I got home later than I expected last night and the sun had already gone down. I was unable to bring an adult veiled inside because both he and the tree he was on were unmoveable. When I got up this morning, it was 44F/6.5C. I usually like to bring him in if it's going to be below 55F. Before the sun had even hit his cage, and the ambient temp was still below 60F, he had already moved to the first corner that would receive sun and eagerly took a couple of superworms that I held for him.

Since the species is more widespread in the mountains and high plateaus of Yemen I would assume that many, if not all, of the founding wild caught animals came from these areas. Anyone know for sure? Anyway, the mountains and high plateaus experience even lower nighttime temps with "severe frosts" being common. Obviously the veileds don't "need" a major temperature drop at night, but I was wondering if anyone has done it in captivity long-term in the attempt to as closely recreate natural conditions as possible.

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1000.1000 Anthozoa

I let the temp go down to about 60 degrees f. at night.
A LOT of people who feel like they need night time heaters on their veileds need to read this thread.
Tyler has had experience with keeping them outside and temps going into the 40's.

-Brad

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Same here... In the cham room I let it get to high 50 low 60 at night just to give them a drop from the mid to high 70 that I keep the room at. I would feel fine with leaving them outside most of the year here in vegas, however it is starting to dip into the 30's at night so they are inside. I had mine outside when it was getting into the high 50's at night. Im sure they would be OK at 44, but just because you can I would bring em inside... Better safe than sorry. How hot is it getting during the day in your area?

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It's only been getting up to 70-71 the last few days. I think it's supposed to be 78 tomorrow though. And they're saying it's only going to drop to 54 tonight. But, almost everyday he has plenty of unfiltered sun to turn dark and sit in for hours if he wanted to, but he doesn't. I think he's a highland chameleon for sure.

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1000.1000 Anthozoa

I am going to get one of them new fangled temp guns in the spring so when I keep them outside I can tell how warm they are when basking. At 70 outside mine seem ok, I want to know the temp on the skin when they turn into the heat dish mode.

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Did a little research. Ch. c. calyptratus is known from a mountain town called Ibb. They average 80 inches of rain per year so obviously they do quite well there. Of interest to the topic though is that the average daytime highs during January are 68F/20C. Obviously there's got to be periods where it's only getting up to the low 60s during the day, as well as warmer periods too. During July the average daily high is 86F/29.somethingC. Supposedly "severe" frosts during the winter....Sounds like the conditions here are very similar but don't include the "severe" frosts. Although my next door neighbor said there was some frost on her windshield this morning...

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1000.1000 Anthozoa

I think the coldest temp for san diego area will still be tolerable for veiled.
I'm pretty sure sometimes in the yemen, it gets a bit colder than San Diego

just wondering since you are in san diego..and you keep your veiled cham outside.
You know how South CA gets hotter and hotter each summer..
this years it gets to 106 F.
Do you take your veiled inside and turn on the AC?

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I'm very close to the coast which keeps the temps much more even. I think the warmest it got here over the last summer was the low 90s. Go 15 miles inland on those days and it was 110+ though. The ocean also keeps our winter temps more moderate too, although last year, for the first time I can remember, it dropped a couple degrees below freezing.

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1000.1000 Anthozoa

I keep my house pretty cool in the winter, and since Butter is in the living room on the first floor , it is even cooler. The temp in that room at night is around 50. F. I do keep a ceramic heat lamp on top of his cage on cold nights, but I have it on a reiostat, on low. The bottom of the cage is in the mid 50's and the top at 60. I usually find him in the early morning, mid cage.

I did not use any heat until a couple weeks ago for him, but watching the temps in the cage, decided to try this.

it might be average daytime high of 68f in january its gonna be higher in direct sun.