Advice on Opie?

Brentholey

Established Member
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? veiled, male, 4-5 months old, had him almost 2 months.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have taken him out maybe 3-4 times for some natural sunlight he doesn’t like it so I don’t do it anymore.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Mostly dubia, 10-15 1/2”-5/8” per day. Guy loaded with carrots and bug burger and dubia chow.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repashy calcium plus Lo-d every feeding all insects.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Mist every morning and evening about 2 mins./35 oz. tap water treated with repti-safe by hand.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown fecal with white irate. Never tested.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. All shedding before this has gone well, quick and clean.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen 61 tall 30 long 20 wide
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 2-50 watt led bars, 2- JD spots, 1-sansi 36w spot.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?floor 68-71, mid 74-78, bask 83-86. Hottest 88 measured with a therm-pro and it temp gun. lowest 65
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Day 25-45% night 60- 90% by hand misting and boiling water on the stove to create humidity in the room. Measured by a therm pro
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?pothos, ficus benjamina, schefflera arbicola, nepenthes suki, drosera capensis
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?located in dining room, I blocked off nearby vents. Minimum traffic only me. Top of cage is 6 feet off of the floor
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?southeast Michigan

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.(#1)It seems Opie is having trouble getting some smaller pieces of shed off. His spikes under his chin, a piece on his cask and in the armpit of his back legs. How can I solve this problem. Or is this a problem? I have made sure not to get him wet while misting during his shed process.
(#2)Also he eats a lot! I feel like I cut him off most feedings. am I feeding him enough? Too much? He doesn’t seem to be getting fat at all because of it. What are the risks of feeding some bigger sized feeders like 1”-1.25” Dubias to a Cham his size(I was thinking maybe a few less insects per feeding in trade for some bigger bugs? Is that ok? I’ve given him 1” Dubias a couple times and he has no problem getting them down. But I wonder what the threat might be.
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It could be that the hand misting is not quite cutting it. I highly recommend running an automatic mister by day and a fogger at night if you can afford it. If not try upping ambient humidity by putting plastic wrap on two sides of the cage or even using a towel and getting it nice and moist.
 
How long has he been shedding for? More specifically, how long have those few pieces been hanging around?
 
It could be that the hand misting is not quite cutting it. I highly recommend running an automatic mister by day and a fogger at night if you can afford it. If not try upping ambient humidity by putting plastic wrap on two sides of the cage or even using a towel and getting it nice and moist.
It could be that the hand misting is not quite cutting it. I highly recommend running an automatic mister by day and a fogger at night if you can afford it. If not try upping ambient humidity by putting plastic wrap on two sides of the cage or even using a towel and getting it nice and moist.
I’ve been looking into getting a mist king but their seconds timer had been out of stock. Waiting for them to catch up on them
 
I constantly have the little armpit dangles as well as the dorsal spines. Recently, one of my ladies had a piece on her eye that bugged me for days... when I finally got the courage to try and get it... shaking hands and all... she closed her eye and SMASHED her eye against my finger and "rubbed" her eye back and forth. I've seen my chams do this with vines... but never with my hand, especially on their eye. Basically, I'd not really worry too much... just keep an eye on it. I've actually had them finally drop the shed, then start their next shed within hours.

Food size:

5 months is pretty sizable for a male veiled [I only have one veiled and its female]. My 6ish month panther can put away a 1" discoid, which are pretty much the same size body. Believe it or not, once the roaches get chomped, they're pretty flexible. I know my veiled girl can easily put down the "sub adults" - roughly 1.5" or so. I'd say you're good on whatever size hes willing to take. My eldest male won't take anything big... I'm not sure if it's because it's too big or he just doesn't want to have to chew more.

Best of luck!
 
I constantly have the little armpit dangles as well as the dorsal spines. Recently, one of my ladies had a piece on her eye that bugged me for days... when I finally got the courage to try and get it... shaking hands and all... she closed her eye and SMASHED her eye against my finger and "rubbed" her eye back and forth. I've seen my chams do this with vines... but never with my hand, especially on their eye. Basically, I'd not really worry too much... just keep an eye on it. I've actually had them finally drop the shed, then start their next shed within hours.

Food size:

5 months is pretty sizable for a male veiled [I only have one veiled and its female]. My 6ish month panther can put away a 1" discoid, which are pretty much the same size body. Believe it or not, once the roaches get chomped, they're pretty flexible. I know my veiled girl can easily put down the "sub adults" - roughly 1.5" or so. I'd say you're good on whatever size hes willing to take. My eldest male won't take anything big... I'm not sure if it's because it's too big or he just doesn't want to have to chew more.

Best of luck!
Thank you for your response, Just the answer I was looking for!
 
Here's my girl... shes pretty "hefty" and displaying her gravid colors. Shes also currently shedding. She however has a demeanor on par with most of my chams and enjoys being scratched when peely.

Glad I could help!
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