Quick introduction and advice needed

[Raven]

Hey everyone! This is my introduction to this amazing forum website I was introduced to through Reddit. My name is Raven, I like to go by Kidd Rave on social media accounts and web forums. I am 34 years old today actually. Or I guess it would technically be yesterday because it's now a couple hours past midnight.
Anywho, I joined this forums site because I am a new-again Chameleon care taker. Years ago when I was about 16 or 17 years old I had the pleasure of getting my first cham from PetSmart of all places. I realize now that getting any animal from PetSmart is probably a bad idea. I love the place as a pet supply and grooming store but I truly believe that they should not be allowed to sell warm blooded animals, fish, or reptiles. But, enough about PetSmart. Back to my first experience with a veiled chameleon. His name was Marvin the Martian and was a 2 month old male veiled chameleon. Ohhhh I loved him so very much. He was my little buddy. Such a sweet little dude, never seemed to get stressed. He had so much personality and was just amazing. Wasn't shy at all. He went everywhere with me and everywhere we went people just loved Marvin.Unfortunately all the happy times came to an abrupt halt when I came hone from school one day. I came home and threw my book bag down and ran straight up to Marvin's home and found him laying at the bottom of his cage, barely moving and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Later that night he passed away. All these years I never could figure out what happened to him. I mainly just blamed it on my lack of knowledge on how to properly care for a cham, which is mostly the truth. Now that I have my new cham, after all the research I've done, I believe I now understand why Marvin passed away. It had to have been MBD. I didn't have him in a proper enclosure in the first place, I wasn't misting properly, only had a basking light instead of having both a basking light and a UVB light as well as a night time heat source, and I wasn't feeding him a proper diet. I fed him only crickets and had no idea I had to dust them with calcium powder without D3 or give him vitamins. Simply put, I was too young and irresponsible and didn't do what I was supposed to do which was do my own research instead of listening to what the incorrect advice that the people at the pet store I got him from gave me.
Now I am 34 years old and have decided to try this again, but do it the proper way this time. I have done a ton of research about caring for chameleons beforehand and made sure to have his screened in habitat put together before he arrived. I bought my little man from UGR and received him on April 6th. So I've had him for 5 days now. He came in the mail and was very healthy upon arrival. He is a 2 month old male veiled cham and his name is Bling. He was actually hatched on my youngest daughter's birthday! Feb 4th. I call him my Bling Baby. I really wanted to name him Diamond but that was just too girly in my opinion for a male, so Bling it is. He is a lot different from Marvin. He gets stressed out quite easily and absolutely hates being looked at. Ohhhh he would get so mad at me when I misted his habitat at first, but he is starting to come around and I think he is even getting to where he likes it when I mist him and his cage down. He is confused and unsure of what is going on, I'm almost sure of it. He spends most of his time hiding behind his plant and is not sociable at all. He does not want to be messed with, that's for sure. But nevertheless I respect him and leave him be for the most part. I just love him from a distance and try my best to offer him the best nutritional diet, but I'm having difficulties with it and I'm thinking it might be because of his unsureness of his new home. The very first day I got him I offered him a cricket and he snatched it up quick like and ate it. But that was the only cricket he ate for three entire days. I was getting really really worried so on the night of day three I ordered him some hornworms from eBay. Now I know that ordering from eBay, the worms won't arrive fast enough. So, on day four I started opening the blinds and the window. I have his habitat in front of a big bay window in my bedroom. I then decided to go to PetSmart and buy him some mealworms. Came home and offered him 6 of them, undusted and..... victory!!! He ate 3 of them. I put three more in his bowl and he ate three more. Odd, he likes to keep three mealworms in his bowl. But whatever, he ate and I was happy. That night before I went to bed I made sure there were 6 mealworms in his bowl but this time I did dust them. He ate one and wouldn't touch anymore for hours. I decided to leave to go visit my sister and before I did I threw in two crickets. Come back home and the two crickets are still in his cage, untouched and I found that he ate 1-1/2 mealworms. Yeah.... I found a half eaten mealworm in his food bowl. So this is the conclusion I have come to... he don't like crickets for some reason and evidently he don't like his mealworms being dusted with calcium. I make sure his basking temp stays around 90-95F and the bottom of his home stays between 72-85F. The humidity tends to stay around 70 at the top of his home and 100 at the bottom. I did notice that he has been much happier and content since I started opening the blinds and window for him. Does anyone have any advise they can give me about this issue with him not wanting to eat crickets, not wanting to eat as much as he should and not wanting to eat his mealworms when they're dusted? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Y'all stay safe out there and remember to keep yourselves sanitized and healthy!!! It is a pleasure to be a part of this wonderful community!!!

 

[Beman]

Hi there and welcome. You will need to post this form in this link fully filled out with pictures https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

And you want to post it in this area https://www.chameleonforums.com/forums/health-clinic.7/

You will not get much feed back in this area of the forum as members have to check this one rather then seeing a new thread. I will say you have multiple husbandry issues. Basking is far to hot and the humidity is far to high. Also mealworms are not a good feeder as they are high in chitin and very very low in nutrition.
I am guessing the crickets are either too large or you are trying to hand feed and he is not up for that.

 

[kinyonga]

Could you answer the questions in the how to ask for help thread near the top of the health forum so we can check out your husbandry please. Please be specific in your answers telling the brands, etc of things.

Could you post a photo or two as well.


Belated happy birthday! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Raven]

Sure thing! I’ll try and find where the questions are on here. In the meantime I’ll try my best to answer as many questions I think you might need to know. As you know, I’m brand new to this site so I’m still trying to figure out how to do things. It took me hours to figure out how to write a blog. Lol! I’ll attach some pics of him and his habitat. The picture of his back feet are for reference that he is a boy (I believe). Reason I did that is because I posted a normal pic of him on Reddit and a few people told me that he might be a girl. So I checked and took pictures to have confirmation from my new peers that he is actually a boy because I think I’m second guessing myself. Also included a picture of the kit I’m using for him as well as his thermometer and hygrometer/thermometer. The yellow zoo med thermometer shows the temp at the bottom of his habitat and the the pic of the hygrometer shows the temp of the top portion. Right now it’s in the upper 80’s for the top and 74.3 for the bottom. During the day if it is nice out and there is hardly any wind I’ll open the window that is behind his home. He seems to really love it. I’ve even seen him hanging onto his wall, looking out. We live about a block from the beach so we have naturally high humidity here. For his lights I use the ZooMed Daylight Blue reptile bulb that came with the kit and ZooMed 5.0 UVB during the day. For night I turn off the UVB and switch the daylight for a 60 Watt Thrive Nighttime Heat Bulb for all reptiles. It barely puts any light out at all. It’s mainly just for heat. The humidity at the top of his habitat usually stays around 60-upper 80s. The hygrometer fell to the bottom of his habitat one day and the humidity read 100 at the bottom of his cage and I know why. This is how I have his habitat set up, I layered coconut husk at the bottom and sprayed it to dampen it then I layered moss on top of it and sprayed that down. The moss I’m using came from a kit I bought called Thrive tropical decorating kit. It has 6 tropical mosses: •sheet moss •Pillow moss •Reindeer Moss • Green Sphagnum Moss • Blonde Sphagnum moss •Moss Rope.
I’m using the coconut husk and moss to keep the humidity up. Also have a waterfall in there to keep the humidity high and also for him to have an option to drink from running water. I’ve caught him drinking from it a couple of times. I spray his cage a lot. More than 2 times a day for sure. I spray at least 5-6 times a day and the last time I spray is at night before I turn his day lights out. He absolutely hates it when I spray. Lol! Before I go to bed I make sure to put some mealworms in his food dish for him to eat in the morning since I know they like to eat right before the sun comes up or right after. After I wake up, I put 2 crickets in for him. I’ll give him one bigger one and one smaller one. He won’t touch them. I take them out before night because I know they will bite him. His habitat is located in front of a south facing bay window in my bedroom. Even though it’s a south facing window the sun that shines through isn’t too intense. It’s just right for him in my opinion. I know my plants thrived right there. I used to have my Strelitzia Reginae sitting there during the winter and she absolutely thrived there. So did my Tacca Chantrieri. Anyway, I dust his mealworms with calcium without the D3 and I try to do it every day since I figured out that he likes mealworms instead of crickets but when he don’t eat them I give him dusted mealworms just so he will eat. I don’t mess with him too much. I do want to have a bond with him so every now and then I will try to get him out with a flattened hand placed right below him but he runs and hides so I don’t force him. Today though, I kinda did have to force him out so I could check and make certain he is actually a boy, but it was surprisingly easy. He won’t come to me but for some reason he really likes my 8 year old little girl. When she stands next to me he will come to me. Her and I watch tons of YouTube videos on how to care for chams and the proper way to handle them and get them to crawl onto your hand. She was correcting me today. Lol! I made sure to teach both of my kids, 4 and 8, how to act around the chameleon, not to make too much noise and how to handle him. They know we can’t pet him because his skin is so thin it hurts him. Both of my girls are animal lovers and have been begging for a pet. So, they both actually engage in learning about chameleons. And they respect him. At night when his lights are out they make sure they’re quiet when they are close to my bedroom, they won’t go in my room and turn the lights on. And they won’t open his cage at all. They know that when he starts turning dark, he is getting stressed out and they need to just walk away and give him his peace. So, my children are good with him. They really love and respect the little guy.
Oh, and I have a 55 inch TV in my room and since I’ve had him I haven’t been turning it on because I don’t want to cause him any stress. Actually, I’m not sure if it is ok to turn my Tv on. I know he gets stressed out when we simply look at him so I’m worried about turning the TV on especially because it’s not a small one. I haven’t read or watched anything anywhere on that topic but I think it would be really useful information to have. I want to do everything right for my little guy. I think that might cover any info you need on husbandry and care but

if you need any more info, please let me know. I do have a question. I watched a video that recommend that you let your Cham soak or swim for 10 minutes once or twice a week. What is your opinion on this? I also want to thank you very much for taking time out of your day to help me out and also the happy birthday wish! Now I’d like to say Happy Easter to you! Again, thank you so much for your time.

 

[Raven]

Hi there and welcome. You will need to post this form in this link fully filled out with pictures https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

And you want to post it in this area https://www.chameleonforums.com/forums/health-clinic.7/

You will not get much feed back in this area of the forum as members have to check this one rather then seeing a new thread. I will say you have multiple husbandry issues. Basking is far to hot and the humidity is far to high. Also mealworms are not a good feeder as they are high in chitin and very very low in nutrition.
I am guessing the crickets are either too large or you are trying to hand feed and he is not up for that.

 

[Raven]

Hello! Thank you for the reply! May i ask what I am doing wrong as far as my husbandry? What do I need to correct? What are good temp levels and humidity levels? I’ve done research and I’m finding varying info. A lot of forums say a good basking temp is 90-95F and the ambient temp should be between mid 70s and mid 80s. One forum I read suggested that the basking temp be 105F!!! I’m not going to do that. I think that’s way too high. I’m also reading that humidity should be between 80-90. At this very moment his basking temp is reading 90F. Ambient is reading 76.1. Humidity is reading around 56. As far as crickets go, since it is a screen enclosure I let them go around free range because they stay at the top near the light. It’s super easy for him to get but he just won’t. I put two in there at a time and to figure out which one he will go for first I’ll put one medium size one and one smaller one in there. They are gut loaded. I use Romain lettuce, strawberry, carrot and potato. He won’t touch them. So I put the mealworms in there and they’re in a bowl. He will only eat those. He eats more if they’re not dusted with calcium. If I dust them he only eats a couple. It’s like he is trying to tell me he’s hungry but he refuses to eat any cricket and he dislikes the calcium powder. I can’t buy hornworms where I’m at so I ordered some off of eBay. As far as roaches go, I can’t. I’m deathly afraid of them and unfortunately we have those big huge flying ones where I live. No matter who you are or how you keep your home, they get in every now and then. I can’t handle them. I’ll start crying, gagging, throwing up. It’s bad. I have nightmares about them occasionally. No way in hell I’ll do the roaches. I’ll die of a heart attack. Lmao! The hornworms should be here tomorrow or the next day. Soon I’ll introduce some vegetation. Mustard greens, collard greens, strawberries and blueberries and see if he eats that. I’m also going to try silkworms and stick bugs. I hope he eats those. I’ve tried to hand feed him but he will not let me. So I put his food in there and let him do his thing. I will be sure to find that forum with the questions. Thank you very much. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Raven]

Hi there and welcome. You will need to post this form in this link fully filled out with pictures https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

And you want to post it in this area https://www.chameleonforums.com/forums/health-clinic.7/

You will not get much feed back in this area of the forum as members have to check this one rather then seeing a new thread. I will say you have multiple husbandry issues. Basking is far to hot and the humidity is far to high. Also mealworms are not a good feeder as they are high in chitin and very very low in nutrition.
I am guessing the crickets are either too large or you are trying to hand feed and he is not up for that.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon, 2 months old, 6 days.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I’ve held him twice so far. The first day I got him and again today to confirm he is a boy.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Right now I’m offering gut loaded crickets but he won’t eat them. I offer one medium size and one small size. I also offer mealworms. He will eat those. I make sure he has a constant supply of 6 mealworms at a time. If he eats three, I replace three. The most he has eaten in one day is 6, but that was only once. The amount he eats varies. One day he only ate 2-1/2 mealworms. For the past two days I have noticed a tha there are usually a few fruit flys flying around inside of his cage. I’m not sure if he eats those. I never see him do so but then again I try to respect him because he hates it when I look at him. It really makes him mad. I gut load my feeders with carrots, potatoes, lettuce and strawberries.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repti Calcium Ultrafine Precipitated Calcium Carbonate Supplement without D3. I dust every feeding except Sunday because on Sunday I use Zoo Med’s Reptivite Reptile Vitamins. I will be switching to a better multi vitamin very soon.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? There is a waterfall in his enclosure and I mist his enclosure down at least 5-6 times a day. Yes, I have seen him drink both from the leaves and the waterfall.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? I have only found one fecal dropping since I have had him. It was the day after he arrived. It was dark with white urate. No, i have not had him tested for parasites yet and plan to do a fecal test as soon as it is possible to do so as well as a test for parasites.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
• When I first got him he ate one cricket. It wasn’t from my hands. I introduced him to his enclosure and offered a few crickets. He saw a bigger one on the side of his enclosure and snatched it up. Every since then he refuses to eat crickets. He went three days without eating anything but then started eating mealworms and now that’s the only thing he will eat. I do offer crickets every day and take them out every night.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? It is a ReptiBreeze Open Air Black Aluminum Screen Cage. 16”x16”x30”.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? ZooMed Mini Combo Deep Dome Dual Lamp Fixture. Daytime I use a ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 UVB bulb plus a ZooMed Daylight Blue reptile Bulb. There is no blue light emitted from the bulb that I can see. For nighttime I turn the UVB bulb off and switch the daytime bulb for a 60 WATT Thrive Nighttime Heat bulb for all reptiles. There’s barely any light at all. It’s a very very dim purplish color. I turn the day lights on at sunrise and turn them off at sunset.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking temp usually stays around 90F during the day. 80-85F at night. Cage floor ranges in temp from 72F- 85F during the day. I’ve seen it drop between upper 60’s to lower 70’s at night. I measure the top temp with a Thrive Thermometer and Hygrometer combo and the bottom temp with a ZooMed Digital Thermometer.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? There are two different humidity levels. On the top the humidity ranges between mid 50’s to 90. Right now the top is at 58 it looks like. One time the hygrometer was reading 60 then fell to the bottom and read 100. This is how I keep the humidity up. First and foremost, I live in south Mississippi right off the beach. We have a subtropical environment and it is usually pretty humid here. Both outside and inside. I layered his cage with coconut husk and sprayed it to dampen then layered different types of moss that I bought in a pack from PetSmart. It’s a Thrive moss set that is used not only for decoration but also as a means of keeping humidity levels up. It comes with 6 different types of moss including a moss rope and moss sheets. I sprayed that down too to get it dampened. There is also a Thrive Tropical Waterfall Cascade in his enclosure. I clean it every other day.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No live plants yet but I am thinking about putting a marble queen Pothos plant in there and also thinking about putting a bleeding heart vine in there for him but have to do research on it before I do to make sure it is safe. I’m also thinking about putting a Variegated Brazil Philodendron vine in there for him. Question... does anyone know if Bleeding Heart Vines or Philodendron Vines are safe? I haven’t seen anyone else use them.
• 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? His enclosure is in front of a south facing bay window in my bedroom. It gets a good amount of sun but also has a lot of trees back there that make it to where the sun isn’t too strong. On nice sunny breezy days I open the window and blinds for him and he seems to love it. It is not near any air vents or fans. The top is somewhere around 4-1/2 feet off the ground. His enclosure sits on a tv stand that sits about 2 feet off of the ground.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? About a block off the beach in southern Mississippi.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
My Bling Baby ate one cricket the day he came home and refused to eat at all for three days after that. On the fourth day he ate 6 mealworms that weren’t dusted with calcium. On the fifth day I offered him six meal worms that were dusted with calcium and he only ate 2-1/2.
I offer him crickets as well but he refuses to eat them. It doesn’t matter if they’re dusted or not and doesn’t matter what size they are. He simply refuses to eat crickets. The only thing he will eat so far is mealworms. He doesn’t seem to like the calcium powder either. He eats less when I dust his mealworms.
These are the only two feeder options that I can find where I’m at so I’m having to order other feeders off of the internet. I do have some baby hornworms coming in the mail that should be here Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully he will eat those. I just remembered that I can buy earthworms from some fishing shops and probably other types of worms and insects too. I’ll check that out. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one that is open for business during this trying time.
Any advise anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated and I promise I will definitely give people’s advice a try. One thing I can not do though is roaches. I’m extremely terrified of them. So I’m sorry but I won’t be able to follow any advice given that includes those nasty things.

 

[Beman]

The Form was filled out and the OP is currently getting help in this thread https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-eat-at-all-question-forum-filled-out.174526/

 

[Raven]

Thank you!