First post, strange behavior.

[Chaosandlove0816]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Veiled between 8-10 months, I've had her 2 months
Handling - Very rarely - once or twice
Feeding - What are you feeding your Cham? Crickets 10-12 3 to 4 times a week, large meal worms and wax worms occasionally as a treat
Supplements - Reptical and Herptivite every other feeding
Watering - Monsoon mister 60 seconds every four hours plus hand misting in between if necessary.
Fecal Description - Normal, brown with white urates. Normal consistency.
History -

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 18x18x24
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 UVB plus 100 watt basking bulb on roughly 14 hours a day
Temperature - 85-90 in the basking spot around 75-80 at the cooler spot. Never below 70 at night. I have digital thermometers in the basking and cool spot
Humidity - between 50 and 60% maintained with mister
Plants -
Placement - In a relatively quiet bedroom not near any drafts or windows. Top I the cage is roughly 4 feet off the floor
Location - Pittsburgh PA

Current Problem - My female veiled has been spending all day in her basking spot. She looks normal but she occasionally will hiss (I believe it's hissing) for a few seconds. She ate very well yesterday and I saw her poop today. The droppings look normal. I also saw her drink today. I don't know if there's something wrong or if I'm just worrying. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[SaintJimmy]

Look up close by her nostrils, is there any white powdery stuff around her nose?

If so, she might be sneezing, not hissing. They sneeze to get rid of excess sodium.

I hear my chameleon do this maybe 2 times a day, but I'm away most of the day anyway.

 

[carol5208]

I would say that it is rather odd due to the fact that your basking temp is relatively high. As far as the sneezing thing, I have never once heard my chameleons sneeze, so I am not so sure that that is normal behavior either, especially everyday as the other member commented. I do not own a veiled though either. Maybe some other veild owners can comment on that

 

[laurie]

Feeding - What are you feeding your Cham? Crickets 10-12 3 to 4 times a week, large meal worms and wax worms occasionally as a treat

Try to add some variety, dubia roaches, silk worms, butter worms are all good additions and there are many more. Mainly crickets is just not balanced.



Supplements - Reptical and Herptivite every other feeding

You need plain calcium, calcium +d3 and a mineral. Plain calicum 3 x a week, each of the others 2 x a month.

Cage Type - Screen 18x18x24

I would use a minimum of 18x18x36 with 18x18x48 being even better. I consider 24 to be to short.

 

[juice28]

im no pro and new to chams, but my veiled cant seem to get enough heat...they are always basking even on extra hot days..my female veiled "sneezes" so to speak every now and then but we have alot of minerals in our water... its filtered but still has um, many lizards and birds will expel excess minerals, calcium, salt etc out the nostrils but like the other poster said, youll notice white or kind of crusty nostrils..it kinda solidifies and not be gross and for lack of a better way to say... its kind of like their way of blowing a snot rocket. Not saying thats whats going on with yours...but from everything ive read about lizard care.. its fairly common in captive reptiles that gets tap water but once again.. im no pro

 

[Lathelia]

Current Problem - My female veiled has been spending all day in her basking spot. She looks normal but she occasionally will hiss (I believe it's hissing) for a few seconds. She ate very well yesterday and I saw her poop today. The droppings look normal. I also saw her drink today. I don't know if there's something wrong or if I'm just worrying. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Maybe she was just opening her mouth? They do that to termoregulate when they are too hot.

 

[CLP]

When you say she sneezes, are you hearing her make a noise? If so, could it be that she is actually coughing? When she "hisses" is she gaping at you at the same time? My veiled will occassionally gape and hiss if they are unhappy with what I am doing in their enclosure.

My concern is, that if she's coughing, it could be a sign of a respiratory infection and could also explain her need for heat. When she opens her mouth to eat or drink, do you see any saliva stuck to the sides of her mouth? Often with respiratory infections they will get a thick, stringy saliva you can see when they open their mouth.