Worried about my new veiled chameleon!

[Pascalperfect]

So ive always had reptiles as pets like bearded dragons and such but this is my first chameleon! Im worrying all the time constantly checking up on him we got him in early Jan. and he was about 2 weeks old then, hes growing and i havent seen signs of anything bad but i want to make sure it will stay that way!

Heres his nice home!

and we were told he was a boy, but my brother disagrees!
does it look like tarsal spurs too you guys? or my false hope!
I have plenty of questions ah! is it normal to worry this much

 

[camimom]

welcome!

yes its normal to worry this much.
and yes its aboy.


but, please remove that bark. they can ingest it and become impacted!

 

[Pascalperfect]

The bark?!
As silly as it seems and as much as i was told not to listen to them, there is a guy at the petsmart down the street who is unfortunatly the only one i can talk to about my lovely pet, he said he recommends the bark over a carpet because he said the chances of Pascal getting bark in his mouth is less likely than him getting sick from the mold in the carpets! what would be the best thing to put in there?
Thankyou! Pascals health is a huge priority and with him being so little right now im checking up on him constantly!

 

[Bernie]

Nothing on the bottom. Nothing is needed. Maybe paper if anything

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

Here's a quick tip. Never listen to anyone at Pet Smart or Pet Co. They suck.

 

[camimom]

The bark?!
As silly as it seems and as much as i was told not to listen to them, there is a guy at the petsmart down the street who is unfortunatly the only one i can talk to about my lovely pet, he said he recommends the bark over a carpet because he said the chances of Pascal getting bark in his mouth is less likely than him getting sick from the mold in the carpets! what would be the best thing to put in there?
Thankyou! Pascals health is a huge priority and with him being so little right now im checking up on him constantly!

yes the bark! haha.

they are full of crap sometimes.

and the chances are high he will get bark in his mouth. think about it.
if he chases a bug, who is down in he bark, and gets the bug AND bark in his mouth... its not good.

i had carpet in my cage all the time, until i started Free ranging my chams, i used t. no mold every grew. i cleaned it 4 times a week, took it out, shook it, washed it with just plain water. and let it dry, then put it back in.

if you want to use anything, use that.
im going to ask you a bunch of questions... sorry for overload, but we are here to help!

do you have a uvb bulb? [if so, what brand]
what about supplements?
what are you feeding him?
what are you basking temps?
how does he get water?

 

[Pascalperfect]

Nothing?, i have a dripper and mist it a few times a day if I were to put nothing what could I use to collect the falling moisture? & should I be worried about him falling? his cage is small but I still worry that if he were to fall he would seriously hurt himself!

 

[camimom]

Nothing?, i have a dripper and mist it a few times a day if I were to put nothing what could I use to collect the falling moisture? & should I be worried about him falling? his cage is small but I still worry that if he were to fall he would seriously hurt himself!

nothing.
you can make a drainage system [do a search here on the forum]
or do what i do, let my live plants collect the water.

i woudltn be worried about falling.
my guys have all fallen several feet. no one gets hurt. some chams, even do the suicide drop... where they suddenly let go and free fall.

if he is constantly falling, thats a sign of illness.

an occasional fall normal, it could also mean that the branches are too big for his hands to grab.

 

[Pascalperfect]

do you have a uvb bulb? [if so, what brand]
Yes I do, i turn it on everyday along with 2 other lights ( a normal house bulb and then a basking light) it only gets around 90 to the highest with all those lights on!
what about supplements?
Ive been using the reptocal with d3, dusting the crickets with it every 3 days or so
monday tuesday wednesday(dust) thursday friday saturday(dust) so on.
what are you feeding him?
Only small crickets, about 6 a day i was told not to feed them anything larger than their head in fear of choking.
what are you basking temps?
around 90.
how does he get water?
I have a drip system and mist often.

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

do you have a uvb bulb? [if so, what brand]
Yes I do, i turn it on everyday along with 2 other lights ( a normal house bulb and then a basking light) it only gets around 90 to the highest with all those lights on!
what about supplements?
Ive been using the reptocal with d3, dusting the crickets with it every 3 days or so
monday tuesday wednesday(dust) thursday friday saturday(dust) so on.
what are you feeding him?
Only small crickets, about 6 a day i was told not to feed them anything larger than their head in fear of choking.
what are you basking temps?
around 90.
how does he get water?
I have a drip system and mist often.

90 is too hot. Try lowering to 80-85. Suppliments should be calcium without d3 everyday, calcium with d3 twice a month, and multivitamins twice a month. I've never owned a veiled but that might be too little of an amount. There's other things to fill out.

 

[Pascalperfect]

He hasnt fallen at all, we see him occasionally hang upside down (scares me too death!) and look like he will but climb back up fine. As terrible as it does sound, i have no idea what the brands of all my bulbs are, i was recommended if I see something from the flukers brand get it! And im worried about what to do with the live plants, a few weeks ago we bought an umbrella plant that we read was highly recommended for chameleons, and we took out most of his fake leaves and put the plant in there instead, when we placed him back in he hated the live plant! he was climbing on the sides and across the top, refused to climb on it, or in it at all! so we took it out placed all the fake leaves and branches back in and he was fine. we washed the plant off really good to make sure there was no poisons on it, what should I do about that?! keep the fake plants?

 

[camimom]

do you have a uvb bulb? [if so, what brand]
Yes I do, i turn it on everyday along with 2 other lights ( a normal house bulb and then a basking light) it only gets around 90 to the highest with all those lights on!
what about supplements?
Ive been using the reptocal with d3, dusting the crickets with it every 3 days or so
monday tuesday wednesday(dust) thursday friday saturday(dust) so on.
what are you feeding him?
Only small crickets, about 6 a day i was told not to feed them anything larger than their head in fear of choking.
what are you basking temps?
around 90.
how does he get water?
I have a drip system and mist often.

Ok! not bad.. few suggestions...
you only need one basking bulb, the hous bulb is fine, you never need to spend money on the petsmart ones... pointless when a hosue bulb does the same thing.
i woudl lower his basking temp to about 85. hes too young to have a temp at 90.
the d3 is only to be used twice a month, and yes they can OD on it, no he hasnt had time to do so.
you need a plain calcium without d3 for every feeding, a calcium with d3 for twice a month feeding, and a multivitamin for twice a month.
OR buy repashy all in one calcium plus which has everything in it. no seperate tubs of powder required.
the cricket size is correct. but he should eat upwards of 10-20. so if you feed him more, and he eats more let him.
for now, he shoudl eat as many as he can.

and misting is good. as is a dripper, and of course, not at night.

total darkness at night, and a temp drop of 10-15 deg is good.
if it gets below 50 at night, get a ceramic heat emitter, no light, but warms the air

 

[Pascalperfect]

I have just been gut loading the crickets he eats i havent been putting any sort of vitamins! which should I get im not sure what to look for, as i said before all i know is what ive found online and what i hear from the petsmart man (not good advice obviously)

 

[camimom]

He hasnt fallen at all, we see him occasionally hang upside down (scares me too death!) and look like he will but climb back up fine. As terrible as it does sound, i have no idea what the brands of all my bulbs are, i was recommended if I see something from the flukers brand get it! And im worried about what to do with the live plants, a few weeks ago we bought an umbrella plant that we read was highly recommended for chameleons, and we took out most of his fake leaves and put the plant in there instead, when we placed him back in he hated the live plant! he was climbing on the sides and across the top, refused to climb on it, or in it at all! so we took it out placed all the fake leaves and branches back in and he was fine. we washed the plant off really good to make sure there was no poisons on it, what should I do about that?! keep the fake plants?

they crawl upside down, its totally normal, as he gets bigger, he will stop.
for uvb bulbs, reptiglo or reptisun UVB bulbs, 5.0 are what we use.
the umbrella plant is fine, he freaked cuz it was new to him, they dotn always do well with change.

live platns help with humidity, so put it back in. coverthe soil with large river rocks.

and dont be surpirsed if he eventually munches it. veileds can and will eat veggies and fruits.

also, you should find sandrachameleon's blog on gutloading.

 

[camimom]

I have just been gut loading the crickets he eats i havent been putting any sort of vitamins! which should I get im not sure what to look for, as i said before all i know is what ive found online and what i hear from the petsmart man (not good advice obviously)

reptivite is a good multivitamin.
you may not find the calcium without d3 in a store, so may need to order online.

 

[Pascalperfect]

at night it gets around 70 degrees, is that fine? I heard the babies are good with making up their own body heat for the most part so i havent been too worried about not enough heat, and he hasnt shown any signs of being cold (turning the black color). As he grows i will probably have to pay even more attention to his lighting though!

 

[camimom]

at night it gets around 70 degrees, is that fine? I heard the babies are good with making up their own body heat for the most part so i havent been too worried about not enough heat, and he hasnt shown any signs of being cold (turning the black color). As he grows i will probably have to pay even more attention to his lighting though!

its fine yes. if it gets over that, you may need to learn to cool it.

and chams cant make heat, they are reptiles, cold blooded, which is why we have to provide basking spots.

 

[Pascalperfect]

again, all information is from petsmart and their genius staff haha.
Ok, So I will take out the bark and learn about the vitamins he needs!
calcium without d3 everyday, with d3 twice a month, and multivitamin twice a month.
does that apply for pascals whole life or change as he gets older?
& I should put the plant back in, I will keep you updated on how he reacts to it, its strange and the frist time we did it, it worried me!

 

[camimom]

he jst has to get used to it.
petsmart... not so pet smart. lol. pun intended.

and yes on the dusting, and no it doesnt change as he gets older.

 

[Pascalperfect]

Thankyou so much for the helpful tips!
Im so excited, and even happier that Pascal is the baby BOY I was hoping for