Getting used to new home

[Michaela_pett]

Hi! I just got a 3-4 month old veiled chameleon and when I first got her and when she was in the pet store she was a vibrant green. Now she is very dark unless I take her out of the enclosure and she climbs the side of it and sits almost directly under the light, is this normal? And also, she would not stop eating when I first got her 2 days ago and now she can’t be bothered to eat. She ate about 10 crickets yesterday throughout the morning and she hasn’t really eaten since, any advice? The bright green picture attached is what she looked like before and the darker one is what she has looked like all day. Thank you

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!
This is a good place to learn!

There might be a few reasons for her turning dark. Are you talking about like in the photo on the right?

Please answer the questions in this thread so we can check your husbandry.....
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Michaela_pett]

My chameleon: veiled, female, 3-4 months, and I got her two days ago
Handling: so far I have handled her twice
Feeding: the night I got her I gave her about five meal worms then the next morning I gave her around 10 crickets throughout the morning because she kept wanting more, that was yesterday and she hasn’t eaten since. I used Romain lettuce and carrot to gut loaf the crickets
Supplements: I used repti-calcium and and reptivite to dust the crickets so far I put them on both her feedings but I don’t think she ate much if not all the second feeding.
Watering: the places near me have been out of drippers, so I poked a hole in the bottom of a solo cup and fill it about every hour with water and A few drops of reptisafe to clean it.
Fecal description: started with a cream-colored wet substance but was followed by long brown fecal description- not watery. Not sure if she has been tested for parasites
History: where I bought her told me that she in particular seemed to really like heat more than other chameleons they have had
Cage info: the cage is a screen 13 by 18 inches (i bought the kit that they had in the store)
Lighting: I am using a 5.0 UVB brand reptisun by zoo med. aswell as a 60 watt heat, daylight, and UVA daylight blue reptile bulb also branded zoo med. lights out is at 8pm and turned back on at 8am
Temperature: temp ranges between 75-82 degrees, lowest overnight temp is 72 or higher, I use the thermometer that came in the kit and keep it towards the middle to top of the enclosure
Plants- I am using fake plants- one that came in the kit and one I bought separately
Placement: cage is in the corner of my room not near any vents but is currently on the ground while a table is built for her
Location: Pennsylvania

Current problem: seems much darker than usual and is not going back to normal vibrant green color and hasn’t eaten much if not anything in about a day.

 

[Michaela_pett]

I mentioned that the enclosure was 13 by 18 and that was incorrect it’s 16 by 30

 

[Ares05]

My chameleon: veiled, female, 3-4 months, and I got her two days ago
Handling: so far I have handled her twice

Leave her be. She needs a few weeks to settle in. Once she is settled you can start working on trust and bonding. Here is a great blog on it by @Beman
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

Feeding: the night I got her I gave her about five meal worms then the next morning I gave her around 10 crickets throughout the morning because she kept wanting more, that was yesterday and she hasn’t eaten since. I used Romain lettuce and carrot to gut loaf the crickets

Do not feed mealworms. They are low in nutritional value, and have a high chitin content.

Your cricket should be gutloaded with a variety of leafy greens, veggies, and a bit of fruit. Its also recommended to include some sort of commercial, pre-made gutload such a Bug Burger or Cricket Crack.

She should be fed as much as she will eat at this age, around 10-15 small/medium crickets. I would cup feed.. attach an opaque cup to a branch slightly below the basking branch. This way the chameleon can look down into the cup and get its food easily.

Supplements: I used repti-calcium and and reptivite to dust the crickets so far I put them on both her feedings but I don’t think she ate much if not all the second feeding.

Do your supplements have d3?

You will need calcium without d3..calcium with d3, and a multivitamin without d3 ( I use reptivite without d3 ).

You will dust with calcium without d3 every feeding. The one day of each week you will alternate between reptivite without d3 and calcium with d3 (each would be given twice a month with this schedule)

Watering: the places near me have been out of drippers, so I poked a hole in the bottom of a solo cup and fill it about every hour with water and A few drops of reptisafe to clean it.

Don't use reptisafe. You will need to use reverse osmosis or distilled water. Both can be bought by the gallon for less than a dollar, or you can get an RO system.

You do mist her cage, correct? How often and how lost do you mist? When do you mist?

Fecal description: started with a cream-colored wet substance but was followed by long brown fecal description- not watery. Not sure if she has been tested for parasites

I would test her asap since I am guessing you got her from Petco. Petco is not a good place to get a chameleon.

Chameleon poop should have firm, but not dry brown fecal matter, along with a white urate. As long as the urate is at least 50% white, you are good.

History: where I bought her told me that she in particular seemed to really like heat more than other chameleons they have had
Cage info: the cage is a screen 13 by 18 inches (i bought the kit that they had in the store)

You bought the chameleon kit im assuming. This kit as nearly nothing suitable for a chameleon, unfortunately, aside from the screen cage itself. Even that will have to be replaced as she gets bigger. As she gets older you will want move her into something like a reptibreeze 2x2x4, or an exoterra glass large tall/extratall, dragon strand small-large atriums, etc. Any of those will work.

Lighting: I am using a 5.0 UVB brand reptisun by zoo med. aswell as a 60 watt heat, daylight, and UVA daylight blue reptile bulb also branded zoo med. lights out is at 8pm and turned back on at 8am

You will need to replace your lights. Colored heat lights aren't recommended, and the coil/compact uvb bulbs are pretty much useless.

For a heat lamp you will want a 50-60 watt household bulb, plain white/off white. You will want to raise it a few inches off the screen so if she decides to screen climb, she is less likely to get burned.

For your uvb you will want a T5HO Reptisun 5.0 linear bulb, with a T5HO fixture. You can a buy a fixture that comes with the correct bulb on amazon for about 50 bucks. The light should run the length of your enclosure.

Your highest branch should be no closer than 11-12 inches from your light.

Until you get the new correct lights, you can try and take her out for 30 minutes of sunlight per day to make up for it.

Temperature: temp ranges between 75-82 degrees, lowest overnight temp is 72 or higher, I use the thermometer that came in the kit and keep it towards the middle to top of the enclosure

The thermometer in the kit is very inaccurate.. you will want a digital tempurature gauge.

Basking spot should be 82-83 degrees. Ambient should be 70-75, ovnight temps should be 60-65, no lower than 55.

Plants- I am using fake plants- one that came in the kit and one I bought separately

You will want to get rid of the fake plant and use real ones. Veiled chameleon tend to eat plant matter and you do not want her eating the fake plants.

Placement: cage is in the corner of my room not near any vents but is currently on the ground while a table is built for her
Location: Pennsylvania

Current problem: seems much darker than usual and is not going back to normal vibrant green color and hasn’t eaten much if not anything in about a day.

Not eating for the first few days/week is normal. New environment. She is likely more stressed than usual because her cage is setup incorrectly.

Pictures of your entire setup please.

What are your humidity levels for daytime, and at night?



Examples of correctly setup cages **these are not mine**:

Gutloading and feeding sheets:

Chameleon academy: https://chameleonacademy.com

Safe (veiled tested!) live plants: https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf

More about plants for chameleons: https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/

 

[Michaela_pett]

My chameleon: veiled, female, 3-4 months, and I got her two days ago
Handling: so far I have handled her twice

Leave her be. She needs a few weeks to settle in. Once she is settled you can start working on trust and bonding. Here is a great blog on it by @Beman
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

Feeding: the night I got her I gave her about five meal worms then the next morning I gave her around 10 crickets throughout the morning because she kept wanting more, that was yesterday and she hasn’t eaten since. I used Romain lettuce and carrot to gut loaf the crickets

Do not feed mealworms. They are low in nutritional value, and have a high chitin content.

Your cricket should be gutloaded with a variety of leafy greens, veggies, and a bit of fruit. Its also recommended to include some sort of commercial, pre-made gutload such a Bug Burger or Cricket Crack.

She should be fed as much as she will eat at this age, around 10-15 small/medium crickets. I would cup feed.. attach an opaque cup to a branch slightly below the basking branch. This way the chameleon can look down into the cup and get its food easily.

Supplements: I used repti-calcium and and reptivite to dust the crickets so far I put them on both her feedings but I don’t think she ate much if not all the second feeding.

Do your supplements have d3?

You will need calcium without d3..calcium with d3, and a multivitamin without d3 ( I use reptivite without d3 ).

You will dust with calcium without d3 every feeding. The one day of each week you will alternate between reptivite without d3 and calcium with d3 (each would be given twice a month with this schedule)

Watering: the places near me have been out of drippers, so I poked a hole in the bottom of a solo cup and fill it about every hour with water and A few drops of reptisafe to clean it.

Don't use reptisafe. You will need to use reverse osmosis or distilled water. Both can be bought by the gallon for less than a dollar, or you can get an RO system.

You do mist her cage, correct? How often and how lost do you mist? When do you mist?

Fecal description: started with a cream-colored wet substance but was followed by long brown fecal description- not watery. Not sure if she has been tested for parasites

I would test her asap since I am guessing you got her from Petco. Petco is not a good place to get a chameleon.

Chameleon poop should have firm, but not dry brown fecal matter, along with a white urate. As long as the urate is at least 50% white, you are good.

History: where I bought her told me that she in particular seemed to really like heat more than other chameleons they have had
Cage info: the cage is a screen 13 by 18 inches (i bought the kit that they had in the store)

You bought the chameleon kit im assuming. This kit as nearly nothing suitable for a chameleon, unfortunately, aside from the screen cage itself. Even that will have to be replaced as she gets bigger. As she gets older you will want move her into something like a reptibreeze 2x2x4, or an exoterra glass large tall/extratall, dragon strand small-large atriums, etc. Any of those will work.

Lighting: I am using a 5.0 UVB brand reptisun by zoo med. aswell as a 60 watt heat, daylight, and UVA daylight blue reptile bulb also branded zoo med. lights out is at 8pm and turned back on at 8am

You will need to replace your lights. Colored heat lights aren't recommended, and the coil/compact uvb bulbs are pretty much useless.

For a heat lamp you will want a 50-60 watt household bulb, plain white/off white. You will want to raise it a few inches off the screen so if she decides to screen climb, she is less likely to get burned.

For your uvb you will want a T5HO Reptisun 5.0 linear bulb, with a T5HO fixture. You can a buy a fixture that comes with the correct bulb on amazon for about 50 bucks. The light should run the length of your enclosure.

Your highest branch should be no closer than 11-12 inches from your light.

Until you get the new correct lights, you can try and take her out for 30 minutes of sunlight per day to make up for it.

Temperature: temp ranges between 75-82 degrees, lowest overnight temp is 72 or higher, I use the thermometer that came in the kit and keep it towards the middle to top of the enclosure

The thermometer in the kit is very inaccurate.. you will want a digital tempurature gauge.

Basking spot should be 82-83 degrees. Ambient should be 70-75, ovnight temps should be 60-65, no lower than 55.

Plants- I am using fake plants- one that came in the kit and one I bought separately

You will want to get rid of the fake plant and use real ones. Veiled chameleon tend to eat plant matter and you do not want her eating the fake plants.

Placement: cage is in the corner of my room not near any vents but is currently on the ground while a table is built for her
Location: Pennsylvania

Current problem: seems much darker than usual and is not going back to normal vibrant green color and hasn’t eaten much if not anything in about a day.

Not eating for the first few days/week is normal. New environment. She is likely more stressed than usual because her cage is setup incorrectly.

Pictures of your entire setup please.

What are your humidity levels for daytime, and at night?



Examples of correctly setup cages **these are not mine**:
View attachment 266645View attachment 266646View attachment 266647
Gutloading and feeding sheets:
View attachment 266648View attachment 266649
Chameleon academy: https://chameleonacademy.com

Safe (veiled tested!) live plants: https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf

More about plants for chameleons: https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/

Thank you so much for all your feedback! I mist her for about two minutes three times a day. The humidity during the day is 50-53% and I’m not sure about night but I will definitely check. Whenever I bought her the only d3 they had in the store was the vitamins that included the d3 in it. I have noticed that she has began to eat I think since I had just got her I was nervous that she wasn’t eating because she didn’t eat the crickets as soon as I put them in. But again thank you so much I am always open for advice I also included the pictures, I still have fake plants because I want to make sure I buy the right kinds of plants and that they are healthy

 

[Ares05]

Be sure to use exactly what I listed, and stick to the schedule. Supplements are a very important part of chameleon health, along with all other listed corrections. You can always order online if stores do not have what you need.

I would mist for 2-3 minutes in the morning, and 2-3 minutes in the evening. You could also do a short 1 minute misting during the day. The heat light must be off for at least 15-30 minutes before, and after misting. I would invest in an automatic mister, and some timers to automate things more. It would be difficult to achieve this without them. If you cannot, try to stick to the schedule as best you can.

Humidity should be 30-40% during the day (though after misting it may spike to 60-70.. this is fine), and then 80-100 at night. The nighttime humidity can be achieved with a fogger, and wrapping 2-3 sides your cage with a shower curtain. Don't run the fogger during the day.

Be sure to make the suggested changes as soon as you can. The sooner, the better.