Veiled sleeping during the day/Not eating

[kinyonga]

The chameleon should be showing mustardy/yellow splotches if she's sexually mature, so it would surprise me if she is producing eggs.

Its already been said that your gutload and supplements need improvement. You can gutload crickets, superworms with a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, celery leaves, etc.).

These same greens and veggies can be offered to your veiled along with a small amount of fruit (apples, pears, melons, berries, etc.).

Since many of the feeder insects used have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus its important to dust them before feeding them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings.

I also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 but without overdoing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and cause problems. It should be able to produce the rest of the D3 it needs from exposure to the UVB light. The UVB light should not pass through glass or plastic.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. Beta carotene can not build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A can but there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert beta carotene...so some people give a little prEformed once in a while. Excess prEformed vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD...so its important not to overdo it. By making sure that the vitamin powder has a beta carotene source of vit. A it leaves the owner in charge of how much prEformed is given to the chameleon.

Calcium, phos., vitamin A and D3 are important players in bone health and need to be in balance. You need to look at the supplements, what you feed to the chameleon and what you feed to the insects when you try to balance them.

Appropriate temperatures also play a part since they aid in digestion. You can use a regular incandescent household bulb in a domed hood to provide a basking area for the chameleon. I keep the basking area in the low 80's for a female veiled.

With a female veiled its important not to overfeed her once she is sexually mature so that she won't produce large clutches or have other issues.
Its also important to provide a place for her to dig to show you that she's ready to lay eggs because the signs that she needs to are sometimes subtle.
The minimum size of the (opaque) container is big enough that when empty the female fits into it with several inches to spare on all sides of her. The depth should be about 10". Once she is digging, its important that she doesn't see you watching her or she will abandon the hole.

You said you use..."Two reptiglow 5.0 tropical series 13watt bulbs...are these long linear fluorescent tubes or spiral or compact types?

You said mostly you use fake plants...with veileds its recommended that you don't use fake ones since they do eat plants sometimes. Real ones should be non-toxic and well-washed (both sides of the leaves).

Here are some good sites....
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
http://adcham.com/

Sorry for this long post...but IMHO its important information.
BTW, she's a nice looking chameleon!

 

[Leilaskeeper]

Thanks for all those links kinyonga! I have lots of reading to do now

 

[Mr Wilson]

Thanks for all that info!! Where do you put the fruits and veggies when you feed them? I'm assuming not on the ground. What kind of apples?

Also, are there any benefits to feeding her superworms or other kinds of worms or is it OK to use just crickets? If so, how often do you feed the worms instead? How do you feed the worms to the chameleon? Sorry we have so many questions, but we want to give her the best possible home and environment that we can!!

Clearly we are completely new to this, but we saw her at the pet store and just fell in love. We honestly think we saved her life considering the conditions she was in.

 

[kinyonga]

Don't worry about asking questions.

Re: Where do you put the fruits and veggies when you feed them?...in a lid on the floor of the cage or impaled on a branch or hung on the side of the cage with a clip like birds are given millet pieces with.

You asked..."What kind of apples?"...I use any of the red ones or golden delicious. I don't imagine granny smith's would hurt either...but I've never used them.

You asked..."are there any benefits to feeding her superworms or other kinds of worms or is it OK to use just crickets?"...crickets are a good feeder because they are easy to gutload and dust...but a wide variety of insects is usually recommended when possible.

You said..."If so, how often do you feed the worms instead? How do you feed the worms to the chameleon?"...the worms can be hand fed to the chameleon or put in a container (which you can suspend in the branches) that is deep enough that they can't crawl out...or they can even be free-ranged (let loose in the cage)....but they will hide if allowed to free range if they aren't eaten right away.

Leilaskeeper...glad to give you something to do besides watch your chameleon!

 

[Elizadolots]

Its 24" high. I know that glass is definitely not preferred but with my location and how cold it gets. its literally impossible to keep the temps and especially the humidity right with-out the glass inclosure. Its only my girlfriend and i that stay in the house and i think shes at least a little used to seeing us but. she almost always stays toward to top of the cage. i try and get a pic posted.

Excellent. Unhappy chameleons or females carrying eggs tend to haunt the lower realm (though, that's not conclusive, just a general statement). She really does look wonderful. I'm not a "veiled" person, but she does not look like she's bearing eggs to me.

Sometimes they get cranky and don't eat. If you look around there are whole threads devoted to how long it's been since their chameleon has eaten...

One thing I'd add to the diet discussion (which I'm sure was just forgotten because it's considered "known") is that crickets, roaches and superworms have hard shells which, in the chameleon world is fiber....so, one or more of those should be staples. Other worms are either "treats" to be given on rare occasion or to fatten up a thin animal....meal worms apparently are not first choice for chameleons so go for something else.

 

[PGchams]

Hope this helps.

I had this problem once and it was suggested to me by a chameleon breeder that the coiled bulbs could be a problem. The female veiled was housed in a exo terra screen enclosure (24x18x24) with the lighting coming from (2) 26 watt 5.0 bulbs and (1) 26 watt 2.0 bulb exo-terra 24" canopy top setup along with a 40 watt basking bulb. My 1.5 year old female had laid her eggs about two weeks earlier and seemed fine. And then she seemed to stop eating and have her eyes closed during different parts of the day. At this time she was staying in the same spot in her cage and when moving around on the branches acting as if partially blind. This went for two days with no change and the cage temps were the same as the months before. So I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what though. I removed her from her cage and cleaned everything associated with her very well. Changed the exoterra hood for a flourescent bulb assembly with a 5.0 and a 2.0 reptisun bulb. And started her on reptaid. After about 4 days she started opening her eyes more and her colors started coming back to normal. And after a week I saw her eat and hunt again. I continued her on the Reptaid for 1 more week making sure to mist her cage and hydrate her more since she was on the antibiotics. She has done great since. I am not sure of the exact cause of her eyes being closed or the cure of it either. But she is still in the same cage and not having problems with her eyes. So either Reptaid or the lighting, possibly both, helped her. I know this is not an exact answer but I hope it helps you get your chameleon well.

 

[Mr Wilson]

Good morning!

What exactly is reptaid? Is that something that is sold in pet stores and is easy to come by? I've noticed that while she isn't really eating, she does tend to look at the crickets as if she wants to eat them. Could it be that maybe they are just too big??

 

[PGchams]

Reptaid is an organic antibiotic and immunity boosting liquid that is distributed a few of the sponsors of this site. Chameleons Northwest and LLLreptile are just two that I know of. I haven't used it very much overall. But thought it would be a good thing to try if there was an infection setting in on her eyes and also to help her if she had just become weak from laying her eggs. I cannot be sure if the lights or this treatment helped her get better or if it was just a minor thing going on that resolved itself. I just know the outcome turned out for the best. But my female cham worried me and I treated the way I explained in the last thread. I hope your cham's eye are just a minor problem and doesn't progress to the point mine did. She always had use of her eyes but as it progressed I noticed more times of the day with the eyes were closed. But her struggling to grasp a branch and focus was what alarmed me. So keep an eye on her and watch for those signs and maybe this will help. Also there are many members of this forum that have tons of knowledge on treatment and captive chameleons. Listen to all and see which best helps your chams problem or a combination of many improvements. I just thought I might help because my cham acted at first as you are stating your girl is now. Wish you the best.

 

[Mr Wilson]

Well good news,

She didn't "nap" at all today, but I still haven't seen her eat. I think most of the issue is our crickets keep hiding on her. We have coconut husk on the very bottom which is then covered by green terrarium or eco liner, we can't remember what it's called. We figured using both would help with the humidity but the crickets are still finding a way to get under the liner!

Do you guys think it's better to use just a liner or is substrate of some sort necessary? We are still going to do a container with soil in it for her to use incase of any possible egg laying but we can't get it just yet. We're in NJ and are in the middle of an awesome snow storm!!!

 

[jamncristian]

i think it might be from the coil flourescent bulbs. do you have coil or linear because if you have coil she might get blind

 

[pssh]

You may want to consider cup feeding. Do a search for milk carton feeder on here, it's great. Or you can use a large tub for the crickets.

 

[Carlton]

One setup detail I didn't see anything about was nighttime temps. Chams need a 10-15 degree drop in temp at night. If your cage temp stays the about the same 24/7 she may not be able to lower her metabolism enough to sleep. If your room doesn't get colder than about 55 F you don't need any heat at night.

 

[nickers1210]

i don't understand this whole coil CFL issue with exoterra. from my understanding its wavelengths below 300 which are the issue (not found in natural sunlight) exoterra CFLs as far as im aware do not produce those wavelengths, can someone elaberate?

 

[Mr Wilson]

We set up a cup for her and had a cricket in there. But we wanted to try to hand feed the cricket to her which didn't work. The cricket jumped right out haha. So now we have an empty feeding cup. I did put a few pieces of apple in the cup.