WHat am I doing wrong~??

[Yemen08]

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Wooden walls (4 Vents a back wall), galss sliding doors (Vivexotic) 3x2x2
Lighting - ExoTerra 10.0 UVB Repti glo For 8 hours at night. 60w Euro Rep bulb for 16 hours a day.
Temperature - Day 75F Basking spot 85-90F, 70F at night. Measuered Using three themometers tactically positioned auround.
Humidity - Spray the tank 4 times a day with heavy mist using warm water treated with Calcimize conditioner (Exoterra)
Plants - Plastic
Location - On top of 2 ft desk, Back room, not used,


Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon. Was told it was roughly 10 weeks old when I had this one about a week and a half ago

Handling -For about 30 mins every day.
Feeding - 2-3 week old crickets, about 15-25 in cage everyday. Gut loaded with Beaphar cricket feed.
Supplements - Dusting feeders with T-rex chameleon dust.
Watering - Using a exoterra waterfall, mist for about 2- 3 minutes , 4 times a day. Never seen chameleon drink.
Fecal Description - Droppings usually small black and/or white CHameleon is captive bred and apparantly wormed at birth.
Current Problem - What am i doing wrong have gone through 3 babies in under a month. Pet store guy says im doing nothing wrong.......same symptoms for all.

AFter About a week or so they start to become even slower, and keep their eyes closed , will only move if encouraged by a litle nudge. Quite darkjer than normal. When placed in a branch will not move from the spot it was put.

 

[Dra]

well.....

im new but is he dehydrated if uve never seen him drink and i heard water falls are a no go they just harbor bacteria use a dripper also make sure the temp is right i know ur not suppose to use a heating lamp but i have heard of some people using them if it is to cold to help them heat up good luck

 

[Yemen08]

Any other ideas?

 

[veiledchamguy]

Definatley some husbandry issues and try to get some real plants in there helps bring up humidity..and yeah waterfall = no no bacteria..if you have never seen him drink maybe an emergency shower would be ideal? im no expert but it will definatley bring his hydration up..

keep us posted...

 

[Tygerr]

Lighting - ExoTerra 10.0 UVB Repti glo For 8 hours at night. 60w Euro Rep bulb for 16 hours a day.

Your lighting is completely wrong. You need the UVB lights and basking lights on at the SAME time for only 12 hours a day. They must have COMPLETE DARKNESS at night to sleep! This is likely causing huge distress to your chams since they are never getting a chance to sleep properly.

Plants - Plastic

Get live plants. Not only will this help keep the humidity levels more constant, but also Veiled's eat vegetation from the age of about 4-6 months. With plastic plants there is a risk that they will try to eat the plastic leaves and get a digestive impaction problem.

Handling -For about 30 mins every day.

There's no reason to be handling your cham that much. You only need to handle a cham for its regular medical checks, when you take it to the vet, or when you transport it outside to get some natural sunshine exposure. Other than that, your cham would prefer not to be handled.

Supplements - Dusting feeders with T-rex chameleon dust.

Try to get some pure calcium dust WITHOUT vitamin D3, and use that more often than the T-Rex powder. The T-Rex Chameleon Dust contains both preformed Vitamin A as well as Vitamin D3, both of which can lead to an overdose if provided too often. It can still be used less frequently, but most dustings should be using pure calcium instead.

Watering - Using a exoterra waterfall, mist for about 2- 3 minutes , 4 times a day. Never seen chameleon drink.

Get rid of the waterfall. Besides promoting bacterial growth in the cage, and becoming a collection spot for your cham's feces, it also doesn't really add much benefit to the cage (the cham won't drink from it anyway).
The reason you aren't seeing your cham drink is because you aren't misting for long enough. Particularly for young chams that aren't used to misting, you need to be misting them for at least 15 minutes at a time to allow them to settle in the spray and stimulate a drinking response from them.

Pet store guy says im doing nothing wrong.......same symptoms for all.

Pet store guy probably doesn't know much about keeping chameleons.

Most important things: get those lights set up right, and get those chams drinking!

PS - a screen cage would be far better to keep your cham in (provided you are using live plants). As the cham gets older, you'll probably have to upgrade to a larger cage- so keep this in mind when you buy your next cage.

 

[Tygerr]

Please read through the following sites to learn more about how to care for your new chameleon:
- Chameleons! Online E-Zine - Introduction to Chameleon Husbandry
- The Chameleon's Dish - Chameleons as Pets
- Successful Keeping of Veiled Chameleons (despite it's focus being Veiled chameleons, it has some excellent husbandry advice that applies to all chameleons)
- Chamowners Web - Selecting a Chameleon: What to look for

 

[Yemen08]

Can't believe pet shop guy would sell me all the "stuff i need to keep this little guy alive" and when i asked him about the 16 hours basking and 8 hours UVB he said that was correct I'm soooo P***d off that i've had to get attatched to 3 and all along it was me killing them off lol. SO.... you're saying i should have nboth bulbs on during the day and no lights on dorung the night?

 

[Yemen08]

I just can't believe that this means my little guy's gonna have his first decent nights sleep in a while all because of my lack of knowledge, i was sure about that when i bought the first one a month back but the guy at the pet store told me different and i wasnt gonna argue with a guy who owns a pet store. I feel so angry lol Thanks sooo much Tygerr, but im just not sure whether he'll last the night now. taken out waterfall and just cleaned everything and knocked off lights now until the morning. Fingers crossed

 

[Kat77]

Also how old are those babies? Because if they truely are babies your basking temp needs to go down about ten degrees.

Edit: Ok I see they are 10 weeks or so. 90 in the basking spot is WAY too hot for a baby veiled. You need to drop the basking spot about 10 degrees and hope that the ambient temp also goes down a little. Am I wrong, did you say you are using a glass enclosure with some sceen vents? That might be ok for a cham just a couple months old, but they (how many do you have left??) will need to be moved to separate screen enclosures as they get older.

 

[JoshCrane1]

YES!! all lights during the day, no lights at night, 12hr/12hr.


pet store employees are idiots trying to make a dollar, never listen to a word they say. the more you learn here on the forums the better. and one day you can go back to that petstore and teach that idiot some things.

p.s.- maybe talk to a manager and let them know you killed a few animals through the advice of their stupid employees and demand some restitution one way or another, cuz thats messed up. you might be surprised.

 

[Yemen08]

They've replaced the two dead ones saying "it happens"

 

[Yemen08]

Also how old are those babies? Because if they truely are babies your basking temp needs to go down about ten degrees.

Edit: Ok I see they are 10 weeks or so. 90 in the basking spot is WAY too hot for a baby veiled. You need to drop the basking spot about 10 degrees and hope that the ambient temp also goes down a little. Am I wrong, did you say you are using a glass enclosure with some sceen vents? That might be ok for a cham just a couple months old, but they (how many do you have left??) will need to be moved to separate screen enclosures as they get older.

Theres only one lol i've killed 2 and am on the third one But after all the new advice tygerr has given me my little guy is lookin much better !! The doors of the vivarium are glass and the rest of the walls are wooden, when i do upgrade i shall be getting screens for def!! Cheers for all your advice, fingers crossed that he'll grow to be a beast lol

 

[skeeta]

Good for you! Your little guy's got a fighting chance now. Check the search section of the forum for everything you need to know and then ask for advice about the things you may be confused about. It's a steep learning curve but well worth it!

We're all behind you.

 

[barnaby]

Take this advice: in the future, do a lot of research in the web before buying an animal, because you just can't trust people in pet stores.
I'm planning on buying a group of geckos in November or December and I've been collecting info for the last couple of weeks because when the time comes for me to buy all the accessories, I know I can't trust the store employees...

Good luck with your cham!!

 

[Julirs]

Good catch Kat-my guess is they are dehydrating. Keep temps to low 80's, and live plants as suggested. Mist for a solid 5 minutes plus each time-the cage will be soaked but that is what it takes.