I’ve got a new chameleon and I think he’s doing really good just want everyone to take a look at my setup

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So I have a new chameleon after working up the courage and deciding to buy a new veiled chameleon they didn’t really know how old he was but they weren’t feeding him and he looked skinny so I bought him and took him home. )I have yet to think of a name please send some suggestions). I’ve put him in my cage and my setup has a UVB bulb (in the pic shown) and I’ve got a red basking light to help with keeping the temp up in the cage and I have a dripped set up and I mist the cage about 4-5 times daily to keep the humidity up in there. I’ve been changing up his diet I’ve only had him for 5 days but I feed him crickets which I try and gutload with potatoes and fruits and veggies before feeding him and I’ve been giving him meal worms too all dusted in calcium and he’s been eating roughly around 3-4 crickets a day and 4-5 small meal worms on top of that. The temperature in the cage is usually around 80-82 all day long and the stick right under the basking light usually gets close to 85-86 and at night the cage is usually down to around 74-77 and that’s with no lights on
 

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Fun fact he doesn’t like my phone camera dont mine the angry puffed up face but please if someone could just double check over retrying and make sure I’m doing fine I would be greatly appreciative
 

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If you could fill this out it would be easier for me to give you feedback 🙂

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.

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Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
So he’s a male veiled chameleon don’t know how old he is and he’s been in my cage for five days now and I handle him everyday for atleast a minimum of 20-30 minutes I didn’t wanna handle him to much the first couple days and then I feed him once in the morning and just see how much he eats and then again around 6-7 pm and I gutload my crickets with potatoes and tomatoes and fruits and I dust the food right before I feed it to him with calcium. I also have seen him drink I have a dripper and I must the cage usually 5-6 times a day and I have seen him drink. He’s never been tested for parasites but light brown feces with a little bit of white on it. He’s in a mesh cage that’s 16x16x30 and the cage is usually around 80-82 Fahrenheit and the basking spot reaches around 86-87 Fahrenheit and then at night it usually gets around 74-77 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m not using any live plants and I don’t have a device to measure humidity yet my last one broke. And the cage is in the kitchen near a window on a table up pretty high and there’s a air vent right by it. Geographically I live in the Midwest part of Georgia. @PoseidonTheChameleon
 
The current problem is there isn’t any I just wanna make sure everything seems alright with the setup and also I didn’t include it but I feed him meal worms to
 
My feedback will be in bold.
So he’s a male veiled chameleonplease get a better picture of the back feet to double check gender. don’t know how old he is and he’s been in my cage for five days now my guess is 3 months old and I handle him everyday for atleast a minimum of 20-30 minutes I didn’t wanna handle him to much the first couple days you do not want to handle more than a couple times a week for more than a few minutes, you can hand feed to slowly gain trust. and then I feed him once in the morning and just see how much he eats and then again around 6-7 pmhow much do you feed him? He should be eating probably pinheads maybe ¼ crickets, rule if thumb is no bug wider than the length between their eyes. He should eat as many as he wants within about 15 mins everyday, he will eat ALOT, so have lots of food, I do not reccomend meal worms.and I gutload my crickets with potatoes and tomatoes and fruits No tomatoes, @ERKleRose has gutload sheets I believe for you if she doesn't mind. and I dust the food right before I feed it to him with calcium.does you calcium have d3? You should have 3 supplements, calcium without d3, calcium with d3, and a multivitamin without d3. Let me know what calcium and I will go over your schedule. also have seen him drink I have a dripper and I must the cage usually 5-6 times a day and I have seen him drink. a dripper is good, you should mist when the lights turn on and right before they turn off. He’s never been tested for parasites but light brown feces with a little bit of white on it. this is a good thing to do, take it from me, you will want to catch it as soon as you can if he does have parasites. He’s in a mesh cage that’s 16x16x30 when he gets older you will need to upgrade to a 4ftx2ftx2ft and the cage is usually around 80-82 Fahrenheit and the basking spot reaches around 86-87 Fahrenheitthis is too hot, your basking should be at about 80 for his age, then when he is an adult you can have up to 85, if it turns out to be a female, which is why I need better pics, then you want a basking temp of 80 max. and then at night it usually gets around 74-77 degrees Fahrenheit it would be better to have a lower temp drop than this, try a fan in the room or a cracked window. I’m not using any live plants this important for a vieled as they tend to eat plants, a pothos, umbrella plant, mass cane plant etc. Will do good. You will also want a lot more branches. I don’t have a device to measure humidity yet my last one broke. this is important, you want a diginal hygrometer and you want a daytime humidity of about 25% to 50% max and a nighttime humidity of up to 100%. And the cage is in the kitchen near a window on a table up pretty high and there’s a air vent right by it. this is a place where he is probably getting lots of attention, he would feel safer if he was in a bedroom with less stress. Geographically I live in the Midwest part of Georgia. @PoseidonTheChameleon
 
Welcome! Congrats on the new cham! So,
So he’s a male veiled chameleon don’t know how old he is and he’s been in my cage for five days now and I handle him everyday for atleast a minimum of 20-30 minutes I didn’t wanna handle him to much the first couple days and then I feed him once in the morning and just see how much he eats and then again around 6-7 pm and I gutload my crickets with potatoes and tomatoes and fruits and I dust the food right before I feed it to him with calcium. I also have seen him drink I have a dripper and I must the cage usually 5-6 times a day and I have seen him drink. He’s never been tested for parasites but light brown feces with a little bit of white on it. He’s in a mesh cage that’s 16x16x30 and the cage is usually around 80-82 Fahrenheit and the basking spot reaches around 86-87 Fahrenheit and then at night it usually gets around 74-77 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m not using any live plants and I don’t have a device to measure humidity yet my last one broke. And the cage is in the kitchen near a window on a table up pretty high and there’s a air vent right by it. Geographically I live in the Midwest part of Georgia. @PoseidonTheChameleon
Handling him so much will stress him out. Try and hold him significantly less. Maybe once a week. You want to feed him twice a day like you've been doing. Both times, as much as he can eat in a 30minute period. But try and feed him again in the afternoon (12-1pm) that way he has more time to bask and digest the food before lights go out.

Cut the tomatoes out of your gut-load immediately. I forget the exact reason why LOL but I know for a fact tomatoes are not a good gutload item. Potatoes are good for hydration. You want to add dandelion leaves, mustard greens, kale, Arugula, carrots, apples, cantaloupe, mango etc. to the feeders gutload diet. Keep away from food items like dog food that contain high levels of protein. This can lead to gout.

What type of calcium do you dust with. Do you have one with d3 and one without? Do you have an all-in-one dust item? Do you have multivitamin supplement? Need to know so we can establish a good dusting schedule for you, and recommend any missing products that you can use so your boy is getting everything he needs, artificially speaking.

How many feeder items do you feed him in a day? What size? Do you offer him variety? Crickets are a good staple. Personally I hate dealing with them. But they'e always a good staple to use. You might enjoy switching to Dubia Roaches and breeding your own colony of them so you don't have to spend so much on feeders in the future. It's really easy and dubia stink less, they don't jump or fly, and are a bit more nutritious for your chameleon if I remember correctly. The most nutritious item you can feed your cham is silkworms. If there's a more nutritious feeder than silkies, someone lmk where I can find them lol.

You'lll want to upgrade to a larger cage size soon in a couple months. Aim for the 48"x24"x24" jumbo sized ones.

Do you mist throughout the day? Have a humidity gauge? Digital? Thermometer? Ambient temp is too high. Basking temp should not exceed 85 degrees and you have the ambient at that temp. I can only imagine how hot it is under his light. This shortens life span over time for your chameleon so lower those ambient temps to the mid to low 70s and get the basking temp stable at his branch, reading 80-85 degrees and you're golden.

You will want to switch to all live plants that are safe for your veiled since they tend to eat leaf matter. It's been some time since I've had a veiled and I don't want to recommend ficus or an umbrella tree, or even Pothos due to them being moldy toxic when ingested. Could cause a real problem if your cham eats the leaves a lot. if not, you might be safe with these plants. Chameleon academy has a good full-on husbandry overview of everything you need to be successful. just navigate their site and answer your own questions lol (that might read rude but what I meant was, literally you probably won't need to ask us too many other husbandry questions after thoroughly studying that site and its modules).

You need a good Digital thermometer and hydrometer, amazon sells a 2-in-1. https://www.amazon.com/Reptile-Ther...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Several of these to test ambient temps at different levels of his cage, and one near where his basking branch is in the hottest spot so you can accurately gauge the temps and humidity levels in your Chams cage. that way you can make sure everything is stable or if you need to tweak some things around. Live plants will help with humidity and also allow him to hide from higher UVB levels higher up in the foliage at the top of the cage when he decides to thermoregulate. Which brings me to my next piece of advice:

Ditch the coil UVB bulb and get you a T5 Arcadia 6% (I believe) linear uvb bulb, and a good linear t5 fixture for it to go in. With the live plants you'll hopefully be adding you'll want to add some grow lights as well. I use 3 6500K t5 linear uvb bulbs that run directly on top and across the tops of my Chams cage. Plants are thriving. If you add a hibiscus indoors you'll wanna intensify the amount of light a bit more since they require so much direct sunlight. I believe the flowers of the hibiscus have some good nutrients in them for your cham like vitamin A in the form of beta carotene I believe.

My brains a bit foggy I'm sure I didn't touch on a lot.
 
Welcome here! I've reorganized your info! There is a lot to go over, so please bear with me here! My feedback and any questions will be in red, and I'll post helpful links and charts at the end:

Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - he’s a male veiled chameleon don’t know how old he is and he’s been in my cage for five days now Are you sure he's a male?
  • Handling - I handle him everyday for atleast a minimum of 20-30 minutes I didn’t wanna handle him to much the first couple days That is way too much! Don't continue to handle him right now! A better way to build trust is by hand-feeding!
  • Feeding - I feed him once in the morning and just see how much he eats and then again around 6-7 pm and I gutload my crickets with potatoes and tomatoes and fruits and I’ve been giving him meal worms too all dusted in calcium and he’s been eating roughly around 3-4 crickets a day and 4-5 small meal worms on top of that Tomatoes aren't good for chameleons and regular potatoes don't hold much nutritional content. Make sure to give as much variety as possible with gutload ingredients and feeder types! I've attached charts for both at the end! Mealworms should be used as treats, not staples. Please look at the charts for good types of feeders below, too!
  • Supplements - I dust the food right before I feed it to him with calcium You want a quality phosphorus-free calcium without D3 (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium Without D3) to use at every feeding, except for once per week. On that one day per week, you'll alternate between a quality phosphorus-free calcium with D3 (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium With D3) and a quality multivitamin without D3 (like Zoo Med Reptivite Without D3) so that each one is used once every two weeks.
  • Watering - I also have seen him drink I have a dripper and I must the cage usually 5-6 times a day and I have seen him drink How long is each misting session?
  • Fecal Description - He’s never been tested for parasites but light brown feces with a little bit of white on it
  • History -

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - He’s in a mesh cage that’s 16x16x30 He'll eventually need a bigger cage, with a minimum requirement of 2'x2'x4' tall, but preferably 4'x2'x4' tall or bigger. Bigger is always better! He needs tons of veiled-safe live plants, tons of branches of multiple species and diameters (just none from toxic or sap-producing trees), and lots of vines (preferably all live, but Fluker's fake vines can work, just no Exo Terra, moss, or fake vines with leaves on them) in his cage, too!
  • Lighting - my setup has a UVB bulb (in the pic shown) and I’ve got a red basking light to help with keeping the temp up in the cage Both of those lights are wrong. You need a T5 High Output linear light fixture with either a Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 (replace every 6 months) or an Arcadia 6% (replace yearly) T5 High Output linear UVB bulb of the matching size. A regular white light household incandescent bulb works great as a basking bulb! Both the UVB and heat bulbs need to be 8-9" away from his basking branch. What time do your lights go on and off?
  • Temperature - the cage is usually around 80-82 Fahrenheit and the basking spot reaches around 86-87 Fahrenheit and then at night it usually gets around 74-77 degrees Fahrenheit and that’s with no lights on His basking temp should be 80*F, measured with a digital thermometer with a probe, with the probe placed where the top of your chameleon's back is when he's on his basking branch. At night it should be under 70*F (preferably 65*F or under), as chameleons need a good temp drop.
  • Humidity - I don’t have a device to measure humidity yet my last one broke Humidity is very important! Veileds need 30-50% daytime humidity levels (preferably on the lower end of that scale), and their nighttime humidity levels can go up to 100% if there is enough airflow and it's at or under 65*F. Get a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo, and place it in the middle of his cage to get accurate humidity levels and ambient temps!
  • Plants - I’m not using any live plants Veileds must have live plants only! They'll try to eat anything, and fake plants are an impaction risk (which can lead to death). I've attach veiled-tested chameleon safe plant charts and links at the end!
  • Placement - the cage is in the kitchen near a window on a table up pretty high and there’s a air vent right by it Could you move it away from the window and air vent to a quiet part of your house?
  • Location - Geographically I live in the Midwest part of Georgia

Current Problem -

Here's the links and charts! I'd recommend reading through every module and veiled species profile, as well as listening to as many podcasts as possible, from Bill Strand's Chameleon Academy website! He has the most accurate and up-to-date info on chameleons!
ttps://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
 

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Here is a pic of his back feet and that bulb I have is a UVB bulb and the only calcium I use is one without D3
 

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It’s very recommendable to get a drainage system trust me it saves SO MUCH time cleaning I literally went to Lowe’s for a cheap large drywall bin, a wire tool rack to hold up the cage from the water level, and a $30 wet vac to make a very affordable drainage system as I can’t drill holes under my table since it’s glass. It saves so much time all I have to do is wipe down the bottom for poops and water that didn’t pool off and use my wet vac every other day to clean up what was collected in the bin. Spent a little over 50 for all of it total. 10/10 would recommend😁
 
That bulb is a UVB bulb btw y’all not a household one
Here is the uvb you need.

https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-high-output/dp/257664?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Zoo Med&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4v2EBhCtARIsACan3nxCqMNCaDBgmJzcBqL1LbXpFkKgQMhf5WyOP26UGt-tcwFb6O--iU0aAuaWEALw_wcB

You also need a an incandescent house bulb of any kind for heat, make sure you have the correct temps that we gave you as well.
 
So I went out and got a new bulb and some stuff to gutload my crickets with and I also have a calcium in the way that has D3 and multi Vitamins
 

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