Why isnt my Veild cham eating?

[Veild Cham Owner]

Hi my name is savanna and i had recently gotten a male veiled cham. I got him on the 27th of December and has been doing great! Eating well, drinking going to the bathroom, he has shed once already and he is very comfortable with me. He lets me touch him and everything but, in the last couple of days he hasn't been eating crickets and i don't know why. He will only eat mealworms. I put i quarter of a grape and a few chunks of kale and 3 meal worms in his cage. He only ate the mealworms. He still is very active and he is very thirsty. he continusly is drinking. Should i be concerned? Is this normal? (these are some pictures of him.)

 

[oneillchameleons]

Please fill out the form below so we can understand the situation better.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

A few things I can see from the picture:
Screen cages allow better ventilation and are preferred by the vast majority of Cham keepers to keep bacteria from growing and causing respitory problems.

Remove the substrate as it can cause impaction. Some members use it but it is bio active. Yours will simply grow bacteria.

He is going to outgrow that cage within a month or two, and will need a lot more foliage and branches to feel safe.

Over handling causes a lot of unseen stress on a chameleon. It's best kept to a minimum if possible.

 

[alphakenc]

Hi Veild Cham Owner,welcome to the forum and part of ur domain,one more thing I would like to add is the mealworm ,please try to replace it with other feeder,it can be very addicted once your veiled is on them,the veiled will only eat the mealworm without taking in other feeder,plus it is very hard to digest in their digestion system along with not so much nutritional value in them,try some silkworm with mulberry leaves,dubia roach and superworm gutloaded them with the collard green,dandelion,carrots,mustard green for their vegetables needs,hope this will help with your veiled baby,have fun and good luck

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Please fill out the form below so we can understand the situation better.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

A few things I can see from the picture:
Screen cages allow better ventilation and are preferred by the vast majority of Cham keepers to keep bacteria from growing and causing respitory problems.

Remove the substrate as it can cause impaction. Some members use it but it is bio active. Yours will simply grow bacteria.

He is going to outgrow that cage within a month or two, and will need a lot more foliage and branches to feel safe.

Over handling causes a lot of unseen stress on a chameleon. It's best kept to a minimum if possible.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, 3-4 months not to sure. I got him December 27 2015
• Handling - once every 5 days to take him out so i can clean his cage
• Feeding - Mealworms and crickets, Just started giving him wax worms today, hes not to sure about them. Usually 5-7 crickets and 3 ish meal worms a day. i feed the crickets apples, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers and celery.
• Supplements -i don't dust, is that a bad thing?
• Watering - i have a 16 ounce spray bottle that i use. I put 4 drops of reptisafe in it to clean out the clorine (if we have any) in our water. I spray about 3 times a day for about 2 mins or whenever it gets under 50% humidity in his cage.
• Fecal Description - kinda grey ish, a little watery looks like bird pop
• History - he is very happy, active an social

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - he is in a glass 1ft W 18 in H 1ft back, At the top is screen wich i catch him climbing on a lot
• Lighting - I don't know the brand but i got it from petsmart, it is safe for him. His daylight is a 100 watt bulb and him night time bulb is a 60 watt purple led light. I wake up at 6am for school(that's when i turn on his day light) and at 6pm i turn that one off and turn on the led light.
• Temperature - bottom of the cage is about 70 and the top (his basking) about 90, everywhere else is about 80. at night it gets down to the 60's. I use a thermometer in the cage
• Humidity - I try to keep it in between 50% and 80%. I spray with a spray bottle every time it gets below 45%. The thermometer i have a checks humidity and temperature.
• Plants - everything is fake in his cage.
• Placement - on my desk kinda near a window. under my desk is a vent.
• Location - I live in the north east, Ma. it is starting to get really cold so im not to sure if that is affecting my problem. we have about 4 inches of snow rn.

PROBLEM - my cham isnt eating and is les active than usual. He would always walk around at the bottom and stay there but now stays at the top and basks. His eating is really getting bad. All he ate today was one mealworm. PLS HELP ( the pictures is where his cage is)

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Hi Veild Cham Owner,welcome to the forum and part of ur domain,one more thing I would like to add is the mealworm ,please try to replace it with other feeder,it can be very addicted once your veiled is on them,the veiled will only eat the mealworm without taking in other feeder,plus it is very hard to digest in their digestion system along with not so much nutritional value in them,try some silkworm with mulberry leaves,dubia roach and superworm gutloaded them with the collard green,dandelion,carrots,mustard green for their vegetables needs,hope this will help with your veiled baby,have fun and good luck

ok thanks sm!! i went out and bought some wax worms today. I left one in there. He just kinda looked at it but you could tell he wanted to eat it. I know they can eat fruits and veggies but im not to sure of what kinds. I wont time offered him some broccoli and he ate it right away. But anyway do u know any?

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Your chameleon should not have any light on it at night. If your room temperature goes down below 65F at night then use a ceramic "bulb" to provide heat. Your chameleon needs exposure to UVB light during the day in order to produce vitamin D3 so it can use the calcium in its system. This UVB can either be from a proper UVB light....reptisun 5.0 long linear tube is most often recommended....or natural sunlight that does NOT pass through glass or plastic. You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb for a basking light. The basking area should be in the low to mid 80'sF. Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its important to dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for it.
It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

Its also important to feed/gutload the crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Providing water and proper cage setup is also important of course.
Hope this helps.

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Your chameleon should not have any light on it at night. If your room temperature goes down below 65F at night then use a ceramic "bulb" to provide heat. Your chameleon needs exposure to UVB light during the day in order to produce vitamin D3 so it can use the calcium in its system. This UVB can either be from a proper UVB light....reptisun 5.0 long linear tube is most often recommended....or natural sunlight that does NOT pass through glass or plastic. You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb for a basking light. The basking area should be in the low to mid 80'sF. Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its important to dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for it.
It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

Its also important to feed/gutload the crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Providing water and proper cage setup is also important of course.


Hope this helps.

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Your chameleon should not have any light on it at night. If your room temperature goes down below 65F at night then use a ceramic "bulb" to provide heat. Your chameleon needs exposure to UVB light during the day in order to produce vitamin D3 so it can use the calcium in its system. This UVB can either be from a proper UVB light....reptisun 5.0 long linear tube is most often recommended....or natural sunlight that does NOT pass through glass or plastic. You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb for a basking light. The basking area should be in the low to mid 80'sF. Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its important to dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for it.
It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

Its also important to feed/gutload the crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Providing water and proper cage setup is also important of course.
Hope this helps.

ok yes this does help but where would i be able to find the dusting powder? can i get it at a local pet store and somewhere else.

 

[carol5208]

Yes, it is VERY important to dust your feeders with calcium. If you do not, your chameleon can get Metabolic Bone Disease. You can get calcium with d3 at most pet stores, but you may have trouble finding the calcium without it. You do not want to give the d3 more than a few times a month and a multi vitamin also the same. You can order it online at LLL Reptile. I like the brand called StickyTongue Farms Minerall. It is minerals, and calcium. Make sure if you choose that brand that you get the outdoor one(No D3) to use daily. Plain calcium can be used daily. Please get some and start using it as soon as possible.