my chameleon. Advice?

[SamG6]

Your Chameleon - yemen chameleon - 3 months old - male - had it a day
Handling - had it out for about 10 mins alltogether
Feeding - got small crickets for it, give it two, and got some cabbage leaves in the bowl
Supplements - ACE HIGH vitamin stuff
Watering - got a waterfall. misted the tank once so far
Fecal Description - green. sometimes goes browny purple
History -
Cage Info:

Cage Type - exo terra - glass tank with openeing glass doors

Lighting - two 2.0w lights and two 10.0w lights i think its watt anyway not sure and a gow heat lamp with cover thing round it

Temperature - 78.0 on the cool side - 84.7 on the hot side
Humidity - misting with spray
Plants - fake plants, got a long bendy vine also
Placement - on top of chest of drawers in computer room
Location - manchester, England

Current Problem - not sure which lights to leave on at night
not sure what the different colours mean
not sure how often to feed it

 

[SamG6]

 

[carol5208]

For starters you need way more plants and vines, branches for you chameleon to hang out on. Live plants preferably. I would get rid of the mulch9or whatver it is) in the bottom of the tank! Your chameleon could injest it and it could cause alot of health problems! I don't know what kind of supplements are available to you in the Uk but you should have 3-calcium without d3, every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and a mutlitvitamin twice a months also. No waterfall! they are breeding grounds for bacteria! Not sure what lights are available over there, maybe someone from the UK (oh Miss Lilly!) can chime in here. We use the Reptisun 5.0 tube here and you could use a 40 watt housebulb for basking.

 

[SamG6]

ok thanks alot

 

[bradleymarky]

take the background out and the substrate go to b@q tomorrow and get a umbrella plant (put it in the shower and soak it) before putting it in the viv, what uv are you using ?
you need to feed it more than 2 crickets a day, you need calcium with d3 and calcium without d3 and nutrabol and listen to what carol has just told you to do with the powders
are you feeding your crickets fruit and veg ?
all the lights need to be turned off at night and on a timer 7 till 7 and no heat matt
no wonder your cham is so dark its probably pissed off, you should really have read up first bfeore you bought a cham

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Feeding - got small crickets for it, give it two, and got some cabbage leaves in the bowl"...cabbage is not a good choice...see gutloading below for a list of appropriate greens and veggies to use...but don't expect it to eat any greens or veggies for a while yet. Two appropriate sized crickets is not enough...I would recommend feeding it as many as it will eat in a couple of minutes at each feeding (once a day at this age)....and it should be quite a bit more than 2.

You said..."Supplements - ACE HIGH vitamin stuff"...see the information below.

You said..."Watering - got a waterfall. misted the tank once so far"...the cage should be misted at least once a day at that age. Waterfalls are frowned upon because they are difficult to keep clean enough to be safe.

You said..."Fecal Description - green. sometimes goes browny purple"...there should be a white part too. Is there?

You said..."Lighting - two 2.0w lights and two 10.0w lights i think its watt anyway not sure and a gow heat lamp with cover thing round it"...that's a lot of lights...see the lighting information below.

You said..."Plants - fake plants, got a long bendy vine also"...IMHO real ones (well washed, both sides of the leaves) are better since veileds may eat them.

Here is some information that should help....
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. You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb in a hood of a wattage that makes the temperature in the low to mid 80's for that age veiled.

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.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it.

If you 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. (Some UVB lights have been known to cause health issues, so the most often recommended one is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube 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.

Dusting twice a month 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.

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs....so its important too. You can feed the crickets a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, 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/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
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