Male yemen 6 months old

[The Punisher]

hi everyone

I'm new to this forum and was just wondering if i could call upon all of your knowledge to answer a few of my questions.

i have a male Yemen whose 6 months old, last couple of months my Yemen has been expressing himself with different colours, flickering from a medium dark green, with yellow vertical stripes n horizontal blue ones, he looked cool lol but now he generally stays a greenish,grey colour. i've recently up sized his enclosure and im wondering if my chameleon is just just replicating the colour of the rock themed background in my exo terra enclosure, does anyone have any ideas?

secondly is there anyway to enhace the colours of your chameleon as in some of your pictures your yemens have bright beautiful colours. i know this second question may sound stupid so i will understand if i do not receive a response lol anyhow, he eats 5-6 large locusts a day, he drinks from the mister bottle when i spray him n he generally seems happy, sleeps regularly.

anyone care to give me any tips into increasing my chameleons comfort???

cheers you top lemon squeezers

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum From what you say it sounds like he's getting his adult colours in, but maybe doesn't have a lot of foliage to hide in. He won't change colour to suit his background, colour changes signal mood or are for thermoregulation.
Some of the pretty Veileds you've seen will be genetic variants, so no chance to make a 'turquoise' Veiled unless he was born that way. Natural sunlight can help boost colours, as can the right gutloading of feeder insects.
The best thing is to make sure he has leaves to make sure he's comfortable, your supplements of vits/mins are good, he has a variety of insects to eat, and they are well gutloaded.
Here is a great all-round caresheet I always recommend to new people with Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
This is a list of good feeders - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
And some more gutloading info. - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

 

[The Punisher]

Cheers mate, i only feed him locusts really, ive just bought an umbrella plant n have stuck that in his viv. should i mix his diet up regularly, silkworms, mealworms n crickets are the only other easily accessible foods for me to acquire really. also when u gutload ur locusts, crickets etc what do u give them? i use carrot?
thanks for the care sheets, defo a few things i didn realise in there.
also my viv is 3ft high n its a glass exo terra with a mesh top, my basking lamp is a 50w n it sits on top of the enclosure. would this be adequate?

 

[lysinlight87]

My veiled boy is the same age & has been showing dull colours unless I take him out his cage. Some people have said they go through a dull stage when they're teenagers so maybe there's some truth in that?
I gutload with a mix of veggies- I use butternut squash, courgette, apple, carrot, kale, asparagus- the ones to avoid are brocolli & spinach. You might also want to use a pre-mixed dry gutload along side the fresh veggies. Or Sandras dry recipe.
There is a specific ingredient in sandra's dry gutload recipe that supposed to enhance colour- algae I think?

I moved mine to a new cage today, it's 120cm (4 ft?) & he brightened up immediatley. They like the space. I'll have to wait a few days to see if he stays bright though.

Let me know if you find something that works I'd like my guy to stay colourful too, he has lovely yellow stripes & turquoise spots when he's happy.

 

[lysinlight87]

mixing up the insect is good too- mine LOVES locusts, but if I offer him crickets first he'll usually take 1 or 2. Lots of people use silkies too. Super worms/morio worms are good, but addictive- I only offer them after he's eaten his other food!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Mixing up the insects as much as possible is always good, especially with male Veileds because they are so fussy sometimes.
I use vivs that have much more screen, so I'm not sure on the wattage. You'll have to experiment with how close you have the bulb to the basking site, and what temps you get throughout the viv.
You could definitely improve your gutload, though carrots are useful. I use the commercially available Repashy Bug Burger and I add extra Spirulina (the algae that lysinlight87 mentioned) and bee pollen. Fresh greens as well though.
My male also went through a phase when he was duller at around that age, so it's nothing to worry about.

 

[The Punisher]

Nice one

Cheers guys. His names Gandalf lol if anyone can explain to me how to post a picture up i will

Also the gutloading mix n foods for the chameleon, do u recommend any websites, stockists?

 

[lysinlight87]

If you click reply and scroll down, there'll be a button/tab that says Manage Attachments. If you click on that & select a file & click upload it should do it, but there's a size limit on pics so you might have to make them smaller

I've used these guys for live food:-

http://www.livefoods.co.uk

I use Bug Grub dried gutload, it's readily available in pet shops

 

[The Punisher]

here are some images i took just now

 

[The Punisher]

these images i just posted are of my go's female yemen around 6 months. she's laying sprawled n does not seem well. her tongue is partially out of her mouth n her mouth is open, she is also breathing fast. i reached into her viv to get her out n usually she would his this time she just let me. her eyes keep closing although they do not look sunken at all. any suggestions????? HELP!!!

 

[lysinlight87]

Oh pretty! His patterns are completely different from mine. I love the turquoise dots along his back, beautiful

 

[lysinlight87]

oh sorry, I didn't realise you were having problems. You may want to start a new thread in the health section. There's a form to fill in, you can copy and paste it from the sticky called 'how to ask for help'.

 

[The Punisher]

my male yemen Gandalf at 4 months

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Lol I think he is a little older than 4 months. Seems like it to me at least. Very good looking chameleon to say the least.

 

[The Punisher]

i bought him at 4 weeks old on the 22nd april i was told and that photo was taken mid july lol n thank you
his colours don't seem so bright as of late as i mentioned earlier but he generally seems happy. fed him some fruit beetle lava earlier, he absolutely loved em, they we're huge too lol

 

[Ashlovesem]

so he isnt sick anymore!? what was wrong?

 

[The Punisher]

The ill chameleon is the one in the 3 other photos posted beforehand. 6 month old female, most likely egg bound :-(