Alphys Sleeping (also asking about mood colors)

[ragidi]

So Alphys is my first female veiled chameleon. She's been with me for 27 days (almost 4 weeks).
I bought her a large Ficus tree, a tall hibiscus plant, and a ficus bonsai. I usually let her sleep in the ficus tree.
Here's a picture of her sleeping.

I read that if a veiled chameleon's colors match their surroundings then they're calm. Is that true?
Also she goes to sleep as soon as the sun sets. Is that normal?

Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance!

Bonus pic:

 

[reptileguy112]

commonly people will think chameleons will match there surroundings but that is untrue. Chameleons only change color based on how they are feeling. A chameleon trying to intimidate another will turn sideways and puff up (to look bigger) and show off its colors. If it is stressed out they will turn darker colors like brown or black and when they are just right they will be green. Goodluck

 

[ragidi]

commonly people will think chameleons will match there surroundings but that is untrue. Chameleons only change color based on how they are feeling. A chameleon trying to intimidate another will turn sideways and puff up (to look bigger) and show off its colors. If it is stressed out they will turn darker colors like brown or black and when they are just right they will be green. Goodluck

Alphys is usually green unless she's basking (she turns dark) or when she's exposed (not hiding, she gets light or neon-ish green).

 

[MoyaChan]

I'll wait for the advice of more experienced keepers, but until they read your post. I have quite a few questions.

How old is she?
Where did you get her?
What do you know about the previous owner, how did they keep her?
Do you have an enclosure or do you only have the trees?
Do you have a UVB lamp and a lamp for keeping the temps that she needs for basking?
Do you mist?
What do you feed her? Do you dust? Gutload? (calcium is really important, especially for females)

One thing that I noticed on your cham is that her eyes are really sunken in. This suggests dehydration.

About sleeping, it is normal that she wakes up with the sun and goes to sleep when it's dark.

Please check the caresheet on this website, it's really good.

I don't want to give you wrong advice so I don't say anything more but I hope that someone more experienced gets here and comments.

 

[ragidi]

I'll wait for the advice of more experienced keepers, but until they read your post. I have quite a few questions.

How old is she?
Where did you get her?
What do you know about the previous owner, how did they keep her?
Do you have an enclosure or do you only have the trees?
Do you have a UVB lamp and a lamp for keeping the temps that she needs for basking?
Do you mist?
What do you feed her? Do you dust? Gutload? (calcium is really important, especially for females)

One thing that I noticed on your cham is that her eyes are really sunken in. This suggests dehydration.

About sleeping, it is normal that she wakes up with the sun and goes to sleep when it's dark.

Please check the caresheet on this website, it's really good.

I don't want to give you wrong advice so I don't say anything more but I hope that someone more experienced gets here and comments.

It's all right. Any advice/suggestions are welcome!

Age: I'm not sure. I was told she was 2 years old. But that came from the guy who said she is a male 'Brazilian' chameleon. She' around 12 inches so I assume she's an adult.
Where I got her: from a pet store. I know pet stores are not the best place...
Previous owner: she was kept with other chameleons inside the SAME enclosure. I remember seeing a black light (possibly a UVB light since the pet store provides it). There were plants (probably fake) and a water bowl. I was told she ate a cockroach some time before I came to the store. The pet store guy told me she eats freeze dried grasshoppers. I'm feeding her live stuff now so no worries.
Enclosure: I have a glass one with an open top (covered with screen)
Lighting and basking: This will sound very weird. I placed the tall hibiscus inside the enclosure, and placed everything under a window where the sun hits from 8 am to 4 pm. I keep the window open all the time (there's a screen so no worries). She usually climbs to the window and basks there in the morning. Then she climbs down around 3 pm. I installed a thermometer/hygrometer in her area so I can check the temps.
Misting: I mist her 3 times a day for 1-2 minutes.
Feeding: Last thing I fed her was 6 house flies
I have been told she is dehydrated. I always check her feces and urates for signs of improvements. There are some orange spots in the urates.

 

[MoyaChan]

It's all right. Any advice/suggestions are welcome!

Age: I'm not sure. I was told she was 2 years old. But that came from the guy who said she is a male 'Brazilian' chameleon. She' around 12 inches so I assume she's an adult.
Where I got her: from a pet store. I know pet stores are not the best place...
Previous owner: she was kept with other chameleons inside the SAME enclosure. I remember seeing a black light (possibly a UVB light since the pet store provides it). There were plants (probably fake) and a water bowl. I was told she ate a cockroach some time before I came to the store. The pet store guy told me she eats freeze dried grasshoppers. I'm feeding her live stuff now so no worries.
Enclosure: I have a glass one with an open top (covered with screen)
Lighting and basking: This will sound very weird. I placed the tall hibiscus inside the enclosure, and placed everything under a window where the sun hits from 8 am to 4 pm. I keep the window open all the time (there's a screen so no worries). She usually climbs to the window and basks there in the morning. Then she climbs down around 3 pm. I installed a thermometer/hygrometer in her area so I can check the temps.
Misting: I mist her 3 times a day for 1-2 minutes.
Feeding: Last thing I fed her was 6 house flies
I have been told she is dehydrated. I always check her feces and urates for signs of improvements. There are some orange spots in the urates.

UVB doesn't get through the window but if you keep it open then I guess it's okay... Depending on where you live of course, but if it gets cold so you can't keep the window open, you'll need a UVB and a basking light on top of the enclosure.

Does the enclosure have a door also? Or is it only open on top? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but from what you described, I understood that it's like an aquarium with a screen top.

The water in the dish is completely inaccurate, she won't drink from that, but if you mist properly and the urate is white then you should slowly see improvement.

Do you have supplies for dusting? Calcium, d3, multivitamin? If not, you need to get them, read into it on this forum, there's a whole lot of threads on it, and it's in the caresheets I think as well.

She seems to be a veiled chameleon by the way, as far as I can see.

Also, I wouldn't say that she's 2 years old, based on her colours, but probably it's just the picture. Mine had a whole lot of colours at 6 months even.

I'm not really familiar with flies but do you also have other feeders? Worms or crickets for example? Crickets are great because you can easily gutload them so you can control the nutrients they have.

It's really nice though that you didn't listen to the petstore and give her live food, it's really important. I think you can make serious improvements on her if you look into it properly

 

[reptileguy112]

The basking spot may be too hot if she is dark.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Ragidi, I've just been wondering how she is doing. For those who are reading but don't remember, Ragidi lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where things like crickets and UVB lights just aren't available.

She looks dehydrated. Yes, they sometimes do have sunken eyes when they sleep, but not that much and the rest of her body looks dehydrated. Can you post a picture of her latest stool? Can you run a dripper? Just take a bottle of water and poke a tiny hole in it so it drips out slowly onto a plant leaf (preferably at the top) and splashes down through the plant. I suspect your ambient air is very dry from all the air conditioning you will be running to keep that room cool with the window open, especially as summer gets closer.

Have you gotten accurate temperatures in the different parts of the cage (and where she suns herself) at the different times of the day?

She might be quite thin, too, but being dehydrated will make her appear thinner than she really is. Please work on her hydration. You are dealing with a wild caught and they are very difficult to acclimate. Have you found a source of insects yet? Do any of the pet stores sell anything, even meal worms?

While additional UVB lighting will become important, it probably isn't at the moment since she would have been captured in good condition after growing to adulthood in her native land. Her bones are probably very good. However, she would have been kept in very poor conditions until you bought her.

I think your biggest problem is getting enough food for her and I understand how difficult this is going to be. Have you contacted a local zoo?

I'm really rooting for you both.