First veiled chameleon

[Darwin760]

A few days ago we decided to purchase our first veiled chameleon from PetSmart. He seemed to be a little dehydrated when we first brought him home. He has since been eating about 8 crickets a day and a few fruit flies. He seems to drink regularly now and is starting to look healthy. I am having a little bit of problems with keeping his humidity up as it drops to around 20% about an hour after misting and averages 75% while misted. I am using a reptifogger, spraying 4 times a day and using a drip system. I am saving to get a mist system next month.

He has started to get a few little white spots on his face and body which I assume is shedding, however he also has about 3 very tiny black spots on his side and tail. They are too small to be seen in pictures. Does anybody have any clue what this might be? Am I being over cautious?

Here are a few pics of Darwin, any input on his health is appreciated

 

[Luna]

Yea she looks dehydrated take one of her plants and hang it in the shower and aim the water for the wall do the bounce back hits the plant and her use warmish hot water if she drinks thats good and the humidity will be extremely high for her make sure u have a good UVB bulb like a 5.0 reptisun and have a good calcium setup every 2-3 days calci with d3 other days use plan calcium just don't let your Cham slip into mbd like I did with mine and for humidity cover 3 sides with a shower curtain also look into your local reptile show you can find some great stuff there and please don't buy animals or if you can ovoid it supplies from petstores they are very unintelligent I remember when this guy was trying to sell me a UVB bulb saying it last 14 months which Is bull you have to replace every 3 and don't worry about those spots mind has a few I don't think they do anything

 

[Luna]

Last thing! You Cham is beautiful

 

[Luna]

Sorry I said she / her I ment him

 

[Darwin760]

Awesome! Thank you we currently have a brand new reptisun 5.0 UVB and a exo terra sun glo 60w. Gut loaded crickets w Zilla cricket drink w calcium. Dusted 3 days a week w repcal multivitamins and once a week w zoomed repti calcium w d3. Going to order some waxworms ASAP and throw a couple into his diet once in awhile.

I am going to give him the shower tomorrow and hope it helps hydrate him more.

Thank you again

 

[Darwin760]

Also he was not planned, I had been researching chameleons for awhile and went to petsmart just to price some accessories, and there he was... I planned on ordering from FLchams 2 days later but this little guy needed some help and I hope I can give it to him!

 

[Luna]

Also he was not planned, I had been researching chameleons for awhile and went to petsmart just to price some accessories, and there he was... I planned on ordering from FLchams 2 days later but this little guy needed some help and I hope I can give it to him!

Oh believe me its not a sin to buy from a petstore my beardie and leopard gecko came from a petstore about 2 and 3 years ago and they are wonderful pets

 

[Darwin760]

That's good, glad to hear they're healthy. Those pics were from the first day we got him, tomorrow is day 4 and I will post some more pics that hopefully you can let me know if he looks any better

 

[AngieL]

Dusted 3 days a week w repcal multivitamins and once a week w zoomed repti calcium w d3.

Hi there! That's a lovely little one you have there

For supplementation this forum recommends plain calcium with every feeding, multivitamins twice a month and the calcium with d3 twice a month. Too much d3 and multivit can have adverse effects on your chameleons health.

Here's a great blog bu JannB with loads of great info for new keepers
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[Darwin760]

Hi there! That's a lovely little one you have there

For supplementation this forum recommends plain calcium with every feeding, multivitamins twice a month and the calcium with d3 twice a month. Too much d3 and multivit can have adverse effects on your chameleons health.

Here's a great blog bu JannB with loads of great info for new keepers
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

Thank you! Have been trying to find a good supplement diet to go by. I appreciate your help very much. Have spent hundreds of dollars trying to make this little guy as happy and healthy as possible and found a great forum to help me do it!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum He's a cute little guy, looks healthy from here.
I always recommend this basic caresheet for Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
Waxworms are very fatty, chams love them too much and mine got 'addicted' to them and went on a long hunger strike........so be careful (no more than 1 a week as a treat). For extra hydration Silkworms are low fat, high calcium, all round better than the Waxworms.
Here is a link showing some of the best foods to offer - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
Here is a great gutloading link too - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

 

[AngieL]

Thank you! Have been trying to find a good supplement diet to go by. I appreciate your help very much. Have spent hundreds of dollars trying to make this little guy as happy and healthy as possible and found a great forum to help me do it!

You are very welcome! And the good folks on the forum will be happy to help with any questions you have

Chamemleons do cost a lot of money but it's soooooo worth it to watch them grow up happy and healthy. You are doing the right thing and I wish you all the very best

 

[Darwin760]

Waxworms are very fatty, chams love them too much and mine got 'addicted' to them and went on a long hunger strike........so be careful (no more than 1 a week as a treat). For extra hydration Silkworms are low fat, high calcium, all round better than the Waxworms

I'm glad I haven't made the order, I will have to get him some silk worms instead. Again, I appreciate the help and references. I will have to take a look at them after I get some sleep. Thank you.

 

[Darwin760]

Chamemleons do cost a lot of money but it's soooooo worth it to watch them grow up happy and healthy. You are doing the right thing and I wish you all the very best

Very much worth it , even in the few days we've owned him!

Is it odd of a chameleon to want to climb on a person? He always reaches for us and climbs up to our shoulders

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

Very much worth it , even in the few days we've owned him!

Is it odd of a chameleon to want to climb on a person? He always reaches for us and climbs up to our shoulders

Not odd at all. It's good he's not terrified of you or extremely mean. If you handfeed and hold it, but not too much to stress it out, it can grow up to be a pretty docile chameleon. They like to be high, so climbing to the top definately isn't unusual.

 

[Darwin760]

Not odd at all. It's good he's not terrified of you or extremely mean. If you handfeed and hold it, but not too much to stress it out, it can grow up to be a pretty docile chameleon. They like to be high, so climbing to the top definately isn't unusual.

Awesome. He has only shown a sign of stress once so far and that was once during misting. Since then he has walked into the mist and seems to like it. He seems very docile, probably because he had to deal w living at petsmart

 

[Darwin760]

Well now he has stressed twice, as I went to take a picture of him to post on here he stressed. Also he pooped and it looked a little orange and harder than it should, but I'm not positive. Here are some pics

 

[camimom]

yea hes a bit unhappy and hes alot dehydrated.

just up mistings and in afew days he should be fine.

 

[Darwin760]

yea hes a bit unhappy and hes alot dehydrated.

just up mistings and in afew days he should be fine.

Thanks, it has been pretty hard keeping his humidity up in California. I am going to give him his shower today and try some plastic wrap on the back and one side of his cage. It dries up pretty quickly so upping the mistings won't be a problem.

 

[Darwin760]

Also I have seen him drinking water a lot. He will grab droplets with his tongue and hang on the leave while he sort of pours it into his mouth.