Help with female

Gracetheace

New Member
Hello all. I recently bought a female veiled cham approx. 5-6 months old with the intentions of breeding her to my male. From my research I’ve seen so many different things about what’s needed in the cage for her, temps, and even feeding schedules.

How are the laying baskets set up? What’s the best way yall have found for that? Can the male and female co-hab together?

my male is a year old veiled. I haven’t really seen a “set” breeding age for veiled chams and was wondering around what size, weight, and age are they mature enough to breed.

she’s currently in a 24x24x48 enclosure. 100w day light basking bulb and a 10.0 uvb bulb fed around 5-10 crickets twice a week with a few (approx 3-4) mealworms as well if I notice she’s acting hungry. She has a mister that’s set for every three hours and it runs for a minute.

thank y’all in advance. I wanna make sure I do this right and she doesn’t end up egg bound or something.
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, female, approx 5-6 months old.
  • Handling- I try to handle him if she’s willing, if not I don’t force her to prevent stress
  • Feeding - 5-10 crickets a week with a few mealworms (around 3-5) if I notice she is still acting hungry.
  • Supplements - Zoo med repticalcium without D3. I try to give it to her once every two weeks when I feed her crickets
  • Watering - I have a misting system set to run for 30 seconds every three hours
  • Fecal Description - Brown with white droppings. They’re not liquidity. I have not tested her for parasites while shes been in my care.
  • History - no history that I can think of other than he can be aggressive sometimes when I go to handle her. If I see that she is angry I will leave her be.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type- I have the zoo med XL cage. 24x24x48. It’s all screen.
  • Lighting - Zoomed daylight blue reptile bulb 100w. Zoomed reprising 5.0 UVB. I turn on the lights at 8am and turn them off at 9-10pm.
  • Temperature - basking around 80-85 rest of the cage is a solid 72-78
  • Humidity - I currently don’t have anything to measure humidity levels.
  • Plants - two umbrella plants and a ficus Benjamina
  • Placement - The cage sits on a end table. The highest point of the cage is 5ft off the ground. She lives in my bedroom and no one is in there except myself.
  • Location - i am located in central Texas.

Current Problem - making sure I have everything I need to raise a healthy female to breed later on down the line.
 
I’ll be putting my feedback in red.
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, female, approx 5-6 months old.
  • Handling- I try to handle him if she’s willing, if not I don’t force her to prevent stress
  • Feeding - 5-10 crickets a week with a few mealworms (around 3-5) if I notice she is still acting hungry. Variety is best. I’d get rid of the mealworms and add roaches or silkworms. Also, how are you feeding your feeders? The healthier and well fed that they are, the more nutrition they offer to your chameleon. Attaching feeder and ‘gutload’ graphics.
  • Supplements - Zoo med repticalcium without D3. I try to give it to her once every two weeks when I feed her crickets Is this the only supplement you’re giving? She should be getting the calcium with no D3 at every feeding. Then once every other week you’ll use a calcium with D3 and on one feeding the alternate weeks, use a multivitamin. There are many varied supplements and regimens, but this is the basics. I use calcium no D3 every feeding and one feeding every other week use Reptivite with D3, which is a combined D3 and multivitamin.
  • Watering - I have a misting system set to run for 30 seconds every three hours It would be better for your cham and humidity levels to mist for longer (2 mins) with less frequency (2-3 times daily). Often it takes a minute or two of spraying to stimulate your cham to drink.
  • Fecal Description - Brown with white droppings. They’re not liquidity. I have not tested her for parasites while shes been in my care. I always think a vet wellness check and a fecal for parasites should be done. If you are planning on breeding, it’s especially important.
  • History - no history that I can think of other than he can be aggressive sometimes when I go to handle her. If I see that she is angry I will leave her be. Veileds are notorious for their attitudes and ‘hissy fits’.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type- I have the zoo med XL cage. 24x24x48. It’s all screen.
  • Lighting - Zoomed daylight blue reptile bulb 100w. Zoomed reprising 5.0 UVB. I turn on the lights at 8am and turn them off at 9-10pm. Very important…is your uvb a long tube or a screw in bulb? The screw in bulbs only provide adequate uvb levels 2” away and are a major contributing factor to many chams getting mbd. Your uvb should be a linear T5 ho with either a 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb bulb. Then basking area should be about 8” below the lights. I’d suggest getting a timer for your lights and run them on a 12 hour schedule.
  • Temperature - basking around 80-85 rest of the cage is a solid 72-78 85 would be the limit for a male and too hot for a female. Both genders do very well at 80.
  • Humidity - I currently don’t have anything to measure humidity levels. This is essential. Ideal humidity during the day should be between 30-50%, which is actually much drier than you’d think. At night to simulate natural hydration of the wild, you can use a cool mist humidifier and boost levels to 80-100%.
  • Plants - two umbrella plants and a ficus Benjamina You haven’t included any pics, but I’d suggest something vining like a pothos or philodendron too. Your plants should be providing areas of shade and dappled light for your cham to retreat to when they feel the desire to cool off or hide. If there’s any fake plants, do remove them as it only takes one nibble and your cham can get impacted.
  • Placement - The cage sits on a end table. The highest point of the cage is 5ft off the ground. She lives in my bedroom and no one is in there except myself. If you could raise that by at least a foot, your cham would be appreciative and feel safer. They prefer being above us and their world.
  • Location - i am located in central Texas.

Current Problem - making sure I have everything I need to raise a healthy female to breed later on down the line.
I’m including a lay bin graphic. Has your girl started showing her pretty blues and yellows yet? If so, she needs to have a bin placed from now to be a permanent part of her enclosure. My chams prefer bins that are at least 12” long/wide. Fill to about 6” deep with play sand moistened enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. Keep in mind they don’t go straight down but will go across a bit too. Avoid things like coco coir, bark and other materials that don’t hold tunnels well. Make sure there’s at least one or two stable ways in/out of the bin. When she’s ready to use it, she’ll find it and do so. Once she enters the bin, she needs total privacy. If she sees anyone she may stop digging and become egg bound. Is best to cover at least the lower half of your enclosure with a light sheet or blanket. When she’s done, she’ll be sitting on a branch and look much thinner and quite dirty. The whole process takes on average 1-2 days. Let me address your initial questions in a separate reply.
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Hello all. I recently bought a female veiled cham approx. 5-6 months old with the intentions of breeding her to my male. From my research I’ve seen so many different things about what’s needed in the cage for her, temps, and even feeding schedules.

How are the laying baskets set up? What’s the best way yall have found for that? Can the male and female co-hab together?

my male is a year old veiled. I haven’t really seen a “set” breeding age for veiled chams and was wondering around what size, weight, and age are they mature enough to breed.

she’s currently in a 24x24x48 enclosure. 100w day light basking bulb and a 10.0 uvb bulb fed around 5-10 crickets twice a week with a few (approx 3-4) mealworms as well if I notice she’s acting hungry. She has a mister that’s set for every three hours and it runs for a minute.

thank y’all in advance. I wanna make sure I do this right and she doesn’t end up egg bound or something.
I addressed all husbandry issues already with the exception of feeding amounts. I limit my ladies feeding amounts to help reduce their egg production and honestly have no idea about how much to feed when breeding. Hopefully another member can advise.
No! No chameleons can have room mates! It causes chronic stress and over time, can make your cham more susceptible to illness.
Although I haven’t bred my chams, my personal thoughts on ages is to have the male be at least a year old and for the female to have laid at least 1-2 infertile clutches already. This ensures that both are sexually mature and that your female doesn’t have any underlying reproduction or other issues.
Veileds are very opportunistic eaters. They always look hungry and never seem to get full. All of my chameleons are fed 3 times a week, 3-4 feeders only (plus occasional treats). I was giving my male veiled a couple of extra feeders as he is larger and he’s started to get too fat, so he’s now fed the same as my others.
Now I want to offer some more personal advice and I pray you don’t take it the wrong way…I mean it with all kindness. Breeding chameleons takes a great deal of skill and experience in keeping them. Rearing the babies provides a unique set of challenges in itself and can be costly. Usually private keepers breed to keep a blood line going or out of love, as there is no profit to be made, especially with veileds. If you really want to breed your animals, I suggest you get a couple of years of experience keeping chameleons first and learn all that you can whether it relates to your situation or not. Besides the forum, an awesome place for knowledge is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ The podcasts are incredible and will teach you things and answer questions you didn’t even know you had. Right now, keep learning and just enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of your animals.
I hope I’ve been able to be of some help to you.
 
I agree with EVERYTHING @MissSkittles told you. Please please really look into this idea of breeding more. It is expensive to feed a ton of babies and it is not easy to find homes for them. Also they have to have individual enclosures. Babies will nip at each other and hurt one another. So if you have 30 babies that is 30 enclosures and 30 times everything else. They should not be rehomed until they are at least 3 months old. The first 3 months they have to have perfect husbandry to ensure they are healthy and growing correctly.
 
Yup agree with miss skittles and beman . I would like to breed panthers but realistic its something that even when you/ or I have enough knowledge/experience keeping adults correctly is something you need a pile of money to do that you won't see back any time soon . When I breed bearded dragons I spent way more on live food than the babies where worth. Personally just my opinion i would get husbandry on point let your girl mature let her produce and succefully lay a couple of clutches of infertile eggs to make sure she has no complications and also to see how many eggs she lays. My girl layed 42 first time then 53 ( thats a lot of babies had they all been fertile and hatched but with a bit of study and tweaks I got her down to 22 the last time which is more realistic but still a lot of money to set up 22 enclosure and feeding. So each baby ate 15 crickets a day thats 330 + crickets you keep your babies for 12 weeks thats 30000 crickets
 
What is your goal in breeding? For Veiled there is really no money to be made if you intended to keep them proper.
feeding is more than you think, plus lights and housing.
If it is for you and money is not the goal just take some time to prepare and do it right, plan how you will house them for 1year.

It can be a good experience, but please don’t just produce just to give them to whoever wants one. Care for them and find good homes
 
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