does my chameleon look healthy?

Isabella-D

Member
Ok so I've had my chameleon (its name is Bait) since march 14th. It was tiny and kinda skinny when I got it, but now I'm worried that I've fattened Bait up too much or something. I thought it was a female, but then someone told me you cant tell till they're older, so I'm not sure if maybe its just gonna lay eggs or something. Sometimes it looks like it has fat rolls and that kinda scares me because I've read and watched some things that say they're supposed to be fairly slim. Its upper body is kinda slim and looks healthy but Bait kinda has like the lizard equivalent of a beer belly, I dunno if that makes sense but that's how I would describe it. Bait moves around a ton and I'm not super worried that it's sick because of how strong and healthy its grip seems. Sometimes its color does worry me though. Bait is always light and hardly ever seems stressed except for when i scare it a little on accident. The darkest I've seen it get is a light brown. I'm not sure if Bait should look more vibrant or if it looks Ok. Thanks for any advice you can offer. Even though I have had Bait for a while I'm still trying to make sure I'm being a good and responsible owner.
 
Here are some from today, I'll post more of what he used to look like
 

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The first one is from March 13th. (guess I was a day off about when I got it) I wouldn't have played with it the first day but when i tried to take bait out of the take home box it climbed up onto my head. The second two are from March 18th and the last ones are from April 15th. The ones above are from today, bait as grown alot, but I'm.no entirely sure if I'm doing good enough for it.
 

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You can tell if a veiled is a male or female right out of the egg. Post a picture of behind its back ankles to see if theres a spur or not. If its a female (which im leaning towards) youre going to want to put a lay bin in there asap. As for if your chameleon is healthy or not i dont see any health issues from the pictures aside from it being slightly chubby which could mean its a gravid female or just flared up or slightly over weight. Youll have to fill out a husbandry list which im sure another member will post shortly so we can see if your husbandry is proper :)
 
Please fill this out:
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
 
You can tell if a veiled is a male or female right out of the egg. Post a picture of behind its back ankles to see if theres a spur or not. If its a female (which im leaning towards) youre going to want to put a lay bin in there asap. As for if your chameleon is healthy or not i dont see any health issues from the pictures aside from it being slightly chubby which could mean its a gravid female or just flared up or slightly over weight. Youll have to fill out a husbandry list which im sure another member will post shortly so we can see if your husbandry is proper :)
 

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this is the best i could do for back feet pictures before it tried to bite my phone. i dont think bait's destined to be an actor/model
 
I am going with female. The one where she is young on top of your head you get a clear shot of the back feet. I do not see any sign of tarsal spurs. Have you ever filled out the form? There are some concerning things I am seeing in your pictures.

Please fill out the form with total detail and a picture of her cage lights down so we can better help you.
 
Please fill this out:
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, feamle i think, i'm not entirely sure but i've had her for four months.
  • Handling - i don't handle her super often, maybe twice a month. she really likes her cage so i try to keep her comfortable.
  • Feeding - she eats crickets mostly. maybe 18 a day. she is fed and watered twice a day, lights go on at 9:00 am and off at 9:00 am. i gut load my crickets with a gutload brick, which i know isn't the best but that's all they have in store sometimes. she also gets raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, lettuce, kale, and apples but only as treats. she likes superworms but she don't get them often
  • Supplements -i use a repti calcium without 3d on one cricket every two days, repti calcium with 3d on a few crickets every two weeks and a zoomeds reptivite with 3d once a month. i was told that the repti calcium and the reptivite did different things so i use both.
  • Watering - i spray my chameleon with a fine mist spray bottle every day twice a day for about 10 minutes. i makes sure her enclosure is dry before i spray again. yes i see her drink sometimes
  • Fecal Description - the pee part of it is mostly white with a little yellow at the end, poop is a dark brown is normal consistancy compared to other chameleons i have pet sit. she has not been tested for parasites while in my care. she probably was at the pet store i got her from though
  • History - one time she fell from the top of her cage but that don't really have anything to do with my concerns

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - my cage is screen on all sides, i forgot the dimensions but it came from a kit
  • Lighting - its a zoo med model with a double light for heating and basking. lights go on at 9:00 am and off at 9:00 pm, sometimes i'm a little late at getting them on but only by a few minutes.
  • Temperature - from the top of the cage to the bottom is from 90-79ish. Lowest overnight temp right now is 70, it used to be 65 but my ac went out so my room has been hot. i have a thermometer that also came in the kit. i would have his heat lower but i live in southern north america and it gets really hot here, and my ac went out a few weeks ago so he doesn't have perfect conditions right now, i'm working on getting it fixed. he gets a lot of natural sunlight too cause my room is a sun room and i leave windows open so he gets to see outside and feel a breeze.
  • Humidity - i don't have a way to measure humidity, its already really humid here in general but i feel like i'm doing good with maintaining his habitat.
  • Plants - i have a golden pothos, some sticks for him to climb on, fake vines and some fake leaves
  • Placement - her cage is up high because i have a dog meant for hunting and she would surely eat my chameleon if she got the chance. the top of her cage is probably about 7 feet up. it is in my room/ sun room. she gets a good amount of air flow from a fan i have set up for now until i get my ac fixed, and she gets a nice breeze sometimes from me leaving a window or two open.
  • Location - i'm from Mississippi so like i said its already quite humid and sticky here

Current Problem - i'm worried i'm not doing a good enough job at keeping her healthy. if something is wrong then i know its 100% on me and i'll fix it
 
This is her cage, I know I need more leaves and stuff I plan on getting more soon. I also want to get her a fogger.
 

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Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, feamle i think, i'm not entirely sure but i've had her for four months.
  • Handling - i don't handle her super often, maybe twice a month. she really likes her cage so i try to keep her comfortable.
  • Feeding - she eats crickets mostly. maybe 18 a day. she is fed and watered twice a day, lights go on at 9:00 am and off at 9:00 am. i gut load my crickets with a gutload brick, which i know isn't the best but that's all they have in store sometimes. she also gets raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, lettuce, kale, and apples but only as treats. she likes superworms but she don't get them often you need to gut load with something like repashy bug burger or cricket crack with fresh fruits and veggies, orfer the gut load online and buy the fresh produce, chameleons are primarily insectivores so you need to vary her diet with things like bsf bsfl silkworms roaches and other things. start feeding her 8-10 every other day, she is getting to 9 months and should be switched to every other day feeding, as of now you are over feeding a lot
  • Supplements -i use a repti calcium without 3d on one cricket every two days, repti calcium with 3d on a few crickets every two weeks and a zoomeds reptivite with 3d once a month. i was told that the repti calcium and the reptivite did different things so i use both. calcium with no d3 use every day calcium with d3 use every 3 weeks, alternating those 2 weeks use multivitamin. I would use the repashy supplements
  • Watering - i spray my chameleon with a fine mist spray bottle every day twice a day for about 10 minutes. i makes sure her enclosure is dry before i spray again. yes i see her drink sometimes
  • Fecal Description - the pee part of it is mostly white with a little yellow at the end, poop is a dark brown is normal consistancy compared to other chameleons i have pet sit. she has not been tested for parasites while in my care. she probably was at the pet store i got her from though
  • History - one time she fell from the top of her cage but that don't really have anything to do with my concernsa healthy cham should not fall, where did you get her?

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - my cage is screen on all sides, i forgot the dimensions but it came from a kit minimum size for a female adult is 18x18x36
  • Lighting - its a zoo med model with a double light for heating and basking. lights go on at 9:00 am and off at 9:00 pm, sometimes i'm a little late at getting them on but only by a few minutes. this is not acceptable lighting, she needs a t5ho linear fixture with a 10.0 or 12% bulb from zoo med or arcadia I recommend arcadia. without a linear fixture the compact will not produce enough uvb and Bait will develop mbd
  • Temperature - from the top of the cage to the bottom is from 90-79ish. Lowest overnight temp right now is 70, it used to be 65 but my ac went out so my room has been hot. i have a thermometer that also came in the kit. i would have his heat lower but i live in southern north america and it gets really hot here, and my ac went out a few weeks ago so he doesn't have perfect conditions right now, i'm working on getting it fixed. he gets a lot of natural sunlight too cause my room is a sun room and i leave windows open so he gets to see outside and feel a breeze.
  • Humidity - i don't have a way to measure humidity, its already really humid here in general but i feel like i'm doing good with maintaining his habitat. buy a humidity gauge
  • Plants - i have a golden pothos, some sticks for him to climb on, fake vines and some fake leaves
  • Placement - her cage is up high because i have a dog meant for hunting and she would surely eat my chameleon if she got the chance. the top of her cage is probably about 7 feet up. it is in my room/ sun room. she gets a good amount of air flow from a fan i have set up for now until i get my ac fixed, and she gets a nice breeze sometimes from me leaving a window or two open.
  • Location - i'm from Mississippi so like i said its already quite humid and sticky here

Current Problem - i'm worried i'm not doing a good enough job at keeping her healthy. if something is wrong then i know its 100% on me and i'll fix it

see my adjustments in red

also, do you have a LAYBIN??? I am going to take an educated guess and say you don't have one based on your pictures. female chameleons lay infertile eggs even if they haven't been bred, if you are supplementing right and have the right set up a chameleon will be able to develop follicles and produce their eggs with no problem, but since you only supplement calcium every 2 days on only ONE cricket and have been feeding a tremendous amount my guess is that she will have a large clutch and a little trouble... start the feeding and supplement adjustments immediately and please get the light asap.
btw... dust ALL the crickets
 
So many kind people on this site want to help you with this girl. It’s been 3 months ago you have been given this advice already and refused to do anything with your husbandry. With the lighting and care from those 3 months of neglect your chameleon is going to start to show problems health wise if you do not fix everything ASAP.

I really hope you follow the people’s advice from above they are only trying to help. If these requirements aren’t meant your chameleon WILL die. Not trying to be mean or rude just speaking the truth.
 
You have been told to change the lighting more than 3 months ago. So you basically asked for advice on chameleon care and yet you did not change the lighting and supplements, 3 months later you ask if your chameleon is healthy?
i have tried to get the lights and supplements changed, im 14 so i cant get a job yet which means my parents pay for a lot of stuff between my dogs, chameleon, and my brothers birds. every time i go into our exotic animal pet store the same lady is in there, i have told her and my parents that i need the t5ho light, which they have in a corner. the lady that works in there always tells me how she owns 4 chameleons, that she uses the same stuff that i do, and they're all healthy. so my parents say that i probably don't need the light because she says i have the right stuff. as for supplements my parents have told me to finnish off the ones i have now before i get new ones
 
i have tried to get the lights and supplements changed, im 14 so i cant get a job yet which means my parents pay for a lot of stuff between my dogs, chameleon, and my brothers birds. every time i go into our exotic animal pet store the same lady is in there, i have told her and my parents that i need the t5ho light, which they have in a corner. the lady that works in there always tells me how she owns 4 chameleons, that she uses the same stuff that i do, and they're all healthy. so my parents say that i probably don't need the light because she says i have the right stuff. as for supplements my parents have told me to finnish off the ones i have now before i get new ones
How about the fact that you have one bundle of fake plastic leaves and one stick in the enclosure? You can literally forage for stuff in your back yard to give your cham a better home. That has nothing to do with the fact that your parents are irresponsible.
 
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