NarcanNinja
New Member
Hey everyone,
I live in south FL and the other day I was going on my usual mountain bike trail, going pretty fast through and out of nowhere I spot an adult Veiled Cham crossing the path, I nearly hit him.
I’ve previously owned chameleons when I was younger and now currently own a bearded dragon in a nice custom tank so I’ve been accustomed with reptiles before.
Where I found Diego wasn’t too far from the Everglades but in some pretty dense bush that’s mostly dry. He seemed pretty underweight, with a big chunk of mouth rot on his right upper jawline, and yellow gums
Immediately I stopped and scooped him up to inspect him, which like most veiled’s especially a “wild” one, he wasn’t entirely happy but remained pretty passive.
Since he had his mouth injury I opted to take him home and give him some TLC. Initially I went to the pet store and bought the biggest screen cage they had which was one of those rip off package deals with the coil lights etc but it was the only screen cage they had, so I set that up inside and he remained pretty dark colored and stuff except for the one night he was bright while sleeping.
Quickly, I ordered the 2’x2’x4’ reptibreeze screen cage and started researching keeping chameleons outside in FL since a) they seem happier b) I don’t want to cross contaminate with my dragon although my house allows them to be pretty separate, and lastly c) I have a pretty big patio fortunately for him.
So I’ve got a pretty tall golden pothos plant in his cage as well as various fake pothos vines and stick vines arranged around his cage that he seems to enjoy exploring in. I’ve been misting his plants 2-3 times a day depending on the heat (working on a king mist system next) and he’s been getting a healthy supply of Dubia roaches that I feed to my dragon (unlimited supply!!!) which he quickly eats as they crawl up the cage.
His mouth already seems better, his appetite and energy are up, and he’s shedding a lot more than when we met and it’s only been a few days.
anytime my wife or myself are near the cage he turns dark and sits still but when I stare at his cage from far away I can see he’s bright colors wandering around or basking in the sun and drinking from the leaves.
any tips on other stuff I can do to help rehab this guy?
He gets sun from 9am to 3pm, with access to PLENTY of shade within his cage and the multiple daily mistings done manually. He hasn’t been gaping or showing signs of overheating but maybe I’ll move the cage to a better spot.
In the pothos plant I made sure to thoroughly clean it off, and use organic soil topped with stones.
My impression is someone raised him and released him into the forest to get rid of him, but he’s been living back there awhile as another mountain biker spotted him over a year ago and posted a picture as well but he wasn’t nearly as beat up.
so, I like to think I’m giving him a new life, less stress and full of bugs and foliage. Just looking for the next step to care for him best.
Here’s some pictures of when we met, and his enclosure and where it stands in the yard and of course him today.
please and thank you for any advice. Of course I’m dusting his roaches with calcium d3 etc and multivitamin as well. Looking to add a few more branches for him to crawl on.
I live in south FL and the other day I was going on my usual mountain bike trail, going pretty fast through and out of nowhere I spot an adult Veiled Cham crossing the path, I nearly hit him.
I’ve previously owned chameleons when I was younger and now currently own a bearded dragon in a nice custom tank so I’ve been accustomed with reptiles before.
Where I found Diego wasn’t too far from the Everglades but in some pretty dense bush that’s mostly dry. He seemed pretty underweight, with a big chunk of mouth rot on his right upper jawline, and yellow gums
Immediately I stopped and scooped him up to inspect him, which like most veiled’s especially a “wild” one, he wasn’t entirely happy but remained pretty passive.
Since he had his mouth injury I opted to take him home and give him some TLC. Initially I went to the pet store and bought the biggest screen cage they had which was one of those rip off package deals with the coil lights etc but it was the only screen cage they had, so I set that up inside and he remained pretty dark colored and stuff except for the one night he was bright while sleeping.
Quickly, I ordered the 2’x2’x4’ reptibreeze screen cage and started researching keeping chameleons outside in FL since a) they seem happier b) I don’t want to cross contaminate with my dragon although my house allows them to be pretty separate, and lastly c) I have a pretty big patio fortunately for him.
So I’ve got a pretty tall golden pothos plant in his cage as well as various fake pothos vines and stick vines arranged around his cage that he seems to enjoy exploring in. I’ve been misting his plants 2-3 times a day depending on the heat (working on a king mist system next) and he’s been getting a healthy supply of Dubia roaches that I feed to my dragon (unlimited supply!!!) which he quickly eats as they crawl up the cage.
His mouth already seems better, his appetite and energy are up, and he’s shedding a lot more than when we met and it’s only been a few days.
anytime my wife or myself are near the cage he turns dark and sits still but when I stare at his cage from far away I can see he’s bright colors wandering around or basking in the sun and drinking from the leaves.
any tips on other stuff I can do to help rehab this guy?
He gets sun from 9am to 3pm, with access to PLENTY of shade within his cage and the multiple daily mistings done manually. He hasn’t been gaping or showing signs of overheating but maybe I’ll move the cage to a better spot.
In the pothos plant I made sure to thoroughly clean it off, and use organic soil topped with stones.
My impression is someone raised him and released him into the forest to get rid of him, but he’s been living back there awhile as another mountain biker spotted him over a year ago and posted a picture as well but he wasn’t nearly as beat up.
so, I like to think I’m giving him a new life, less stress and full of bugs and foliage. Just looking for the next step to care for him best.
Here’s some pictures of when we met, and his enclosure and where it stands in the yard and of course him today.
please and thank you for any advice. Of course I’m dusting his roaches with calcium d3 etc and multivitamin as well. Looking to add a few more branches for him to crawl on.
