First time Veiled Chameleon owners, want to make sure we're doing things right

TheLybithian

New Member
Welcome, there are a lot of things that need to be gone over. Please fill this out

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, unable to tell, too young. Easily only a month or two old. Got it from PetSmart, however they did not know what they were doing. Been in our care 3 days.
  • Handling - Never. It is obviously very young and stressed out about the move, as well as us having to rearrange the cage, remove the substrate we initially put in, and just getting the overall terrarium set up.
  • Feeding - He is still so dang small, he/she really can't eat much more than crickets at this time. Will be getting squash, carrots, and zucchini to finely chop up and add to his food bowl. I have a bug gut loader feed bag I dump into the container with the live crickets. I use a calcium spray WITHOUT D3, as well as a multivitamin with D3.

    I feed our chameleon by using a small glass mason jar, and dump the crickets in there so they can't escape since its glass and cannot climb the sides, and I have a moss vine wrapped around the jar so he/she has easy access and pickings to the crickets. However he/she hasn't shown much interest the past couple days. I cut up about a 1.5 inch hornworm into thirds a day or two ago and it looked like he/she ate a couple thirds of that and a couple crickets that day but since I can't tell if he's been eating or not, hence the mason jar.

    Also the mason jar makes it much easier for us to remove the crickets at night so they don't bite at our chameleon.

  • Supplements - Reptivite, will be using the multi-vitamin with D3 maybe once every week or two? Spraying the crickets with just a calcium supplement, however I haven't seen him eat in the past two days. Can't get him/her to at all.
  • Watering - I have a large fake tree that's about 2 feet tall, with a pump that is supposed to replicate water on leaves for him to drink, but it's kind of garbage and turns off all the time and doesn't always work. We always microwave water until it is lukewarm, then spray the cage with it (not tap water) 2-3 times a day for about 30s-1m.
  • Fecal Description - Light brown droppings, maybe a hint of white the past two days. First day he was here there was a healthy(?) and somewhat large looking dropping. Yesterday as well, but not as big. Don't have pictures as we already cleaned the cage. As far as I know, he/she hasn't been tested for parasites.
  • History - Apparently he/she was very spunky, energetic and absolutely hated human contact and even bit the petsmart employee as she was trying to place him in the container to take him/her home.

    We're somewhat worried he may have been bit by the couple baby crickets that were left in the cage overnight last night. PLEASE UNDERSTAND, we DID NOT KNOW to take them out until this morning when I saw a cricket crawling over the chameleon and instantly googled it and realized our mistake. However they are very small crickets and not full size.

    Hence why I'm using the mason jar, so the crickets can't escape and we can remove them from the cage easily if he/she does not eat them. It can be harder to find these tiny baby crickets than the full size ones.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - It is a terrarium, glass, however the front part of the cage has a large rectangle screened part at the top facing you of the terrarium and at the back, and the top is also screened. We plan on purchasing a bigger, even more screened cage within a couple months. For now we just keep a light small fan blowing around the cage to keep the air moving. 24"x24"x38" inches
  • Lighting - We have a UVB 16 watt bulb in a dome, (a 12" linear UVB bulb and fixture is on its way from amazon) and we use a 150 watt heating bulb in the corner of the cage for his basking light. It is on a 12 on, 12 off schedule.
  • Temperature - I have 3 thermometers in the cage. One right next to the basking spot, stays around 85F-95F. The "cool" side of the cage where he/she hangs at the top corner is around 74 degrees. Middle is around 80 degrees.
  • Humidity - I have to hygrometers, one at the bottom of the cage, and one at the top of the cage. We use the reptifogger which makes fog/humidity and keep the cage around 50-80% humidity.
  • Plants - No live plants just yet. Plan on creating a live soil base with real plants once we upgrade to the full size cage.
  • Placement - It is located in the living room, next to the TV. However in my apartment myself and my roommate mainly keep to ourselves in our rooms in our own space without really ever using the living room where the Tv and cage is located. It used to be located on my dining room table when we first set it up, and it was about 6.5 feet in the air at the top of the cage. Today we realized the coconut fiber the pet store sold us was a terrible idea, and that they had no idea what they were talking about at the store. So we had to completely take everything out of the cage except for suction cup vines on the sides that he/she likes to hang out on during the day. I assume that stressed him/her out, since we had to scoop out like 8lbs of coconut fiber substrate that was all water logged for obvious reasons. Now we are just using paper towels and will be changing twice a week or so.

    Now after relocating the cage to the top of an end table next to the TV in the living room where there is much less traffic. When he/she was on the dining room table near our kitchen and fridge it was very high traffic as we were constantly in the kitchen cooking etc, AND our cat Simba the table was his roost and hang out spot so he'd be up there on the table gently shaking the cage even by jumping on the table which is also why we resituated it.
  • Location - We live in the northern arizona mountains. However he/she is an inside chameleon. I keep my apartments A/C thermostat 70 AT THE LOWEST. So the temperature at night is around 70 in the cage at the top where he sleeps, because that is where the thermostat is.

Current Problem - We are just concerned as he/she is looking very skinny after a day or two and it hasn't eaten at all today from what I can tell, even though we are doing everything we can. I've spent hours online researching. Here are some pictures of him/her. We just want to know if we should do anything different.

My buddy who has had panthers, veiled's and jacksons told me he is most likely very, very stressed since he just moved in, and we just had to completely rearrange and move the cage today. Told him the same that he/she had droppings yesterday and the day before so he won't starve in the next couple days and he (my chameleon friend) suggested we put a blanket around the cage and just totally leave him alone for the next couple of days except for feedings and waterings.

You can see the mason jar I've been putting crickets in. Using a more "salsa dip bowl" shaped glass now thats a bit more open, but the crickets still can't crawl up or jump because of the glass, just like scorpions out here can't climb glass.

Please remember, be kind and constructive we are literally doing everything we can and I've already spent over 700 dollars to make sure it has everything.
cham3.jpg
cham2.jpg
Chameleon1.jpg
 
That 150 watt heat bulb is concerning to me. Have you checked the temp in the terrarium while that light is on? It seems like that would be way too hot!! Do you have a thermometer with a temp probe that you can attach at the basking branch to check that temp? I would consider getting more like a 60 watt bulb. Also the plants in the pictures look fake and that is a danger with a veiled Cham because they munch on things and if he/she were to eat them it could cause an impaction which he/she certainly doesn’t need. Again I’m not an expert on veiled chams so I’m adressing the things I do know. She does need a 24x24x48 cage minimum and I think it’s preferable to have it all screen but I could be wrong.
 
There is no need to feed him/her fruits and veggies because they can’t digest them so save those for the crickets. The reptivite you should use twice a mont and I’m not familiar with a sprayed on calcium. You should have a calcium powder without D3 that you dust the crickets lightly with every feeding. Also you might try using a bird feeder cup for the bugs you’re feeding. Get a deep one. I use one I found at one of the pet stores and it works well. small Crickets can’t get out. Get rid of the fake watering tree as these can harbor bacteria and instead mist her as well as making a dripper by taking a cup and make a pinhole in the bottom and set it on top of the cage so it just drips onto the plants and it should entice her to drink.
 
Yeah, the 150 watt is way to high. Like she said 60/65 watt. Also move her away from TV. It will disturb her sleep and in long run become unhealthy.
 
Ok, the foggEr, this should not be used with your high temps. Your temps need to be under 67 degrees to use this otherwise you’re risking him/her getting a respiratory infection. You want cool moist air not hot moist air. You don’t want daytime temps in the 90s, that’s too hot. Temps should be 85 max at the basking spot and cooler from there so she can choose where she wants to be and how warm she wants to be. I think you are right, he/she is probable very stressed right now as well as the fact that he/she is very young. Breeders don’t usually sell chams that young. Like I said I’m not a veiled Cham person, I have a Jackson’s s I’ve tried to tell you all the things I’ve learned just by hanging out her on the forum. There’s a lot of very wonderful veiled owners on here but just not here tonight. You sound like you really want this little one to do well so I hope this has helped some. More people will be on either later tonight or tomorrow so hang in there.
 
my advice will be in red


Welcome, there are a lot of things that need to be gone over. Please fill this out

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, unable to tell, too young. Easily only a month or two old. Got it from PetSmart, however they did not know what they were doing. Been in our care 3 days.
  • Handling - Never. It is obviously very young and stressed out about the move, as well as us having to rearrange the cage, remove the substrate we initially put in, and just getting the overall terrarium set up.
  • Feeding - He is still so dang small, he/she really can't eat much more than crickets at this time. Will be getting squash, carrots, and zucchini to finely chop up and add to his food bowl. Don’t feed it fruits and vegetables they can’t digest them well. I have a bug gut loader feed bag I dump into the container with the live crickets. I use a calcium spray WITHOUT D3, as well as a multivitamin with D3. I’m not sure bout the calcium spray

    I feed our chameleon by using a small glass mason jar, and dump the crickets in there so they can't escape since its glass and cannot climb the sides, and I have a moss vine wrapped around the jar so he/she has easy access and pickings to the crickets. if the vine is mossy I would take it would risk of impaction if she accidentally eats it(the moss). But there is moss less vines that are greatHowever he/she hasn't shown much interest the past couple days. I cut up about a 1.5 inch hornworm into thirds a day or two ago and it looked like he/she ate a couple thirds of that and a couple crickets that day but since I can't tell if he's been eating or not, hence the mason jar.

    Also the mason jar makes it much easier for us to remove the crickets at night so they don't bite at our chameleon.

  • Supplements - Reptivite, will be using the multi-vitamin with D3 maybe once every week or two? Spraying the crickets with just a calcium supplement, however I haven't seen him eat in the past two days. Can't get him/her to at all.
  • Watering - I have a large fake tree that's about 2 feet tall, with a pump that is supposed to replicate water on leaves for him to drink, but it's kind of garbage and turns off all the time and doesn't always work. We always microwave water until it is lukewarm, then spray the cage with it (not tap water) 2-3 times a day for about 30s-1m. I would take out allllll the fake plants you can put them on the outside of the enclosure but it’s a big risk of impaction I know live plants are expensive but not as expensive as a vet bill
  • Fecal Description - Light brown droppings, maybe a hint of white the past two days. First day he was here there was a healthy(?) and somewhat large looking dropping. Yesterday as well, but not as big. Don't have pictures as we already cleaned the cage. As far as I know, he/she hasn't been tested for parasites. not expiernced in this so I can’t say anything
  • History - Apparently he/she was very spunky, energetic and absolutely hated human contact and even bit the petsmart employee as she was trying to place him in the container to take him/her home.

    We're somewhat worried he may have been bit by the couple baby crickets that were left in the cage overnight last night. PLEASE UNDERSTAND, we DID NOT KNOW to take them out until this morning when I saw a cricket crawling over the chameleon and instantly googled it and realized our mistake. However they are very small crickets and not full size.

    Hence why I'm using the mason jar, so the crickets can't escape and we can remove them from the cage easily if he/she does not eat them. It can be harder to find these tiny baby crickets than the full size ones.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - It is a terrarium, glass, however the front part of the cage has a large rectangle screened part at the top facing you of the terrarium and at the back, and the top is also screened. We plan on purchasing a bigger, even more screened cage within a couple months. For now we just keep a light small fan blowing around the cage to keep the air moving. 24"x24"x38" inches you aready know this but need bigger when she’s older when she’s adult I’m pretty sure minimum 2ft by 4ft by 4ft
  • Lighting - We have a UVB 16 watt bulb in a dome, (a 12" linear UVB bulb and fixture is on its way from amazon) and we use a 150 watt heating bulb in the corner of the cage for his basking light. It is on a 12 on, 12 off schedule. definitely need that linear what is it ten or five
  • Temperature - I have 3 thermometers in the cage. One right next to the basking spot, stays around 85F-95F. @Beman The "cool" side of the cage where he/she hangs at the top corner is around 74 degrees. Middle is around 80 degrees.
  • Humidity - I have to hygrometers, one at the bottom of the cage, and one at the top of the cage. We use the reptifogger which makes fog/humidity and keep the cage around 50-80% humidity.
  • Plants - No live plants just yet. Plan on creating a live soil base with real plants once we upgrade to the full size cage. make sure it’s bio active so u need a cleanup crew like springtails and etc
  • Placement - It is located in the living room, next to the TV. find a better spot a tv will definitely make him stressedHowever in my apartment myself and my roommate mainly keep to ourselves in our rooms in our own space without really ever using the living room where the Tv and cage is located. It used to be located on my dining room table when we first set it up, and it was about 6.5 feet in the air at the top of the cage. Today we realized the coconut fiber the pet store sold us was a terrible idea, and that they had no idea what they were talking about at the store. So we had to completely take everything out of the cage except for suction cup vines on the sides that he/she likes to hang out on during the day. I assume that stressed him/her out, since we had to scoop out like 8lbs of coconut fiber substrate that was all water logged for obvious reasons. Now we are just using paper towels and will be changing twice a week or so.

    Now after relocating the cage to the top of an end table next to the TV in the living room where there is much less traffic. When he/she was on the dining room table near our kitchen and fridge it was very high traffic as we were constantly in the kitchen cooking etc, AND our cat Simba the table was his roost and hang out spot so he'd be up there on the table gently shaking the cage even by jumping on the table which is also why we resituated it.
  • Location - We live in the northern arizona mountains. However he/she is an inside chameleon. I keep my apartments A/C thermostat 70 AT THE LOWEST. So the temperature at night is around 70 in the cage at the top where he sleeps, because that is where the thermostat is. I would try dropping ur temp at night just a few degrees bc it benefits them for a drop

Current Problem - We are just concerned as he/she is looking very skinny after a day or two and it hasn't eaten at all today from what I can tell, even though we are doing everything we can. I've spent hours online researching. Here are some pictures of him/her. We just want to know if we should do anything different.

My buddy who has had panthers, veiled's and jacksons told me he is most likely very, very stressed since he just moved in, and we just had to completely rearrange and move the cage today. Told him the same that he/she had droppings yesterday and the day before so he won't starve in the next couple days and he (my chameleon friend) suggested we put a blanket around the cage and just totally leave him alone for the next couple of days except for feedings and waterings.

You can see the mason jar I've been putting crickets in. Using a more "salsa dip bowl" shaped glass now thats a bit more open, but the crickets still can't crawl up or jump because of the glass, just like scorpions out here can't climb glass.

Please remember, be kind and constructive we are literally doing everything we can and I've already spent over 700 dollars to make sure it has everything. be prepared to spend a bit more chameleons are definitely expensive and he probably isn’t eating bc he just moved in don’t bother him or be by him except for feeding and maintenance let him adjust and get live plants for more coverage some great ones are golden pothos, money tree, pothos, hibiscus I will try to give u a list of Cham safe plants
 
Here ya go
 

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That 150 watt heat bulb is concerning to me. Have you checked the temp in the terrarium while that light is on? It seems like that would be way too hot!! Do you have a thermometer with a temp probe that you can attach at the basking branch to check that temp? I would consider getting more like a 60 watt bulb. Also the plants in the pictures look fake and that is a danger with a veiled Cham because they munch on things and if he/she were to eat them it could cause an impaction which he/she certainly doesn’t need. Again I’m not an expert on veiled chams so I’m adressing the things I do know. She does need a 24x24x48 cage minimum and I think it’s preferable to have it all screen but I could be wrong.
I agree with Linda 150 is way to much power go something like 60-65
 
That 150 watt heat bulb is concerning to me. Have you checked the temp in the terrarium while that light is on? It seems like that would be way too hot!! Do you have a thermometer with a temp probe that you can attach at the basking branch to check that temp? I would consider getting more like a 60 watt bulb. Also the plants in the pictures look fake and that is a danger with a veiled Cham because they munch on things and if he/she were to eat them it could cause an impaction which he/she certainly doesn’t need. Again I’m not an expert on veiled chams so I’m adressing the things I do know. She does need a 24x24x48 cage minimum and I think it’s preferable to have it all screen but I could be wrong.
Yessir I have a temperature right by his basking spot. It stays 85-95 degrees in the basking spot. Can happily provide a picture to prove it.

lower parts of the habitat have 69-78 degrees in the gradient.
This is all covered in my post man. I have three thermometers
 
Yessir I have a temperature right by his basking spot. It stays 85-95 degrees in the basking spot. Can happily provide a picture to prove it.

lower parts of the habitat have 69-78 degrees in the gradient.
This is all covered in my post man. I have three thermometers
She was trying to help bc a 150 watt is way to much power
 
Yessir I have a temperature right by his basking spot. It stays 85-95 degrees in the basking spot. Can happily provide a picture to prove it.

lower parts of the habitat have 69-78 degrees in the gradient.
This is all covered in my post man. I have three thermometers
Everyone is just trying to help ur Cham have the best life
 
You said..."Veiled Chameleon, unable to tell, too young. Easily only a month or two old. Got it from PetSmart, however they did not know what they were doing. Been in our care 3 days"...LOOK AT THE HEELS ...IF IT HAS SPURS ITS A MALE IF NOT ITS A FEMALE...
https://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html

You said...."He is still so dang small, he/she really can't eat much more than crickets at this time. Will be getting squash, carrots, and zucchini to finely chop up and add to his food bowl. I have a bug gut loader feed bag I dump into the container with the live crickets. I use a calcium spray WITHOUT D3, as well as a multivitamin with D3"...FEED IT AS MUCH AS IT WILL EAT IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES AT EACH FEEDING FOR NOW...APPROPRIATE SIZED INSECTS. IN A FEW MONTHS YOU WILL WANT TO CUT DOWN TO FEEDING EVERY SECOND DAY AND INCREASE THE INSECT SIZE AS IT GROWS. ONCE ITS APPROACHING MATURITY YOU WILL WANT TO CUT IT BACK TO TO 4 or 5 CRICKETS TWO OR THREE TIMES A WEEK (OR EQUAL CALORIES IN OTHER INSECTS). FEED THE GREENS AND VEGGIES AND A SMALL AMOUNT OF FRUIT TO THE INSECTS NOT THE CHAMELEON. DANDEION GREENS, KALE, COLLARDS, ENDIVE, ESCAROLE, ZUCCHINI, SQUASH, CARROTS, SWEET POTATOES, SWEET RED PEPPERS, BERRIES, APPLES, PEAR, MELON, ETC ARE GOOD CHOICES. I DONT USE COMMERCIAL FEED AT ALL...BUT SOME DO.
FOR SUPPLEMENTS UNWILL WANT A PHOS FREE CALCIUM POWDER TO DUST ON THE INSECTS AT EVERY FEEDING BUT INCE A WEEK. ON THAT ONE FEEDING YOU WILL WANT TO ALTERNATE BETWEENA PHOS FREE CALCIUM/D3 POWDER AND A VITAMIN POWDER WITH NO D3 BUT WITH A PREFORMED SOURCE OF VITAMIN A. ALL DUSTED LIGHTLY.

YOU SAID..."I feed our chameleon by using a small glass mason jar, and dump the crickets in there so they can't escape since its glass and cannot climb the sides, and I have a moss vine wrapped around the jar so he/she has easy access and pickings to the crickets. However he/she hasn't shown much interest the past couple days. I cut up about a 1.5 inch hornworm into thirds a day or two ago and it looked like he/she ate a couple thirds of that and a couple crickets that day but since I can't tell if he's been eating or not, hence the mason jar"...SOMETIMES THEY DONT RECOGNIZE THE GLASS AS A BARRIER AND TRY TO SHOOT THROUGH IT SO ITS BETTER TO MAKE/BUY A FEEDER RUN.
YOU SAID..." I haven't seen him eat in the past two days"...DID YOU COUNT INSECTS TO SEE IF ANY WERE MISSING. IS HE POOPING?

YOU SAID ..."I have a large fake tree that's about 2 feet tall, with a pump that is supposed to replicate water on leaves for him to drink, but it's kind of garbage and turns off all the time and doesn't always work. We always microwave water until it is lukewarm, then spray the cage with it (not tap water) 2-3 times a day for about 30s-1m"...I WOULD SET UP A DRIPPER WITH A DELI CUP THAT HAS A RINY HOLE IN IT SO IT DRIPS AT THE RATE IF INE OR TWO DRIOS PER SECOND. YOU CAN GET A HAND MISTER AT THE DOLLAR STORE TO MIST WITH FOR NOW.

THERE WHOULD BE A BROWN POOP AND A WHITE PART THAT IS THE URATES. THE WHITE PART MAY HAVE A TINGE OF ORANGE BUT SHOULD NOT BE REALLY ORANGE.

YOU SAID..."Apparently he/she was very spunky, energetic and absolutely hated human contact and even bit the petsmart employee as she was trying to place him in the container to take him/her home"...IS IT STILL ACTIVE?

YOU SAID..."Lighting - We have a UVB 16 watt bulb in a dome, (a 12" linear UVB bulb and fixture is on its way from amazon) and we use a 150 watt heating bulb in the corner of the cage for his basking light. It is on a 12 on, 12 off schedule"...GLAD YOU HAVE A LINEAR UVB ON ITS WAY. IS THE BASKING LIGT WHITE?

YOU SAID..."basking spot, stays around 85F-95F".. THATS TOO HOT...SHOULD BE AT 80F The "cool" side of the cage where he/she hangs at the top corner is around 74 degrees. Middle is around 80 degrees.

YOU SAID..."Humidity - I have to hygrometers, one at the bottom of the cage, and one at the top of the cage. We use the reptifogger which makes fog/humidity and keep the cage around 50-80% humidity"... @Beman can you comment on this please.

YOU SAID..."Plants - No live plants just yet. Plan on creating a live soil base with real plants once we upgrade to the full size cage"...ITS IMPORTANT TO HAVE LIVE PLANTS FOR CEILED CHAMELEONS SINCE THEY MUNCH ON THEM....ASAP.

YOU SAID..."We live in the northern arizona mountains. However he/she is an inside chameleon. I keep my apartments A/C thermostat 70 AT THE LOWEST. So the temperature at night is around 70 in the cage at the top where he sleeps, because that is where the thermostat is"...IS THE CAGE NEAR A WINDOW?

YOU SAID..."Current Problem - We are just concerned as he/she is looking very skinny after a day or two and it hasn't eaten at all today from what I can tell, even though we are doing everything we can. I've spent hours online researching. Here are some pictures of him/her. We just want to know if we should do anything different"....YOUR HIGH TEMPERATURES MAY BE PART OF THE REASON ITS NOT EATING. IT MAY BE DEHYDRATED. IT SHOULD BE PRODUCING URATES.

IF YOU CHANGE THE TEMPTATURES AND IT STILL,ISNT EATING, PLEASE POST BACK HERE RIGHT AWAY.
 
Yessir I have a temperature right by his basking spot. It stays 85-95 degrees in the basking spot. Can happily provide a picture to prove it.

lower parts of the habitat have 69-78 degrees in the gradient.
This is all covered in my post man. I have three thermometers
What kind of thermometers are you using? Dial-type are notoriously inaccurate.
Digital hygrometer/thermometers with probes are more accurate, and kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone.
 
EDIT:

The cage, after moving to a stand next to the tv, is now 4' off the ground. Before it was 5 feet.
Chameleons feel safest when their basking site is at or above your eye level.
When a 48"H enclosure sits on a standard height table or desk (29-30"), this works out near-perfectly, but other arrangements can be made to work. The idea is, if your chameleon—especially a young one—sees you hulking from above, they tend to think of you as a predator intent on EATING them. (They think this anyway, but giving them the higher ground helps them feel more secure.)

https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-cage-placement/
 
Adding to what has already been said, you should be misting for at least 2 minutes 2-3 times a day with room temperature water. There is no reason to heat it up and what feels lukewarm to us can be scalding for a chameleon.
Humidity should be no higher than 50% during the day. At night when temps drop, humidity can be higher.
Feeders need to be the appropriate size, which is no larger than the space between the eyes. Aside from crickets, you could try small bsfl or silkworms. Most pet stores don’t carry more than crickets and larger feeders, so you may need to order on line. Check the forum sponsors.
 
Hi there... @TheLybithian Ok so a lot of info thrown at you. I am going to condense it in relation to your form. Can you post more pics of the entire cage and I would like to see a few more of the little one to confirm gender. As of right now I am not seeing tarsal spurs in the pics you provided which means you would have a girl. This is important to know because a few details of husbandry differ for females as they start to mature.


Chameleon Info:


  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, unable to tell, too young. Easily only a month or two old. Got it from PetSmart, however they did not know what they were doing. Been in our care 3 days. How long is the baby? looks older then a month. total length will give us a better idea.
  • Handling - Never. It is obviously very young and stressed out about the move, as well as us having to rearrange the cage, remove the substrate we initially put in, and just getting the overall terrarium set up. Good choice right now baby is fragile and it is very common for them to jump from hands at this age.
  • Feeding - He is still so dang small, he/she really can't eat much more than crickets at this time. Will be getting squash, carrots, and zucchini to finely chop up and add to his food bowl. I have a bug gut loader feed bag I dump into the container with the live crickets. I use a calcium spray WITHOUT D3, as well as a multivitamin with D3. Ok no feeding baby fruits and veg feed that to your insects. Chameleons are insectivores. Now then throw away the calcium spray. Get a plain calicum without D3. Reptical makes one that is available at most stores. You will be feeding tons of tiny crickets. They have to be small no larger then the 1/4 inch size. There are other feeders. But you have to order them. You can get small bsfl, superworms and 1/4 inch dubia roaches. When you order them pick the hold for pick up since you are in AZ. Otherwise by the time you get home they will be dead from sitting in the heat.

    I feed our chameleon by using a small glass mason jar, and dump the crickets in there so they can't escape since its glass and cannot climb the sides, and I have a moss vine wrapped around the jar so he/she has easy access and pickings to the crickets. However he/she hasn't shown much interest the past couple days. I cut up about a 1.5 inch hornworm into thirds a day or two ago and it looked like he/she ate a couple thirds of that and a couple crickets that day but since I can't tell if he's been eating or not, hence the mason jar. I do not think it is the mason Jar I think it is the size of the crickets. I can see one in the jar and it is much too large for baby.

    Also the mason jar makes it much easier for us to remove the crickets at night so they don't bite at our chameleon.

  • Supplements - Reptivite, will be using the multi-vitamin with D3 maybe once every week or two? Spraying the crickets with just a calcium supplement, however I haven't seen him eat in the past two days. Can't get him/her to at all. Ok so buy the plain calcium NO D3. This one you will use at all feedings except on say the 1st and the 15th when you use the Reptivite with D3. This one is only used 2 times a month. Now you want to lightly coat all feeders given to baby. Then pour in feeding dish.
  • Watering - I have a large fake tree that's about 2 feet tall, with a pump that is supposed to replicate water on leaves for him to drink, but it's kind of garbage and turns off all the time and doesn't always work. We always microwave water until it is lukewarm, then spray the cage with it (not tap water) 2-3 times a day for about 30s-1m. Return it.... It will grow bacteria and is not good for a chameleon. You want to spray the cage morning and evening for 2-5 minutes. Then during the day get a solo plastic cup and make a few tiny pin holes in the bottom Add ice cubes to it and set it directly on the cage top. It will slowly drip all day.
  • Fecal Description - Light brown droppings, maybe a hint of white the past two days. First day he was here there was a healthy(?) and somewhat large looking dropping. Yesterday as well, but not as big. Don't have pictures as we already cleaned the cage. As far as I know, he/she hasn't been tested for parasites. No it has not since it is a petsmart baby. It is always a good idea to take a fecal into a vet to be tested. If it is positive for parasites the vet would have to see the baby to provide meds.
  • History - Apparently he/she was very spunky, energetic and absolutely hated human contact and even bit the petsmart employee as she was trying to place him in the container to take him/her home.

    We're somewhat worried he may have been bit by the couple baby crickets that were left in the cage overnight last night. PLEASE UNDERSTAND, we DID NOT KNOW to take them out until this morning when I saw a cricket crawling over the chameleon and instantly googled it and realized our mistake. However they are very small crickets and not full size. This happens keep an eye on the spots.

    Hence why I'm using the mason jar, so the crickets can't escape and we can remove them from the cage easily if he/she does not eat them. It can be harder to find these tiny baby crickets than the full size ones. Tiny ones are the size baby will be able to eat. You will be feeding easily 25-30 a day at this age.

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