Issues with Chameleon finding resources in new cage

HueTheChameleon

HueTheChameleon

Member
Hello,

We just welcomed Hue Hefner, our veiled 1 month old chameleon, to our family. Hue was kept in a small plastic container at the pet shop about 1 ft by 1ft by 2 ft. We didn't want to stress him, so we put him in a smaller enclosure, although much larger than the pet store for 2 days while I constructed a custom wall, ceiling mounted 2ft by 2ft by 4ft terrarium. In the smaller cage, Hue drank water well from the 1 plant we had in there and found the crickets well since he didn't have to move and just had his tongue do all the traveling for him.

In his new cage, I mist specifically the front plastic plants only to encourage him to spend time near the front of the cage. I also place a 1ft by 1ft by 1ft container on the bottom to hold the live crickets so they don't get everywhere. Unfortunately I see Hue biting at fake leaves on the unmisted side of the tank and not moving to the misted side to drink. Additionally, Hue doesn't go to the bottom of the tank to hunt, but waits until a cricket or two makes it to the top to eat. Hue was eating about 10 large crickets a day before the transition, so I doubt he's full.

Is there anything I can do to help him find these resources? He doesn't like to be handled, so I have avoided simply moving him to these two new area.
 
HueTheChameleon said:
Hello,

We just welcomed Hue Hefner, our veiled 1 month old chameleon, to our family. Hue was kept in a small plastic container at the pet shop about 1 ft by 1ft by 2 ft. We didn't want to stress him, so we put him in a smaller enclosure, although much larger than the pet store for 2 days while I constructed a custom wall, ceiling mounted 2ft by 2ft by 4ft terrarium. In the smaller cage, Hue drank water well from the 1 plant we had in there and found the crickets well since he didn't have to move and just had his tongue do all the traveling for him.

In his new cage, I mist specifically the front plastic plants only to encourage him to spend time near the front of the cage. I also place a 1ft by 1ft by 1ft container on the bottom to hold the live crickets so they don't get everywhere. Unfortunately I see Hue biting at fake leaves on the unmisted side of the tank and not moving to the misted side to drink. Additionally, Hue doesn't go to the bottom of the tank to hunt, but waits until a cricket or two makes it to the top to eat. Hue was eating about 10 large crickets a day before the transition, so I doubt he's full.

Is there anything I can do to help him find these resources? He doesn't like to be handled, so I have avoided simply moving him to these two new area.
Click to expand...

At 1 month old he is very young, and as he's also new to his home I wouldn't spring too many setup changes on him all at once. If he drank better when the entire smaller cage was sprayed, keep doing that. Dehydration at his age is serious. Its possible he's biting at the dry foliage because he's testing for moisture droplets. If he ate better when the feeders were confined more (and they are tiny right now) keep doing that. Your new cage is pretty large for one so young. He probably won't venture down to the lower part of the cage to hunt them either because he doesn't want to move too far from the top of the cage (security, warmth and light), because he's in unfamiliar surroundings, or because he doesn't see the activity of the feeders as well. Move your feeder box higher up in the branches. Place it so he has a perch pathway down over the rim of the box so he can get within tongue reach of the insects. Don't put too many feeders in at once. Little chams can get overwhelmed or mesmerized by all the motion and its harder for them to sight in on one to shoot at.
 
He ate, probably

I left the chameleon alone for about 8 hours today and when I returned, he had eaten 8 of the 12 crickets I left for him at the bottom of the terrarium in a 1ft by 2 ft by 1ft container so they couldn't escape. Is it possible that now that he has a larger space where he can hide near the top when I'm in my office, he purposely stays up in his safe, leafy, near the lamp, high ground when I'm in the office and then when I leave he comes down and fasts? I can count the crickets he eats, so I'm not concerned about him eating enough any longer, but am concerned about drinking. I obviously can't tell if it's evaporation or Hue that's taking the water off the leaves when I'm not around.

Have you heard of chameleons that prefer to dine without people in the room? Do you think Hue has body image issues?:rolleyes:
 
Cricket leg hanging out of mouth?

So I came home for lunch today and Hue was at the bottom, sitting on the edge of the cricket container with a cricket leg hanging out of his mouth. He then crawled on vines up all 4 ft to the top of the cage with the cricket in his mouth. A few hours later he ate it. Do you think he's having a hard time with large crickets or just playing with his food? He did eat about 8 large crickets today, or they all escaped, which is unlikely.
 
HueTheChameleon said:
So I came home for lunch today and Hue was at the bottom, sitting on the edge of the cricket container with a cricket leg hanging out of his mouth. He then crawled on vines up all 4 ft to the top of the cage with the cricket in his mouth. A few hours later he ate it. Do you think he's having a hard time with large crickets or just playing with his food? He did eat about 8 large crickets today, or they all escaped, which is unlikely.
Click to expand...

I've had chams who held prey in their mouths for quite a while. Don't know just why...unless they were sensing movement and decided to keep "crushing" the prey until it really seemed dead. If he's not gaping, gulping and having trouble swallowing something its not really a concern.
 
Scared of cricket noise?

Thanks for the story about Chameleons keeping food in their mouths for fun. I thought that was what he was doing, but wanted to be sure since we just upgraded from small to medium crickets.

Speaking of upgrading, we bought a box of 1,000 crickets and they are loud. So loud that Hue looks like he's avoiding the side of the cage that faces where the crickets are. Is this real? If it is, is there a solution, or do I just wait for him to get used to the cricket noises?
 
He's eating large crickets at 4 weeks of age? That seems like they would be a lot big. My panther cham ate fruit flies and pinhead crickets from birth to 3 months, then 1/4" crickets until he was near 4 months old. Even now, at 6 months of age, I think the large 6 week crickets are a little big.

I'd rather feed 20 or so smaller crickets than 8-10 large crickets to such a young baby. Smaller items are easier to digest and are less likely to cause impaction. Others might disagree with me, though.
 
Cricket cage

Hue is eating the large crickets and had 2 BM in the last week, but he also is purposefully doing them in the container I keep the crickets he's supposed to eat in. Will he continue going to the bottom of the cage to eat out of the same container he seemed to have picked to exclusively defecate in? Also his urates are white on one side and a little yellow on the other end. Is this normal?

I actually do have a mix. I bought a box of 1000 from online and I also have about a dozen small in his cage at all times. The small and medium stay in the box whereas the large are able to jump out and climb on the walls. I think he's eating mostly the large because they come to him instead of the other way around.
 
I think you are making him lazy by not letting him hunt. if the crickets are too big, he could choke on them. Maybe he's keeping them in his mouth so that they get soggy and easier to swallow. I think the crickets are supposed to be the size between their eyes. my guy is 6 months and he isn't even eating large crickets. But maybe your idea of large is different than my idea of large.
 
Size of crickets

The crickets are about 1/2" to 3/4" he seems to enjoy hunting them rather than going all the way to the bottom to eat the small crickets inside the cricket enclosure. He's already starting to shed his skin and grow, so I wonder if he's eating so much because he was underfed at the pet shop. He has a voracious appetite. Since I was worried about the size, I didn't put large crickets in today, and only left the small crickets at the bottom of the cage. He ate 2 and then continued looking around the top of the cage for the larger crickets. Hue even went so far as to try to catch larger crickets that have escaped and are on the exterior of the cage (throwing his tongue in vain several time) and hasn't gone to the bottom of the cage since eating the couple small crickets this morning.

Do you think I should stop giving him large crickets even though it seems he prefers them?

Also, any tips on how to keep crickets would be much appreciated. 10 escaped the last time I was trying to catch a few to put in the cage.
 
Is it normal for Hue to scratch the parts of his skin that are peeling off on branches and the terrarium screen? He seems to be enjoying it, but I just want to know it's not pathological behaviour.
 
HueTheChameleon said:
Is it normal for Hue to scratch the parts of his skin that are peeling off on branches and the terrarium screen? He seems to be enjoying it, but I just want to know it's not pathological behaviour.
Click to expand...

Its normal. When I watch them shed I almost start scratching myself in sympathy. Must be very uncomfortable!
 
Thanks for the confirmation about shedding! What about vitamins?

Hue finally scratched his skin off and seems happy that he's dead skin free now. He either ate all the large crickets, or they all died, so I ordered medium crickets 1/2". He seems to be happy. We have placed 2 live plants, about a dozen fake plants to cover the screen so he can walk comfortably up and down the cage without having to use the screen, unless he wants to.

I also have the UV light in one corner and the heat light in the other corner on a 16 hour day cycle. I also have a 24 red light that I keep on in case he gets cold at night.

I have 2 medium size vines, 2 small vines, and 1 large vine that has leaves on it. He seems to love the medium size ones the best, but uses the small ones for pull ups between large and small vines. I thought he'd walk from one end of the vine to other to get to the top, but he likes to pull himself up from one vine to the next.

I have a big dripper in the last corner of the cage and his uretes seem to be a white color instead of the yellow one when I was only misting.

I have been dusting his crickets with calcium, but the pet store said vitamins aren't necessary, which seems to be against everything I'm reading online. Anyone care to chime in?
 
I also have the UV light in one corner and the heat light in the other corner on a 16 hour day cycle. I also have a 24 red light that I keep on in case he gets cold at night.

Get rid of the red night light. Unless his room gets colder than 55 F at night you don't need any extra heat. Chams need the nighttime temp drop. They have excellent full color vision and the red light may keep him from resting.


I have 2 medium size vines, 2 small vines, and 1 large vine that has leaves on it. He seems to love the medium size ones the best, but uses the small ones for pull ups between large and small vines. I thought he'd walk from one end of the vine to other to get to the top, but he likes to pull himself up from one vine to the next.

I have a big dripper in the last corner of the cage and his uretes seem to be a white color instead of the yellow one when I was only misting.

I have been dusting his crickets with calcium, but the pet store said vitamins aren't necessary, which seems to be against everything I'm reading online. Anyone care to chime in?

Don't pay any attention to that pet shop. They are clueless. Chams need a light daily dusting with plain calcium (no added vit D3), one dusting with calcium with added D3 every two weeks, and one dusting with a herp multivitamin every two weeks.
 
Supplements

Since the petshop recommended it, I have been dusting daily with a calcium with vitamin d3 supplement by fluker's.
Is there a vitamin d3 toxicity possibility?

What would you recommend for the daily dusting?
Also what multivitamin do you recommend?
Could you send links?

I read that about the red light, but he voluntarily goes to the red light to sleep at night.
The temp at the top of cage is around 90 and the temp at the bottom is around 70 which is what we keep our house at. Even then, he goes to the top corner with the red bulb and sleeps there, then when the other bulbs turns on he, roams about the cage, hangs out in the middle with his tail curled up. Goes to the bottom to eat crickets out of the crickets enclosure I keep in there.

Also, he keeps going to the bathroom where he knows the crickets are. I'm not sure why. I clean it up because I doubt it's good for the crickets. I'm not sure why he does that. Is it normal?
 
Since the petshop recommended it, I have been dusting daily with a calcium with vitamin d3 supplement by fluker's.
Is there a vitamin d3 toxicity possibility?

Definitely! Ignore the pet shop's info!

What would you recommend for the daily dusting?

I included the accepted schedule in my previous post.

Also what multivitamin do you recommend?

There are several herp multivitamins available and different people have their preferences. Suggest doing a forum search for opinions. Here's a good read about it and you can check with the forum sponsors for sources of good quality products.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/



I read that about the red light, but he voluntarily goes to the red light to sleep at night.
The temp at the top of cage is around 90 and the temp at the bottom is around 70 which is what we keep our house at. Even then, he goes to the top corner with the red bulb and sleeps there, then when the other bulbs turns on he, roams about the cage, hangs out in the middle with his tail curled up. Goes to the bottom to eat crickets out of the crickets enclosure I keep in there.

Also, he keeps going to the bathroom where he knows the crickets are. I'm not sure why. I clean it up because I doubt it's good for the crickets. I'm not sure why he does that. Is it normal?

Many chams have a preferred spot but it may be that he tends to be in that spot when the urge strikes (after warming up for the day he tends to go sit in that spot). It has nothing to do with the crix.
 
Hue's voracious appetite

Thank you guys for all the help!!

I'm almost a month with Hue now and he's grown so much. It almost makes me worry that he was underfed at the pet shop. He's doing about 20 medium crickets a day. I am considering giving wax worms as well since maybe he's having issues getting enough calories to grow. I remember reading somewhere that worms can constipate them. The wax worms are pretty soft and don't have a rigid exoskeleton. Is this true for all worms or just the ones with rough exoskeletons?

Thanks,

Hue Hefner, Chamleleon Esq.
 
You sound like your trying to do the right thing, ignore the pet shops and just read the care sheets on this site. Wax worms are not a good feeder, occasional treat but not a staple. Roaches, BSF larvae, silkworms, Blue Bottle flies all make good feeders. Hornworms are a good treat as well but beware they grow fast. Veileds will also eat plants, a quick search should yield lots of threads on favorites. Gut loading your feeders well and supplementing on the correct schedule are essential to avoid MBD in a growing cham, for your species daily Cal without D3, plus 2x month multivitamins and calcium with d3.

Also just a preference but I would also have the lighting all on the same side, when chams bask they also are looking for the UVB rays. Since yours has been trying to eat the vegetation you may want to consider adding some edible plants that can be both decor and the occasional snack.

Most important of all, post some pics of your little one! You'll be amazed how fast they grow.
 
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