Cham fell

[Lexi468]

Hey everybody!
I am new to Cham ownership and to the forum.
I have a female veiled chameleon that I rescued from somebody that was trying to donate her to the small pet store I work at. So far she’s been great. She is actually very friendly and comes to the front of her enclosure every day when I get home to come out. This morning she was hanging out on the screen door of her enclosure while it was open, and she fell to the ground. Probably about five feet. I picked her right up and put her back in her enclosure, and she seemed okay. However, when I got home, she was VERY grumpy. Like she is a muddy brown color and hisses at me when I go near her. She did eat some lettuce and drink a ton of water but is this to be expected? I’d be grumpy if I fell too but most things I read say their chameleons acted totally normal after.

 

[Lexi468]

Also, how does everybody deal with hydration? She has a dripper and I mist her once or twice a day but tonight she seemed excessively thirsty. Should I be misting three times a day?

 

[MissSkittles]

Also, how does everybody deal with hydration? She has a dripper and I mist her once or twice a day but tonight she seemed excessively thirsty. Should I be misting three times a day?

Hi and welcome. So, just to ensure that you are doing everything correctly if you’d like to fill out this form, someone can review all of your husbandry. Pics of your chameleon and total enclosure including the top from lights down to floor are a huge help too.
For hydration, you want to be misting/spraying about 3 times daily for 2 minutes each time.


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

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Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[Lexi468]

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, over a year old, I’ve had her for about two weeks.
• Handling - I handle her as often as she wants me to. Sometimes once a day, sometimes once every couple. She lets me know when she doesn’t want to be handled.
• Feeding - She eats about 6 large crickets every other day. She also eats green/red leaf lettuce occasionally. I gut load with lettuce and flukers orange cubes.
• Supplements - I dust feeders with Repashy Calcium Plus
• Watering - I use the the little dripper and most twice a day. I have seen her drink twice.
• Fecal Description - Not tested since I’ve had her. It’s mostly brown lately.
• History - I don’t have a lot of history on her but I know her previous owner did not take great care of her.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it’s a screen enclosure, about three feet by two and two. I’m working on getting a bigger one.
• Lighting - I have a flukers reptisun 10.0 UVB (which her previous owner did not have) and a 100 watt zoomed heat bulb. 12 on 12 off.
• Temperature - 85-90 basking, 74 on the bottom of the cage. Never drops below 60 at night. I use a thermometer and beat gun to measure.
• Humidity - Around 40-60. Maintained with dripper and misting. I use a hygrometer to measure.
• Plants - I use live plants. Pathos, hydrangea, and bromeliad.
• Placement - Cage is located in the dining room, not next to any vents or other sources of air. Top of the cage is about 6 feet off the ground.
• Location - I am located in NYS

 

[Lexi468]

First pic is pre-fall.

 

[CasqueAbove]

If healthy a fall should not be a big deal. But she does look gravid. You should start a lay bin for her.
I am sure others will follow with more detail, like the lights.

 

[Lexi468]

The problem is that I don’t know if she’s healthy because I haven’t had her very long. What’s wrong with the lights? The previous owner said she laid her eggs in the pothos vine pot so I thought she would probably do that again.

 

[Archie The Cham]

You have a compact UVB light and that does not put out enough UVB for your cham. This can lead to MBD, which if she falls can lead to broken bones a lot easier. You need to buy a linear UVB fixture for her so she can start to get the UVB that she needs. Also all of the plastic plants have to go and be switched out for real plants. I also believe she should have a larger lay bin, I also believe that her cage is too small. I would look at placing her in a 2'x2'x4' enclosure. I also don't see anything for misting besides the dripper so I am assuming that you are hand misting throughout the day.

 

[MissSkittles]

Putting my feedback in red.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, over a year old, I’ve had her for about two weeks.
• Handling - I handle her as often as she wants me to. Sometimes once a day, sometimes once every couple. She lets me know when she doesn’t want to be handled.
• Feeding - She eats about 6 large crickets every other day. She also eats green/red leaf lettuce occasionally. I gut load with lettuce and flukers orange cubes. You’ll need to cut back on the amount of feeders to about 3-4. Crickets are ok, but you should add more variety. Giving her lettuce is not adding anything in terms of nutrition and chams need only bugs. As a rare treat, I do give my chams a blueberry or two as they seem to enjoy them, but they definitely gain no benefit from it. Gutloading with lettuce and orange cubes will keep the crickets alive but again, not add any nutritive value. Attaching feeder and gutload graphics to help you.
• Supplements - I dust feeders with Repashy Calcium Plus I am aware that some use this, however I can’t vouch for it. The standard supplementation is a phosphorus free calcium without D3 lightly dusted at every feeding except one per week. That one weekly feeding you’ll use a calcium with D3 and then the next weekly feeding use a multivitamin and keep rotating them.
• Watering - I use the the little dripper and most twice a day. I have seen her drink twice. This is fine. Just make sure to mist for at least 2 minutes.
• Fecal Description - Not tested since I’ve had her. It’s mostly brown lately. It’s always a good idea to have a fecal check for parasites.
• History - I don’t have a lot of history on her but I know her previous owner did not take great care of her.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it’s a screen enclosure, about three feet by two and two. I’m working on getting a bigger one. Not too terrible. The minimum recommended size is 2x2x4’ or equivalent.
• Lighting - I have a flukers reptisun 10.0 UVB (which her previous owner did not have) and a 100 watt zoomed heat bulb. 12 on 12 off. As you’ve been told already, you have the wrong type of uvb. You need a linear T5HO fixture with a 5.0 (or Arcadia 6%) uvb bulb. It should be long enough to span the width of the enclosure.
• Temperature - 85-90 basking, 74 on the bottom of the cage. Never drops below 60 at night. I use a thermometer and beat gun to measure. Too hot. Basking temps shouldn’t get any higher than 80*. At night, veileds can handle drops as low as the 50’s.
• Humidity - Around 40-60. Maintained with dripper and misting. I use a hygrometer to measure. A little too high. Ideal range is between 30-50%.
• Plants - I use live plants. Pathos, hydrangea, and bromeliad. Great! Live plants are best. I’m not sure about the safety of hydrangea though. Pothos is always a favorite. Veileds do nibble at their plants so it’s important to make sure that they are safe. I go by this list. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/ Get rid of any fake plants as she could become impacted if she ate one. For additional privacy, I have hung the fake plants I started with on the outside of the enclosure door to give my chams more privacy.
• Placement - Cage is located in the dining room, not next to any vents or other sources of air. Top of the cage is about 6 feet off the ground. Good. The higher the better. Chams feel safest when they are able to look down upon their world.
• Location - I am located in NYS

Looking at your pics, your girl does look quite plump and she is probably working on some eggs. You will need to provide her with a lay bin. It’s best to just keep it as a permanent part of her enclosure. Needs to be about a 12” square or rectangle container filled to about 8” with washed play sand. It needs to be kept moist enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. Some like to put a plant in the bin and you could add a little organic soil if you choose. Chams prefer to lay up against roots if available, but will lay against the sides too.
The reason for limiting her food and temps is to try to reduce her egg laying, as it takes a great deal from them and shortens their lives. Plus, too large a clutch is higher risk for becoming egg bound.
I don’t see any deformities to indicate any metabolic bone disease (mbd) so hopefully she didn’t have any serious injuries from her fall. You’ll just have to keep an eye on her.
Regarding your enclosure, you need to add more branches and vines for her to travel along. You need more plants for her to be able to hide in. You seem to have a pencil cactus in there...not really a good plant for a cham.
There are several resources to help you learn more besides the forum, of course. https://chameleonacademy.com/
I can never download the link properly, but do check out Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube.
Of course, ask whatever you’re unsure about.

• 
  

 

[CasqueAbove]

The problem is that I don’t know if she’s healthy because I haven’t had her very long. What’s wrong with the lights? The previous owner said she laid her eggs in the pothos vine pot so I thought she would probably do that again.

It is hard starting from ground zero.
So lets look at it like this. If you do not see anything obvious, that is a good start. The concern I would have is internal damage from the fall with eggs. If she is OK she should show it in her attitude. If she doesn't look green and happy she probably isn't.

First I do think that the fall should not be that severe.

But the issue here is IF it is something internal, there will be a very short time to save her. If you watch her attitude she may be off and grumpy for a few days and then be fine. However if it is the first is true it will be too late.

If it were me and she didn't start to look more relaxed within hours. I would look for a vet. You know the issue so you can call and explain. You just need a vet that can read the Xray.


I think she will show improvement quickly. Does she move around freely ? other than the color and atitude (they can hold a grudge for a bit if she blames you lol) is there any other signs ?

And there are husbantry issues too solve if you want a long healthy life. Overall she looks good I see no outstanding signs, so quickly getting her parameters fixed she can live many more years.

EDIT and everything @MissSkittles said. good detail

 

[Lexi468]

Okay thanks everybody. It’s not a pencil cactus, it’s the hydrangea which I had to cut the top off of to fit in the enclosure. It is chameleon safe. I have done quite a bit of research and as I’ve only had her a couple of weeks AND she’s a rescue, I have not had a lot of time to prepare. And I had a hard time finding reliable information about care. Literally every site says something different about temps and humidity so I just went with what majority said, but I am very grateful to have found this forum. Also very glad to know about egg laying. I read about what they look like when gravid, but I didn’t really know what to expect. Again, thank you so much for all the information. I will order her bigger cage this week. Also the UVB. How does everybody handle the bottom of the cage and also avoid water getting all over the walls when you mist, since it’s a screen enclosure? Is a 75 watt heat bulb going to be enough since the 100 is too much?

 

[Lexi468]

And also, does she need to eat more while she is gravid? Also varying opinions on this.

 

[MissSkittles]

And also, does she need to eat more while she is gravid? Also varying opinions on this.

Right now I’d be hesitant to make any big changes on how much you’re feeding until she lays. After she lays her eggs, feed and hydrate her well for a couple of days and then start cutting back. Both of my females are just around 1 year old and I’ve got them down to feeding 3 times a week. This may help explain it better than I can. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
There are a lot of changes, but the most important is lighting, supplements and better gut-loading. Honestly, if this is your first chameleon, you’ve done very well. I know with all my feedback it sounds super critical. There’s no judgement. Most/many of us had no clue when we started and did so many things wrong. We came, we learned and now we help others to do the same. So, I’m very glad that you’re here and interested in learning and giving your cham the best life.

 

[Archie The Cham]

Okay thanks everybody. It’s not a pencil cactus, it’s the hydrangea which I had to cut the top off of to fit in the enclosure. It is chameleon safe. I have done quite a bit of research and as I’ve only had her a couple of weeks AND she’s a rescue, I have not had a lot of time to prepare. And I had a hard time finding reliable information about care. Literally every site says something different about temps and humidity so I just went with what majority said, but I am very grateful to have found this forum. Also very glad to know about egg laying. I read about what they look like when gravid, but I didn’t really know what to expect. Again, thank you so much for all the information. I will order her bigger cage this week. Also the UVB. How does everybody handle the bottom of the cage and also avoid water getting all over the walls when you mist, since it’s a screen enclosure? Is a 75 watt heat bulb going to be enough since the 100 is too much?

I am glad you were comfortable enough to ask a question, it can be scary when you are a new cham owner. I have a plastic shower curtain outside my cage to keep the water from hitting my walls. If you close in your cage with a shower curtain or something like this just keep an eye on your humidity because it will hold in more humidity and will allow less airflow so make sure that you get adequate airflow so the air doesnt get stagnant. As far as the bulb I just buy incandescent bulbs so if you can buy a 75 watt and check your temps and work from there. Make sure to check your cage gradient, you want your cage to give your cham many different temperatures.