Iāll be putting my feedback in bold. If it is something urgent, Iāll use red. I talk a lot so will break this into two parts. 
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Female veiled, not sure about age but about 6-7 inches from snoot to tail tip.
Beman guesses around 3 months, and that looks about right so that is the age Iāll go by.
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Maybe 1-2 x per weekā¦. I donāt want to stress her out too much, so Iāve been trying to just let her get settled.
It is important to build trust and this is a great blog on how to do that. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Around small crickets per day, just added small Dubia roaches to the rotation since she doesnāt seem to like mealworms. Also ordered some small hornworms from Dubia.com
Mealworms arenāt a good staple to use, but there are a few others. One of my favorite is silkworms. Chameleons not only like, but need a good variety. Many on line vendors sell species specific variety packs, and if you have only one or two insect eaters, itās a good deal.
I dont really have a feeding schedule so advice on that would be greatly appreciated! I work from home and sheās in my office so I just keep an eye on her throughout the day and if it looks like sheās hunting Iāll put some in there for her to hunt. Iāve also just been putting the bugs in there looseā¦ should I be using a feeder thingy(not sure of terminology here lol)?Gutloading with store bought stuff (flukers).
You should be feeding her once in the morning and for her age, she needs about 20+ feeders. I donāt care for the idea of just setting the bugs loose for a few reasons - you have no idea how many she ate, she may not always be able to find them all, uneaten crickets get hungry and will bite her at night and loose insects can/will walk thru her poo and then sheāll be eating them. There are several types of feeding stations available. I like the shooting gallery. https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032 There is also full throttle style https://www.fullthrottlefeeders.com/ and similar is the lunch log https://sunsetchameleons.com/product/chameleon-feeder/ plus thereās a couple of different styles on Etsy. Of course, you can always make your own. The main thing is to have your insects contained and unable to escape and in the same place for your little cutie to find them. Is best to place the feeding station where she can easily see it from her basking branch and not on the floor.
For gutloading, I suggest keeping your insects well fed with a variety of fresh produce - greens, veggies and just a little bit of fruit. Weāve probably all started with the Flukerās lol, and they have almost no nutrition - just hydration. There are some good commercial products. Including the feeder and gutloading graphics to help guide you.
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Using repticalcium w/o D3; have a D3 supp to use 2-3x per month. I usually just dust them right before feeding them to get.
ReptiCalcium without D3 is pretty good. It does tend to stick heavily, so make sure not to put too much and have your bugs look like powdered donuts. Youāll use that for every feeding except when using a different supplement. What is your D3 supplement? The easiest way and one which is very good for your chameleon as well is to use either Repashy calcium plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. Both are a combination multivitamin and D3 and are given just one feeding every other week. These two are preferred because they contain preformed vitamin A which is good for chameleon eyes and is a form which is known that chameleons can use. Most other multivitamins contain proformed vitamin A, which chameleons may not be able to use.
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Iāve seen her drinking maybe three times but whitish tip to excrement so I know sheās drinking. I have a dripper that I turn on a couple times per day for 10-15 mins and mist by hand before lights on, once during the middle of the day and again about an hour before lights out. Itās super dry here so if I see the humidity level dropping into the 20s Iāll put in a small humidifier for 30 mins or so to bring it back up.
You donāt want to use a humidifier during the day when itās warm. Heat plus high humidity increases/causes respiratory infection. Iāll talk more about humidity later. For hydration, you want to mist for at least 2 minutes right before lights go on and off. If she needs, you can use a dripper once a day for about 15 minutes. If your night time temps are consistently below at least 68-70, this is when you can use the humidifier and boost humidity all the way. This simulates the hydration chameleons get in the wild thru fog.
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Solid, brown/black with white end. No testing for parasites.
Itās always a good idea to have a fecal check done, especially if she came from one of the chain pet stores.
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
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). Currently eats small crickets, small Dubia roaches and maybe a mealworm here or there, but she doesnāt seem to be a huge fan of them. I also ordered some small hornworms, but TBD if theyāll still be too big for her. Use calcium w/o D3 but have a D3 supp to use twice a month. Iāve had her for about 3 weeks. Iāve been handling her maybe 1-2 x per week but I kind of let her be the judge and see if sheāll come to me. Sometimes Iāll just give her a helping hand (literally) if she seems to not know where to put a foot and gets stuck lol. She had her first shed (with me at least) last week!
