Approximate age?

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Female, unsure of age, has been in my care about 1 month
* Handling - About 5 minutes a day
* Feeding - Small crickets, gut loaded with apples, kale and carrots she eats around 10 a day sometimes more sometimes less
* Supplements - Reptocal twice a week
* Watering - Zoo Med little dripper and misting around 3 times a day
* Fecal Description - Dark with a white tip, every other day I would guess, not sure
* History - Not that I can think of


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Reptibreeze 16x16x30
* Lighting - Nighttime is 40w heat bulb, Basking is 60w, and UVB is Reptisun 5.0 in a hood fixture
* Temperature - Basking spot is around 100, night time is around 75-80
* Humidity - 50% misting and little dripper
* Plants - All artificial at this time
* Placement - In my kitchen, near a window, on top of a table
* Location - WV, USA

Photos






Current Problem - Just curious about her approximate age so I can make sure I have everything ready for her to lay eggs. She is about 5-6 inches long from head to the tip of her tail.

Hi

Would say about 3 months ish - it's always a little hard to tell. You have a while before she wants to lay any eggs.

No hard and fast rules - but as a bit of advice I would get rid of substrate at the bottom, and unless it gets really cold I would not bother with a night time bulb as they like a good temperature drop (like in the wild) to sleep properly.

dmrich said:

Hi

Would say about 3 months ish - it's always a little hard to tell. You have a while before she wants to lay any eggs.

No hard and fast rules - but as a bit of advice I would get rid of substrate at the bottom, and unless it gets really cold I would not bother with a night time bulb as they like a good temperature drop (like in the wild) to sleep properly.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. You have started off well getting the knowledge you need to keep your baby healthy. You have been given good advice. I would also say it is too hot for a veiled that small And I would reduce it to 80 basking until it is a bit older. The cage is great but make sure she finds her food. jmo

Ask any questions you have as you go & we will try to help.

What would you recommend for the substrate then? Doesn't that help maintain the humidity? And ok I'm just afraid she is going to get to cold at night. My house gets to about 66 degrees at night.

You could cover her cage at night to help her stay warm. She's alright as long as it isnt wet and cold. Just let the cage dry well before lights out.

Thank you everyone for your advise. It's very helpful! What would you recommend for the substrate? Right now I'm using Repti Bark. Also as far as feeding her goes, I put the crickets in a small plastic container and place the container inside her cage, after she is done eating I remove it. I also add flightless fruit flies occasionally. I'm thinking of getting a live pothos plant to add to her cage, do you guys recommend that?

Pothos would be fine to add to his enclosure and as far as substrate goes, most of us don't use any. Your little guy can accidentally ingest some of it while shooting at a feeder. Someone here already had an experience with her little guy swallowing a peice of moss.

The live plant will help with keeping the humidity up and so will the daily mistings. Hibiscus would also be a good choice to go with... I don't have a Veiled myself but I have read that they really enjoy eating the flowers they give off. A little harder to maintain but they seem to enjoy it.

Your on the right path and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. There are NEVER stupid questions. Oh, and WELCOME! Lol!

substrate isnt needed. Keeping the bottom of the cage bare makes spot cleaning easier & if the cham ingests the substrate, it could cause impaction. Ive had troule maintaining humidity. What i do is cover half the cage with a shower curtain. I also use a large pot full of organic potting soil for my umbrella tree. This also helps keep the humidity a bit higher. Although it is better to keep the humidity around 60, dont fret if you cannot maintain that humidity at all times. Long & heavy mist sessions & enough time to dry in between is the way to go. 66 at night should be fine as long as there is no draft & the cage has had enough time to dry.

PrettyInInk87 said:

Pothos would be fine to add to his enclosure and as far as substrate goes, most of us don't use any. Your little guy can accidentally ingest some of it while shooting at a feeder. Someone here already had an experience with her little guy swallowing a peice of moss.

The live plant will help with keeping the humidity up and so will the daily mistings. Hibiscus would also be a good choice to go with... I don't have a Veiled myself but I have read that they really enjoy eating the flowers they give off. A little harder to maintain but they seem to enjoy it.

Your on the right path and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. There are NEVER stupid questions. Oh, and WELCOME! Lol!

Click to expand...

beat me to it. sorry to repeat.

pantherlover said:

beat me to it. sorry to repeat.

Click to expand...

It's A Okay! You gave a little more detail than I did, lol!

Thank you both lol! I will remove the substrate and go with a live plant to help with the humidity. I actually had a male veiled chameleon about 11 years ago way before the internet was so popular and boy did I do things wrong looking back now lol. I ended up having to get rid of him because the apartment complex I moved into said he would get in the walls and breed?! I was like with what lol? Is their another veiled chameleon running loose here? I also have 2 bearded dragons, one is 10 months old and the other about 4 months old, and 2 one year old Eastern Collard lizards, the female just laid eggs about a week ago, so now I'm incubating 3 babies! Very exciting!

farrahsc said:

Thank you both lol! I will remove the substrate and go with a live plant to help with the humidity. I actually had a male veiled chameleon about 11 years ago way before the internet was so popular and boy did I do things wrong looking back now lol. I ended up having to get rid of him because the apartment complex I moved into said he would get in the walls and breed?! I was like with what lol? Is their another veiled chameleon running loose here? I also have 2 bearded dragons, one is 10 months old and the other about 4 months old, and 2 one year old Eastern Collard lizards, the female just laid eggs about a week ago, so now I'm incubating 3 babies! Very exciting!

Click to expand...

Hahahah! The ignorace of some people. They should have just said that they didn't like reptiles because they freaked them out. (sigh)

I don't know what Eastern Collard Lizards are but they sound pretty cool. Congratulations on the eggs. There is a "other pets" section where you can post pictures of them. We all love looking at pictures...

Here ya go Hun, they are pretty cool, very active as far as reptiles go. They love to climb, jump and sometimes if given enough room they will run standing up on their back legs! The one with the orange colors is the female.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/eastern-collareds-bearded-dragons-50324/#post471600

Just wanted to let everyone know I did remove the substrate and the night time bulb and got a live pothos plant repotted in organic potting soil. Mrs. Cali just had her first shed earlier this week! She is doing great and getting bigger every day!