Chameleon Problems

[RadishKing321]

I have recently gotten a Veiled Chameleon for Christmas. His cage is about 18 inches tall and 1 foot long and 1 foot wide. I give him about 2-3 crickets daily. His cage was originally on the ground at 81 degrees. I then moved him higher and for some reason it has dropped down to 73.4 degrees with a humidity of 48%. His skin seems to be dry and when ever I try to touch him or play with him he backs away and turns a brown tint. Is there anyway I can make him more friendly and more neon green?
He is also about 3 inches with tail rolled up.

 

[sibo]

hi there,

first off chameleons very rairly become something that likes to be handled, they are more like tropical fish look but dont touch. secondly get some more vined in the viv and you will soon need one a lot larger than that, at least 24in x 24in x 48in high.

and no there is no way to make him change colour on a whim.

 

[jamjam]

I have recently gotten a Veiled Chameleon for Christmas. His cage is about 18 inches tall and 1 foot long and 1 foot wide. I give him about 2-3 crickets daily. His cage was originally on the ground at 81 degrees. I then moved him higher and for some reason it has dropped down to 73.4 degrees with a humidity of 48%. His skin seems to be dry and when ever I try to touch him or play with him he backs away and turns a brown tint. Is there anyway I can make him more friendly and more neon green?
He is also about 3 inches with tail rolled up.

Congrats on your new pet, get some pics of the lil guy up and welcome to the forums.

cant explain the temperature change however i can tell you chams are an animal best viewed, meaning not handled or played with as it can stress them out. Not saying you cant, just know some just may never like it or warm up to you and from what I hear veileds are one of the worse. secondly that cage is far to small and hope you have plans for a larger one soon as he is quite small. As for colour, he is still new and prob still stressed from the new enviornment give it a few weeks. With him being that small he probably will start eating alot more crickets just give it some time. As for the set up, no substrate is recommended, and looks like you can use more foilage and more branches. some other questions would be do you have uv lighting?

proper care and husbandry may promote some better colouring

 

[RadishKing321]

Congrats on your new pet, get some pics of the lil guy up and welcome to the forums.

cant explain the temperature change however i can tell you chams are an animal best viewed, meaning not handled or played with as it can stress them out. Not saying you cant, just know some just may never like it or warm up to you and from what I hear veileds are one of the worse. secondly that cage is far to small and hope you have plans for a larger one soon as he is quite small. As for colour, he is still new and prob still stressed from the new enviornment give it a few weeks. With him being that small he probably will start eating alot more crickets just give it some time. As for the set up, no substrate is recommended, and looks like you can use more foilage and more branches. some other questions would be do you have uv lighting?

proper care and husbandry may promote some better colouring

Thanks for responding so quickly. By UV light do you mean the red light I have to switch at night? And yes I'm planning to get a bigger cage. But for another veiled for him to have as a friend does it have to be opposite sex because I'm not really planning to have Chameleon eggs. I also have another question. I have heard that you're suppose to spray it with a squirt bottle once in a while. Is that true?

 

[camimom]

Ok, no nights at light. NONE. EVER. thye need darkness to sleep.

Next, NO FRIENDS. these are not social creatures, one cham per cage.

UVB< not UV. UVB prevents the development of bone disease.

Please read this care sheet, and it tells you everything you need to know to care for your cham properly.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Jordyt]

Congrats on your new pet, get some pics of the lil guy up and welcome to the forums.

cant explain the temperature change however i can tell you chams are an animal best viewed, meaning not handled or played with as it can stress them out. Not saying you cant, just know some just may never like it or warm up to you and from what I hear veileds are one of the worse. secondly that cage is far to small and hope you have plans for a larger one soon as he is quite small. As for colour, he is still new and prob still stressed from the new enviornment give it a few weeks. With him being that small he probably will start eating alot more crickets just give it some time. As for the set up, no substrate is recommended, and looks like you can use more foilage and more branches. some other questions would be do you have uv lighting?

proper care and husbandry may promote some better colouring

To add to the comment about getting a larger cage-when you do decide to get a larger cage, I would recommend a screen cage as oppose to glass, which it looks like you have now. It provides the ventilation that chameleons require.

 

[Deevo]

Real plants are also important to help keep up with humidity levels, gives them a sense of security so they can hide etc, better sense of well being and in some cases another source of nutrition. Some great plants for your cham are an umbrella tree, pothos, hibiscus, orchids, ferns, baby tears etc.

Also like mentioned a mesh cage is really ideal for their needs and also makes it easier for drainage.

Do LOTS of reading on chameleon husbandry.

 

[Tyaeda]

Cute little cham you have there. Chameleons are awesome pets, but they're very different from other pets, and even other reptiles.

You came to the right place though - this site is filled with many friendly and helpful people.


I would very strongly suggest a few things. Your cham needs a series of horizontal branches to climb on - especially one that allows him to bask, located about 1 foot away from his basking light. The more foliage the better. You might not always be able to find him in there, but it will help him feel much more comfortable. And like the previous posters have mentioned, you'll need a UVB light - go for the the linear tube version opposed to the compact bulbs, they're safer, better, and light the cage better.
Live plants are also a great addition, as long as they are non toxic for your cham. Pothos are very popular amongst keepers and are extremely easy to care for.

A baby cham, like yours appears to be, will need to be fed much more than 2-3 crickets a day. Since he is doing so much growing, you should feed him as many crickets as he's willing to eat (Probably around 10 - 15 small crickets daily). Make sure though that the crickets are no wider than the width of your chameleons mouth, so he doesn't accidentally choke. Insects will need to be dusted with Calcium (without d3 or anything else) every day, and twice a month you'll need to dust them with Multivitamin and Calcium with D3 in it.

For handling, you'll need to be patient, otherwise you'll stress your little guy out. I waited until Mr.Pink was comfortable around us at feeding time (didn't "run" away from us) until we tried taking him out. We only take him out for short periods of time, unless it's to go outside for some real sunlight in the summer.

Unfortunately, chameleons do not change colour on a whim. They will get all puffed up and change to a stress pattern if you spook him. As beautiful as that can be - you don't want to cause stress in chameleons. Ultimately it could kill them, but not before causing a slew of other health problems. The dark dull patterns you're probably seeing are an indication that he is cold and wants to bask. (If you give him a basking branch he will go to a nice green colour when he's warm enough) Darker colours absorb more heat than brighter ones, so that's why they do that.

 

[RadishKing321]

Cute little cham you have there. Chameleons are awesome pets, but they're very different from other pets, and even other reptiles.

You came to the right place though - this site is filled with many friendly and helpful people.


I would very strongly suggest a few things. Your cham needs a series of horizontal branches to climb on - especially one that allows him to bask, located about 1 foot away from his basking light. The more foliage the better. You might not always be able to find him in there, but it will help him feel much more comfortable. And like the previous posters have mentioned, you'll need a UVB light - go for the the linear tube version opposed to the compact bulbs, they're safer, better, and light the cage better.
Live plants are also a great addition, as long as they are non toxic for your cham. Pothos are very popular amongst keepers and are extremely easy to care for.

A baby cham, like yours appears to be, will need to be fed much more than 2-3 crickets a day. Since he is doing so much growing, you should feed him as many crickets as he's willing to eat (Probably around 10 - 15 small crickets daily). Make sure though that the crickets are no wider than the width of your chameleons mouth, so he doesn't accidentally choke. Insects will need to be dusted with Calcium (without d3 or anything else) every day, and twice a month you'll need to dust them with Multivitamin and Calcium with D3 in it.

For handling, you'll need to be patient, otherwise you'll stress your little guy out. I waited until Mr.Pink was comfortable around us at feeding time (didn't "run" away from us) until we tried taking him out. We only take him out for short periods of time, unless it's to go outside for some real sunlight in the summer.

Unfortunately, chameleons do not change colour on a whim. They will get all puffed up and change to a stress pattern if you spook him. As beautiful as that can be - you don't want to cause stress in chameleons. Ultimately it could kill them, but not before causing a slew of other health problems. The dark dull patterns you're probably seeing are an indication that he is cold and wants to bask. (If you give him a basking branch he will go to a nice green colour when he's warm enough) Darker colours absorb more heat than brighter ones, so that's why they do that.

Thank you for all the great info. I am soon playing to clear a space for a much bigger cage. What size cage would you recommend? Where would be a recommended place to buy supplies?

 

[Carlton]

Thanks for responding so quickly. By UV light do you mean the red light I have to switch at night? And yes I'm planning to get a bigger cage. But for another veiled for him to have as a friend does it have to be opposite sex because I'm not really planning to have Chameleon eggs. I also have another question. I have heard that you're suppose to spray it with a squirt bottle once in a while. Is that true?

Glad you found us! It sounds as if you were given pretty poor husbandry info, but we can get you on the right track here!

The UV producing light is critical for him. Chams, like many other day-active herps require exposure to UV radiation in order to metabolize calcium and vitamin D3 correctly. Without it they will end up with metabolic bone disease (aka rickets) and won't survive. Regular incandescent basking bulbs do NOT produce the correct type of UV. They provide heat, just not the necessary UV, so you need both types of light. A fluorescent tube light such as a ReptiSun 5.0 will work. The brands are important as many offered by most pet shops are not great. For basking you can use an ordinary house light bulb that produces heat...don't need a fancy reptile "basking light".

No lights at night...no heat at night unless your room gets colder than about 55 F. They need a temp drop of at least 10 degrees at night.

Chams don't see water that sits in a bowl. They are attracted to water that is moving or dripping. That's why you offer water by misting the cage down...to create hanging droplets of water that your cham can lick off the live leaves. The misting also raises the humidity level of your cage. Chams are adapted to humid forests and don't conserve body moisture all that well (compared to a desert herp anyway). The care info links we gave will explain how to produce the humidity they require.

As for color, you'll learn just what your cham is telling you by its color change. It is a visual language based on emotion. Chams are basically little walking mood rings. Each species has a specific range of coloration and pattern it can display. Juveniles show different patterns than adults, so his range of color will change as he grows. Getting to know your own cham is a lot of the fun!

 

[camimom]

If you read the care sheet i posted, it will tell you the recommended cage size, supplements, lighting, food, etc. that you need.

our site sponsors are the best places to buy things you need.

 

[Carlton]

Thank you for all the great info. I am soon playing to clear a space for a much bigger cage. What size cage would you recommend? Where would be a recommended place to buy supplies?

Where are you? Our forum sponsors have correct supplies. On the West Coast LLL Reptile is great. Most of us avoid the "big box" pet stores as they are often clueless about the supplies they carry and don't have experienced staff to answer questions. In general their policies and treatment of chams isn't correct so we don't like supporting those businesses. Sometimes you are lucky enough to have a local store staff that cares, but too often customers find out the hard way (when their new cham gets sick or dies) they don't!