My Baby Veiled Chameleon not eating

yoshi420

New Member
My veiled Chameleon is probably about 2 1/2 months old, when I first got him he was eating 4 to 5 crickets a day and the larger ones at that, the weather began to get cooler and I got him a warmer light to compensate for the cold, but he has either eaten a minimal amount of food or not eat his food at all, any help is greatly appreciated
 
Welcome to the forums first of all! Your little chameleon should not be eating the larger sized crickets, even if he can. Those are harder to digest and there's a risk that he could choke on them if they're too big. The smaller size crickets will be much better for him. It's a little hard to say what might be wrong not knowing very much about your cham or your husbandry. To get a better idea of your setup please copy and paste this and add your responses:


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

Pictures are helpful.
 
highly recommend you fill out the "ask for help" form; its very hard to tell with your setup until you fill that out
 
Your Chameleon -Male Veiled Chameleon about 2 months old
Handling - I only take him out of his main tank to feed him and clean his tank
Feeding - I was feeding him 5 crickets a day 3 in the early afternoon 2 later in the day
Supplements - I use ReptoCal calcium supplement with Vitamin D3 I put this on his food twice a week as the instructions said
Watering - I spray my chameleon with mist periodically throughout the day 3 times a day directly on him and I mist his tank to keep up the humidity
Fecal Description - Now that I look at his droppings they are brown but it looks like he may not be digesting the larger crickets all the way because in some I can still see cricket parts
History - none that I can think of.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Glass tank about 3 feet long 15 inches high and a foot width wise I am planning on getting an opened air cage since they are better for chameleons
Lighting - I have a SunGlo 100 watt basking light and a SunGlo 75 watt light for the night time
Temperature - During the day the temperature of his cage is in the high 80's and at night in 79 to 83 degrees, his tank has a temp. measuring device on it
Humidity - I don't have a specific instrument for measuring it, I live in an area with high humidity and I spray his tank frequently to maintain humidity
Plants - I have artificial plants in his cage and a large climbing stick I got from the forest for him bask on
Placement - My tank is on my table in a low traffic area I make sure he gets his privacy but at the same time not isolated, he isn't close to a heating vent or by any windows
Location - I live in Arcata, California
 
thanks again for your help I really appreciate it because the only reptile vet in town closes early on weekends and I've been worrying about him because it's my first chameleon and he was adjusting well to the move
 
Welcome to the forums. I keep veileds and have three Luie, Camille and their daughter Elly. You need to correct quite a few things to your husbandry right away. You have him to warm (100 watt basking light in glass). Also sounds like the feeders might be too large. Your supplements needs to be corrected and I would get a screen cage. Please check out my blog for new keepers. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
 
Your Chameleon -Male Veiled Chameleon about 2 months old
Handling - I only take him out of his main tank to feed him and clean his tank
Feeding - I was feeding him 5 crickets a day 3 in the early afternoon 2 later in the day
Supplements - I use ReptoCal calcium supplement with Vitamin D3 I put this on his food twice a week as the instructions saidWAY @ MUCH D3. although at 2 months of age supplementing is not super crucial but you also dont want to give him too much d3. plain phos free calcium every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month, multivitamin twice a month.
Watering - I spray my chameleon with mist periodically throughout the day 3 times a day directly on him and I mist his tank to keep up the humidity
Fecal Description - Now that I look at his droppings they are brown but it looks like he may not be digesting the larger crickets all the way because in some I can still see cricket parts
History - none that I can think of.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Glass tank about 3 feet long 15 inches high and a foot width wise I am planning on getting an opened air cage since they are better for chameleons
Lighting - I have a SunGlo 100 watt basking light and a SunGlo 75 watt light for the night time Ditch the night time light....... how far is the 100 watt from the top of the tank? 100 watt will produce way way way to hot temps in an aquarium. where is the UVB>?
Temperature - During the day the temperature of his cage is in the high 80's and at night in 79 to 83 degrees, his tank has a temp. measuring device on ityour tank is measuring the glass temperature. that means the basking site or ambient temps in that tank are in excess of 100 degrees. your cooking the poor little guy.get a digital therm to put inside the cage. measure your basking spot first then measure your ambients and get a wattage bulb to suit this. all you need is a regular house bulb. cheap enough to buy 40, 60,75 watt bulbs. with a aquarium you probably wont need anything more than a 40 watt but you will need to test yourself.
Humidity - I don't have a specific instrument for measuring it, I live in an area with high humidity and I spray his tank frequently to maintain humidityglass tanks have to dry out between mistings. you dont want fungus.
Plants - I have artificial plants in his cage and a large climbing stick I got from the forest for him bask on
Placement - My tank is on my table in a low traffic area I make sure he gets his privacy but at the same time not isolated, he isn't close to a heating vent or by any windows
Location - I live in Arcata, California

things need to change asap for this guy. how long are the lights on for? its crucial for all things be in sync with a chameleon to live *lighting, temps, hydration, gutloading feeders, supplementing and a proper cage.
 
You said you use SunGlo 100 watt bulb...it says its a broad spectrum....not full spectrum light....so if it doesn't have and UVB in it your chameleon will likely develop MBD.
 
thank you for the feedback I appreciate it so much I'm going to pick up UVB light asap,for the time being I would take him out on sunny days to get him some natural light I bought the 100 watt light because it has been really cold in my area as in the outside temperature has been in 50s and high 40's at night, before I got him the light I could tell he was cold because he would sleep and not be his usual bright green he would be a deep green and brown and as soon as I got the 100 watt he seemed to warm up right now I have the 75 watt light on him and he's his normal sleeping color I got him some smaller crickets but he still only looks at them and won't eat if anyone else has had a similar problem can they tell me what they did, I'll have a camera soon so you can see the little guy

once again thank you and yosh says thanks too
 
Your temps are too hot for a 2 month old! If your whole cage temp(not under your basking light) is in the high 80's then what is your temp under the basking light? He is probably not eating cause he is too hot!!
 
5562554773


http://www.flickr.com/photos/61057796@N07/5562554703/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61057796@N07/5563130798/in/photostream/

I may have misjudged his age because the other one's in the tank where I

bought it from were about 2 months and he was a lot bigger...I had to use my computer camera for the time being so sorry abut the quality
 
you still need the uvb regardless of age. So maybe if he is 4 months old judging from the pic(guesstimate), you still want your basking around 80-85 max and you overall cage temps to range in the low to mid 70's. There is not that much change in care from a 2 months old to a 4 month old other than maybe the basking temp can be a little higher. A healthy 4 month old should be eating about 12-15 crickets a day if they are the proper size.
 
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption. Temperatures needed can vary with the species and age. For hatchling panthers I keep the temperature in the warmest area in the low 80's. For older panthers I keep it in the mid to high 80's for the most part.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites that have the word "archive" in you should be able to access them through the WayBackMachine.
 
thank you for the feedback I appreciate it so much I'm going to pick up UVB light asap,for the time being I would take him out on sunny days to get him some natural light I bought the 100 watt light because it has been really cold in my area as in the outside temperature has been in 50s and high 40's at night, before I got him the light I could tell he was cold because he would sleep and not be his usual bright green he would be a deep green and brown and as soon as I got the 100 watt he seemed to warm up right now I have the 75 watt light on him and he's his normal sleeping color I got him some smaller crickets but he still only looks at them and won't eat if anyone else has had a similar problem can they tell me what they did, I'll have a camera soon so you can see the little guy

once again thank you and yosh says thanks too

Fist off welcome! I'm glad you are trying to learn what is best for little Yoshi! Many people on here have already given you some fantastic advice! I would say your enclosure is WAY too hot...especially if he is in a glass enclosure. Also, I second the purchase of a UVB light. Please make sure it is a linear tube reptisun or reptiglo 5.0 bulb. And definitely change your supplemant schedule for him. Calcium w/o D3 every feeding, Calcium w/ D3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month. I'm glad you got him some smaller crickets! Are you gutloading his crickets??
 
can you take pictures of the rear feet? i dont want to keep adding to the reasons for you chameleon not eatting but ***if*** you have a female she may be ready for a lay bin. that would be another reason for not eatting.

you have alot of things to address. glad you are taking the right steps in fixing them.
 
@ataraxia he's got the spurs he's def a boy lol...but I got him a uvb 5.0 light as suggested...I'm going to switch from to the spiral one since I've been reading articles saying they can cause health issues...it was just the only one that the petstore had and I needed one asap...I can see that the uvb is helping him a lot a few hours of basking under it he used the bathroom which he hadn't done in a few days, he's drinking water from me, but he still is on the sluggish side and he's a really light green I'm going to try to feed him again tomorrow and see if he'll eat it...words can not describe how much I appreciate you guy's help w/o this website I don't think little yosh would have pulled through, the only Herpetologist in my area is highway robbery when it comes to trying to prices on appointments, hopefully yoshi starts doing better with days to come but thank you all for your tremendous help
 
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