Male Veiled Cham.Walks on Ground of Terrarium

[xtina]

Hello,

I have a baby male veiled chameleon names Pascal. We know he's male bc he has very distinct nubs on the back of his hind feet. I have noticed that he walks around on the ground sometimes. Between my husband and I, we mist the tank with distilled water at room temp on the leaves/vines twice a day and we use a dripper. He doesn't always do this, but I wasn't sure if it was an indication of something wrong.

On a side note, to create a full picture, We feed him small crickets coated in the vitamin powder, he has a daytime basking lamp and a UV lamp for day time that get turned off at night and at night he has a nighttime heat lamp with red lighting just to maintain the temp of the environment.

Thank you!

 

[Emieloss]

How often does he do it? My male veiled does it sometimes as well. I

It might just be harmless exploring and/or managing his temperatures.

 

[Gavinsons]

Vitamin powder 2 times a month
Calcium powder with D3 2 times a month
Calcium powder 4-5 times a week
No light at night
No heat at night unless temps fall below 60*

Just some info I have picked up on here

 

[WilcoxAE]

How big is the cage and, what Emieloss said, how often does he walk on the bottom.

Could mean absolutely nothing but then could mean a whole lot.

 

[xtina]

Thank you all so much! I only started noticing it this week and its been about once a day when I feed him. So maybe he's searching for his food? He usually just waits until a cricket comes near him, or he will climb leaves and vines to get where he needs to go to get to the food. Jes really young, just a couple months old, so maybe he's feeling out his environment?

Also thank for the vitamin break down

 

[xtina]

Also, love the meme lol

 

[Hart20009]

Yeah he is searching for food. My 5 month old likes to free range her crickets, but recently has preferred switching to cup feeding. How many do you feed him a day? I feed between 10 to 14 a day of smalls. Before lights out I pull the ones that she doesn't eat.

 

[xtina]

Also, love the meme lol

 

[xtina]

I feed him around 10-15 smalls as well. I haven't been pulling them out bc he's been eating them all. He keeps growing. He's only about 3 in long right now (not including the tail) so he's growing. I didn't know they searched on ground so that's good know, thank you!

 

[Hart20009]

Yeah I witnessed mine doing it.

 

[xtina]

Ok cool, thanks!

 

[laurenj04]

My veileds do that too. Usually in the morning, searching for food before I feed them.

 

[sharp229]

It's normal for them to do that, as long as they don't spend most of their time on the bottom.

Like Gavinsons said, you don't want a light on at night. If the temp falls below 50F you will need a ceramic heater or other method of heating the enclosure without light.

I would recommend copying and pasting the following filled out form if you are new:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

If you provide answers to those questions people can help you ensure you are providing the best care.

 

[xtina]

Ok good, that makes me feel better. Thank you all for your feedback!

 

[joepakaluk]

Another thing; I have 1.1 veiled and I take both out to bask in the sun outside. This is in Florida where it is HOT and bright. Since I just put them on small short trees and watch them they are safe. But, every day when they want the real outside light they climb down and walk around and push against the walls to try to get out. Of course I usually take them out if they want to, but if you've ever carried him outside then he will want to be out mor. When mine eat they don't go to the ground.

 

[rf9661]

It might actually be over heating. If he has a heat bulb for night time he might be looking for the colder spaces. No night time heat bulb should be used unless it drops to under 65° F where he is. If it is around 80° F where he is he might not need basking bulbs.

Please fill out the " How to ask for help " forum to give us some mor ein formation and be able to help you better.