Babies still alive now 7 weeks later

[Fate X]

I got 4 baby veil at a show feb 2xfemale and 2xmale .on the way home i had to stop at the petstore for a light,i put the plastic trays they were in on the dashboard ,when i got out the store my brother said he notice they mouths all open like they era screaming and such he took them off the dash when he seen em screaming, so i put them on the floor in the bag to cool them off cause the dash was a little to hot. they made it home alive .

i put them in a small esu fresh air habitat with the esu 24" combo light n a zoomed basking spotlight.the one named shaky cause he started shaking after a couple days was always climbing close as he could get to the light.he got ill first, after a week shaky was skinny and shaky SO i figured the zoomed was junk i cut it back to 7 hrs on a day n got a 40w exo terra dayglo for the combo light n in like 2-3 days shaky was getting better as the rest looked healthier one male "sonic" always looked healthy cause he seemed heat smarter then the other three ,he always perched in the middle of the cage rarely going to the basking zoomed. i got another 40w terra exo glo for the combo and they paired up under each exo tera bulb.

these combo lights u can use a frourescent and 2 exo terra's and they work great and propably increase the chance of success with veils i believe.

after a month or so i got the large esu fresh habitat for all four,then put lucky back in a small fresh aircage then got another small for sonic as the both are wanting violence and such behaviours . shaky and splinter are in the large fresh cage together living in peace n the other 2 are in small's cages with a 4ft flourescent exo terra 5.0 until i put the 2 other large esu fresh air habitats together this week.
for nthe first 3 week these babies were given crickets dusted with zoomed reptivite everyday .every feeding i used this zoomed stuff then after 3 weeks i rotated it with t-rex chameleon dust ,now once a week i give them regular crickets without dust they are gutloaded thou.

they seem to have grown very much, their big. i just got some superworms and i feed one to sonic ,the supperworms are big and make a good meal .i got some reptical now n more t-rex dust . they all are looking healthy and eating a lot n they are strong and such.i have 2 dogs that live with them the one dog cage is right in front of there cages n she barks to much which is why i plan to move the camies upstairs in their own room.

i really didnt think they would all still be alive especially shaky cause he got sick n all BUT now hes big n healthy . i am not sure if everything i am doing to keep these alive is proper correct ans such BUT they r alive n healthy.
i been wiping there cages out with paper towels and i need some suggestions what i could use to clean the cages from germs and such that wont harm them , this has been my delemma since i had them as i cannot decide what to use to clean the cages with other then moist paper towels,i usually wipe the cages down after i spray mist them it.


Fate X

 

[alfaracer75]

Eeek. It sounds like your little guys have had a traumatic childhood!

Chams get stressed out very easily and the more they are stressed the more likely they are to get sick and/or have short lifespans. I'm no expert, but I did a lot of research before getting my baby male veiled. Chameleons do NOT like to be around other Chams. Each one should be in it's own enclosure and not even be able to SEE the others. The dogs being right by the Chameleon enclosures is another sure way to get them all stressed out.

Hopefully you have UV lights in those enclosures, such as ZooMed's ReptiSun, etc. The lights should be on for 10-12 hours per day (10 in winter, 12 in warmer months).

As for cleaning, don't use any harsh chemicals in the cage. The best thing is to make it so the exess moisture can drain out the bottom of the cage. What I'm doing is I replaced the plastic bottom in my enclosure with metal screening and put a large plastic tub underneath to catch the extra water.

Search around this site and you will find lots of very usefull information. I'm sure some of the more experienced Cham people will chime in shortly too.

Good luck.

Chip

 

[Fate X]

the only really bad stress was the heat situation on the ride home from the show and the first 10 days when i was using the zoomed basking spot.

as far as them seeing each other there are "privacy panels" on the side of the cages so they cannot see each other ,the two in the large cage are a female n a male are they appear happy . there are panels on the front so they don't see the dogs all day n night.
the light are exo terra 5.0 uvb other one is reptisun 5.0 with exoterra dayglo's i considered getting zoomed wipeout but is says you need to take them n all their stuff out of the cage. i only need to clean the bottom of the cage for now.
as for their childhood it could have been better , i had read nfo about these guys cause there my first chameleons and i knew the dogs would be stressful but i figured i would keep a eye on them and if they look really bad i would move them to a more peaceful place in the house.
i figured one of the reasons their not stressed bad is cause of the real plants in the cages and the cages are" higher "then the dogs .
so their childhood could have been worse from what i read.
when i get a camera i will take some pictures to show off.

 

[2by2]

Hey Fate,
Sounds like your little guys are no worse for ware. However it also sounds like you've got a couple changes that need to be made.
First of all, alfaracer is right, chams (especially veileds) are not very communal at all. You can probably get away with keeping the females together.....especially if you raise them together and they're in a big enough cage, with lots of different perches and cover. Your males definately need to be housed in seperate cages. Males can become very aggressive once they reach sexual maturity. Keep them alon at all times unless your planning to breed them.
Secondly, you gotta get them away from those dogs. Even though they cant see them.....I'm sure they can sense them and for a baby cham, its definately not good to add any extra stress. My recomendation....find a nice quiet spot, away from all the traffic and let them enjoy the peace an quiet.
Next you need to make sure you have all the correct lighting on these guys. As far as UVB goes, I prefer the Reptisun 5.0 bulbs. For some of my taller cages I use the 10.0's, but over the last couple years......5.0 has been my staple and I've used it with great success. I've also heard good things about the exo-terra bulbs. I havn't seen any test data on it, but I know for a fact it was developed by Emmanuel VanHeygan. The now acting exo-terra brand manager for Hagen corp. He used to be brand manager for Zoo Med........If you put two and two together......exo-terra might just be making the same exact bulb. But thats another story. Either way, I know reptisuns work....and I've never tried the exo-terra bulbs. My point is, you need to have one of these lights on your cham, and it sounds like your doing just that.
As far as basking lights go.....here is my general rule of thumb. Wattage doesn't matter......lol. Its how far from the basking spot the light is that matters most. Basically, you want a basking spot for a veiled to be in the 90-100 degree range. Whatever wattage bulb you need to use to get it there is what you need to use. My bulbs are roughly 8-10 inches from my basking spots, and I usually use a bulb in the range of 60 watts to get my basking temps where I want them.
As far as the rest of the set up goes....just make sure you have lots of climbing areas and lots of places for them to hide. This job can be made fairly simple by just running over to Home Depot and buying a couple ficus or schefflera plants. Just make sure you give them a thorough rinsing before putting them in with your cham.

In addition here is a link to a care sheet on Kingsnake about veileds. I must admit that I have not read it....but I'm sure it has some good tips and pointers in there for the beginner.

Good Luck!! And i for one am looking forward to pics. Definately gotta love the pics!

http://www.kingsnake.com/rockymountain/RMHPages/RMHveiled.htm