I have some problem with my chameleon. Please help!

TiWine

Member
Hello guys!

Antecedent:
I moved my chameleon to his final enclosure. He is 5 months old now. In his smaller enclosure ( i add image both of the enclosures) he ate everyday from my hand without thinking. I fed him so easily. And then the move happened about 3 weeks now. You guys know when a chameleon moved he get stressed because the new environment but first 3-4 days he ate normally from my hand the same attitude. Meanwhile he everyday went down his enclosure and tried to escape. I posted a thread about it. They said because the lack of cover.

Now: I put more cover but he still doing it. On this week the things are very bad. He don't wanna eat from my hand only one or two cockroach but i have to hold the bug in my hand for him like 15-20 seconds and i noticed he scared of me for some reason. When i give him the food he trying to run away fast and trying to hide by laying on the branch. And also when i opening the cage or when i enter the room i see he staring me and scared of me :(. But i don't understand this scare thing because sometimes when he trying to escape he climb my hand and walk on me.. So i'm very confused because he scared of me but the same time likes me. Returning to the "trying to escape from the enclosure". I noticed that when i "scare" him (ofc not on purpose) he run down and doing the screen walking at the bottom of the enclosure. So i think this two thing connected. But for some reason he doesn't use his plants to hide.

Also: Sometimes when he trying to escape the enclosure and he climb my hand he want to go down to the ground. i put him down and he run in the same wall every times and trying to climb it.

Please help me what to do. The current problem in tl;dr. : He scared of me, not eating from my hand anymore (and he don't use the other eating methods. i tried to cup feed him recently) and screen walking.

  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Male, almost 5 months old. He is with me about 3 month now.
  • Handling - Sometimes climb my hand when he trying to escape.
  • Feeding - Crickets, waxworms, dubias, turkestan roaches, black soldier fly larvaes, silkworms. I give him 14-16 small insects during twice feed time. Gutloaded with carrots, orange, bok choy.
    For some reason with that new problem now he only eats a 1-2 cricket, 1-2 dubias. 0 turkestan ( before he ate like 5 turkestan, he loved it)and few black soldier larvaes.
  • Supplements - Using repti-cal without d3 powder every feed and twice a month reptivite with d3.
  • Watering - Spraying plant leaves 2 times a day.
  • Fecal Description - Healthy. Everyday 1 or 2 poop. White urates normal darker brown poops.
  • History - Bought from a professional breeder. He is healthy eating normally from my hand every day. (not anymore)
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Reptibreeze xl 60x60x120cm
  • Lighting - Arcadia Pro T5 UVB Kit 12.0 24W and a basking lamp.
  • Temperature - Basking spot 29-31 Celsius degree. In lower his cage he have about 22-26 Celsius degree.
  • Humidity - 35-50 at daytime. At night around 60-70.
  • Plants - 2 Ficus and one dracaena.
  • Placement - On a desk.
  • Location - Europe, Hungary.
Smaller enclosure:
119743294_1586448204898571_3453905528856319708_n.jpg

Now:

123137125_1014996625631056_5439895572362635402_n.jpg
 
Hello guys!

Antecedent:
I moved my chameleon to his final enclosure. He is 5 months old now. In his smaller enclosure ( i add image both of the enclosures) he ate everyday from my hand without thinking. I fed him so easily. And then the move happened about 3 weeks now. You guys know when a chameleon moved he get stressed because the new environment but first 3-4 days he ate normally from my hand the same attitude. Meanwhile he everyday went down his enclosure and tried to escape. I posted a thread about it. They said because the lack of cover.

Now: I put more cover but he still doing it. On this week the things are very bad. He don't wanna eat from my hand only one or two cockroach but i have to hold the bug in my hand for him like 15-20 seconds and i noticed he scared of me for some reason. When i give him the food he trying to run away fast and trying to hide by laying on the branch. And also when i opening the cage or when i enter the room i see he staring me and scared of me :(. But i don't understand this scare thing because sometimes when he trying to escape he climb my hand and walk on me.. So i'm very confused because he scared of me but the same time likes me. Returning to the "trying to escape from the enclosure". I noticed that when i "scare" him (ofc not on purpose) he run down and doing the screen walking at the bottom of the enclosure. So i think this two thing connected. But for some reason he doesn't use his plants to hide.

Also: Sometimes when he trying to escape the enclosure and he climb my hand he want to go down to the ground. i put him down and he run in the same wall every times and trying to climb it.

Please help me what to do. The current problem in tl;dr. : He scared of me, not eating from my hand anymore (and he don't use the other eating methods. i tried to cup feed him recently) and screen walking.

  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Male, almost 5 months old. He is with me about 3 month now.
  • Handling - Sometimes climb my hand when he trying to escape.
  • Feeding - Crickets, waxworms, dubias, turkestan roaches, black soldier fly larvaes, silkworms. I give him 14-16 small insects during twice feed time. Gutloaded with carrots, orange, bok choy.
    For some reason with that new problem now he only eats a 1-2 cricket, 1-2 dubias. 0 turkestan ( before he ate like 5 turkestan, he loved it)and few black soldier larvaes.
  • Supplements - Using repti-cal without d3 powder every feed and twice a month reptivite with d3.
  • Watering - Spraying plant leaves 2 times a day.
  • Fecal Description - Healthy. Everyday 1 or 2 poop. White urates normal darker brown poops.
  • History - Bought from a professional breeder. He is healthy eating normally from my hand every day. (not anymore)
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Reptibreeze xl 60x60x120cm
  • Lighting - Arcadia Pro T5 UVB Kit 12.0 24W and a basking lamp.
  • Temperature - Basking spot 29-31 Celsius degree. In lower his cage he have about 22-26 Celsius degree.
  • Humidity - 35-50 at daytime. At night around 60-70.
  • Plants - 2 Ficus and one dracaena.
  • Placement - On a desk.
  • Location - Europe, Hungary.
Smaller enclosure:
View attachment 281239

Now:

View attachment 281238
What you are experiencing is quite normal IME with Veileds. They go through phases as they mature. Making sure that you have a feeder run or cup for them to eat from if they are not hand feeding is very important. it is important to know if he is not eating due to maturity or if he is not wanting to hand feed or if he has a parasite issue causing a decreased appetite. At his age... They should be eating more like 5 feeders every other day now. Then at 9 months it should be 2-3 feeders every other day. This is important with Veileds so that you do not end up with an overweight cham. Some do naturally start curbing back on their own when it comes to eating. This may be what is happening. So if he is eating 2-4 feeders a day he is ok. You were still feeding quite a bit for a 5 month old. I would kick him over to an every other day feeding of 5 feeders. See what happens with his appetite.


The enclosure is perfectly fine. although I would remove the green carpet from the bottom and have it bare for easy cleaning and so that it is not growing bacteria. Also your temps at basking are too hot. They should be 26-29 max.

I know that the hope is to be able to handle them. But I think it comes to realizing what is natural for them and what is not natural for them. This IME is totally based on the chams individual personality. I have 3. One will not tolerate being held at all, one will but is still fearful, and one just could care less 90% of the time and will come out quite happily onto me.
 
I agree with Beman. I also want to add that he is not climbing onto your hand because he likes you. He's just doing so so he can explore outside of his enclosure (most likely to try and find a mate lol). 3 weeks is still on the early side for a chameleon to get settled into their new home. Be patient with them, respect their boundaries, and do your best to not take it personally when they don't want to eat a bug from you.
 
What you are experiencing is quite normal IME with Veileds. They go through phases as they mature. Making sure that you have a feeder run or cup for them to eat from if they are not hand feeding is very important. it is important to know if he is not eating due to maturity or if he is not wanting to hand feed or if he has a parasite issue causing a decreased appetite. At his age... They should be eating more like 5 feeders every other day now. Then at 9 months it should be 2-3 feeders every other day. This is important with Veileds so that you do not end up with an overweight cham. Some do naturally start curbing back on their own when it comes to eating. This may be what is happening. So if he is eating 2-4 feeders a day he is ok. You were still feeding quite a bit for a 5 month old. I would kick him over to an every other day feeding of 5 feeders. See what happens with his appetite.


The enclosure is perfectly fine. although I would remove the green carpet from the bottom and have it bare for easy cleaning and so that it is not growing bacteria. Also your temps at basking are too hot. They should be 26-29 max.

I know that the hope is to be able to handle them. But I think it comes to realizing what is natural for them and what is not natural for them. This IME is totally based on the chams individual personality. I have 3. One will not tolerate being held at all, one will but is still fearful, and one just could care less 90% of the time and will come out quite happily onto me.

Thank you very much for the answer. I will definitely try out the new feeding what you suggested! I have a feeding cup for him. Where should i put it? To basking level or a little lower?
I change the basking temperature.
By the way i'm not that sad if he don't really like handling. I love him anyway.
 
I agree with Beman. I also want to add that he is not climbing onto your hand because he likes you. He's just doing so so he can explore outside of his enclosure (most likely to try and find a mate lol). 3 weeks is still on the early side for a chameleon to get settled into their new home. Be patient with them, respect their boundaries, and do your best to not take it personally when they don't want to eat a bug from you.

Okay thank you! I just saw you uploaded "why isn't my chameleon eating?" video. i watch that too. :D
 
Thank you very much for the answer. I will definitely try out the new feeding what you suggested! I have a feeding cup for him. Where should i put it? To basking level or a little lower?
I change the basking temperature.
By the way i'm not that sad if he don't really like handling. I love him anyway.
I keep feeder runs and cups higher just below the basking branch. But a chameleon will find their food if they see it below them.
No, worries. This is a difficult hobby. There are so many aspects and there are still so many unknowns.
 
Thank you, yea i'm very glad he have these nice colours. His feet have some spot which can turn orange. When he is excited and walking on me or exploring his foots looks like he have some rust on it. :ROFLMAO:
My hank only looks pretty when he’s mad ? no orange yet but I’m hoping! ?? How old is yours??
 
5 months old tomorrow. I love how these guys "get" new colors while they growing.
I think mine is around 5-6 months I just posted a new post trying to get an idea he old he is ... this is what he looked like when I got him in august ...
 

Attachments

  • BECE10D4-005A-4C35-911B-CF3A3A2C52A4.jpeg
    BECE10D4-005A-4C35-911B-CF3A3A2C52A4.jpeg
    88 KB · Views: 96
I think mine is around 5-6 months I just posted a new post trying to get an idea he old he is ... this is what he looked like when I got him in august ...
I got mine in august too. They looks like the same size.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20200815_094240.jpg
    IMG_20200815_094240.jpg
    121.1 KB · Views: 85
  • IMG_20200815_095949.jpg
    IMG_20200815_095949.jpg
    174.2 KB · Views: 88
Back
Top Bottom