A little worried about my Female Veiled

tjmulfo

New Member
to start, here are the basics


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Female Veiled, somewhere around a couple months old, got him from petco about 3 weeks ago

* Handling - rarely handle her, have taken her out ~3 times since Ive had her

* Feeding - Feeding her mainly crickets, with some superworms here and there (she seems to love those). on average, 8 small crickets a day (4 in the morning, 4 at night), take away 2 if shes had a superworm

* Supplements - Flukers calcium gut load

* Watering - Spray bottle, 3-4 times a day for a couple minutes at a time, Ive only ever seen her drink from her lips

* Fecal Description - moist, dark brown droppings, white and very slightly yellow urate




Cage Info:

* Cage Type - the bottom is a 10 gallon aquarium that is extended up about 2.5 feet above the aquarium with mesh wiring. i also have a good amount of hemp braids (and a hammock I made for her) strung all over for her to climb on.

* Lighting - Heat lamp and compact UVB light, both 12 hrs on, 12 off

* Temperature - anywhere from 75-95 during the day, basking at about 90. overnight 70-80. analog thermometer

* Humidity - 50-75%, misting multiple times a day. analog

* Plants - I have a 8" hibiscus plant and i planted an apple seed a couple days ago, its about 4" tall now. also planted 5 spinach vine seeds a week ago that havent sprouted. my roommate put a marijuana seed in one day without me knowing and before i realized it was even in there, she had eaten the top off of it when it was about 2" tall.

* Placement - in a cabinet in the kitchen, high traffic area, he has the whole cabinet to himself basically. took the door off obviously. top of the cage is about 8' above floor and bottom is about 5

* Location - central illinois



ive done some reading on egg bound females and Ive noticed her spending an extra amount of time very low in the cage. she usually stays up pretty high. the last day or 2 shes been on the ground or on vines low in the cage. she also used to scratch on the glass of the aquarium when I first got her, but she hasnt done it in a while. well she started it up again, not much, but noticable.

the other thing that worries me a little bit is a couple times I have seen her open her mouth as wide as she could, puff up and shake her head around, kind of looked like she was trying to roar like a lion or something.

she is eating fine. actually, she can eat a ridiculous amount if i let her. once i got a couple large crickets with my small ones on accident and she got them down with no problem at all. she was 4.7 grams a little over a week ago and yesteday she came in at 7.1 g.

anything you think i should be worried about at all?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0135.jpg
    IMG_0135.jpg
    9.4 KB · Views: 120
  • IMG_0125.jpg
    IMG_0125.jpg
    236.7 KB · Views: 134
Welcome to the forums. I have 3 veileds and love them dearly. You need to lower her temps. She's way to hot that's why she had her mouth open. Her basking spot should be 80. Chams need ventilation and should not be kept in a cabinet and a screen cage is recommended for veileds here in the US. You also need to gut load her feeders with fresh fruits and veggies. Some of the coil type bulbs can cause eye problems so I'd switch that to a tube bulb. You will need to check the safe plant list because veileds will eat their plants and I don't think yours are safe. Below I have two links for you to help you keep your Cham healthy. The first is for general care and the second for egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment656

Safe Plant list: https://www.chameleonforums.com/plants/
 
Last edited:
I'm sorry I just had to LOL at the pot plant. It didn't hurt her did it? What a nice room mate you have there:rolleyes:
She's a good looking little girl!
 
Welcome to the forums. I have 3 veileds and love them dearly. You need to lower her temps. She's way to hot that's why she had her mouth open. Her basking spot should be 80. Chams need ventilation and should not be kept in a cabinet and a screen cage is recommended for veileds here in the US. You also need to gut load her feeders with fresh fruits and veggies. Some of the coil type bulbs can cause eye problems so I'd switch that to a tube bulb. You will need to check the safe plant list because veileds will eat their plants and I don't think yours are safe. Below I have two links for you to help you keep your Cham healthy. The first is for general care and the second for egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment656

Safe Plant list: https://www.chameleonforums.com/plants/

how do you think i should lower the temps? i was thinking about putting a small fan in front of the cage blowing out to increase airflow and it would probably lower the temp too. thoughts? I know the caging is not ideal but its the best setup i have at the moment. Im moving into a large house in a couple months and am getting her either a mesh cage or trying to do a free range setup.
 
I'm sorry I just had to LOL at the pot plant. It didn't hurt her did it? What a nice room mate you have there:rolleyes:
She's a good looking little girl!

hahaha no she seemed fine. she must have liked it though because a while after she ate the flower/leaf top, she came back and nibbled on the stem a bit and realized it wasn't as good and has left it alone since lol
 
The easiest way to lower the temperature is to raise the heat lamp. I'd raise it 6 inches, then get a temperature. If it's too cool, lower it an inch at a time. While a male veiled could take 90 degrees at the basking spot, being that warm can lead to excessive egg production in females. If the bulb is in a fixed place and cannot be moved, try a lower wattage bulb. You don't need to use a special bulb, a regular household incandescent will do. You can get those in a wide variety of watts. You might start with a 40 watt bulb and see what that gets you.

If your household temperature gets to 80 degrees, turn off the heat lamp. If the ambient temps head up into the 90s then you'll need to consider cooling the cage some.

I would really check into the safety of marijuana, particularly as you say you have hemp vines. Chameleons scent their environment by licking. If it's not safe, then you have vines that are not safe.
 
Back
Top Bottom