Is my Chameleon ok?

Mango77

New Member
I have a veiled chameleon he’s 5 months old. I’ve had him for 2 weeks now and set up his tank exactly as advised by the reptile shop.
When I got him home he was really lively, always wanting to come out and lately he has been a lot more lethargic.
I’ve done so much googling which says he’s ok but I’m not convinced. His stomach seems weird and he rest on his belly a lot of the time. He also seems to contort into uncomfortable looking positions and I wanted to check I had it all right/ catch it early if he’s sick.
He’s still hunting and eating as he was in the beginning but he just doesn’t look right to me and he’s not interested in coming out at all now.
Help, I’m freaking out.

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Hi and welcome to the family. @Beman and @MissSkittles are great teachers. The one thing I see wrong with the encloser are the fake plants, they have to go. Only live plants since veiled eat plants. What type of uvb bulb setup are you using. Please post a picture of encloser top to bottom so we can see lights and the experts can give more help. There are a lot of things to learn about cham care and your in the right place.
 
Hi and welcome to the family. @Beman and @MissSkittles are great teachers. The one thing I see wrong with the encloser are the fake plants, they have to go. Only live plants since veiled eat plants. What type of uvb bulb setup are you using. Please post a picture of encloser top to bottom so we can see lights and the experts can give more help. There are a lot of things to learn about cham care and your in the right place.
Hello! Thanks for the reply :)
I read that silk plants were ok, is that wrong?
My UV lamp is a UVI 1.4 the reflector has a low and a normal side. I’ve got it on the normal side.
He just doesn’t look how he looked in the first week. So I’m super confused I know they are tricky animals to look after and the internet has a lot of conflicting answers!
Thanks in advance for any help ☺️
 

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Hopefully the people I tagged, and others will respond soon. Veileds are really bad about eating plants and even silk ones might cause and impaction. I use a lot of the Pothos plants to help with humidity too. I don't have a recent pic of my encloser but the Pothos is really filling in now. I use a T5 6% uvb linear by Arcadia and 2 T5 grow lights and last a 75 watt heat bulb. Misting done by reptide rain
 

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Hi and welcome. :) So glad that you’ve found your way here.
You appear to have a decent start with your enclosure, but I do see some room for improvement. I can’t tell what size your enclosure is, but the larger, the better. The minimum size for an adult is a 60x60x120 cm or equivalent. @Tkrd69 is correct about the artificial plants being a hazard. Veileds tend to nibble their plants and aren’t able to differentiate fake from real. It only takes one nibble to cause a potentially fatal bowel obstruction. I use my fake plants on the outside of the enclosure to provide my chameleons with a sense of more privacy. Speaking of which, you will want to provide lots of plant cover for your handsome fella to take shade under, hide in, sleep in, etc. If it takes you at least a minute to find your chameleon, you’ve got enough plants. ;) Adding many more branches and vines for him to travel on will also be greatly appreciated by him. He can’t use that empty space and needs to not only get some good exercise, but males like to patrol their enclosures corner to corner. I see some great examples have/are being given already to you.
Am I correct to assume that the linear light is your uvb? The standard is a T5 fixture with either Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0. The basking area will need to then be about 8-9” below. I don’t particularly like that your basking light is inside your enclosure, but I understand that is how it’s done in Europe, so 🤷‍♀️. You will need to be vigilant about making sure that your big guy isn’t able to get too close to the basking bulb and keep basking temps no higher than 29c.
Now let’s talk about supplements and feeding. What have you been feeding him? How much? How often? What supplements are you using and how often for each?
 
Hi there. So all of your lights are inside the enclosure?

With the UVB you will need to have different distances to branches due to it not having screen reducing the strength. But I need more details on the UVB bulb. Is it a T5HO fixture or T8? And I am not familiar with 1.4 for a bulb strength.

I would also take out that focused heat bulb. It is going to produce far too extreme temps. Put in a regular incandescent 60 watt white bulb.

Also you want to remove all the bark in the bottom it is an impaction risk.
 
Hi there. So all of your lights are inside the enclosure?

With the UVB you will need to have different distances to branches due to it not having screen reducing the strength. But I need more details on the UVB bulb. Is it a T5HO fixture or T8? And I am not familiar with 1.4 for a bulb strength.

I would also take out that focused heat bulb. It is going to produce far too extreme temps. Put in a regular incandescent 60 watt white bulb.

Also you want to remove all the bark in the bottom it is an impaction risk.
Thank you!

Hi and welcome. :) So glad that you’ve found your way here.
You appear to have a decent start with your enclosure, but I do see some room for improvement. I can’t tell what size your enclosure is, but the larger, the better. The minimum size for an adult is a 60x60x120 cm or equivalent. @Tkrd69 is correct about the artificial plants being a hazard. Veileds tend to nibble their plants and aren’t able to differentiate fake from real. It only takes one nibble to cause a potentially fatal bowel obstruction. I use my fake plants on the outside of the enclosure to provide my chameleons with a sense of more privacy. Speaking of which, you will want to provide lots of plant cover for your handsome fella to take shade under, hide in, sleep in, etc. If it takes you at least a minute to find your chameleon, you’ve got enough plants. ;) Adding many more branches and vines for him to travel on will also be greatly appreciated by him. He can’t use that empty space and needs to not only get some good exercise, but males like to patrol their enclosures corner to corner. I see some great examples have/are being given already to you.
Am I correct to assume that the linear light is your uvb? The standard is a T5 fixture with either Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0. The basking area will need to then be about 8-9” below. I don’t particularly like that your basking light is inside your enclosure, but I understand that is how it’s done in Europe, so 🤷‍♀️. You will need to be vigilant about making sure that your big guy isn’t able to get too close to the basking bulb and keep basking temps no higher than 29c.
Now let’s talk about supplements and feeding. What have you been feeding him? How much? How often? What supplements are you using and how often for each?
Oh wow ok so we were advised to keep it at 37c so is it way too hot in there for him. I will change the settings to keep it at 29c.
I’ve attached a picture of my UVB Bulb box I hope that answers your question? Is this the right one, we were sold it from the reptile shop as a complete pack.
Mango regularly climbs onto the grate around the basking bulb and sit there for a bit. Should he not be able to do this?
Feeding wise, he has 10 crickets a day at around 5pm and one large locust a day. We have calcium power and then this one too… I’ve attached a picture… we alternate each day.
I will definitely have a look at updating his plants to real ones. I hadn’t realised that they ate them!
Do you think he looks sick? I don’t know if I’m just worrying for nothing. He doesn’t look happy to me but he’s still eating and doing one poo every morning (on my hand this morning 🤦‍♀️)
I spray his enclosure every morning for 2 mins and I do spray him slightly too as I never see him drink.
 

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Hi there. So all of your lights are inside the enclosure?

With the UVB you will need to have different distances to branches due to it not having screen reducing the strength. But I need more details on the UVB bulb. Is it a T5HO fixture or T8? And I am not familiar with 1.4 for a bulb strength.

I would also take out that focused heat bulb. It is going to produce far too extreme temps. Put in a regular incandescent 60 watt white bulb.

Also you want to remove all the bark in the bottom it is an impaction risk.
Yes all the bulbs are on the inside. This was the diagram we were given by the reptile shop for setting it up and we’re advised by them to put the uvb bulb at a slant.

I’ve attached a picture of the bulb that we have… is this one ok?

I’ve also attached a photo of the bulb we are using for the basking lamp. Would you say this one is incorrect?

Ok yes I will removed the bark, we were told we had to have it but after reading so many posts I am so worried he’s digested a bit of it when he’s eating crickets as I’ve seen them grab onto it.

If he has eaten something is there any way of knowing? Or anything I can do to make him feel better?

Thank you!
 

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Yes all the bulbs are on the inside. This was the diagram we were given by the reptile shop for setting it up and we’re advised by them to put the uvb bulb at a slant.

I’ve attached a picture of the bulb that we have… is this one ok?

I’ve also attached a photo of the bulb we are using for the basking lamp. Would you say this one is incorrect?

Ok yes I will removed the bark, we were told we had to have it but after reading so many posts I am so worried he’s digested a bit of it when he’s eating crickets as I’ve seen them grab onto it.

If he has eaten something is there any way of knowing? Or anything I can do to make him feel better?

Thank you!
So the UVB bulb strength is going to be really strong for him with the 12%. You need a full 16 inches to the branch from the bottom of the bulb to put the cham in the right UVI level. You want a 6% bulb for it instead. Then you want the branches to be a full 10-11 inches to the branch below it.

Do you have any way to modify the cage to put aluminum screen on top so you can put your fixtures on top of the cage? This is more ideal with chameleons so they can not get too close to their lights and get thermal burns.

What temps are you getting with that basking bulb? 100 watt is really intense most of us use 50-60watt. Basking temps for them should be in the 80-85f range and not hotter. They can dehydrate with extreme basking temps.

Read everything in this program... It will help you a lot https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

I think right now he has a combo of incorrect things... Too many possibilities to give just one ideal fix. Start making cage changes to make it suitable for a chameleon.
 
Yes all the bulbs are on the inside. This was the diagram we were given by the reptile shop for setting it up and we’re advised by them to put the uvb bulb at a slant.

I’ve attached a picture of the bulb that we have… is this one ok?

I’ve also attached a photo of the bulb we are using for the basking lamp. Would you say this one is incorrect?

Ok yes I will removed the bark, we were told we had to have it but after reading so many posts I am so worried he’s digested a bit of it when he’s eating crickets as I’ve seen them grab onto it.

If he has eaten something is there any way of knowing? Or anything I can do to make him feel better?

Thank you!
@Beman is advising too and she’s one who has taught many of us. I don’t want to confuse things and would only be saying the same that she says (but she does know more than I). I will just say there is a huge amount of old/outdated or incorrect info about keeping chameleons out there. While I’m sure your pet store did their best to guide you, they need to update their knowledge. :)
 
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