Welcome home Hydra!

[Hoytin88]

We got our new veiled chameleon home last night and he seems to be adjusting to his new home. He immediately started drinking when placed in his enclosure. He hid behind his vine and in his umbrella plant most of the time were in the room but does come out to eat and ate 10 crickets. He is still a dark brown and very shy. We have been giving him space just sitting quietly a crossed the room except for feeding and misting. How long should it take for him to adjust to being in a new place? He has beautiful greens I can't wait to see again. Were very eager to be the best chameleon parents we can but don't know the line between letting him adjust to us and helping him become a little more interactive. Don't want to handle him often but want to be able to take him out to clean and adjust anything we need to adjust. Any advice is helpfull and eagerly accepted.

 

[hopps31]

Welcome to the wonderful world of chameleons

Each chameleon is different on how long it takes for them to adjust, it is a great sign he is already eating and drinking! I suggest at least giving him two weeks to adjust before you even try to work with him to start having him trust you. Holding him is going to take patience and time, the more trust he has in you the better! Hand feeding is a great way to build trust.

Just so we have a little more information and to make sure everything is on track for you and Hydra to have a long life together, the how to ask for help form is great, try to fill it out with as much detail as possible

Here is the link: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ Just copy and paste it in this thread!

 

[laurie]

Hello, and welcome! I also have a male veiled after many years with out keep veiled. His name is Pickle. I love the name you selected as Hydra is not seen much! As was said before just take it slow. Most likely he will come around.

 

[Hoytin88]

Thanks for the advice I'll fill out the questions when I get home from work so I can get some more advice

 

[Hoytin88]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled 9 month old male brought home yesterday
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? None yet. Let him climb from travel cage to perminate cage
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Gut loaded crickets with calcium diet and banana so far. Also gave dubie roaches bananas. He ate 10 crickets today which was what the breeder had been giving him tried a dubie roach but took it out of the feeder after he didn't eat it all day. Using tweezers to place in feeder bowl that has a stick in it for the crickets to climb. Have not given calcium with d3 or multivitamin yet but plan to once a month
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Sprinkle calcium without d3 on crickets
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Drinking from a dripper ND every time we mist. 4 times a day for 1 minute
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Have not seen any yet but haven't tried to be near the cage like that yet
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Not yet hopefully it stays that way

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? 16x16x30 reptibreeze that sits on a five foot stand. Going into a 2x2x4 as soon as we can move him so we can attach another reptibreeze of the same size to the first 16x16x30 and that is going to be attached to the top of a 4x4 custom built partial screen partial acrylic setup (that's why we're transferring to the larger reptibreeze while we build and add on to cages)
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Double dome with blue 60w basking and 5.0 uvb reptisun but planning on changing to Arcadia t5 ho soon just not sure if I should be using the 5 or 10 Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Basking is 89-91 middle is 70-75 bottom is 66-68 Lowest overnight temp? 62 How do you measure these temps? Multiple thermometers digital laser and needle ( not sure of that's what they are really called but they have the needle)
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 60-90 with misting and dripper. Digital thermometer and needle thermometer both have humidity
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Only live plants. Fake vines. Pothos and a large umbrella plant
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?cage is in my living room but we are a couple who don't often have people over and are being extra cautious to be calm and quiet around him and we fashioned a curtin rod to go perfectly around the cage (pic posted) to close it off at night. Top of cage is about 6&1/2 feet from floor
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Niagara Falls NY

 

[Hoytin88]

 

[Hoytin88]

Previous pictures were before the introduction of the cham and has changed slightly. The purpose of the pictures were to show the curtain, pictures of the setup coming as soon as hydra is ready or during first deep cleaning!

 

[laurie]

Wow, you are excellent first time cham owners!! I will go back and read it all when I am really awake. lol

 

[hopps31]

Awesome job for first time Cham owners! The only suggestions I have are more variety in feeders and more variety in the gutloading. I use a variety of greens for my bugs like dandelion, collard, endive, mustard also carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. the more variety the bugs eat the healthier the Cham. There is a safe list and a bunch of different recipes for gut loads on here as well! Also they love variety in feeders as well. I offer silkworms, hornworms, superworms, dubia, crickets, blue bottle flies, black solider fly larvae etc. I switch it up at every feeding!

Also the calcium schedule should look like this, everyday dusted with calcium without d3 and calcium with d3 twice a month and multivitamin twice a month! It sounds like you were doing it great anyway but just thought I would throw it in here!

We have a veiled too, we love him to pieces, he is the sweetest!!

Great job again, Hydra is lucky to have you

 

[Hoytin88]

Thanks for the feedback I definitely plan on gutloading my feeders with more variety. Has anyone tried to blend all that variety together and freezing in small portions so I'm not wasting alot of spoiled vegies?

 

[hopps31]

Thanks for the feedback I definitely plan on gutloading my feeders with more variety. Has anyone tried to blend all that variety together and freezing in small portions so I'm not wasting alot of spoiled vegies?

I have read that some people do blend and freeze, also there are recipes for doing a dry gut load as well. I personally just get two different veggies each week, I never really have any spoilage and the bugs get a different variety, which means the chameleons do too! I also use Repashy bug burger and Repashy superload, which I really like. There is also cricket crack which is great for a dry gut load as well. I honestly never stick to one thing, I also have a dry gut load and a wet source in all of my bins at all times. Just for an example this week I have a small area of superload, with dandelion greens and squash, last week I had arugula, bug burger and collard greens. This is used in my crickets and dubia bins. I use just the greens in my superworms and black solider fly larvae bins.

 

[Hoytin88]

So it's been five days and we have made very little progress on hydra trusting us. We try to leave him alone with just feeding misting and cleaning the water out of the bottom of his cage. He was eating in front of us for the first two days only hiding in his plant if we moved too quickly. We are using tongs to put crickets in his feeding dish. Yesterday I put the first cricket in and he went for it immediately so I got the next cricket in the tongs and went to try to give him the cricket right from the tongs before he had backed up completely and he hissed at me for the first time. I let him back up before adding in the rest of the crickets and he wouldn't eat until we left the room. We're trying to move slowly around the cage and only interact when necessary but he seems to be getting more and more scared of us. We have spent quite a few hours just sitting across the room to let him get comfortable with our presence. Should we be staying out of the room more or closing his curtains more often for privacy? I don't want him to be stressed but want him to be comfortable enough to be able to move him to his larger cage and possibly free roam slightly but don't know if I should be backing off or staying at this pace. We did have to slightly rearrange his cage on day two due to water issues but only the bottom of the cage nothing at the top.

 

[Hoytin88]

We do still see him drink and know he is eating because all his crickets are gone. Still no luck with the dubaie roach even tho we put a fresh one in with the crickets in his cup every few days or just sits there

 

[hopps31]

Some take longer to settle in than others. My panther took a month before he was just comfortable with his enclosure, that is saying nothing about us! He still will not eat when I am in the room, some like their privacy. My veiled never cares about anything, he is the most chill dude in the world, it really is a personality thing. I would do what you are still doing, it may take months before he trusts you to go near him. You being in the same room is fine, I would not sit super close and stare at him but I am in and out all day around my guys, and if it was me I would not shut the curtains. I feel he really is just adjusting to everything right now, time makes a huge difference! Dubia are a pain they do not move around a lot so it can be hard to get them to eat them. Keep putting a few in his bowl and he should "accidentally" get one.

 

[Hoytin88]

Thanks this makes me feel better. I know it should take a while I think I'm just very anxious but I'm not crowding him or anything. I hope once he accidentally gets a roach he will decide he likes them I hate the cricket smell

 

[hopps31]

It is so hard to be patience, but time is really the best thing! I hate crickets too, they are smelly buggers!