Please see my responses below in bold:
- Your Chameleon – I have a newly purchased female Veiled Chameleon. I estimate her age at 6-8 weeks. She’s about 3” long not including tail. She arrived overnight UPS two days ago. Where did you get her from, if you don't mind my asking
- Handling – I’ve never tried to handle her. Her release into her cage was done by placing her plastic shipping container next to something she could crawl out onto within her cage. I’ve tried to keep her stress free until she settles in. Wonderful!! Handling can be quite stressful for our chameleons so avoiding unnecessary handling is smart
- Feeding – I purchased 40 small crickets; 20 of which are unaccounted for after being released into the cage. I’m hoping she has eaten them but I cannot be sure. I’ve not seen her eat or drink but I’m not with her 24/7. The crickets have that yellow gell from the pet store to feed on and were also feeding on apples, lettuce, and are dusted with calcium. Crickets have a tendency to nibble at our chameleons at night. I would strongly suggest getting either a lunch log, feeder run or a shooting gallery to contain all your crickets. When you've got a growing baby its important to know how much she is eating daily AND you want to avoid a free range situation where the crickets go down to the bottom of the enclosure where all the poop also goes, walk through a poop spot and then go back up the enclosure where your darling girl will eventually eat it. I would also suggest getting a variety of feeders for her, BSFL, silkworms, grasshoppers and dubia are all good staple feeders. If you want to provide a treat for her, wax worms and super worms are great treat bugs. I've included a list of feeders for you to check out as well as a great way to gut load them so they are nice and healthy for your girl. You do not need to get the gel stuff from the pet store for hydration for them, just cut up an apple or a mandrain orange for that - all these bugs get their water from their food sources
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? It’s only been two days. I’m just waiting to see her eat something. Not sure if she has. Supplements are super important. Our chameleon's dont get all the nutrition they need to be healthy and strong in captivity. For a veiled you should be dusting each feeding with a phosphorus free calcium with out vitamin D3. Then on the 1st and 15th of the month you should be using a multivitamin with vitamin D3. Without these supplements we see MBD develop, eye issues and many other health concerns. If you aren't using supplements you'll need to purchase and use them right away. This is what I use:
- Calcium without D3 - on every feeding
- Repashy LoD - on the 1st and 15th of each month
- Watering – I mist the cage at evening to raise humidity and will make sure there is plenty on the leaves for her to drink at the morning misting. I mist the cage plants 3 more times during the night with a final misting around 7:00am. I have never seen her drink, even after having a droplet dangling from her chin. Good, you can also poke a hole through a Solo cup to make a cheap dripper for her to have more drinking opportunities during the day. Chameleons are shy drinkers and you may never see her drink, we monitor hydration through their poop. You want a white urate (the chameleon pee) and the poop you want to be firm to hold its shape but not hard. I install a dripper every day around 3 pm for my chameleons so they have a drinking opportunity in the morning when they wake up with the misting session, at 3 with the dripper and again just as lights turn off. Also where she just was shipped to you she is most likely dehydrated so I would provide more drinking opportunities than normal, once she is settled and well hydrated you can adjust this.
- Fecal Description – In the two days I’ve had her, I’ve never seen a dropping. I am familiar with the shape and coloring and know what to look for. Ok, young ones like her will be pooping maybe every other day or so. Keep a close eye on this and let us know when you find some poop.
- History – When she arrived, she had fibers dangling from her chin that looked like the purple paper bedding she was shipped in. I’m concerned she ingested some but have no way of knowing for sure. Do you have a picture of the fibers? I'm hoping impaction is not an issue here
Cage Info:
- Cage Type – I have a Combo cage. 18” x 18” x 36”. This is ok for now, however she will quickly (like within a few months) grow out of this size enclosure. I'd recommend working on getting her a larger enclosure as soon as possible. The minimum size requirement is a 24x24x48
- Lighting – Arcadia ShadeDweller Pro 7% UV-B Kit mounted on top. 12 hours on starting at 7:00am and 12 hours off. Installed after photo was taken. Will you share a photo of this? We typically use the 6% Arcadia UVB, with it being a little stronger I'll have @Beman give you advice on placement of the light and branches to ensure your baby isn't getting too much UVB.
- Temperature – I have two Govee Hygrometer Thermometer H5075’s; one at the top of the cage and one at the bottom. Fantastic, I love the Govee stuff, its been so nice to have in my enclosures!
Bottom temps and humidity range: 67°overnight to 74°daytime.
Humidity – 55% daytime to 91% overnight. The cage dries out nicely during the day.
Perfect!!
Top temps and humidity range: 69° overnight to 78°daytime.
Humidity – 50% daytime to 88% overnight.
Perfect!!
There is no basking lamp. The cage is partially in front of a south facing window and she gets morning sun. She basks there until sufficiently warmed up then moves to a shady part of the cage. She’s been moving around nicely during the day but when I come home from work, she is hunkered down in the bottom of the cage trying to claw out. Her coloring is dark at this time. Overnight and the rest of the time, her coloring is good.
I'd be carful with the sun getting into your enclosure, I would worry that it could overheat baby, she shouldn't be clawing to get out of her enclosure, that is a sign that something is bothering her in her environment. Lets look into this and see if we can figure out how to get her comfortable with her home
- Plants – see photos. Only Pothos at this time. Good, the more plants and coverage the better, I'll attach a photo of one of my enclosures to help start some ideas for you, you want the top branches where she gets UVB to be 'out in the open' and the rest of the enclosure should be densely planted. Attaching a document with more safe plants, you'll want to be careful with what kind of plants you use in your enclosure as veiled chameleons tend to eat the plants in their enclosure
- Placement – the cage is in a low traffic area away from vents. The top of the gage is 6 feet from the floor. Good, height equals safety for chameleons so its important to have the top her branches be either at eye level with you or higher.
- Location – We are in South Carolina?
Current Problem – I can’t confirm she is eating or drinking. She seems to be thinning out. I see no signs of droppings and she shows no interest in drinking when droplets are dangling in front of her.
Chameleons are shy drinkers and shy eaters. She is also getting used to a new home. Monitor her poops for hydration and food intake, also count how many feeders you find and remove from her enclosure at the end of the day to help you know she is eating.
Last thing: I follow this care guide for my chameleon https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Veiled-Care-Summary-2022C.pdf
Where you have a female chameleon you'll need to know that she will within the next month or so reach an age where she will start to develop eggs. She will lay them with or without a male, much like chickens do. Because of this you will want to have a lay bin for her and once she reaches a certain age you will want to scale back on her food intake and watch her basking temps. I dont remember the age where you will want to start this so I'll let @MissSkittles speak to that, but I do remember that her basking temp should be no more than 80 degrees and she should only eat 3 feeders every other day once she is old enough. (Lay bin information attached as well)
