Help needed - 2 month veil chameleon refusing to eat

[Nyssako]

Hello, my 2 months veiled chameleon refuses to eat. Currently we only have basking light, pet shop will get the us light in few days and will upgrade.
At the beginning she easily ate 3 crickets a day for few days, we have moved her to large 45x60 cm.
She has places to hide/crawl.
I tried to feed her crickets and worms as well,
Her interest wears off easily. It’s been 1 week since we have her, she lets crickets run around the terrarium without touching, I made worm cup on the wall but she doesn’t touch them as well. What could be the reason

 

[Nyssako]

 

[Nyssako]

I’m using calcium supplement from Xterra and reverse osmosis filtered water for misting

 

[kinyonga]

Is the calcium just calcium? No D3?

If you answer the questions in this thread, we can go over your husbandry. I see things hat need to be addressed already.

Whats the basking temperature?

She’s definitely on the thin side.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! A lot of things is connected to our husbandry (how we care for them). I do see quite a few things in your set up that need to change for your darling little one to grow up healthy and strong.

Lets start with a few questions I have: How long have you had him/her? What kind of feeders are you feeding baby and how big are they? Has baby ever been tested for parasites?

I'm going to send you a copy of our husbandry review, the more info you can give us about your little one the better we can help you

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem -

 

[Nyssako]

Its 50 watt lamp, will be able to share the temperature and humidity level shortly.
thank you for quick response, I’ve received very contradictory information at the store, not many vets in Republic of Georgia specializing in reptiles so please let me know everything that I can fix

 

[Nyssako]

Hello and welcome! A lot of things is connected to our husbandry (how we care for them). I do see quite a few things in your set up that need to change for your darling little one to grow up healthy and strong.

Lets start with a few questions I have: How long have you had him/her? What kind of feeders are you feeding baby and how big are they? Has baby ever been tested for parasites?

I'm going to send you a copy of our husbandry review, the more info you can give us about your little one the better we can help you

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem -

Veiled female, 2 months old.
I try not to handle her she gets very defensive and scared even when I get close to glass.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, female 2 months old. 10 days
• Handling - once in 2 days, se gets scared when anyone i near the terrarum.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? crickets and meal worms - 24 hours before feeding; 3 crickets in the morning 10 am and 2 after 5pm. or 6 worms.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule? Exo Terra calcium along feeding.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? misting with RO water; at night 20 mins after turning off basking lamp. in the morning before turning it on. yes she's drinking water.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? not tested for parasites, dark brown firm
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Combo 45x60 cm
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 9 am to 10 pm, exo terra 50w basking bulb
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? (currently installing thermo/humidity meter )
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? dried bamboo stick, boiled
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 100 cm from the floor; there's heating radiator nearby
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Republic of Georgia, Tbilisi

 

[elizaann2]

Its 50 watt lamp, will be able to share the temperature and humidity level shortly.
thank you for quick response, I’ve received very contradictory information at the store, not many vets in Republic of Georgia specializing in reptiles so please let me know everything that I can fix View attachment 349435

I hear ya, there is a lot of incorrect information about the care of chameleons out there. Lets see what we can help you with here.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello! See my answers below in red

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, female 2 months old. 10 days. Your chameleon is quite young, most chameleons are not recommended to be sent to their 'forever homes' until they are at least 3-4 months old and are at a specific weight. You'll want to make sure that your husbandry is on point for him/her because when they are that young they are very fragile and have no reserves in their body to fall back on if something isnt correct in their environment.
• Handling - once in 2 days, se gets scared when anyone i near the terrarum. That sounds normal to me, chameleons are actually quite shy lizards. You'll want to view your chameleon more like a pet fish. Its fun to take care of the environment, fun to feed it, fun to observe, but its not a tactile animal you will hold often as it can cause unnecessary stress. Times where it would be appropriate to handle your cham is when you are doing deep cleaning on the enclosure, when you are doing a physical check, taking it to the vet or taking it outside for some supervised outdoor time. I would give your baby a minimum of 30 days to get used to its new environment or more if you can.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? crickets and meal worms - 24 hours before feeding; 3 crickets in the morning 10 am and 2 after 5pm. or 6 worms. What size are the bugs? With your cham being so small you'll want to be feeding it pretty small bugs. Crickets are good staple feeders but the mealworms don't really have any nutritional value in them. If you can get other feeders such as grasshoppers, silkworms or bsfl that would be great. Don't feed any bug that is bigger than the space between your cham's eyes. With a cham as young as yours you'll want to feed it as many little bugs as it will eat in a 30 minute window. Where your baby isnt eating I would suggest getting something in the enclosure that will contain the bugs and you can leave the bugs in the enclosure all day. Remove any uneaten bugs at the end of the day so the bugs don't chew on your baby in the night. I'll attach a document with great examples of feeder bugs as well as great fruits and veggies you'll want to gut-load your bugs with before feeding them to your chameleon. Healthy bugs mean a healthy cham.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule? Exo Terra calcium along feeding. Will you please share a photo of the supplements you use? Your baby will need phosphorus free calcium WITHOUT vitamin D3 dusted on every feedging and then 2x a month a multi vitamin and 2x a month a calcium WITH D3. Its a little complicated so lets see what you have first and then we can work on getting you the rest of what you need.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? misting with RO water; at night 20 mins after turning off basking lamp. in the morning before turning it on. yes she's drinking water. Misting for 20 minutes seems excessive. Do you have a hand mister or are you using an automatic mister? You'll want to mist the enclosure at least 30 minutes before lights turn on so baby wakes up and can drink the dew off the leaves in the morning when it wakes up, and then again just before lights turn off. Most of us mist for 2-3 minutes each session and then install a dripper on the top of the enclosure around 3 pm for an extra drinking opportunity. Where you currently have baby in an all glass enclosure you'll want to make sure that the humidity levels stay where they need to during the day at no higher than 50%. High humidity and high heat creates respiratory infections so we want to be careful.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? not tested for parasites, dark brown firm. Do you see any white/yellow/orange part of the poop as well? That is called the urate, it is basically the chameleon pee. We often look at this to tell us how hydrated our chameleons are. White or a little yellow is hydrated. Orange and red is dehydrated. Let me know what your chams looks like, if you want to share a photo as well that would be just fine
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

 

[elizaann2]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Combo 45x60 cm. Unfortunately what you currently have baby in is much too small. You'll need a minimum size of 60x60x121. Many of us have enclosures like this or similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Reptibreeze-...d=1704816407&sprefix=reptibree,aps,179&sr=8-2
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 9 am to 10 pm, exo terra 50w basking bulb. Ok good, do you have a UVB light as well? chameleons require UVB to develop strong healthy bones and muscles. Without it they will develop a disease called MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) which is very painful. If you don't have a UVB you'll need to get one ASAP. Many of us use this one here: https://www.amazon.com/Arcadia-Rept...id=1704816553&sprefix=arcadia+,aps,180&sr=8-9 When you get the UVB light make sure it is a T5HO linear light and hood, the screw in UVB bulbs unfortunately do not work effectively enough for chameleons.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? (currently installing thermo/humidity meter ). Sounds good, once you have that in please let me know what your temps and humidity levels are. This is very important for the health of your chameleon
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? dried bamboo stick, boiled. Chameleon's are aboreal animals and spend their lives up in the trees. You will need to add many many more sticks for your chameleon to move around in their enclosure. You can use sticks that you find outside in your yard or a park just make sure the sticks do not come from sap producing trees or have a strong smell to them. Wash them with soap and hot water and rinse, rinse, rinse. Let them dry in the sun and then you can attach them in your enclosure. Same goes for the plants, you will need many more plants. chameleon's require a lot of plant coverage in their enclosure so they can hide when they need to to feel secure. I'll attach a document with plants that we know are chameleon safe. Do not use any fake plants, veiled chameleons tend to nibble on the plants in their enclosure and this will cause an impaction issue. I'm also going to attach some photos of one of my enclosures so you can see what I am talking about a necessary set up for your cham. Lots of branches and lots of plant coverage, specially in the middle, you'll basically want to create a 'curtain' of plant coverage.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 100 cm from the floor; there's heating radiator nearby. This is a good start. The higher your enclosure can be the better, height equals safety to chameleons. All my enclosures are set up on tables high enough so the top branches in their enclosures go above the top of my head.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Republic of Georgia, Tbilisi. Very awesome!! Welcome welcome!!

Some great places for good information on chameleons are:
The Chameleon Academy Website and YouTube
Neptune the Chameleon Website and YouTube

This is the care sheet I use for my veiled chameleon

 

[Nyssako]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Combo 45x60 cm. Unfortunately what you currently have baby in is much too small. You'll need a minimum size of 60x60x121. Many of us have enclosures like this or similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Reptibreeze-Open-Aluminum-Screen-Cage/dp/B0CMS2SMBX/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1UYUXD1OECKJV&keywords=reptibreeze+xl+24x24x48&qid=1704816407&sprefix=reptibree,aps,179&sr=8-2
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 9 am to 10 pm, exo terra 50w basking bulb. Ok good, do you have a UVB light as well? chameleons require UVB to develop strong healthy bones and muscles. Without it they will develop a disease called MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) which is very painful. If you don't have a UVB you'll need to get one ASAP. Many of us use this one here: https://www.amazon.com/Arcadia-Reptile-Forest-6-UV-B-Single/dp/B09T96TPHJ/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1E64725K14QZL&keywords=arcadia+t5+uvb+reptile+light+fixture&qid=1704816553&sprefix=arcadia+,aps,180&sr=8-9 When you get the UVB light make sure it is a T5HO linear light and hood, the screw in UVB bulbs unfortunately do not work effectively enough for chameleons.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? (currently installing thermo/humidity meter ). Sounds good, once you have that in please let me know what your temps and humidity levels are. This is very important for the health of your chameleon
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? dried bamboo stick, boiled. Chameleon's are aboreal animals and spend their lives up in the trees. You will need to add many many more sticks for your chameleon to move around in their enclosure. You can use sticks that you find outside in your yard or a park just make sure the sticks do not come from sap producing trees or have a strong smell to them. Wash them with soap and hot water and rinse, rinse, rinse. Let them dry in the sun and then you can attach them in your enclosure. Same goes for the plants, you will need many more plants. chameleon's require a lot of plant coverage in their enclosure so they can hide when they need to to feel secure. I'll attach a document with plants that we know are chameleon safe. Do not use any fake plants, veiled chameleons tend to nibble on the plants in their enclosure and this will cause an impaction issue. I'm also going to attach some photos of one of my enclosures so you can see what I am talking about a necessary set up for your cham. Lots of branches and lots of plant coverage, specially in the middle, you'll basically want to create a 'curtain' of plant coverage.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 100 cm from the floor; there's heating radiator nearby. This is a good start. The higher your enclosure can be the better, height equals safety to chameleons. All my enclosures are set up on tables high enough so the top branches in their enclosures go above the top of my head.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Republic of Georgia, Tbilisi. Very awesome!! Welcome welcome!!

Some great places for good information on chameleons are:
The Chameleon Academy Website and YouTube
Neptune the Chameleon Website and YouTube

This is the care sheet I use for my veiled chameleon

Thank you for the warm welcome
Temperature is 27 degrees Celsius and humidity 60%, I’m using Xiaomi humidity and temperature meter.
I’m using coconut soil with leaves and climber branches, will be adding the Cham friendly plants in few hours.

Waiting for the shipment for UVB light hopefully will get here tomorrow

 

[Nyssako]

Hello! See my answers below in red

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, female 2 months old. 10 days. Your chameleon is quite young, most chameleons are not recommended to be sent to their 'forever homes' until they are at least 3-4 months old and are at a specific weight. You'll want to make sure that your husbandry is on point for him/her because when they are that young they are very fragile and have no reserves in their body to fall back on if something isnt correct in their environment.
• Handling - once in 2 days, se gets scared when anyone i near the terrarum. That sounds normal to me, chameleons are actually quite shy lizards. You'll want to view your chameleon more like a pet fish. Its fun to take care of the environment, fun to feed it, fun to observe, but its not a tactile animal you will hold often as it can cause unnecessary stress. Times where it would be appropriate to handle your cham is when you are doing deep cleaning on the enclosure, when you are doing a physical check, taking it to the vet or taking it outside for some supervised outdoor time. I would give your baby a minimum of 30 days to get used to its new environment or more if you can.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? crickets and meal worms - 24 hours before feeding; 3 crickets in the morning 10 am and 2 after 5pm. or 6 worms. What size are the bugs? With your cham being so small you'll want to be feeding it pretty small bugs. Crickets are good staple feeders but the mealworms don't really have any nutritional value in them. If you can get other feeders such as grasshoppers, silkworms or bsfl that would be great. Don't feed any bug that is bigger than the space between your cham's eyes. With a cham as young as yours you'll want to feed it as many little bugs as it will eat in a 30 minute window. Where your baby isnt eating I would suggest getting something in the enclosure that will contain the bugs and you can leave the bugs in the enclosure all day. Remove any uneaten bugs at the end of the day so the bugs don't chew on your baby in the night. I'll attach a document with great examples of feeder bugs as well as great fruits and veggies you'll want to gut-load your bugs with before feeding them to your chameleon. Healthy bugs mean a healthy cham.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule? Exo Terra calcium along feeding. Will you please share a photo of the supplements you use? Your baby will need phosphorus free calcium WITHOUT vitamin D3 dusted on every feedging and then 2x a month a multi vitamin and 2x a month a calcium WITH D3. Its a little complicated so lets see what you have first and then we can work on getting you the rest of what you need.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? misting with RO water; at night 20 mins after turning off basking lamp. in the morning before turning it on. yes she's drinking water. Misting for 20 minutes seems excessive. Do you have a hand mister or are you using an automatic mister? You'll want to mist the enclosure at least 30 minutes before lights turn on so baby wakes up and can drink the dew off the leaves in the morning when it wakes up, and then again just before lights turn off. Most of us mist for 2-3 minutes each session and then install a dripper on the top of the enclosure around 3 pm for an extra drinking opportunity. Where you currently have baby in an all glass enclosure you'll want to make sure that the humidity levels stay where they need to during the day at no higher than 50%. High humidity and high heat creates respiratory infections so we want to be careful.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? not tested for parasites, dark brown firm. Do you see any white/yellow/orange part of the poop as well? That is called the urate, it is basically the chameleon pee. We often look at this to tell us how hydrated our chameleons are. White or a little yellow is hydrated. Orange and red is dehydrated. Let me know what your chams looks like, if you want to share a photo as well that would be just fine
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Thank you for warm welcome and informative answer

I added silkworms as well, with crickets many I purchased were too big and smaller ones were not available.


This is the calcium I’m using it doesn’t have D3 and phosphorus.

Sorry For 20 mins I meant after lights out period, I use hand mister 2-3 minutes.


In fecal part there was light yellowish/cream part as well.

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you for warm welcome and informative answer

I added silkworms as well, with crickets many I purchased were too big and smaller ones were not available.


This is the calcium I’m using it doesn’t have D3 and phosphorus.

View attachment 349454

Sorry For 20 mins I meant after lights out period, I use hand mister 2-3 minutes.


In fecal part there was light yellowish/cream part as well.

Hello! Ok it looks like your supplement is only calcium. You will need a multivitamin and a D3 supplement as well. I like this one. https://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Calc...1704831758&sprefix=Repashy+LoD,aps,148&sr=8-1
Its a multivitamin and D3 combined so you just need to use this on the 1st and 15th of each month, the other days you would use your calcium.

 

[Nyssako]

Hello! Ok it looks like your supplement is only calcium. You will need a multivitamin and a D3 supplement as well. I like this one. https://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Calcium-Plus-LoD-JAR/dp/B00DLJRMV2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2W44GJMK8KD2L&keywords=repashy+lod&qid=1704831758&sprefix=Repashy+LoD,aps,148&sr=8-1
Its a multivitamin and D3 combined so you just need to use this on the 1st and 15th of each month, the other days you would use your calcium.

She started eating like crazy this morning devoured all the worms and small crickets
she moves around way more and doesn't seem as stressed.
will take all the recommendations step by step.

Thank you for the support will share the new set up as soon as upgraded.

 

[elizaann2]

She started eating like crazy this morning devoured all the worms and small crickets
she moves around way more and doesn't seem as stressed.
will take all the recommendations step by step.

Thank you for the support will share the new set up as soon as upgraded.

That is wonderful news! Please keep us updated on how she is doing and all your upgrades

Correct supplementation and UVB is vital, without both her health will decline so start with those.