Veiled chameleon not eating

B

brittbritt

Member
My daughter wanted to add a chameleon to our family so we adopted a veiled chameleon a week ago Saturday. We were told he is male and about a year old. My daughter is 12 so I am overseeing and helping with his care and feeding. She's afraid to get the crickets and mealworms. Lol.

She named him Mister Li-zard, pronounced Lie-zard(say like the word hard). He came to us in a 16"x16"x20" mesh cage. He also had a 50 watt heat bulb and UVB bulb. I have no experience with UVB bulbs and over this last week realized it was not working properly so I bought a new one two nights ago. A couple of days before that I bought him a 100 watt heat bulb versus the 50 watt he came with. The night I bought the new UVB bulb I also bought him a night time heat bulb that is 75 watt.

The day after we brought him home my daughter saw Mister Li-zard catch and eat a cricket. The next day, Monday, it looked like he ate two. On Tuesday I saw him try to catch a cricket that was roaming his cage and he missed it. He didn't eat anything that day. We put his crickets and mealworms in a dish where they mostly can't get out of and started counting what he ate. It doesn't seem like he has ate any bugs since last Monday. He had never been offered vegetation so we started putting shredded carrot and cut up turnip, collard and mustard greens in the dish with the bugs. It's hard to tell if he's eating that.

We were told they misted him once a day but I read online to do it at least twice a day so we started misting twice a day. Every day I see him drinking the droplets of water off the leafs in his cage. Today when I misted him the first time he went around drinking every water droplet he could find. I've never seen him drink so much. After he drank all he could find I misted his favorite area again and he drank a little more. I misted his cage three different times today since he seemed so thirsty this morning.

The first couple of days we had him we handled him and then I read online we shouldn't have done much of that in a new setting as it may upset his eating. So now we only handle him when we mist his cage. We get him out, mist his cage down good and then put him right back in.

Could the fact he's not eating be that we handled him too much at first or that his UVB bulb was not working properly the first few days he was here? I'm super worried about him not eating. I know he knows where his food bowl is because I saw him put his two front feet on the lip of it today when finding water droplets to drink.
 
brittbritt said:
My daughter wanted to add a chameleon to our family so we adopted a veiled chameleon a week ago Saturday. We were told he is male and about a year old. My daughter is 12 so I am overseeing and helping with his care and feeding. She's afraid to get the crickets and mealworms. Lol.

She named him Mister Li-zard, pronounced Lie-zard(say like the word hard). He came to us in a 16"x16"x20" mesh cage. He also had a 50 watt heat bulb and UVB bulb. I have no experience with UVB bulbs and over this last week realized it was not working properly so I bought a new one two nights ago. A couple of days before that I bought him a 100 watt heat bulb versus the 50 watt he came with. The night I bought the new UVB bulb I also bought him a night time heat bulb that is 75 watt.

The day after we brought him home my daughter saw Mister Li-zard catch and eat a cricket. The next day, Monday, it looked like he ate two. On Tuesday I saw him try to catch a cricket that was roaming his cage and he missed it. He didn't eat anything that day. We put his crickets and mealworms in a dish where they mostly can't get out of and started counting what he ate. It doesn't seem like he has ate any bugs since last Monday. He had never been offered vegetation so we started putting shredded carrot and cut up turnip, collard and mustard greens in the dish with the bugs. It's hard to tell if he's eating that.

We were told they misted him once a day but I read online to do it at least twice a day so we started misting twice a day. Every day I see him drinking the droplets of water off the leafs in his cage. Today when I misted him the first time he went around drinking every water droplet he could find. I've never seen him drink so much. After he drank all he could find I misted his favorite area again and he drank a little more. I misted his cage three different times today since he seemed so thirsty this morning.

The first couple of days we had him we handled him and then I read online we shouldn't have done much of that in a new setting as it may upset his eating. So now we only handle him when we mist his cage. We get him out, mist his cage down good and then put him right back in.

Could the fact he's not eating be that we handled him too much at first or that his UVB bulb was not working properly the first few days he was here? I'm super worried about him not eating. I know he knows where his food bowl is because I saw him put his two front feet on the lip of it today when finding water droplets to drink.
Click to expand...

I have a Veiled and I have never seen him drink as much as you describe. He is 3 years old and quite large. My concern is dehydration. I have never put a heat lamp on him at night. He is inside and the room temperature is around 73 degrees. I have read that the Veiled chameleon is considered a cool climate chameleon and actually need a cooling off period at night. I keep a " hot " spot in one section of his cage at approximately 85 degrees. I have a tall cage with vines and other artificial plants at different levels. This allows him to find a comfort zone or thermoregulate.
I doubt that not having uv for only a couple days would have an adverse affect on him. But on the other hand we do not know what the previous owner provided for him.
He may be stressed in a new environment also which may account for his lack of apetite.
In nature, the Veilds are found in habitats with much variation, from very hot and dry with periods of a rain season. They are also found on the edges of jungles bordering agricultural fields. Their helmet, as I call it retains water much like a camel's hump. Because of this diversity the Veiled is considered a very adaptable reptile.
Try hanging some Romaine lettuce leaves off a branch or vine. Mine likes to eat the thicker stalk part instead of the tender leaves. I think because that part has more moisture which he can consume.
Check his eyes. The fleshy part around his eyes shouldn't be sunken in. His tail should have a nice thick base at his rump and not skinny. These are indicators of dehydration. Hopefully I have been of some help, I really hesitate at times to offer advice for fear of saying something wrong. Hopefully he just has to adjust to his new surroundings. His cage should be tall so he can climb around.
I think a lot of chameleons do poorly because their owners try too hard and expose them to too much heat, thinking they are a tropical animal. Good luck.
Chuckieo
 
I really appreciate you taking your time to offer some insight into chameleons. My husband likes to keep our house a little cooler so I was worried about the house being a little cooler than what was good for Mister Li-zard. I went and looked and the house thermostat is saying it's 68 degrees, that was the only reason I bought the night heat bulb. I went and turned if off after reading your post. I don't want him dehydrated. I was originally turning his 100 watt heat reptile bulb and UVB bulb on at 7 a.m. and turning off both off at 9 p.m. for him.

His cage is not as big as I have read is the minimum so my daughter is saving up for the 24"x24"x48" reptile mesh cage. I guess his cage is too small to leave the night bulb on and it's causing him to need to drink more yesterday.
 
You're welcome. I hope it is something simple. He does need a bigger cage. That could be the source of the problem. Bigger is better. He needs a taller cage most definitely. You deserve a lot of credit for asking about the problem. . I am new to this forum and wish I could figure out how to post a picture of my set up. Good luck
Chuckieo
 
In the size cage he is in now, it doesn't take much wattage of a bulb to over heat it. Get a thermometer and you will be surprised. The sooner you get a larger, taller cage the better. I kept my Veiled in a 36 inch high x 18 x 18 inches when he was a baby, then got my 4 foot high cage when he got bigger.
Chuckieo
 
We drove a little over an hour away to buy some different type insects to try and entice Mister Li-zard to eat. The guy working there was so nice and helpful. He said what we were doing all sounded right in his care and I bought some Dubia roaches for him to try and also some super worms. I showed the guy pictures of Mister Li-zard and he said just looking at my pictures he believed our chameleon is female instead of male. When I got her I was told she was male and I didn't know how to visually tell the sex of a chameleon so I just went by what I was told. It's not a big deal to us about it being a female as we already love her. Her name is now ZeeBee.
 
Please post a photo of her.
Do you know that female veiled chameleons can produce eggs without having mated so they need a suitable container of washed playsand in the cage at all times once they are sexually mature. It should be an opaque container at least 12 " deep by 12 " by 8 " full of moistened washed playsand.
 
Mister Li-zard and ZeeBee....Great name for the flower boy and flower grl,here is how u tell if its a male,on their hind leg ,look in between their feet,if u can see a dot(spur) on both legs like in the pic ,then its a he,the female usually dont have any,good luck to ur cham:).
20160119_162322.jpg
 
Thank you both for your advice and for the pictures to help tell the sex of our chameleon. Here are some attached pictures of ZeeBee.

ZeeBee 3.png


ZeeBee 1.png


ZeeBee 5.png


ZeeBee 4.png


ZeeBee 2.png
 
From the pictures you posted ZeeBee looks like a panther chameleon to me. Veiled chameleons have a nice casque on their head. If it is a panther there is a different way to sex them, you look at the base of their tale near their "rump" and if there is a bulge it is a male, even if it is the slightest little bump it is a male. But from what I can see in the picture it does look like yours is a girl.
 
SmokeJoker said:
From the pictures you posted ZeeBee looks like a panther chameleon to me. Veiled chameleons have a nice casque on their head. If it is a panther there is a different way to sex them, you look at the base of their tale near their "rump" and if there is a bulge it is a male, even if it is the slightest little bump it is a male. But from what I can see in the picture it does look like yours is a girl.
Click to expand...
SmokeJoker said:
From the pictures you posted ZeeBee looks like a panther chameleon to me. Veiled chameleons have a nice casque on their head. If it is a panther there is a different way to sex them, you look at the base of their tale near their "rump" and if there is a bulge it is a male, even if it is the slightest little bump it is a male. But from what I can see in the picture it does look like yours is a girl.
Click to expand...
SmokeJoker said:
From the pictures you posted ZeeBee looks like a panther chameleon to me. Veiled chameleons have a nice casque on their head. If it is a panther there is a different way to sex them, you look at the base of their tale near their "rump" and if there is a bulge it is a male, even if it is the slightest little bump it is a male. But from what I can see in the picture it does look like yours
Click to expand...
SmokeJoker said:
From the pictures you posted ZeeBee looks like a panther chameleon to me. Veiled chameleons have a nice casque on their head. If it is a panther there is a different way to sex them, you look at the base of their tale near their "rump" and if there is a bulge it is a male, even if it is the slightest little bump it is a male. But from what I can see in the picture it does look like yours is a girl.
Click to expand...
20160222_133448.jpg
 
I apologize for the pics not being with my reply above. I'm still new here. It sure does look like you have a panther from the pics which were excellent. I said you lucked out on a panther. I do not want to create any debates. My veiled is very aggressive and other people told me theirs were also aggressive. However I've seen videos which show some really tame Veilds out there. Pricewise, the panthers cost a lot more from my experience. It looks like you're having fun with her, regardless of species. My Panther has never stressed, hiss or bitten while being held.
I read in one of my books that Panthers will seek out UVB while in their cage. Whether this is true or not, I have no idea or solid proof. This is just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share. I have no way of knowing this because I have an all in one bulb on Spunky, my Panther. I wish you luck and I can tell your family really cares about your new little friend. Or should I say family member.
Chuckieo
 
Your chameleon is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing that picture. One person on this forum thought it may be a male Graceful chameleon. I'll have to do some research on both types to try and figure it out.
 
The guy at the reptile pet store last night said he thought we were caring for our chameleon properly and when I mentioned we take him out the two times a day we mist his cage down with water he advised not even doing that as it may be stressing him out and might be part of the cause he was not eating. He said to just mist around him and not touch him at all.

So today I just misted around him and a little before turning his lights off tonight I thought he might not like where I had put his bowl I put his insects in. So I took a bowl a little smaller and put close to where he was. He turned around and walked away from it. So, I took one the next size down and wedged where he was sitting next. It's his favorite spot lately. He didn't walk away and actually got real close to it and was eyeing them wiggling and moving around. It's the first time in days he actually watched the bugs moving and looked kind of like he was fixing to catch one. So, I'm optimistic he may eat tomorrow after his lights come on in the morning.
 
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