My baby Veiled Chameleon won’t eat. Help!

l0ve_0ner

New Member
I got my little guy(or girl I can’t seem to figure out the sex) seems very uninterested in eating. When I first got him he was very enthusiastic about food so I’m a bit worried. I got him this past Saturday, October 10th. I fed him crickets on day 1 and he loved them. Day 2 I fed him some wax worms and he was even mor excited about those. That was yesterday morning. In the evening I tried to feed him again and he wasn’t having it. Tried hand feeding as well as cup feeding and nope, he didn’t eat. When I woke up this morning I assumed he must be hungry, so I tried some waxworms and he eat them, tried crickets he didn’t eat those either. Now it’s about 3pm and he still is completely uninterested in the bugs I put in his cup. Anyone experienced might know the reason for this behavior? I’ve attached pics of what I got going on so you guys can get a visual. Thanks in advance! C5C13984-305A-4091-B429-5AF6B394A1A5.jpeg
 

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Hi and welcome. You have a cute little girl. I can see a few reasons that she isn’t wanting to eat. You just got her and have seemingly been handling her, which is very stressful. She hasn’t had any time to adjust. Other is that her enclosure doesn’t appear to be well set up...no offense...I’m sure you’ve put a lot of effort and time into it. If you could fill this out and include more pics of her entire enclosure, including lights and floor, it would be a huge help in order to review your husbandry and better help you. :)

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.

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Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Female? 30-ish days old, pet store said they didn’t know. In my care for 4 days now.
  • Handling - First time I handled him was today, using a branch. I really didn’t want to but I had to in order to get a clear picture of him for gender purposes and the purpose of this post
  • Feeding - Crickets and waxworms. As much as he will eat in 10mins. 7pm and 7am feeding time. Gut fed crickets carrots, kale, peas, corn. Not sure what to gut feed the worms yet
  • Supplements - ZooMed no d3 calcium, dust his morning meal only and ZooMed Reptivite vitamins with d3
  • Watering - Automatic timed mister. Every hour for 30secs. I see him drinking.
  • Fecal Description - I have no idea, haven’t seen any yet to be honest
  • History - Bought at a local Petco. Please don’t shame me. He looked happy and green and not sick or unhealthy. He was excited to see me and kept coming towards me even tho the glass was stopping him. (I swear he smiled)

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - ZooMed Repti-Breeze (Screen), 16"x16"x30"
  • Lighting - ZILLA Slimeline 50 UVB, T8 Bulb, 18” fixture. Lights on from 7AM-7PM
  • Temperature - cage floor 71 degrees F, cage middle 83 degrees F, Basking spot 101 degrees F. Lowest overnight temp 65 degrees F. Measured with heat gun
  • Humidity - Ranges from 40-60 ? Created by an automatic misting machine. Also have a heat emitter don’t know if that counts. I have a dual lighting fixture with one bulb a “daytime blue” bulb and the other a heat emitter. Dual temp/humidity thermometer inside cage
  • Plants - Bromeliads and Areca Palm
  • Placement - Next to my bed ontop of a large night stand. I leave space around it, it’s not SMACK dab next to me. Near a window which is open at night times and sometimes durning the day. Cage top is 4.5 feet from the floor of the room.
  • Location - California

Current Problem - Not interested in eating, it’s been 1.5 days. I’m really worried about him I don’t want him to die. I’ve invested a lot into him and have been trying my hardest and researching nonstop.

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If you have any more questions please ask I saved all the boxes of everything I purchased. I’m willing to change whatever I have to in order to keep him happy, and healthy.
 

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Putting my feedback in red.
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Female? 30-ish days old, pet store said they didn’t know. In my care for 4 days now. You’ve posted a great pic of her back feet and it shows a she...no tarsal spurs. She looks quite young. If not a month old than no older than about 2 months old I believe. @Beman what do you think about age?
  • Handling - First time I handled him was today, using a branch. I really didn’t want to but I had to in order to get a clear picture of him for gender purposes and the purpose of this post Ok, understood. It’s best to give her time to settle in now and adjust to her new home. Chams are sensitive and get stressed easily.
  • Feeding - Crickets and waxworms. As much as he will eat in 10mins. 7pm and 7am feeding time. Gut fed crickets carrots, kale, peas, corn. Not sure what to gut feed the worms yet What size are the crickets? Rule of thumb is feeders should be smaller than the space between their eyes. That young I would guess that crickets 1/4” or even smaller would be good. Waxworms are for treats only. Attaching feeder and gutload sheets for you. You feeding amount is good until about 2 1/2 - 3 months old, but then just once a day about 10-15 feeders. Also, make your second feeding earlier in the day to provide basking time enough to digest.
  • Supplements - ZooMed no d3 calcium, dust his morning meal only and ZooMed Reptivite vitamins with d3 Should be calcium without D3 daily except one feeding per week. For that one weekly feeding, 1st week you’ll use calcium with D3 and 2nd week a multivitamin and keep rotating them. So calcium no D3 6 days weekly, calcium with D3 once every other week and multivitamin once every other week.
  • Watering - Automatic timed mister. Every hour for 30secs. I see him drinking. This is too frequent and not long enough. You want the enclosure to dry out between misting. Usually mist for at least 2 minutes early in the morning either right before or right after lights on and the same right before lights off. Mid day you could either use a dripper for 20-30 minutes or add a 3rd misting. At night when it’s cool temps, you should use a cool mist humidifier for a few hours.
  • Fecal Description - I have no idea, haven’t seen any yet to be honest
  • History - Bought at a local Petco. Please don’t shame me. He looked happy and green and not sick or unhealthy. He was excited to see me and kept coming towards me even tho the glass was stopping him. (I swear he smiled) Absolutely no shaming here! I have a lady from Petco and many other members do too. It’s very hard to punish the poor animals for a business‘ crappy way of doing things.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - ZooMed Repti-Breeze (Screen), 16"x16"x30" This is actually a great size for now, but in a few short months she’ll be needing a much larger 2x2x4’ enclosure.
  • Lighting - ZILLA Slimeline 50 UVB, T8 Bulb, 18” fixture. Lights on from 7AM-7PM Close, but no cookie. You’ll need a T5HO fixture with a 5.0 or Arcadia brand 6% uvb bulb. It needs to be as long as the enclosure is wide and since you’ll be needing an enclosure upgrade, I’d suggest just getting the one larger fixture from now.
  • Temperature - cage floor 71 degrees F, cage middle 83 degrees F, Basking spot 101 degrees F. Ahhh! :eek: Way way too hot! Basking temps needs to come way down to no hotter than 80*. Get a 60w or even a 40w basking bulb. Old fashioned incandescent is great or even halogen. LED doesn’t get warm enough to use. Lowest overnight temp 65 degrees F. Perfect temp drop at night. Measured with heat gun You’ll also need to get at least one digital thermometer with a probe to measure temps. The temp gun can only measure surface temps and you also need to know air temps.
  • Humidity - Ranges from 40-60 ? Not too bad. Ideal is between 30-50% humidity during the day and at night when it’s cool, can get all the way to 100%. Created by an automatic misting machine. Also have a heat emitter don’t know if that counts. I have a dual lighting fixture with one bulb a “daytime blue” bulb and the other a heat emitter. Dual temp/humidity thermometer inside cage Again, get a digital humidity gauge with a probe. Much more reliable.
  • Plants - Bromeliads and Areca Palm Lovely! Add some pothos though and if you have any fake plants, get them out. I hang my fake plants outside the enclosures to add more privacy. She will nibble her plants, so they need to be safe. Here’s the list I go by. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
  • Placement - Next to my bed ontop of a large night stand. I leave space around it, it’s not SMACK dab next to me. Near a window which is open at night times and sometimes durning the day. Cage top is 4.5 feet from the floor of the room. This should really be a bit higher. Chams feel safest when they are looking down at us.
  • Location - California

Current Problem - Not interested in eating, it’s been 1.5 days. I’m really worried about him I don’t want him to die. I’ve invested a lot into him and have been trying my hardest and researching nonstop.

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If you have any more questions please ask I saved all the boxes of everything I purchased. I’m willing to change whatever I have to in order to keep him happy, and healthy.
Your enclosure looks really lovely, but I’m afraid it’s better suited for a crested gecko than a chameleon. Please don’t take any of this the wrong way, but you really need to make a lot of changes to make it more cham friendly. Starting at the top...take the hammock out. Not only do chams generally not use them, but their weave can entrap little nails and damage them. You need to also remove the pretty mossy vine. She may try to eat the moss and could get impacted. This is also why fake plants shouldn’t be used. Add more branches and non-mossy vines. I like Fluker’s vines...soft foamy and safe. Exo Terra black vines shed particles so avoid those. Go outside and collect some real branches. Just not any from trees like pine or others with sap. Wash with dish soap, rinse well with a hose and then sun dry if able and they’re ready to use. Empty space can’t be used by chams. The cute hanging mossy ball hide is another thing she has no use of. If that’s a waterfall by the bromeliad, it too needs to go. Chams don’t use and breeds bacteria. Now to the floor...hard to see exactly what all you have down there, but it needs to go. Bare floor is best (unless you are bioactive) and easiest to keep clean. The potted plants are fine to stay there. I also advise for you to get a pothos plant. Besides being super easy to grow and on the safe list, they are just awesome for chams. As they grow, nice long vines provide more walkways and big leaves provide shady places to hide and quick little nibble snacks. When you set up her big enclosure, you may want to get some Dragon Ledges, which make life so much easier. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ Many members have gotten really creative in crafting things to attach branches, plants and vines to.
Now, she is just a cute baby right now, but before you know it she’ll be around 6 months old, start showing her prettiest colors and patterns and be restlessly looking for a man. At this point, you’ll be needing to prepare and put in her enclosure a lay bin. Whether mated or not, she will lay eggs. It’s easiest to keep the lay bin in permanently. I’m not going to get into all of that now and their reproductive cycle as I’ve probably overwhelmed you enough.
So, the reason she isn’t eating is probably a combination of all of the various things. She hasn’t really settled in yet, enclosure isn’t yet cham friendly and is she able to see her food...is it the right size? I and many others use this https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032 and swear by it. It’s especially great at preventing cricket escapes. Hang it at or just below her basking level and she’ll be able to see her feeders.

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Per age I really can not tell since there is nothing to reference her to. If you have a pic of her on or next to your hand so I can try to figure out her size. But it is a female.

And the not eating I would contribute to being wayyyyyyyyy too hot and the cage not being set up properly. Return the heat emitter. Follow @MissSkittles advice in the feedback she gave. Start making changes very quickly to the way the enclosure is set up and temps need to change ASAP.

Here is another reference for with thorough husbandry explanation. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
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