An old sleeping routine to a new one?

[Ibuki]

We got a 6 month old Veiled Chameleon about a week ago. She's super healthy, eats, drinks, and seems generally happy - even fairly happy when being handled, so the place we got her must have done really well. But here's one thing I've noticed..
She goes up into her sleep spot around 6pm. Did a bit of looking, and the store we got her from closes at 6pm. So maybe that's what they did with her?
Ideally.. we'd love for her to be able to go to bed around 9-10pm, and wake up 10 or so hours later to fit in with our routine aswell - is there any nice way of breaking her of old habits, or would it stress her so much that it's not worth it? She's away from enough traffic that putting her to bed early wouldn't be an issue, but it would make it easier for us to wake her up in the morning rather than having a 'lizard alarm' in the morning for us, or an automated system - which is far more expensive.

 

[sulley]

they have 12hrs light & 12 hours dark 7am-7pm is a good set time.mine goes to his sleeping position 2hrs before lights out but staying up till 10pm wouldnt be good or normal for them.lights out then they go to sleep.you cant change that.get a timer.you need to cater to there needs.once mine sees its getting dark outside he goes down to his sleeping position

 

[Kaianuanu]

I just asked the same question. You can get timers for under 10 bucks. If you set the timer for the schedule you want and keep the blinds closed and the room dark before the lights come on in the morning, she should adjust fine soon enough.

 

[Ibuki]

My boyfriend works nights, so he'd be home around 8:30-9am.. So even putting her to bed around 9pm then would work, but I'm glad it wouldn't stress her out so much.
And the timers we saw were way more expensive, though .. I think the general price range in that shop was silly. I just moved to Denmark from Canada, and finding reptile supplies here is a lot harder - will have to start ordering some stuff online I think. Finding crickets today was quite the journey...
But, it's normally pitch black in here, until we open the blinds so I think she is getting enough sleep.. she just wants to go to bed early xD

 

[UrbanChameleon]

You can slowly start turning the lights off later, and later. Every couple of nights, up the time by 30 minutes or an hour. It might take a few weeks, but she will get used to it. It might make the transition smoother.

Also, make sure all of the lights in the room are off too. You can use a dark blanket to cover the cage if it isn't completely dark. You can purchase a cheap timer from Lowes. I have mine set to 9 AM on - 9 PM off.

 

[Ibuki]

I was thinking something like that too - gradually getting her into a pattern, and we did read that covering her up like a bird is okay as long as she has some air flow. We have some black sheets that we're using to make sure it's pitch black for her ontop of everything else since there was some dim lighting from appliances in the room.
We don't have Lowe's in Denmark unfortunately, I'm in Europe so.. Makes it a little harder, especially for a Canadian who's so used to my own ways.. If I was back in Canada, I'd have been able to get a lot of stuff quicker, I've handled various reptiles since I was a child (we had an iguana while growing up, not a dog ).
I just know chameleons are a bit more difficult, and she's quite sensitive to light it seems. We want her to be as happy and comfortable at all times.