Any advice for an old veil - supplements - diet?

[Chamgirl]

Thank you for the update, I hope he will hang in there...

 

[Hutbug]

Thanks Eric. I'll try that! Just vitamins or all sups - calcium, minerall?

Jannb - he's about the same. Yes, we're really attached to him. He's our first Chameleon and the best. Sometimes when he got lonely he would come down from his tree and walk into our bedroom and wait for us on the bed. We throw him down at the bottom (there's a space between the mattress and footboard where we have a pillow) for the night. He's very intense whereas he wants to be around us. We have to let him sleep there every night. When we have him outside if we go back in and he can't see us he gets upset. Poor guy.

Hopefully Eric's tip will help.

Here's a pic of him in healthier days. He's 340 grams 16" long

Congrats on having him so long! I am astounded at how he seems to be more like a dog or cat...my veiled would always snap at me and I never let him roam or even held him, I assumed from everything I had read that they didn't like to be held, didn't like to walk on flat surfaces, etc. But here you are with a dog-cham that has lasted 6 years!! If I ever get another one, I will try to get him to know me when he's a baby; I assume that's how you did it?

 

[luckykarma]

Congrats on having him so long! I am astounded at how he seems to be more like a dog or cat...my veiled would always snap at me and I never let him roam or even held him, I assumed from everything I had read that they didn't like to be held, didn't like to walk on flat surfaces, etc. But here you are with a dog-cham that has lasted 6 years!! If I ever get another one, I will try to get him to know me when he's a baby; I assume that's how you did it?

I'm always amazed at how people write and relate how Chameleons hate to be held or at best tolerate it. Even worse when some say their Cham hates them. I haven't found this. I have seen Chams that will let you know their territory and snap or open their mouths. We sold one of the babies from Karma's clutch to a neighbor. They complained about this. I baby sat it when they were out of town. I reached into the cage and she opened her mouth and puffed up - which I just ignored and moved slow so she knew I wasn't a threat. Then she spent the rest of the day on my shoulder while I cleaned the house.

Karma is just amazing and we had a Panther who was incredible but he arrived ill and passed within six months.

All our Chams are free range. Maybe that helps I don't know. We just got a Panther that was 10 months old and lived his whole life in a small cage. After one month of free range he has a heart attack if I try to put him in his sunning cage outdoors. He starts clawing like crazy and pushing on the door to get out until, if I'm outside, I give up and unlatch the door and he pushes it open and is on the brushes in a flash.

I guess I look at these guys as if I were in their paws. If a giant came reaching for me and my survival instinct kicked in I would run or try to show him/her I was menacing and to leave me alone. So I'm mindful of that and move slowly and allow then to get on my hand which happens pretty quickly.

I've been able to train all the Chams pretty easily with patience. I do notice if I don't play with them for a couple months they might revert but they get over it and to me enjoy it as long as they trust you.

Here's a pic of old man Karma outside sunning holding his favorite Chameleon plush toy.

 

[Hutbug]

Oh, I love that picture!! I've never seen a cham that old! He's gorgeous! And he sleeps in your bed, and he obviously never ran away...does he has an open cage that he can go to for misting and general branch-climbing and feeding? Or do you just mist him where ever he happens to be hanging out?

 

[Chamgirl]

Oh that photo is just the cutest thing! I too own that blue soft toy chameleon. Your Karma looks just like my old Veiled Louis looked for the last year of his life. It is a very beautiful photo

 

[jannb]

Thank you for sharing with us. You are an amazing person. I will keep Karma in my prayers every night. Jann

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

He looks just like our Guido, who lives in a free range and is a real teddy bear. He loves beanie babies.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Man I wish I could freerange my old gaffer. He's got to be close to 6 yrs by now. He's the one that actually seems to be potty trained. He always goes down to the same pot to do his business and then climbs back up again. Too bad we couldn't train them all to do that.

BTW - He's the 2nd pic in my gallery!!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[luckykarma]

Myself and Karma want to thank everyone for their wishes and comments.

Hutbug. Karma lives in a large tree in my studio. The other Chams all have their own ficus trees in other rooms. The trees at about 6.5' tall. Right now he stays in his tree. Before he would go for a morning walk around the place and then go back to his tree. His two sons did the same when we had them. They could care less if we were vacuuming and would just walk around it.

Karma ran away twice while outside free in a tree. Once we found him in a neighbors yard the next day. The second time we couldn't find him. I was so angry at myself for letting it happen again. We only let him out after the first time if we were there to watch him. I had to run inside and we knew Karma always watched us closely to see if we were watching him. If he would start to come down my wife would yell, "Karma! Go back up!" and he would turn around and go back up.

Well he was gone and I was depressed. I went for a long walk the next day beating myself up. I came back and for some reason decided to come in the back way where the garden is. I walked past Karma's favorite tree and said hello to Karma and.....

... I started backing up. Yes there he was back in his favorite tree.

He never ran away again.

Here's a picture of Karma and his wife (who did run away and never came back). She slept on him every night and when I fed them he would let her eat first and wait until she finished. Unless it looked like she was going to eat everything. Then he would push her away with his veil so he could eat.

 

[Hutbug]

I love your narrative, I wish you would write a book about the life of Karma. How do your chams get their water?

 

[luckykarma]

Thanks Hutbug. People are not going to like the water answer but here it is: I train them to drink from a large eyedropper. While I mist them 4 times a day if I can I know they're all getting water because I see it.

If Karma is particularly thirsty as soon as he sees the eye dropper he comes over and sticks out his tongue. Our previous Panther did the same. The two new Panthers are adjusting to it.

We had one of Karma's sons who we should've kept trained to drink from the water faucet. We would turn on the filtered water while he was on my shoulder and he would run down and start drinking. When we went on a road trip to take him to his new home we would stop and turn a sport water bottle upside-down and he would start drinking.

All Chams just amaze me with their personalities.

 

[Hutbug]

Hey, if it works, don't knock it! Do you have any other pets roaming around, like dogs or cats? I wonder if my cats would leave a cham alone to roam...I suppose it depends on the animal.

 

[jannb]

Luie drinks out of an eye dropper also and he sleeps in a Barbie doll bed all night. He's always been VERY sweet....doesn't have a mean streak in him.

 

[Hutbug]

You are joking, right? If not, do you have any of Luie's babies for sale?!?

 

[Chamgirl]

I too enjoy reading all the detail you go in to about Karma. I have nothing negative to say about you using eye droppers either. You obviously have a better relationship with your chameleons than most people could ever manage. It is wonderful to read such success stories

 

[jannb]

Hutbug; Luie is my only baby. I'm not kidding...if you'd like to see him sleeping in his bed look at my gallery pics. Jann

 

[Hutbug]

LOVE IT!! just made it my new desktop wallpaper!! He's a gorgeous boy!