Boy or girl, also unsure of age

[Mrfly2]

Hi, I got this Cham at petco, the lady didn't know what age or sex the chameleon was, and Im a new Cham owner, didn't know anything about chameleons and my 4 year old son picked one out at pet Co for 30 bucks so I said what the heck....... Lol little did I know... Lol so, I think he is 5 to 7 months, iand I thi k he is male, can anyone confirm this so I don't need to set up a lay bin, thanks, here's some pics

 

[kinyonga]

For that sp dies of chameleon...just look on the back of the heel...males have tarsal Spurs (little bumps)...females don't....so yours looks like a male. Males also develop bands of color and higher casques than females eventually. Age is hard to determine...depends on genes and husbandry to some extent.

 

[Beman]

Hi there welcome to the forum. You have a male. Let the learning curve begin. lol. Make sure you remove all the fake plants so he does not start trying to eat them. All of those black vines you will need to replace. The coating comes off of them and if they rub their face on them they can get the pieces stuck in their eyes. Flukers makes a good fake vine you can use if you do not have access to real branches.

Is the little man opening that right eye now? Or is he keeping it closed?

If you have not found it yet this is a great husbandry program to follow. It will walk you through everything and if you have questions come let us know. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

 

[Jpeff]

Looks like bruise under that eye or something.

 

[Beman]

Looks like bruise under that eye or something.

Yeah I blew the image up... Definately something going on there. But also if you zoom in the gum line is icky as well. Below the eye it looks like whatever it is is flaking off.

 

[Jpeff]

Yeah I blew the image up... Definately something going on there. But also if you zoom in the gum line is icky as well. Below the eye it looks like whatever it is is flaking off.

Was thinking same I zoomed in. If zoom in other pic look like eye almost all the way open. I'd try to get to open mouth to look if red. Kanda looks like flap with something going on under and spot on gum line

 

[Mrfly2]

I'm not sure what thoseblack spots were was about to fill out the health assessment stuff because he doesn't look good, unless this is shedding or a burn.? I raised my lights cause he was screen climbing I'll take new pics when I get home from work these are a couple days old

 

[Mrfly2]

The brown spots on his lip where black when I got him

 

[Mrfly2]

He also is not into exploring at all, not sure why

 

[Mrfly2]

Ps Iv read all of the program it saved me because I dident have a clue when I got him, it's really good and I'm very thankful for it

 

[Mrfly2]

Is there any way to get a review of my setup and caretaking to see if I can improve or should I post all that in my heath assessment forum?

 

[Mrfly2]

He never had those green dots when I got him wondering if I'm doing something wrong

 

[Beman]

Is there any way to get a review of my setup and caretaking to see if I can improve or should I post all that in my heath assessment forum?

Did you find the help form? If not I can post it here for you to copy and paste into your reply to fill out.

Just post it all here including pics of the entire enclosure.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's the link...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Mrfly2]

Chameleon :Vield male, I'm guessing he is around 5 to 7 months but really don't know

I handle him as little as possible about 5 times in the month that Iv had him.... Did have a cage or anything when I bought him.. Pretty stupid on my part

I feed him crickets, dubia roches, silk worms, super worms and horn worms, always in the mourning, I always give 6 to 10 crickets, then I alternate the other food with the crickets, 2 to 3 silks and like 4 roches, or 2 super worms and a horn, ooo yea I also add wax worms in but he doesn't seem to eat them as much,

I coat everything with calcium w/o d3, and calcium with d3 twice a month, I also give a reptivit multi vit one a month.... Iv only had him a month, I'll post pics of all the supplements I use

I use the must king with 3 nozzles, a double and a single, I mist twice a day, 30 mins before lights on and 30 mins before lights off, 3mins in the am and 3mins 30s in the pm..... My lights go on at 8am and off at 8pm. I also fill the little dripper and let that drip in till empty in the mourning when I feed him

He seems to be popping OK, blackish with the white at the end once it was a little orange.... He doesn't poop every day, Iv never tested it for parasites

I bought him at petco for 30 bucks, he went 6 days when I first got him with no uvb, I did bring him outside though

Cage/ Retibreeze 24 by 24 by 48in, no sides or back covered yet still waiting on my pet backdrops order to come in, I have a 36in t5 ho uvb light 6% Arcadia bulb going diagonal along the top of the cage it is suspended 2in above cage(he screen walks) his main basking branch is 9in from top of screen so 11in from bulb, to the right of that going diagonal and suspended 2in from top of cage is an Arcadia jungle dawn 22in, then the heat dome in the corner, its a 5.5 deep dome, with a 100w zoomed basking spot bulb, lights go on at 8am and off at 8pm, no external light at light off time, his basking spot is around 88 his main cage temp is around 70 and goes no lower than 63 at night to 68

Humidity fluctuates alot I'm in Central NY, but is 50 to 70 through out day and 75 plus at night but dips a little during the night, might need to do two night misting, just turned my heat on so the humidity is fluxing like crazy

All plants are real I have a pothos a money tree a hibiscus and 2 others the cage is located in my office which I frequently very rarely some days I'm just in there to feed him and clean the cage

My problem is om not really sure if I'm doing this right, he looks sickly at times, his eye got crusty and dark and his lip hot black at one point, he doesn't explore his cage at all just stays at the top, he seems to eat OK though, Iv only seen him drink once, I'm not sure if he is getting uvb overexposure or uvb burns or if he was just shedding

 

[Mrfly2]

The green pokadots just appeared a couple days ago

 

[Mrfly2]

These photos are like a week old

 

[Beman]

Give me a few to go through everything.

 

[Beman]

Ok see my feedback in bold. Let me know what questions you have.


Chameleon :Vield male, I'm guessing he is around 5 to 7 months but really don't know Looks about that age range.
I handle him as little as possible about 5 times in the month that Iv had him.... Did have a cage or anything when I bought him.. Pretty stupid on my part

I feed him crickets, dubia roches, silk worms, super worms and horn worms, always in the mourning, I always give 6 to 10 crickets, then I alternate the other food with the crickets, 2 to 3 silks and like 4 roches, or 2 super worms and a horn, ooo yea I also add wax worms in but he doesn't seem to eat them as much, This is a good variety. And if he is eating that well they that is good as well. When he starts maturing you will start reducing him down. Check back in with us in a few months on this. Right now stick with every day feeding of a dozen feeders.

I coat everything with calcium w/o d3, and calcium with d3 twice a month, I also give a reptivit multi vit one a month.... Iv only had him a month, I'll post pics of all the supplements I use This we want to switch up a bit. The calcium without D3 is good. Order repashy Calcium plus LoD version. This will replace the calcium with D3 and the multivitamin. You will use the repashy LoD version 2 times a month only say the 1st and the 15th. This multi vitamin has calcium with D3 plus preformed vitamin A along with other vitamins.

I use the must king with 3 nozzles, a double and a single, I mist twice a day, 30 mins before lights on and 30 mins before lights off, 3mins in the am and 3mins 30s in the pm..... My lights go on at 8am and off at 8pm. I also fill the little dripper and let that drip in till empty in the mourning when I feed him... So the only issue with misting when lights are off is they do not have the opportunity to clean their eyes. If you are dealing with higher daytime humidity you would mist in the late afternoon/evening before he beds down rather than after lights off. Run a longer evening misting to give him the opportunity to clean his eyes. 3-5 minutes long.

He seems to be popping OK, blackish with the white at the end once it was a little orange.... He doesn't poop every day, Iv never tested it for parasites testing is always a good idea to ensure there is not a parasite load.

I bought him at petco for 30 bucks, he went 6 days when I first got him with no uvb, I did bring him outside though

Cage/ Retibreeze 24 by 24 by 48in, no sides or back covered yet still waiting on my pet backdrops order to come in, I have a 36in t5 ho uvb light 6% Arcadia bulb going diagonal along the top of the cage it is suspended 2in above cage(he screen walks) his main basking branch is 9in from top of screen so 11in from bulb, to the right of that going diagonal and suspended 2in from top of cage is an Arcadia jungle dawn 22in, then the heat dome in the corner, its a 5.5 deep dome, with a 100w zoomed basking spot bulb, lights go on at 8am and off at 8pm, no external light at light off time, his basking spot is around 88 his main cage temp is around 70 and goes no lower than 63 at night to 68... Basking is too hot... Should be no hotter than 80 for a youngen. Max as an adult is 85 although most of us keep our adults in the 82-83 range. Drop your basking bulb wattage down to a 60 or 75 watt to reduce temp. Make sure your using a regular incandesant bulb rather than a flat bottom focused heat bulb. Kick the Heat fixture off 30minutes to 1 hour prior to the evening misting. This will help reduce temp in the cage for a night time cool down. Then have LED kick off with the last bulb to kick off at night being the T5HO. Now for the UVB it is too far away. You want 8-9 inches to the branch from the bottom of the fixture to put the cham in a 3 UVI level where it sits up off the branch. The further away the more the UVI level drops and they can not get the levels they need. This can contribute to a failure to thrive along with other issues like MBD.

Humidity fluctuates alot I'm in Central NY, but is 50 to 70 through out day and 75 plus at night but dips a little during the night, might need to do two night misting, just turned my heat on so the humidity is fluxing like crazy
All plants are real I have a pothos a money tree a hibiscus and 2 others the cage is located in my office which I frequently very rarely some days I'm just in there to feed him and clean the cage
My problem is om not really sure if I'm doing this right, he looks sickly at times, his eye got crusty and dark and his lip hot black at one point, he doesn't explore his cage at all just stays at the top, he seems to eat OK though, Iv only seen him drink once, I'm not sure if he is getting uvb overexposure or uvb burns or if he was just shedding

Not overexposure or UVB burns... Not enough UVB and way too hot for him. May have additional things going on but a Vet would need to diagnose that. Make the husbandry corrections specifically with the UVB distance/ misting while awake in the evening and see if he starts to perk up.

 

[Mrfly2]

Thank you so much, Ill fix it today and keep you guys posted