Veiled hydration / bumps on sides / burrowing

[Charms]

Hi everyone! I just want to do a quick visual health check with you on my 3-month-old male veiled, Charms. I've got 3 issues I'd like to discuss:

1. Hydration: does he look dehydrated?

Charms is very timid and retreats any time I open the enclosure to put the feeding cups in, which is once each morning. He is terrified of humans and it breaks my heart.
I seldom see him eating, but I know he eats because he poops every day after a 2-hour bask. The feces are dark brown and soft but well-formed. The urates are white, chalky, and have a tiny orange piece at the end:

Charms seems to only want to eat crickets. He has never gone after the dubia roaches I provide him, as far as I can tell. He also refuses waxworm grubs, which I offer one per feeding.
MissSkittles said this could be a parasite issue or mouth injury but the vet confirms he has neither.

His veil looks a little thin / small / concaved to me:

Last week he got a clean bill of health from the exotic vet, and his fecal parasite tests came back negative.

I mist his enclosure for 1 minute, twice per day, and each time I mist the humidity rises to about 80% and then declines down to 35% throughout the day.
Misting happens 1 hour after lights on in the morning (so he's got time to warm up) and 1 hour before lights off in the evening (so the enclosure has a bit of time to dry).

Daytime ambient temp is about 76, direct basking branch is 83. Nighttime temp starts at 72 and declines to 67 at the coldest point of the night.
On the recommendation of Beman here on this forum, I purchased a thermometer with probe and affixed it to the basking branch to ensure the readout was highly accurate.


2. Charms has bumps on both sides of his body:
The vet said she did not know what they were but they felt fleshy, not on the bone.
I have read this could be a supplement issue. Here are the ones I use:

Once per day, food gets dusted with "Zoo Med Repti Calcium without D3."
Once per week, food gets dusted with "Zoo Med Reptivite with D3." (MissSkittles said to use twice a month but the vet told me to use once per week for now).

I am careful not to over-dust; I do what MissSkittles said to do and just put a bit of dust in the feeding cup with them and let them dust themselves.

Food is gut-loaded with kale, carrot, red bell pepper, apple, and Repashy Bug Burger. Although I don't think the bugs actually eat the bug burger, as far as I can tell.

The above images were taken 12/3/2024 (today).

The below images were taken last week:

3. Charms is still digging and chilling at the bottom of his enclosure, in the same spot, every day for 1 hour.

(since this photo of the enclosure was taken, we have added more branches for him)
He doesn't sleep and he's not hunting. He just hangs out there. Some people have said the cage could be too warm, which is the reason I haven't purchased a longer tube light to span the entire top of the enclosure.


Lastly, sometimes Charms rests his chin on the branch while he basks, like he wants to sleep, but he keeps his eyes open. Is this a problem? I don't have a photo because he lifts his chin every time I try to take one...

 

[MissSkittles]

The urate looks perfect, so he is well hydrated.
Did the vet say why he/she wants you to give the ReptiVite with D3 once a week instead of every other week? Is this just for a certain amount of time or to continue? The concern is for the fat soluble vitamins A & D3 building up.
I’ve given my feedback and opinions in your posts and really would like for others to give theirs…especially about the bumps and the digging.

 

[ERKleRose]

1) His urate looks nice and hydrated! Make sure to test a few more poops for parasites to make sure he’s truly parasite-free; depending on where in their life cycle parasites are in, they sometimes won’t show up on a fecal test.

His casque is probably concave from not eating (or not eating enough) when you first got him

You want to be misting for at least 2 minutes long each time, and you want to mist when it’s cooler, so do your morning misting right around lights on (waiting an hour for the lights to warm up is for feeding). What are his nighttime humidity levels?

What are the exact temps at both the bottom of the cage and at the top of his back when he’s on his basking branch? A non-probed thermometer measures ambient temps, so his basking is hotter. You want it to be 80*F at the top of his back right now

2) Like @MissSkittles said, did the vet give a reason for giving double the normal amount of multivitamins with D3, and for how long? If they didn’t, it could just be incorrect husbandry advice. Some vets that treat chameleons have outdated/wrong
husbandry advice for owners

Stop using kale ASAP! It is high in oxalates and binds calcium (so is spinach)! Add more leafy greens from the gutload chart if you can (that should make up the biggest percentage of your gutload)!

3) You need to get a longer linear T5HO ASAP, too (they don’t heat up enclosures like basking bulbs do and are essential for a cham’s health)! Make sure it is at least as long as what his biggest enclosure will be (if his biggest cage will be 2’ wide, get a 2’ or 3’ fixture, if his cage will be 3’ wide, get a 3’ or 4’ fixture, and if his cage will be 4’ wide or wider, get a 4’ fixture). Keep in mind the recommended size is 4’x2’x4’ tall or bigger! What is the exact bulb you have in his fixture right now? And is it directly over his basking branch?

 

[Peppered]

What time of day does Charms normally go down to dig/sit near the bottom? Does he seem to spend more time down there later in the evening, maybe an hour or so before lights turn off? Maybe it's irrelevant, but I've seen that some chams have their own "night time rituals" so to speak..

I don't think my girl Pepper has any "chores" she does before bed time other than picking her sleeping branch, and within that last hour before lights out she will get comfy where she wants to sleep but doesn't actually fall asleep/fully close her eyes until at least 15-20 minutes before the lights go off.

It's hard to tell with the light glare on the glass, but does that bottom corner seem more hidden than behind/inside the plants, for example?

Just speculating a bunch of things and rambling... Don't mind me

 

[Charms]

To clarify, Charms has been eating less in the past week, so his droppings are half the size of the one shown in the above photo, but still same consistency and color.

Nighttime humidity starts off around 80% and slowly declines until morning, around 40%.

Vet just said he probably has a vitamin deficiency since he's not eating much. I can go back to doing the reptivite once every 2 weeks if you think it's a serious issue.
By the way, what should I look out for, symptom-wise, if Charms has a D deficiency? Also, what does an A deficiency look like?

Temp on his back during basking is probably 84 or 85 since the branch itself is 83 (where the probe rests). I suppose I can reduce the temperature.

Add more leafy greens from the gutload chart if you can (that should make up the biggest percentage of your gutload)!

Which gutload chart? Would you mind linking it to me please?

You need to get a longer linear T5HO ASAP, too (they don’t heat up enclosures like basking bulbs do and are essential for a cham’s health)! Make sure it is at least as long as what his biggest enclosure will be

His enclosure is 2 feet wide. If you link me the T5HO I should get from Amazon, I'll buy that sucker right now. I'm confused about the bulbs because there are 5s and 10s and variants therein.
Current one is T5 HO UV but it's the stock bulb that comes with the lamp. Sometimes stock batteries and bulbs are shittier than the ones sold separately. Not sure if that's the case here.

but to be sure, I do not think the problems Charms is experiencing right is because his cage is too small. It's 3'H x 2'W x 1.5'D and he's like three inches long... I will certainly upgrade the enclosure to the bigger size if he lives long enough to start growing.

What time of day does Charms normally go down to dig/sit near the bottom?

He usually goes down there midday after basking for 2 hours, pooping, and eating breakfast. I do think he's trying to cool himself off, but I don't think the cage is too hot... Ambient temp in my house is always 70-73 and the bottom of his enclosure is around 75, with plenty of shade. He's got lots of branches at different levels so he doesn't have to sit under the heat bulb if he doesn't want to.

All 4 corners of the enclosure have good hiding spots under foliage. But there's also tons of hiding places around the dracaena too, and he does spend time in there.

 

[CalamityCrow]

HOwdy! I agree with going back to 2x/mo for the D3/vitamins. Most folks use Repashy LoD because it has all the vitamins they need: https://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Calcium-Plus-LoD-JAR/dp/B0D82LT16W/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FFQBMN1SNBU2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.rq8yahU0xY4W3bep8nG-fFv6QPXMArpFYJ_-y62Sow5f4aOu2l8QkglwDLRi0ZHVwwAMdkGgJ9OMG9M_GuyLrSoR2yVfKm5A6xJzZulZf0NouGopN2sXemWf3uJgvfHZOZjBXTsS5mwfg22cwLmMIQZ5iqIjodcDnjpYIEZMy5UJYSDTXWSD_0nCkKgU7tvei-o29E0xISgiizAPZXOn1kHJXUMTZqIUg8v9uhN37eP2j8zzJ3o3vUv48HyTC0CyVbskU30QrtIf6ufgnQwtS2o-Er5B3UBjfKoPb7fULA4.F4KiCzvjoMvDCOPDXbv752j7AyIjsZVr_L03bO7L0Ek&dib_tag=se&keywords=repashy+lod&qid=1733332788&sprefix=repashy+lod,aps,269&sr=8-1

Here's the bulb/fixture that's most recommended: https://www.reptilebasics.com/t5-li...FRYHInASmapo57XIRGvQF5B0Bzlr5l8Xt0oLZrcmGhEiu

I'd DEFINITELY drop the heat. I really don't like going over 82 ever, and for a little baby, those are pretty hot temps. Some folks even recommend no heat for basking. Not sure I entirely agree with that, but 78-80 for your little guy is more ideal.

I would also suggest longer misting sessions, or even getting a Mistking. As long as the enclosures dries out between mistings, it's fine. Some chams take 2+ minutes to get a triggered drinking response (especially if they're shy) so a longer misting session is probably a good idea. Mistking I use:

https://www.amazon.com/MistKing-Botanical-Institutions-Expandable-MKSMS4-125-50/dp/B012IAK4SC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3J5OHFSFIL8XM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hmFMMbH99lwHvCPAtOfn7ma487F8DZfMtER_SbNfHDaIgroP9hQ_xNbDiQfvQnmVgWg8sz9Lu8u1Jf--Nx44y3QyfzNHZIlgC260c_KKV_3-YNnxD73NAetd882S4Yhp7oouBVTqf5uMx95LdbdzuBhpLuGTdtN-pGhopp4gKS1FcZ6xWkt9RuxVeNUZ6_tezMV2KguItyuBYXmj7xu6DPOXSYSkPJwxbC8ke90prFs.Sz6guzblE5yOm-INXhqhLYjm_8CL_LwniEdB1EoIwsQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=mistking&qid=1733332699&sprefix=mistking,aps,217&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1


On some of the images (especially the fecal), it looks like there was a red reflection - you don't have colored lights anywhere, right?

As for cage size, my thinking is this: baby chams in the wild are born into the biggest enclosure ever - the planet. If you plan to keep chams at all in the future, whether or not Charms continues (I think he will!) then it's worth it to just have the correct 2x2x4 size cage from the beginning. It's harder to find a baby in there at first, but they grow into it quickly.

Here's the gutload chart:

Hopefully that helps! Not sure on the odd spots on his sides... Could be a vitamin unbalance (not necessarily a deficiency). As far as the bugs, keep at it. My little guys were crickets-only until they realized dubia and BSFL can be yummy too! I weaned them off crickets after a few weeks (thank goodness, I hate crickets).

You've got a lot of good stuff going, but a couple tweaks may have Charms feeling a lot better.