Juvenile Veiled hiding underneath log?

[QueenKoopa]

Hey all, I'm a little concerned about my juvenile veiled chameleon.

I've had him for about 3 weeks now, and this is my first chameleon, I've read a lot on line and have tried to care for him as well as possible.

I feed him once a day about 10-15 small crickets, I also mist his cage daily, and have a fogger in the back corner of the cage. I'm using a UVB light bulb and a "moonite" light bulb on the other side of the canopy. I dont handle him very often, about 3 or 4 times a week.

I currently don't turn my canopy lights off, I'm worried it will get too cold in his cage at night and he will freeze. Do I need to buy a heat lamp? Is it okay to turn the lights off at night or will he freeze? I'm not sure, the pet store I bought him at has NO knowledge of chameleons AT all. So I had to research, buy and set-up everything myself.

Normally my little guy will sit around on his vine all day and bask underneath the light, or in the middle of his vine and just hang out there. Recently he's been hiding underneath of his log (I've included a video). Yesterday evening at about 8:00 PM, he crawled underneath the log and hung on his cage while he slept for about 4 hours, I'm not sure how long afterwards because I had went to bed.

Well tonight he's crawled back under the log again around 5:00 pm and has been hanging on the side of his cage ever since, it's now 9 PM . I went up to the side of his cage, normally he kind of backs away when you get close to him but he did absolutely nothing. He was awake and looking at me. I am REALLY concerned now because I reached my hand in, plucked him off the side of the cage and he just doesnt seem to care at all. Normally he would fuss about me going anywhere near him.

I noticed it had been awhile since I had misted him cage, so I soaked leaves in water and put him up to the leaves, he drank quite a lot of water. After he was done drinking he crawled right back under his log again ... I'm not sure what to think

Here is the video of my enclosure and where he's been sitting.
https://youtu.be/ILNrd_BLR5c

 

[Lathis]

You must turn the lights off at night. That is why he is hiding. He us exhausted and trying to sleep. He will not freeze. Chameleons can easily take temperatures down to the 60s F at night, so long as he has a basking spot in the morning, he will be fine.

We have a lot of great resources here on the forum. If you go to the main page, on the right there is a square called "Start Here". It will take you to the care sheets and other information. It should give you all the basics. There is a lot of misleading information in the internet, and as you have found out, pet stores are usually not helpful. Often, they will sell you a bunch of stuff you don't need and won't get u things you do need.

There are a lot of things in your enclosure that you will want to correct, for example, we generally don't recommend water falls. They breed bacteria and are very difficult to keep clean. You'll want to get a lot more vines and branches, too. Read through the care sheets in great detail and they will help you.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[QueenKoopa]

Okay thank you very much! I'll turn off his lights now so he can get some sleep. Also I will read up some more on this forum, everyone here seems very knowledgeable.

 

[Lathis]

People here are very nice and very knowledgeable. It's a great place! Don't hesitate to ask questions and welcome!

 

[junglefries]

Your veil will easily tolerate night drops into the 50's and high 40's. I keep mine outside from May - September (part of October when I can). If temp does drop into the forties or fifties, you heat them as a precaution.