Veiled chameleon outdoors, year round

chameleonoobie said:
This is about five feet wide by ten feet long or so. One end is a small shed that serves as my bug farm for crickets and soldier fly pupating bin. I currently have a trio of young Nosey Be’s in there. I have kept large panther chameleons too but I was afraid he’d eat my little ones so now I just have the three that are close in age and size. It is a joy to have this as my man cave type thing, where I can work with my crickets and stuff among the plants and chameleons crawling about. There’s a photo album on here that shows a few pictures of this cage. I don’t know how to link to it, but if you want bad enough I guess you could figure out how to see it.

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Are all of the chameleons kept there males? Have you witnessed any social behaviours with them or do they just stay away from eachother? Do they perhaps confine themselves to their own personal territory of sorts to stay out of eachothers way? Are there multiple basking spots/feeding spots?
 
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There’s six cups located throughout the cage so I can put food in whichever one is close by. I have hooks all over so I can put a cup pretty close to the usual spots almost anywhere in the cage. There’s multiple criss crossing ropes to climb on and get around and they usually walk quickly to a cup and seem to get the way lunch is served. One picture shows a cup just set on the screen wire workbench within reach of climbing down a vine right to it. I have two females and a male, they are about five inches long in a giant well planted cage. There is plenty of space for them to pick a spot and be separated. They can be quite busy and move a long way pretty fast when they want to. I have had Jacksons that were hard to find in a well planted small cage, these tend to be very easy to find, not really hiding very much. If I am feeding crickets they tend to come looking expecting to get some snacks. I always check the door before I open it and then check the floor to make sure I won’t step on one, then look around to see where they are. I have a wild curly tail that follows me like a puppy dog whenever I am outside, I have almost stepped on that thing like every day. It follows me into the cage, it’s literally that close to my feet when I go in and begs for crickets too. My bain are the little yard anoles that can get in and out of the cage and rob a lot of the crickets in cups before the chameleons can get them, so I try to hand feed them from a cup every day to make sure they get something. My big panther used to eat them but I think these young ones are too small for that yet.
 
chameleonoobie said:
There’s six cups located throughout the cage so I can put food in whichever one is close by. I have hooks all over so I can put a cup pretty close to the usual spots almost anywhere in the cage. There’s multiple criss crossing ropes to climb on and get around and they usually walk quickly to a cup and seem to get the way lunch is served. One picture shows a cup just set on the screen wire workbench within reach of climbing down a vine right to it. I have two females and a male, they are about five inches long in a giant well planted cage. There is plenty of space for them to pick a spot and be separated. They can be quite busy and move a long way pretty fast when they want to. I have had Jacksons that were hard to find in a well planted small cage, these tend to be very easy to find, not really hiding very much. If I am feeding crickets they tend to come looking expecting to get some snacks. I always check the door before I open it and then check the floor to make sure I won’t step on one, then look around to see where they are. I have a wild curly tail that follows me like a puppy dog whenever I am outside, I have almost stepped on that thing like every day. It follows me into the cage, it’s literally that close to my feet when I go in and begs for crickets too. My bain are the little yard anoles that can get in and out of the cage and rob a lot of the crickets in cups before the chameleons can get them, so I try to hand feed them from a cup every day to make sure they get something. My big panther used to eat them but I think these young ones are too small for that yet.
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Sounds like a very interesting setup :D, do you intend to breed that male with both females when they are older or to seperate them?
 
This makes me so happy!

I am moving to LA in about 4 months!
I love how thorough you are with your explanations!

I can't wait to see how my panther will take to being entirely outdoors :D
 
SamanthaElle said:
This makes me so happy!

I am moving to LA in about 4 months!
I love how thorough you are with your explanations!

I can't wait to see how my panther will take to being entirely outdoors :D
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Panther chameleons have different care requirements than veiled chameleons, and I don't know all that much about them having never owned one myself.

When you get started housing one outdoors year round I suggest having a second enclosure set up indoors where temperatures are more mild in case something happens atleast for the first year.

The closer you are to the ocean the more mild temperatures become and will make housing one outdoors year round much easier.

And in outdoor enclosures, bigger is better as they will actually utilize the entire enclosure for thermoregulating, and I have found that with my 24x24x48 enclosure I wasnt able to heavily plant it enough to give FULL shade anywhere, unless I drape a damp cloth over where the sun is hitting the enclosure. So if you can make a large enclosure yourself that would make success much easier. I would do one for myself, but currently I don't have the funds to spend money on that.
 
Waldo is more active than he has ever been in his lifetime currently, and extremely healthy. He has always had a tiny appetite ever since I got him, even during adolescence where he should have had a voracious appetite for his growth spurts, but now he goes CRAZY for any type of feeder (excluding stinging insects like bees or wasps, which he will only eat occasionally.) and I have yet to see him deny a decent feeder insect for quite a while. He is finally showing the behaviours one would expect from a male veiled chameleon.

I credit this to 24/7 outdoor living, it has done WONDERS for his health :D
 
Outdoors in TX

I am here in Austin TX, and just talked to the exotics vet about moving my 1 year old veiled cham outside. Temperatures here are 100+ all summer (this summer anyway), but the vet said it is perfectly safe as long as you have plenty of shade (plants, etc) and moisture (dripper, fogger, cool humidifier is good too, I have all three). She also said now (September) is the perfect time to move him, because the temperature is starting to go down, and the cham will have an opportunity to get gradually acclimated. This way once the colder winer nights come (50s, sometimes 40s) he will be fine (though I think a red heat night light and a warm mist humidifier in a part of a cage as an option are a good idea).

I have built him a 6 foot tall, 30'' deep 66'' wide cage with french doors on the front and we will see how it goes. Pics and etc here https://www.chameleonforums.com/totos-new-outdoor-setup-tx-67537/

Thanks for all your info, and I think the "haters" on this thread have misunderstood your methods. Cham husbandry is a learning process for ALL of us, and every cham is unique too. Of course we all try to do what we think is our best to keep them healthy, but sometimes seeing him/her eat vegetation or change color, or start roaming or whatever, is the only way to know you need to change something you are doing - may be there is not enough water, may be too much food, maybe he is constipated, may be she is gravid? Etc, etc. It does not mean I am "experimenting" by not putting laying medium in the enclosure until the behavior SHOWS that she may want to lay... You are just being honest, as you said.
 
Keeping my two veild's outside!!

Hey guys! I live in Southern California inland. It's starting to get pretty warm here now in June. Every day I bring them in right before bed time (7 p.m) The male (Peg leg pete, born without his back right foot) is about 5 weeks. He is in a large repti breeze and does exceptionally well.
JJ is my female 4 month old. She is in an extra large enclosure. Both have access to shade and direct sunlight, as well as lots of plants,leaves,branches and ropes. They have dripper systems and I make sure to mist 5-6 times a day, depending on how hot it is. They are doing really well!! I free range feed them (let their crickets go in the cage) rather than put them in a fish. I try to make their life as close to how it would be in the wild. If you live in an area that allows for your chams to be outside, I highly recommend it!!
 

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Janice and ginpiston- this post is 4 years old, if you want to contact jakedn, I recommend you start a new post, or send him a PM.

I keep my chams- Veileds and Oustalet's- outside most of the year here in Vegas, and they do extremely well, no artificial lighting required when outdoors-
 
Jakedn said:
Temperatures hit over 100 in the sun frequently this summer in heat waves that would last like a week with temperatures like that in the heat of the day.

If you are looking to do that in Arizona and areas of full shade is *required* for the chameleon to be able to get away from the sun at any time I would reccomend making your own very large enclosure to allow for more room to thermoregulate.

You will want atleast some areas where he can bask in direct sunlight when he chooses though.

My experience is limited to one chameleon, in one enclosure, in southern california. You will need to pay very close attention if you try this to come up with your own data and what your chameleon can handle. Experiment a bit, and keep an indoor enclosure ready with regulated temperatures if needed to bring him back inside for whatever reason if it doesn't work out properly atleast while you work out all of the kinks in the setup.

If you try it out keep me updated with your experiences please.
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I want to start having my pather out nearly everyday. I dont plan on leaving him out year round, would it be ok to leave him out during the day to get sun and UVB but then bring him inside for the night? (neighborhood has stray cats so ill keep an eye on him via cameras)
 
Mar626 said:
I want to start having my pather out nearly everyday. I dont plan on leaving him out year round, would it be ok to leave him out during the day to get sun and UVB but then bring him inside for the night? (neighborhood has stray cats so ill keep an eye on him via cameras)
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Hey, this post is from 2011. You would have better luck starting a new thread.
 
chameleonoobie said:
Keeping chameleons outside is the most natural thing you could do and how you would expect them to thrive. Bringing them indoors and trying to simulate the outdoors is what is so hard to do and why we have special lights, supplements, misting, timers and multiple how to books. My chameleons are in a walk in outdoor cage exposed to wild bugs, other lizards, rain, heat, sun and everything a chameleon is born and bred to be exposed to except predators. Mine seem to be very healthy and I dust my crickets only once a month or so. I think one of the quickest ways to turn around a weak or sickly chameleon would be to move it outdoors in a large well planted cage and pretty much leave it alone.
Here’s what my cage looks like, with three young panther chameleons sharing this little jungle.

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Here’s a little thief messing with my soldier fly breeding buckets. Hey, save some flies for breeding, would ya?

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I know this thread is old haha but what part of the country were you living in with your panthers and the outdoor setup? I’m looking to do the same thing
 
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