I have had a veiled for a little over a month now. It is a male approximately one year old. It's about 8-10 inches from nose to tip of tail. When I bought him the pet store said that he only ate about 3 crickets/day. He ate everyday for the first month I've had him at least 6-10/day. Over the last 3 days or so he is only eating like 2-3/day though and only seems to eat when I am out of the room or far away from the cage. He is also getting more hissy and pissy when I remove him from his cage to clean. At first he would let me pick him up and transport him no problem, now he runs and hisses. He also does this weird thing where he runs from the top of the cage to the bottom and back to the top over and over again until he snags a cricket (then he'll bask) Cage is 3ft high by 15 inch cylinder. What's his deal? T
What's his deal?
- Thread starter turk81
- Start date
Marc10edora
Avid Member
seems like he is getting more mature now. My veiled used to be calm like yours was. But as they get older, they become territorial and start to think that everything is out to eat them. Handling them gets a little tricky now. So I only handle mine about once a month. You can try and start building trust with him by hand feeding treats like silkworms, wax worms and hornworms every once in a while. Don't forget to mix up your feeder schedule with other things besides crickets. Try rotating with silkworms and kingworms (zophoba). That way he will not get bored of his food. If he still is ignoring food, try roaches ex. Dubia, Discoid.
Phatturk
New Member
My Veiled is the same way. I don't handle him very much and only recently got him to hand feed from me after months of trying. I think in your situation, if he was already a year old when you got him, he may have been kept in really bad conditions and was to week to get pissy and now that he is more comfortable and healthy he is acting more normal. I would guess from what I have read here that most Veileds are pissy and not very people friendly, although there are also people on this site that would totally disagree and tell you there veiled loves them and loves to be held at times. Its still up in the air as to who is right, my guess is it just depends on your Cham. But don't be disappointed or worried if yours grows up to be like a lot of ours and hates being held.
My guy eats a lot more than 3 crix a day. He eats more like 3 crix 1-2 silk worms and a couple meal worms everyday, but he is still a growing boy of about 6 months. He does stop eating crix though every couple weeks, I think he must just get sick of them. When it happens I stop putting them in there for a day or 2 and then when I put them back in he goes kinda crazy for them. He will never pass on a wax, silk, or meal worm though.
My guy eats a lot more than 3 crix a day. He eats more like 3 crix 1-2 silk worms and a couple meal worms everyday, but he is still a growing boy of about 6 months. He does stop eating crix though every couple weeks, I think he must just get sick of them. When it happens I stop putting them in there for a day or 2 and then when I put them back in he goes kinda crazy for them. He will never pass on a wax, silk, or meal worm though.
Sepioteuthis
New Member
Handling aside, it sounds to me like your chameleon needs more space. If his enclosure is only 15" in diameter then all he can do is walk up and down; he's got nowhere else to go. He could be getting more aggressive because he feels trapped.
Is this one of those cylinders that opens at the top? If so, then that may be another reason why he hisses and runs when you try to get him out. During territorial displays the dominant chameleon will often approach invaders from a higher branch to look more impressive. - He might be thinking you're trying to chase him out of his territory.
Just some thoughts.
About the handling; I rarely handle my chameleons, but I hand feed them frequently. this makes it easier to get them to walk onto my hand, because I can lure them with food.
- Suzanne
Is this one of those cylinders that opens at the top? If so, then that may be another reason why he hisses and runs when you try to get him out. During territorial displays the dominant chameleon will often approach invaders from a higher branch to look more impressive. - He might be thinking you're trying to chase him out of his territory.
Just some thoughts.
About the handling; I rarely handle my chameleons, but I hand feed them frequently. this makes it easier to get them to walk onto my hand, because I can lure them with food.
- Suzanne
Dyesub Dave
New Member
When I got my male he was 3 yrs. old and came in a 15 gal. aquarium. WAY TOO SMALL!! He had a bump on his chin and his veil from rubbing them against the top of the cage.
I quickly put him in a 30 gal. after I got him and started applying polysporin to both affected areas. The bump on his chin quickly healed however the casque part of his veil fell off. About a month or so later he got a new 75 gallon home. He always loved coming out of his enclosures and walking around. When I used to open the lid of any of these enclosures he would climb right out onto my shirt. I think part of the reason was the tanks were horizontal not vertical.
A few months ago I got a good deal on one of those 175 gal. mesh reptariums. I got a live ficus tree and hibiscus bush and a nice long stick for him. I also found about 15 feet of grapevine in the forest behind me and wrapped that around inside his cage.
So now I think he's finally happy because he doesn't want to come out of his cage. I have to try to catch him as he runs away from me. He doesn't hiss at me yet but he certainly won't initiate leaving his new home. I can leave it open for hours and he doesn't even show any interest in coming out. He will occasionally come to the branch closest to the opening but never tries to escape. So I'm assuming this means he's content.
The size of this enclosure is 48" H x 30" W x 30" D. So a bit larger than your circular one. Do you have a live plant in yours? I've noticed that my chams seem to get a little more comfortable / independent when they have a live bush/tree in with them. It probably makes them feel more at home.
Anyways ... that's just my experience with my male Veiled Chameleon. Don't know if it's really any help or not though.
Dyesub Dave.
I quickly put him in a 30 gal. after I got him and started applying polysporin to both affected areas. The bump on his chin quickly healed however the casque part of his veil fell off. About a month or so later he got a new 75 gallon home. He always loved coming out of his enclosures and walking around. When I used to open the lid of any of these enclosures he would climb right out onto my shirt. I think part of the reason was the tanks were horizontal not vertical.
A few months ago I got a good deal on one of those 175 gal. mesh reptariums. I got a live ficus tree and hibiscus bush and a nice long stick for him. I also found about 15 feet of grapevine in the forest behind me and wrapped that around inside his cage.
So now I think he's finally happy because he doesn't want to come out of his cage. I have to try to catch him as he runs away from me. He doesn't hiss at me yet but he certainly won't initiate leaving his new home. I can leave it open for hours and he doesn't even show any interest in coming out. He will occasionally come to the branch closest to the opening but never tries to escape. So I'm assuming this means he's content.
The size of this enclosure is 48" H x 30" W x 30" D. So a bit larger than your circular one. Do you have a live plant in yours? I've noticed that my chams seem to get a little more comfortable / independent when they have a live bush/tree in with them. It probably makes them feel more at home.
Anyways ... that's just my experience with my male Veiled Chameleon. Don't know if it's really any help or not though.
Dyesub Dave.
