My Axel is drinking water but not eating mealworms

[ragidi]

I got Axel, 10-11 months old male veiled chameleon, a few days ago.
He's drinking water just fine (I spray it on the ficus leaves around him and he licks them), but he won't eat any mealworms.
I placed 5 mealworms on a white plastic dish and left it near Axel and went to work, thinking that he might be still afraid of me (like I said, I just got him days ago) and refuses to eat while I'm around. I came back and the worms were uneaten.
What should I do?

 

[Kaizen]

I got Axel, 10-11 months old male veiled chameleon, a few days ago.
He's drinking water just fine (I spray it on the ficus leaves around him and he licks them), but he won't eat any mealworms.
I placed 5 mealworms on a white plastic dish and left it near Axel and went to work, thinking that he might be still afraid of me (like I said, I just got him days ago) and refuses to eat while I'm around. I came back and the worms were uneaten.
What should I do?

Welcome to the forums! Some quick tips here: chameleons can take a bit to style in. A healthy chameleon can can go over a week without food so don’t worry. Meal worms are, uh, less than desirable food items. Would you consider filling out the following form, so we can help you with your new chameleon adventure?:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[ragidi]

Here is the info. If there is something wrong/alarming about the cage or info please tell me. I'm not very experienced but I am willing to do anything for Axel.

Chameleon Info:

• My Chameleon - Axel is a male, 10-11 month old veiled chameleon. I got him three days ago.
• Handling - Since I got him three days ago I held him around 5 times throughout these 3 previous days.
• Feeding - I'm currently feeding him mealworms while I find someone/someplace that sells other varieties. So far he didn't eat any mealworms. I placed 5 mealworms in a plain white plastic plate and placed it near the bottom of the cage. I haven't gut-loaded any worms yet.
• Supplements - I got powder-y calcium from the breeder I got Axel from. Haven't used it yet.
• Watering - I spray the area surrounding Axel around 6-8 sprays with a spraying bottle 3 times daily. I have seen Axel drinking.
• Fecal Description - I didn't see any fecal matter in the cage so far. I haven;t tested Axel for parasites yet.
• History - The breeder told me he got his chameleons from a supplier. I don't know how exactly is the supplier getting the chameleons.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - The cage is a Zoo Med Reptibreeze Open Air Screen Cage. The dimensions are 24x24x48 inches.
• Lighting - I'm using Fuxin Daylight Spot as a daytime heat source. I also use Nomoy Pet Lamp (13W UVB 10) during the day. At night, I use a Sera Reptil heating bulb. In the daytime, I use the first two bulbs. At nighttime, I use the last bulb.
• Temperature - I haven't set up the temperature reader yet, but the room the cage is in can reach 22-23 degrees celcius at night and around 30-34 degrees celcius during the day.
• Humidity - I haven't set up the humidity reader yet, but during the day the air conditioner is off so it gets a bit humid in the room.
• Plants - I have a single ficus tree for now.
• Placement - The cage is below -and a few inches to the right of- the air conditioner.
• Location - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Current Problem - Axel is not eating the mealworms I put out for him.

 

[Kaizen]

Here is the info. If there is something wrong/alarming about the cage or info please tell me. I'm not very experienced but I am willing to do anything for Axel.

Chameleon Info:

• My Chameleon - Axel is a male, 10-11 month old veiled chameleon. I got him three days ago.
• Handling - Since I got him three days ago I held him around 5 times throughout these 3 previous days.
• Feeding - I'm currently feeding him mealworms while I find someone/someplace that sells other varieties. So far he didn't eat any mealworms. I placed 5 mealworms in a plain white plastic plate and placed it near the bottom of the cage. I haven't gut-loaded any worms yet.
• Supplements - I got powder-y calcium from the breeder I got Axel from. Haven't used it yet.
• Watering - I spray the area surrounding Axel around 6-8 sprays with a spraying bottle 3 times daily. I have seen Axel drinking.
• Fecal Description - I didn't see any fecal matter in the cage so far. I haven;t tested Axel for parasites yet.
• History - The breeder told me he got his chameleons from a supplier. I don't know how exactly is the supplier getting the chameleons.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - The cage is a Zoo Med Reptibreeze Open Air Screen Cage. The dimensions are 24x24x48 inches.
• Lighting - I'm using Fuxin Daylight Spot as a daytime heat source. I also use Nomoy Pet Lamp (13W UVB 10) during the day. At night, I use a Sera Reptil heating bulb. In the daytime, I use the first two bulbs. At nighttime, I use the last bulb.
• Temperature - I haven't set up the temperature reader yet, but the room the cage is in can reach 22-23 degrees celcius at night and around 30-34 degrees celcius during the day.
• Humidity - I haven't set up the humidity reader yet, but during the day the air conditioner is off so it gets a bit humid in the room.
• Plants - I have a single ficus tree for now.
• Placement - The cage is below -and a few inches to the right of- the air conditioner.
• Location - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Current Problem - Axel is not eating the mealworms I put out for him.

Thank you for the form! Give me half an hour, and I’ll go through your form, and comment.

 

[Sammy Grigio]

So you currently are not using a T5 HO linear bulb for UV is that correct? I would say that is the most pressing issue to correct in your husbandry. Are you able to allow your chameleon exposure to natural sun light? What other bugs have you or do you feed your chameleon. They really do need WAY more variety than just meal worms.

 

[Kaizen]

Here is the info. If there is something wrong/alarming about the cage or info please tell me. I'm not very experienced but I am willing to do anything for Axel.

Chameleon Info:

• My Chameleon - Axel is a male, 10-11 month old veiled chameleon. I got him three days ago.
• Handling - Since I got him three days ago I held him around 5 times throughout these 3 previous days.I would avoid any handling until his feeding is normalized.
• Feeding - I'm currently feeding him mealworms while I find someone/someplace that sells other varieties. So far he didn't eat any mealworms. I placed 5 mealworms in a plain white plastic plate and placed it near the bottom of the cage. I haven't gut-loaded any worms yet. Mealworms are generally considered to be poor food items. They do not have a long enough digestive tract to properly gutload, and they contain relatively low amounts of nutrients compared to their shell. For ease, try crickets as your main food source, and expand to roaches, silkworms, black soldier fly larva, hornworms and occasionally super worms. Crickets and roaches are the easiest to gutload—they have longer digestive tracts, and eat very well. Again, to keep things really simple at this point, get a product called repashy superload or repashy bug burger. Both are easily found, mix them with water, and you’ll have a nutritional gutload that also provides water for your bugs. We can talk later about further gutload varieties.
• Supplements - I got powder-y calcium from the breeder I got Axel from. Haven't used it yet. This is really important. I’m going to give you an easy way to supplement here that you are welcome to change once you are more comfortable with your new little guy. Just use repashy calcium plus or repashy calcium plus LoD at every feeding. Put a punch of the supplement in a bag or cup, add your bugs, then toss them in it.
• Watering - I spray the area surrounding Axel around 6-8 sprays with a spraying bottle 3 times daily. I have seen Axel drinking.Again, this is very important. Please mist the entire cage either right before or right after the lights first come on in the morning: get everything nice and moist. Do the same around noon, and then again just before or after lights out.
• Fecal Description - I didn't see any fecal matter in the cage so far. I haven;t tested Axel for parasites yet.
• History - The breeder told me he got his chameleons from a supplier. I don't know how exactly is the supplier getting the chameleons.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - The cage is a Zoo Med Reptibreeze Open Air Screen Cage. The dimensions are 24x24x48 inches.great! This is a sort of industry standard and will work great.
• Lighting - I'm using Fuxin Daylight Spot as a daytime heat source. I also use Nomoy Pet Lamp (13W UVB 10) during the day. within the next couple of weeks, this uvb light will absolutely need to be upgraded. It just does not provide enough uvb. For simplicity, you need a 24” t5 high output fixture and uvb bulb to go with it. Try searching “sun blaster 24” on amazon. That fixture will work fine, but you need a different bulb from the one that comes with it. Again, search for “Reptisun 5.0 24 watt T5”. This is one area you can’t compromise on. So, what you need is a T5 high output uvb bulb and fixture. The bulb can be a 5.0 or a 6%. I’ll explain more later.
• night, I use a Sera Reptil heating bulb. In the daytime, I use the first two bulbs. At nighttime, I use the last bulb. Do not use any bulb at night if your chameleon is indoors: veileds chameleons can easily sleep in temps down to the teens.
• Temperature - I haven't set up the temperature reader yet, but the room the cage is in can reach 22-23 degrees celcius at night and around 30-34 degrees celcius during the day.34 is way too hot. Your chameleon should have access to a basking branch where he sees temps around 29 or 30 during the day. The rest of the cage can be around 23. At night, no light whatsoever, and a temp of 15-18 is fine.
• Humidity - I haven't set up the humidity reader yet, but during the day the air conditioner is off so it gets a bit humid in the room. This is complicated, but what you want to do is have high humidity at night, and lower during the day. If you have a humidity meter, try to get the nightime humidity as high as possible, and the daytime can fall as low as 30%.
• Plants - I have a single ficus tree for now.
• Placement - The cage is below -and a few inches to the right of- the air conditioner.
• Location - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You live close to the Veileds natural range. I’d highly recommend outdoor keeping, but I’d need to know a lot more about the outdoor conditions there. This will make things so much simpler, but we need to make a few adjustments—he can’t get baked in the sun all day and he’ll need more moisture.

Current Problem - Axel is not eating the mealworms I put out for him.

 

[Kaizen]

Please “click to expand” my previous post.

 

[Kaizen]

I wish I checked out where you lived before I posted everything. I don’t know what access you have to the products I listed. If you’d like to discuss options for your area, let me know and I’ll try to help.

 

[Kaizen]

Honestly, I think Jeddah is in the veiled’s natural range.

 

[Sammy Grigio]

Jeddah is a massive city and the center for the commercial goods trade in Saudi Arabia. One can find everything there that we have in the states and possibly more. She shouldn't have any trouble procuring any husbandry products.

 

[Kaizen]

Jeddah is a massive city and the center for the commercial goods trade in Saudi Arabia. One can find everything there that we have in the states and possibly more. She shouldn't have any trouble procuring any husbandry products.

Awesome! I think outdoor keeping is probably the best option here. Thoughts?

 

[Sammy Grigio]

Awesome! I think outdoor keeping is probably the best option here. Thoughts?

I would have to agree. This is a golden opportunity in that this person lives in an area where they can house their chameleon outside year round. A larger cage that's got plenty of room in both width and height would make for a very happy chameleon.

 

[JackRipper]

Hello! Would you be so kind as to share a few pictures of your enclosure and your new Chameleon companion please?

 

[Sammy Grigio]

Guys let's keep in mind that Jeddah is 12 hours ahead of central standard time in the US. The correspondence here is going to be naturally moderated by sleep-wake cycles.

 

[Kaizen]

Ugh! Wow, I can’t believe I forgot. Kaizen might be in his drink

 

[ragidi]

Thank you all so much for the replies! I just woke up (it's 6 am over here), so I'll need a bit more time to get back to you all. I'll do my best to reply within the next few hours.

 

[ragidi]

So you currently are not using a T5 HO linear bulb for UV is that correct? I would say that is the most pressing issue to correct in your husbandry. Are you able to allow your chameleon exposure to natural sun light? What other bugs have you or do you feed your chameleon. They really do need WAY more variety than just meal worms.

I will ask the breeder if he has this bulb, or I'll order it online. I'm not able to expose Axel to natural sunlight on a daily basis, but I will do my best. I only have mealworms but I'm searching for other options available where I live.

Please “click to expand” my previous post.

Thank you so much for taking the time to go through the info.
I will avoid handling Axel for now.
I'll start looking for more feeding options asap. Are crickets easy to keep? Don't they jump around?
I'll ask the breeder I got Axel from if he has the supplements you suggested. Or I'll order them online.
I'll follow the watering schedule you suggested.
I'll ask the breeder if he has the bulbs and fixtures you mentioned, or I'll order them online.
I will turn off all bulbs at nighttime.
The temperature I mentioned is a rough estimate, so I could be wrong. I'll set up the temp reader asap.
How can I maintain humidity at nighttime? Do I need an automatic misting system? Is there a way I can make one on my own? I unfortunately can't afford an automatic mister (I saw one in a pet store and the price was...scary) unless there's an affordable one? Or I can make one?
I unfortunately can't keep him outdoors. We have chickens and I'm afraid they might peck their way through the screen cage.

Hello! Would you be so kind as to share a few pictures of your enclosure and your new Chameleon companion please?

I don't have any clear pics in my phone atm, but I will take and post pics as soon as I get home.

 

[Sammy Grigio]

Are you able to catch any bugs outside??

 

[ragidi]

Are you able to catch any bugs outside??

There aren't any bugs or bug-catching areas where I live. There's the occasional house fly, mosquito, and near the beach area there are black night crickets that make noise, but they're scarce.

 

[ragidi]

Just a heads up: the breeder just contacted me and informed me that, fortunately, he has crickets. However, he needs time so that he has a colony/farm and have enough crickets to sell.