help! :'(

lizzleberry

lizzleberry

New Member
hi
this is my first time using this site, i normally use reptile forums but theyre not so helpful on there sometimes (and i think theyre getting a bit sick of me)
i bought my first baby chameleon yesterday
unfortunatly, i thought my set up was perfect, when i got Pascal i realised it wasnt, but he has taken my nonstop panic attacks and often mucking around sliding waterproof stuff under his flexarium pretty well, to my current knowledge the temp at the top is 27, the thermostat is set to 25ish for the middle of the tank, i have just misted his plants but his dripper is off at the moment
just now i went to see how he was doing and he was sat near the bottom of the flex, where the sunlight through my window was glaring through, he has plenty of shade and things to hide in although today he seemed more confident to sit on a branch out in the open. anyway, he was sat on a branch in the direct sun and heat, and had gone a bit brown.
so far he has only been a light leafy green which i assume means he's pretty happy, and now i have closed my curtains, he has moved up a bit and is green again
i dont know why :/
im currently panicking over the smallest things, i am completely in love with this little guy and i dont want anything to go wrong.
every item i have purchased has been brought from an online shop, i bought stuff using a chameleon starter kit as a guideline, although since then i have ordered a lower wattage heat lamp.
he has eaten about 15 crickets today, and had about 8 yesterday, and yesterday i caught him lapping up water right out of his drip system but i'm not sure if he has had enough even though i have misted it an hour after lights on, about 30 minutes ago, and his dripper was on for an hour midday
am i doing ok?
why do you think he went to sit in the sunlight? and then why did he go brown when he was there?
am i feeding him enough water and crickets?
also, what kind of other supplements should i buy, so far i have t rex calcium plus for chameleons. he had some on his crickets this morning but i think i put on too much so i didnt dust his afternoon crickets. should i do dust his crickets everyday? i am trying to cut load them but i'm not sure if they are eating the veg that i have givven them.
thanks
lizzie
 
Ok, calm down, and welcome to the forums. :)

He turned brown in the sun because darker colors absorb heat and UVB better (like if you wear a black shirt in the sun it's warmer than wearing a white shirt). Nothing to panic about. To better help you pinpoint any possible problems could you do us a favor and fill out the answers to these questions:

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

Pictures are helpful
 
Welcome and no worries! You are in the right place! Fill out the form that Ferret posted, the pros will take a look at your husbandry and let you know how you are doing. Also, post some pics of your set up when you can (just add them to this thread) then, they can see how it looks and give you some tips there as well. This place is great! :)
 
hi :)
thankyou, i hadnt thought of that answer :/ i opened the curtains again for him, if it is nothing to worry about

Pascal is a male yemen chameleon, not very old, probably not quite one month, his body is the length of my index finger, and i brought him home yesterday afternoon

i havent handled him yet, he will eat from my hand though, and at one point when i was trying to hand feed him, he ignored the cricket and used my finger as some kind of bridge between two branches ^^ im waiting until i feel he has settled down before i try and get him to be handled, so far if my hand goes in his flex without food, he backs away slowly

im feeding him small crickets at the moment, i put some dandelion, apple and tomatoes in the kricket keeper (which doesnt work ¬¬ ), im not sure if theyre eating them, and i fed him some this morning, and a few more this afternoon. i basically let him pick them out of the jar until he doesnt want any more. this mornings crickets were dusted with t rex calcium plus.

i use a "little dripper" with shop bought water, that goes on for a hour twice a day, and in the morning i mist his plants until theyre dripping, and in the afternoon i mist them

he's only pooped once, it looks like reptile poop, like my beardies, only smaller and i havent noticed any smell

pascal came from a small but tightly packed reptile store, kept in a terrarium with other babies, bred in captivity

i have the exoterra flexarium 38, i hope to get the 100 gallon version when pascal is a bit bigger

i have a reptiglo 5.0 uvb bulb, it goes on at 0630 and off at 7 - 8ish

i use a green spot bulb for the heating, it is 100Watts which i realised was too much when it burned a hole in the top of my flex (whoops) so i have a 60 Watt one on the way. the top of the flex is usually around 27 - 30 degrees C, bottom is cooler (i need another thermometer) and my dimming thermostat aims for the middle of the flex where the sensor is, to be 25 - 27 degrees C during the day, and 21 - 23 degrees C at night.

i use an unreliable hygrometer to measure humidity. i have been told by countless people on reptile forums that they dont use them because they're abit rubbish (£7. *sigh*) i mist the flex twice daily and im sure the plants will keep up the humidity, although it is pretty sticky outside at the moment so humidity isnt such a big problem maintaining

i have a lilac tree plant, which pascal seems pretty happy to hide in, and today i brought home a "coleus caninus", i spent about 2 hours in B&Q with a list of chameleon safe plants trying to find anything. nightmare. i also have a few fake plants

my flex is in my room, which is the only room at the top of the house, no one really goes in except me and my friend, sometimes my reptile loving sister or my mom, but not often (the art of yelling up the stairs when they need me), it is near a window, but not next to one, kind of between the two, so during the day there is always natural light and heat coming in, and the windows are usually open, even when it is cold, theyre open a bit. the top of my flex is 1.5 metres from the floor. i dont live near any busy roads, although you can hear the soft noise of the bigger road a few houses away from my road, never any sirens, the occasional drunken group of teenagers taking a stroll, but that is it. i live on the south coast of england, about a 2 minute walk from the sea, so you get the occasional waft of low tide, regular drizzle and the incredibly rare "heat wave"

hope this has helped.
my problem is - am i looking after him correctly? and what can i do to make sure he is 100% happy?
thankyou

here are some photos of my set up
28082011.jpg

27082011.jpg

28082011005.jpg
 
What are the temps in the cage also the humidity reading. Could be to cold that's why he's sitting in the sun light
 
Pilotman800 said:
Sorry this is a bit off topic, but how many gallons is your tank?
Click to expand...

its an exo terra 38, meaning its 38 gallons.

I would put some ficus in there to give him more places to hide, it looks a bit bare to me. ficus is awesome as its really bushy and doesnt snap too easily when theyre bigger.
 
Hello, and welcome :). Your setup looks good, I would have a few more small branches. Sounds to me like you have nothing in particular to be concerned about, but you will want to be more certain of temps and humidity. Most people have the lights at 12 hours on/12 off. The main reason you were asked for a fecal description is that you can tell if a cham is dehydrated by the white urate section. If it goes yellowy then he could do with extra water, or orange at all - then he is really dehydrated.

Here is a really good blog/ caresheet specifically for veileds- https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hi
wow, you guys are all so nice ^^
one thing i have been getting a lot of from reptile forums is "loose the green light"
i bought it because it was part of the starter kit i was using as a guideline, i have bought another two from the same site, one a lower wattage for the rest of the summer.
i dont really want to loose it, because i like it, and so far i have only burned myself on it once (a miracle) and because i have 3. theyre not expensive, but i have just added up £240 that i have spent and would rather not spend unnecessarily for a while.
is the green heat light ok? or should i get a colorless one? :/

(i just went to turn out his lights, i left it a bit late because he was curled up in the sun and looked happy, when i went over there he was asleep :') he's so lovely, even if he has just drained my bank and cause me all this worry )
 
Unfortunately for you; otherwise for your chameleon, the green bulb should be replaced with a 50-75 watt heat bulb, since your temps are too low. His basking area should be 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit. 25c is only 77f, so you need to adjust that according.
 
Have you measured the temps under the lamps? Meybe its not getting hot enough hence why he tries to warm up from the sunllight coming through the window. It doesnt matter what colour your bulb is as long as its producing the heat needed, Although i wouldnt waste your money on fancy bulbs, a normal household bulb does the job just fine (for basking bulb only, you still need UV lights, the reptiglo 5.0 linear tubes are best or if your in UK, try find an arcadia 6%, they are reccommended by all the top breeders there!). I use 40w house bulbs in the summer and 60w in winter.

If i was you, i would invest in a timer. Chameleons are very much creatures of habit, they will usually sleep in the same spot, wake up the same time, sleep the same time etc etc. A timer ensures you dont forget to turn the light on or off. Get a digital 1 too, the analogue ones are crap!!!
 
hi, my heat bulb is a 100watt so it will get hot enough, i just need to turn it up a bit more?
i assume he will prefer the natural heat and light anyway though, but i will turn it up all the same
i turn his uvb bulb off at night, and his heat lamp down to 22 degrees C, which basically turns it off as the outside temp is around that anyway.
i'm unlikely to need a timer, i rarely stay away over night, and i get up at the same time every morning and turn everything on, if i am not at home for his 7 - 8pm bed time, my sister will go up and do the easy task of flicking a few switches.
 
your saying you have an adjustable light output ?

Either way, his temps need to be raised just a few degrees F. And yes, the green bulb needs to go.

Also, his lights must be completely turned off at night. They can not just be lowered.
 
the lights are off at night. not lowered, the thermostat measures the temp, i set it to 21 degrees, the temp in my room is about that so it doesnt put power into the light, so the light is off. if for whatever reason it got very cold very suddenly in my room, the bulb would go on. so i guess that is why i should probably get a heat bulb that does not emit light.
so what i need is a heat bulb that does not emit light. at all.
is there any particular reason why i can not use a green heat bulb? or just a green light in general
i havent read anywhere that they specifically cannot have colored bulbs, so i didnt see why not (now i've got 3 *typical* )
i cannot order one until tomorrow and it will usually arrive in 2 days. pascal has had the green light since yesterday, will he be ok for a bit?
 
No, no need for a heat lamp at night, at all. You should make it so that light cannot turn on during the night. Unless the temp is going under 65 degrees Fahrenheit there is no need.

Green light is normally geared more towards growing plants. It is less natural to chameleons.
 
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