Wrinkly Veiled

[Feebo]

I've noticed my male veiled chameleon looks a bit wrinkly. He's shedding at the moment so when I first spotted it I assumend it was that. After all, my snakes go wronkley when in shed too. Now I've just seen him turning to his side and I saw he's looks very wrinkly!!
That's not the begining of problems is it? Dehydration or under feeding or anything? Crikey I hope not...

 

[whereswaldo]

post a pic i dont know much but i know the ppl who do will need to see it.

 

[fluxlizard]

Probably a bit dehydrated. Have you tried misting to see if it corrects within a few minutes?

 

[Feebo]

I do mist a few times a day, thaty's the odd thing. Is it better to let it dry out in there or keep it damp? I'm allowing it to dry to a point between sprayings. I'll go and photograph him now....

 

[camimom]

I do mist a few times a day, thaty's the odd thing. Is it better to let it dry out in there or keep it damp? I'm allowing it to dry to a point between sprayings. I'll go and photograph him now....

Yes, you need to let the cage dry between mistings. Now I dont mean bone dry, but it does need to dry.
If you don't, you can cause your cham to develop a respiratory infection.
Too much humidity can do this.
SO let your cage dry.
I mist 3-4 times a day, abotu every 2-3 hours for about 3 minutes each.
This schedule allows my guys to have enough water to drink, but still get dry enough to not cause illness.
Also, if you think you want them to have more access to water, but dont want to mist more (cuz you need the cage to dry) you can get a dripper.
I use this for my Hoehnelli, which is a montane species (meaning he needs more water than my veiled) so that he has constant water, but the cage doesnt get soaked. it only drips onto two leaves so he can find it, but not keep the humidity too high.

 

[fluxlizard]

I agree with the above- maybe mist isn't enough for your situation. Add a dripper. Do not keep a constantly damp cage.

 

[Feebo]

Yep I have a mister in each enclosure I see them drinking all the time too.
He was less then pleased to see me to say the very least lol

He doesn't even look wrinkly here apart from his knee. If anything he looks fat! LOL I'd say that points toward the shedding being the cause, do you agree with that?

 

[camimom]

It appears it is just the shedding causing any 'wrinkling' you might be seeing.
BTW, you do want to up the mistings when they are shedding to get the extra skin off, higher humidity during shedding helps.
If you find that there is still some stuck shed, try a shower.
Fluxlizard said dripper, not mister.
a dripper does exactly that, drips water into the cage, therefore it only soaks a couple spots, a mister gets the whole cage wet. but a dripper allows your cham to drink in between mistings.

 

[Feebo]

Yeah sorry I meant dripper lol I'm on heavy duty pain killers and I get a bit confuzzled...
I keep snakes so I'm used to providing humid conditions for some of them but the chameleons are apparently quite sensitive so I'm still getting comfortable with the husbandry. I couldn't really shower him in his enclosure because it's a little confined with the heat bulb and uv light. I could make them a chamber to be showered in but I've been avoiding handling them really. What do you think about that? Would it not be a bad thing to handle them when they need a shower? I'm thinking stress wise. If they're THAT sensitive (and crikey my male is getting crankier by the day) handling must be very stressful?

 

[camimom]

male veields are grumpy buttheads. lol.
to shower, i literally mean give him a shower.
get a plant, put it on the floor in the shower, put him on it,aim the shower head towards the wall,a nd let the water bounce off the wall and onto the plant.
you dont handle them at all when they shower, just to put them on and off the plant. (but make sure you stay and watch him, sometimes they freak out, and flal off theplant onto the floor and they could drown.)
They arent as sensitive as some people make them out to be.
yes handling can cause stress, but afew minutes here and there while you take him out to clean the cage, give him a shower, etc. wont kill him.

 

[Feebo]

Exellent I'll do that first thing in the morning