A question about activity. Sorry for the length.

Firetoad

New Member
Hello, I'm new here. I apologize if some of this has already been covered. I searched and so far found nothing so I figured I would ask.

Here is the information before I explain my question.

Chameleon:
Webby is a male veiled chameleon around 5-6 months old. He has been in my care since June 30th of this year.

I handle him as little as possible. I try to let him climb onto my hand so I can clean out his home. I do check him at that time for obvious wounds, or features that appear out of place.

Webby gets fed a diet of 1" crickets. He eats 5-6 in the morning and 6-8 in the evening. In between I offer him 3 normal sized meal worms every few days. He eats this up with no complaints. I tried a few more crickets but he left them to sit in the cage for too long. I removed them as I wasn't sure letting them hang out there all night would help him.

The crickets are getting a mix of rolled oats, potatoes, carrots, and orange cube.

Right now I am dusting the crickets with Zoo Med Repti Calcium every meal. I use Tetra Fauna ReptoLife Plus twice a week. Normally Sunday and Thursday.

I mist two or three times a day. Once around 6am when the lighting comes out. The next time is between 1 to 3 pm. If the humidity looks low for some reason around 40% I'll mist again either between 6 and 1 or 3 and 7.

I use a little dripper with spring water. It drips all day. I empty the pan and always use fresh water. I have recently tried using Reptisafe water conditioner on tap water. I saw no difference but got paranoid and put the conditioner aside.

I've seen him drink before but lately I haven't. By lately I mean a week or two. I have seen him stand under the drip to collect water on his head quite a few times lately. Is this another way that he can drink? I know his horn can "channel" water to his mouth but I don't exactly see that. I have been absent a bit more so he could be drinking when I'm not around.

He has solid brownish-black fecal waste most of the time. I have seen a few times when there was a trail of white through it. Once I saw a semi digested cricket but I haven't seen that for nearly two months.

Webby's has gone through four sheds with me. Each one began to take longer. The difference was only hours but the last shred was a bit different. He just finished it about a week ago. He shed everywhere but his back side and tail in the first day. It took him another two and a half days to shed the rest. This seemed a little out of place but not much since he seemed okay otherwise. No loss of appetite, no strange behaviors. A lot of rubbing but the skin would fall off and he'd be pretty calm after that.

Cage:
Webby lives in a 65 Gallon Tall Screen Repterium, 28 x 16.5 x 30.

His lighting comes on at 6am and goes off at 7pm, on a timer. He uses a 18" Fluorescent UVB 5.0 bulb and 150 watt basking bulb from zoo med.

Day temp ranges from 75 to 90 (basking spot). Night drops to 70 to 80. My room is naturally warmer than any other part of the house so the temp change isn't too drastic.

Temps are measured using two sets of thermometers and the devices that measures humidity. I try to keep the humidity around 50%. It tends to stay that way. I mist at least twice a day. The dripper drops into a pan which does evaporate a bit. The pan is changed at least three times daily. Morning/noon/and night.

We use no live plants since he had a habit of tearing them up.

The cage is placed on a table wide enough to have at least a foot on each side. It is placed in my room away from the windows, air vents, or drafts.

I am located in Southern Maine.

I hope this gives a decent amount of information.

The ProblemL

Lately, within the last three days, I've noticed Webby has been moving around his cage a whole lot. His coloring is fine. His eyes don't look sunken, he hasn't stopped eating. He is just walking around a whole lot more. I can't seem to locate just how much activity he should be displaying during the day.

He walks from the highest vines all the way down to the floor of the cage. After that he walks across a bit and climbs back up another wall to get to the larger vines. He walks across them sits for a moment or two and does this age.

I've seen no other changes in his personality, mood, diet. Could I be doing something wrong or am I just worrying too much?
 
I enjoy how you've written the information from Webby's perspective. "Webby uses.." etc. I like that.

It's possible the cage is a bit small for him. It sounds like he's coming into adulthood (shedding less often, sheds taking more time, not shedding full body) and I believe most people recommend a 24x24x48 cage for adult veileds.

However, I know that Brad Ramsey wrote a bit here about keeping his adults in smaller cages successfully. I'll see if I can find that for you.
 
Does the calcium supplement you use have D3? Phosphorus? You'll want to use calcium without D3 on most days, with D3 a couple times a month (though there are many differing opinions on that), and vitamins twice a month (again, opinions vary). You also should try to avoid phosphorus in supplements as much as possible.

I have a 24x24x48 screen cage for my male veiled to grow into, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily impossible to keep one in a smaller enclosure. I'll be interested to see the post Elizadolots mentioned.

Napoleon (my cham) likes exploring, so you may not have anything to worry about. Could you show us a picture of his back feet so we can say if he's male or female (taken from behind)?
 
I can snap a picture a little later. Do not have access to a decent camera at this moment.

He has a nub on the back of each of his back feet. I believe this is his Tarsal spur, the pictures I looked up on the internet seem to match it.

As for the calcium I'm going to need to change that out. I noticed the d3 and I read some posts and your responses. I'll be picking up something better tonight.

He is getting pretty big. I was planning on upgrading his cage, I'll have to wait until the first of October though. I don't want him in a crowded house, so to speak, but I hit a financial situation where I can meet his normal needs, diet, light, etc but I need to wait a few weeks for the housing upgrade.

I will look into the gut loading too. I just want to make sure I am doing the best that I can for him.

Thanks a lot everybody. LIke I said, I'll post a picture a bit later.

This is him from a little while ago (a week) but not the shot you guys need.

031.jpg
 
That's perfectly understandable, I'm very low on money myself, as most college students are. :rolleyes:

Judging by the casque and your description of the nubs, I think Webby is male, but someone on here can tell you for sure when you've got a picture of the back feet.

In the picture, he looks pretty good. I'm glad you'll be going to find him better supplements. Good for you. :)
 
That's perfectly understandable, I'm very low on money myself, as most college students are. :rolleyes:

Judging by the casque and your description of the nubs, I think Webby is male, but someone on here can tell you for sure when you've got a picture of the back feet.

In the picture, he looks pretty good. I'm glad you'll be going to find him better supplements. Good for you. :)

He's a good little guy and I'd be doing him a disservice by not trying to keep him healthy.
 
Here are two posts where Brad Ramsey discusses smaller cages:


https://www.chameleonforums.com/newbie-enclosure-questions-38061/index2.html#post354203

https://www.chameleonforums.com/do-wooden-sides-make-chameleons-feel-safer-37928/#post352776


That second one generates considerable discussion. The link to the entire thread is:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/do-wooden-sides-make-chameleons-feel-safer-37928/

It's definitely not a case where everyone jumps on board and says "yes! We should do that!" However, the gist of Brad Ramsey's argument is that an animal that feels secure, with 3 sides covered will do well in a smaller cage. You might want to try covering 2 or 3 sides until you are able to upgrade to a larger cage. You could do it easily with some towels or a sheet. Just make sure the front and top are open for ventilation. It might cut down on some of the wandering.

But, you would not be wrong to move up to a bigger cage when you get the opportunity.
 
050.jpg


Here is the best picture he felt comfortable with me taking. I did not want to try to handle him to get something better. Does this help?
 
I would probably try to switch up his diet a bit with silkworms, hornworms or superworms. I have read that meal worms are more empty shells than anything as they don't have as much nutritious value, superworms are probably better for him. I have a 4 month old veiled and he loves his silkies and horrnworms. :D
 
Thanks again everybody.

I've looked at silkworms already. I do plan on introducing them around the first of the month.

I looked at wax worms but I couldn't get any local to see if he liked them. For awhile he wouldn't even eat mealworms. He seemed scared of them. He would puff up and watch them very carefully from a distance.

So far today, he had eaten most of his breakfast and is just sitting around warming up. I'm going to go read some more material around here.

Thanks a lot of all of your everybody and I'll help where I can.
 
I picked up his new reptarium a few days ago, with a few modifications. I added a perch in the basking area. He loves that place. It's like his little look out over everything.

He is doing far less pacing, only patrolling his enclosure around feeding time. His colors are better and he is friendly. He walked up to and onto my hand when I was fixing a vine that had fallen down.

I have since ordered a calcium supplement without D3 but I haven't been able to use it yet. It hasn't arrived. Everything local has D3.

In addition I sent away for his crickets because all the local vendors have small crickets available and he doesn't seem as interested in the small ones anymore unless there are a ton he can eat.

My next step is to figure out a decent watering system. I'm going to read the forums here and get started on that. I have a system in place but I feel it might not be optimal.

Thanks again everybody, your advice has improved my relationship with my chameleon and his overall health.
 
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