have a basking lamp?
Can you check your calcium supplement? Is should be without D3 every feeding. Calcium with D3 + multivitamin with D3 twice a month.
Feed him as many feeder as he wants to eat. Just make sure the cricks are not wider than the space between his eyes.

 

[roadkill595]

Unfortunately he seems to have gone missing while I was writing that post. I'm sure he'll turn up though. He does also have a basking lamp. And I'm attaching pictures of his enclosure. The suppiments I have is zoo med's reptivite wiht d3. So I guess I'l go down to only dusting twice a month. Also, does anyone have experience with feeding ADULT meal worms (darkling beetles) ? I find it's much easier to breed mealworms and suppliment with crickets than it is to rely on or breed crickets.

 

[camimom]

You cant use mealworms or the beetles as a staple feeder.

They are high in hard exo skeleton which can cause impaction if fed to often.

if you dont want crickets, use roaches, they dont smell, dont make noise, cant climb glass or plastic, an are super easy to breed.

 

[zsazsa85]

I tried to feed mine with the beetles but he didn't like them. I won't use them as staples. And not really nutritious.

 

[Jaden]

Unfortunately he seems to have gone missing while I was writing that post. I'm sure he'll turn up though. He does also have a basking lamp. And I'm attaching pictures of his enclosure. The suppiments I have is zoo med's reptivite wiht d3. So I guess I'l go down to only dusting twice a month. Also, does anyone have experience with feeding ADULT meal worms (darkling beetles) ? I find it's much easier to breed mealworms and suppliment with crickets than it is to rely on or breed crickets.

I'd suggest taking the substrate out of the cage. Wood chips can cause your chameleon to be impacted if he eats some. Many people who use a glass cage either use no substrate or organic soil. I you decide on organic soil, make sure the soil you get has no pieces to large. Also, I would add a cleanup crew like isopods or springtails for your cage to get rid of mold or bacteria (just my opinion)
Jaden

 

[Iluvheidi]

did you find your chameleon?

 

[roadkill595]

He turned up a day and a half later climbing some blinds and is back in his enclosure happily munching away. He's also started shedding so I'l post better pics of his head when his shed clears. Although after reviewing a lot of pics I don't think the coloration is anything to worry about. Thanks!

 

[roadkill595]

Here are some better pictures of his head. He was totally green when I got him but as I understand it this kind of browning is normal as they age.

 

[broderp]

I think that's normal. My cham has the same dark coloring on his crest. Sometimes its almost black. Ill post some pics when I get home. I kind of think it looks cool.

 

[camimom]

Most veiled chameleons get that on their casques.

Its totally normal.

 

[broderp]

Here's my guy sporting his dark crest and face. It gets darker than this at times, but I couldn't find a decent picture of it to up load.

 

[Sarahlou]

I Have Had My chameleon For. Few Months Now I Was Also Worried About the brown ridges but after reading the post it's quite normal in male chameleons thanks guys