Husbandry Review

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tknapp9

Member
My Chameleon -Veiled (Pascal), male, 6-9 months. Been in my care for around two weeks.
Handling - Not often. Twice since getting him home.
Feeding - 6-8 crickets twice a day, morning and night (around 8am and 8pm) I give my crickets apples, carrots, and a gut loading block.
Supplements - Dusting crickets in Exo-terra Calcium. Will start giving a multivitamin 1st and 15th of the month.
Watering - Spray bottle 15-30 min before turning on lights and 15-30 min after turning lights off. I make sure all the plants have lots of water on the leaves and make sure the roof is saturated with drops. I haven’t seen him directly drink but he has moved closer to the water while I have been watering a couple times. Working on finishing a gallon of so I can make a dripper.
Fecal Description - I haven’t examined feces too closely. Usually, a dark brown with white.
History - I just moved him about less than a week ago into a bigger enclosure with the same materials in the previous enclosure.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 24’x24’x48’ Reptibreeze. All screens.
Lighting - Lights turn on around 8 and turn off around 9. Working on getting an outlet timer. 24 inch T5HO 6% arcadia UVB and 60 watt blue incandescent bulb.
Temperature - Basking branch sits around 87 and dips to around 72 at night. I use a couple digital thermometers and my thermostat stays set at 72.
Humidity - Just bought a digital hygrometer but haven’t installed it yet. (Working on getting better at taking him out of his cage.
Plants - All live plants. Pothos and hibiscus.
Placement - My enclosure is in my bedroom. The two beds in the room are in opposite corners and my roommate and I are usually the only ones going in and out but we’re gone for most of the day so it’s quiet for a majority of the day.
Location - Southern California

Current Problem - He’s been looking a little bit pale recently. Not sure if this is from stress of the new environment, shedding cycle, or incorrect temp/lighting/humidity.
 
Putting my feedback in bold.
My Chameleon -Veiled (Pascal), male, 6-9 months. Been in my care for around two weeks.
Handling - Not often. Twice since getting him home. It’s good to start building trust with him for when you do need or want to handle him. This is a great blog. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
Feeding - 6-8 crickets twice a day, morning and night (around 8am and 8pm) At his age, you want to feed him just once in the morning and just the 6-8 feeders. Soon you will be needing to reduce not just the number of feeders, but the frequency so that by the time he’s around 10-12 months old, he’s getting 3-4 feeders, every other day or even three days a week. You do want to add more variety of feeders too. Attaching a graphic to help guide you. I give my crickets apples, carrots, and a gut loading block. You want to make sure to feed your bugs a variety of fresh produce so that they will be healthy, and therefore more nutritious. Attaching a graphic for this too.
Supplements - Dusting crickets in Exo-terra Calcium. With or without vitamin D3? Hopefully is without. Dust lightly. You don’t want your feeders looking like snowmen. Will start giving a multivitamin 1st and 15th of the month. What brand/type? I recommend Repashy Calcium Plus LoD. It has preformed vitamin A which is great for eye health and contains vitamin D3, so no need to give that separately. Reptivite with D3 is also a good combo one to use.
Watering - Spray bottle 15-30 min before turning on lights and 15-30 min after turning lights off. Try misting 15-30 minutes before lights go off, instead of after. I make sure all the plants have lots of water on the leaves and make sure the roof is saturated with drops. I haven’t seen him directly drink but he has moved closer to the water while I have been watering a couple times. Many/most chameleons are secretive about drinking. Working on finishing a gallon of so I can make a dripper. A plastic party cup with a pin hole works perfectly as a dripper and holds just the right amount of water.
Fecal Description - I haven’t examined feces too closely. Usually, a dark brown with white. The white is the urate (urine) and this is what we go by to determine if our chameleon is getting enough hydration. A little bit of yellow or orange on the end is ok, especially if your cham hasn’t pooped for a day or two. All white is very hydrated. All orange or dark is dehydrated. It’s always good to get your cham checked for parasites with a fecal check.
History - I just moved him about less than a week ago into a bigger enclosure with the same materials in the previous enclosure.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 24’x24’x48’ Reptibreeze. All screens. Perfect! If you have the space and such, perhaps consider doubling his enclosure size. https://chameleonacademy.com/double-wide-chameleon-cage-project/
Lighting - Lights turn on around 8 and turn off around 9. Working on getting an outlet timer. 24 inch T5HO 6% arcadia UVB and 60 watt blue incandescent bulb. Perfect. What is the distance between your uvb and basking branch?
Temperature - Basking branch sits around 87 and dips to around 72 at night. Ok. 87 is on the higher end of what is ideal, so make sure it doesn’t get any hotter. 85 is the ideal for adult males. I use a couple digital thermometers and my thermostat stays set at 72. Ok. Just FYI - veiled can handle temp drops down to the low 60’s with no problem.
Humidity - Just bought a digital hygrometer but haven’t installed it yet. (Working on getting better at taking him out of his cage. Ideal daytime humidity for a veiled is between 30-50%. Since your night temps aren‘t below at least 70, you don’t want to boost night humidity.
Plants - All live plants. Pothos and hibiscus. Excellent! You will need a strong plant light for the hibiscus. Either something like the Arcadia Jungle Dawn or a Sansi 70w.
Placement - My enclosure is in my bedroom. The two beds in the room are in opposite corners and my roommate and I are usually the only ones going in and out but we’re gone for most of the day so it’s quiet for a majority of the day. Ok. Is the enclosure sitting on anything or is it on the floor? If on the floor, you’ll want to find something to sit it on. Height is safety for chameleons.
Location - Southern California

Current Problem - He’s been looking a little bit pale recently. Not sure if this is from stress of the new environment, shedding cycle, or incorrect temp/lighting/humidity.
I’d really like to see some clear pics of him and his enclosure. Do open the enclosure door to take pics of him as thru the screen is too hard to see very well.
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Amazing! Thank you so much. My calcium does not have D3. I also haven’t bought a multivitamin yet but I was looking for which one to get so that’s perfect. My basking branch runs at an angle so he can as close or as far as he needs which I was thinking might be a concern. His enclosure is one a table so the top of the cage is eye level with me but I’m also 6’9. Let me know if you need some better photos
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IMG_6083.jpeg
 
tknapp9 said:
Amazing! Thank you so much. My calcium does not have D3. I also haven’t bought a multivitamin yet but I was looking for which one to get so that’s perfect. My basking branch runs at an angle so he can as close or as far as he needs which I was thinking might be a concern. His enclosure is one a table so the top of the cage is eye level with me but I’m also 6’9. Let me know if you need some better photos View attachment 345455View attachment 345456
Click to expand...
Ok. I have a few more suggestions based on your pics. :) You really don’t want to attach anything to the screening as it just can’t hold any weight and can easily rip. There are ways around this. You need to use the frame to hold the weight. Dragon Ledges are wonderful and better than sliced bread. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ Another way is to use garden trellis. I didn’t have any more Dragon Ledges and couldn’t wait for them to be shipped, so I used some scraps of plastic/pvc trellis. I drilled some holes and using thin wire, attached it to the frame. In hindsight, I should have also drilled some tiny holes or attached screws to the frame to attach the wires to, to prevent sliding down. Another thing that I’ve done is attach slightly bent branches to the frame (again with thin wire) and then created an H shape which I then could attach branches and vines to. With Dragon Ledges, it’s no problem at all to attach plants also. With the trellis and branch scaffold, do so carefully. Attaching some pics of what I’ve done. *I was almost out of branches so used some wooden dowels in one.
Next, you have the black Exo Terra type vine. Those are notorious for shedding micro particles that easily get into chameleon eyes when they rub their faces against them when they are shedding. Natural branches are awesome. Avoid pine, eucalyptus and others that have an odor or sap. Oak is perfect. Give a little scrub with dish soap and a lightweight plastic brush, rinse very well and dry in the sun if possible. Lichen is hard to scrub off and whatever doesn’t scrub off with normal effort, just stays. If you want to use artificial vines, the foamy Fluker’s ones are great.
The rope is another that needs to be removed. Too easily can your chameleon get his claws trapped in it and have them pulled out.
For plants, even with a strong plant light, sometimes the hibiscus is too fussy. Pothos is your new bff. It comes in quite a variety. For taller center plants, ones that are nice and less fussy would be all dracanae, including corn plant, schefflera (aka umbrella plant), weeping fig tree and money tree. They’ll still need a plant light, but usually can get by with a 36w. This is a great plant guide. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
IMG_2712.jpeg IMG_2718.jpeg IMG_5011.jpeg
 
It is a process of learning and then changing and continuing to grow better. It’s very easy to give you a list of all of these things to change. It’s well understood that it’s very hard to make the changes so quickly. Write them down or however you’ll keep track and mark them off as you get them done. You have the important stuff right…uvb, temps, supplements (don’t delay on the multivitamin) and the rest will come in time. :) My poor first chameleon had to suffer through incorrect care before I got her and for a couple of weeks after and then a few months of me making improvements.
 
I just realized I didn’t answer about him being pale. :rolleyes: My brain sometimes. SMH
He has that dry look like he’s probably going to shed soon. Another FYI - chameleons are dry shedders so misting him directly will make the shed adhere more to him.
 
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