My chameleon fell while asleep (also small brown around nose)

Pwilley

New Member
Her sleep spot which is suctioned to the glass decided to take her down with her tonight on a small fall she seemed to be climbing fine when i went over after turning on my light. It is not super high but I am not sure on the resliance of chameleons also this brown spat appeared a couple days ago around her nostril and was wondering if its a spot for worry. Pictures are on the spots side (also the side she fell on but the spot was there before this). My logic could be wrong but im assuming small falls are ok for chameleons since it probably happens in the wild but I want to make sure as I am new to this.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon pretty sure she is a she.
Handling - Around once a week but often fed mealworms by hand (not picked up) (I need to handle her more but I am worried about stressing her out)
Feeding - Store bought crikets around 4 large at 9am and 4 large at 4pm treat of meal worms.
Supplements - Exo terra calcium D3 twice a week and Exo terra multi vit once a month
Watering - water by eye dropper (still installing a drip system) constant humidity around 75 to 80% I dont usally mist
Fecal Description - Brown soft sometimes wet coating
History - Not much recently acquired

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass cage with screen top (to keep humidity)
Lighting - 8-8 (im doing this in the middle of the night and dont want to fight to find all this right now)
Temperature - Floor usually between 70-75 Top usually 80-85
Humidity - 75-80%
Plants - No
Placement - Just on my desk
Location - Northwest Ohio
 

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Hi and welcome! :) Did she fall on her own or because the hammock let loose? The pic isn’t so clear, but it does look like a little bruise. I’d like if you could post more pics of your girl and her entire enclosure, including lights and floor. I’m glad that you’ve done the help form and I see that you do need to make some husbandry changes. Will be putting my feedback in red.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon pretty sure she is a she. Looks like a girl to me. I’d guess maybe around 5 months old...maybe.
Handling - Around once a week but often fed mealworms by hand (not picked up) (I need to handle her more but I am worried about stressing her out)
Feeding - Store bought crikets around 4 large at 9am and 4 large at 4pm treat of meal worms. Attaching feeder and ‘gutloading’ sheets for you. Mealworms aren’t good for chams. A better treat would be superworms, hornworms, etc. Then you need to feed your buggies healthy food so that they are more nutritious. It’s best to feed just once in the morning to give time to bask and digest. Plus, you are feeding a bit much. If she’s around 5 months or so, 5 feeders daily would be enough. Will cover this more later in a separate post.
Supplements - Exo terra calcium D3 twice a week and Exo terra multi vit once a month So, you should be dusting lightly every feeding with a phosphorus free calcium without D3, except one feeding every week. For that one weekly feeding, you’ll dust with the calcium with D3 every other week and the weeks in between, you’ll use the multivitamin for that feeding. Too much D3 can be just as bad as not enough.
Watering - water by eye dropper (still installing a drip system) constant humidity around 75 to 80% I dont usally mist I much prefer misting for 2+ minutes 3 times a day. If you want a super easy dripper, just use a push pin to make a small hole in a plastic cup and place it on top of your enclosure.
Fecal Description - Brown soft sometimes wet coating What color is the urate?
History - Not much recently acquired

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass cage with screen top (to keep humidity) What size is it?
Lighting - 8-8 (im doing this in the middle of the night and dont want to fight to find all this right now) What type of uvb are you using? Is it a long tube bulb or a screw in bulb? This is very important. What is the distance from your lights to basking area?
Temperature - Floor usually between 70-75 Top usually 80-85 85 is a bit warm. Around 80 is ideal.
Humidity - 75-80% This is much too high! High humidity + heat + limited air flow of a glass enclosure is a recipe for a respiratory infection. Ideal humidity is between 30-50%, which is much drier than you’d think. At night when temps are cooler is when the humidity can be high.
Plants - No Veileds are well known for eating their plants and fake plants and the moss you have are high impaction risks if she eats it. It only takes one nibble. Pothos is a favorite of chams and most keepers...is easy to grow, grows fast, the long vines create more little cham roads and the big leaves collect water for drinking and places to hide, plus safe snacks. Attaching a safe plant list. I use my old plastic plants on the outside of my enclosure to provide extra privacy.
Placement - Just on my desk Chams feel safest when they are up higher than us.
Location - Northwest Ohio
I don’t know how big your enclosure is, but I believe the largest is 36x18x36”, which is ok for a female veiled. Anything smaller than that is too small. I would suggest upgrading to a screen 2x2x4’ if that is the case.
There’s a ton of misinformation out there on keeping chams. The most accurate and up to date sources of information are: https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ https://caskabove.com/ and Neptune the chameleon on YouTube.
Not sure if you’re aware, but your lady will lay eggs regardless of even seeing a male. I’ll be putting that info in a separate post. :)


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We really need to have perfect husbandry for our lady chams so that they have no problems with egg laying.
The egg laying process really takes a great deal out of our ladies and shortens their lives. Through reduced diet and temps we can try to reduce not only how many eggs they lay, but how often they lay. Larger clutches also create higher risk for egg binding and other problems.
Sometime around/after 5-6 months old, your lady will start showing her beautiful colors and patterns...teals and yellow/orange. She may also become restless...spending the day actively patrolling her entire enclosure. This is the receptive phase...she’s fertile and wants a date. This is when you want to prepare your lay bin and place it in her enclosure.
Anytime from a few weeks later, she’ll start looking plump and maybe lumpy near her back end. She may start eating less. Although she’ll still have her colors and patterns, they may change a bit. One day you’ll find she’s started digging in her lay bin. Cover just the visible sides with a light sheet and make sure not to disturb her. If she sees you or is disturbed, she may not complete her task and get eggbound. She may dig a few test tunnels until she likes one. When she’s got the perfect tunnel, she’ll sit her butt in it and lay her eggs. When done, she’ll cover her tunnel and you’ll find her sitting on her usual branch, dirty and much thinner. The whole process takes approx 1-2 days and she may sleep in her bin.
After she’s laid, feed her well for 2-3 days and then start her diet of 3-4 feeders 3 days a week (plus occasional treats). It may take a couple of cycles before you see any laying reduction.
I have 2 ladies and neither has laid any eggs for a year now, although one looks to be getting near to it.
I hope all of this has helped. Do get back to the questions I asked in my feedback post. Let’s make sure you have everything perfect for your sweet girl so that you’ll have many happy and healthy years with her. 😊
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I'm sure those suction cups have worked for some, but I've never trusted them (the hammock should probably go anyway—hazard for catching claws); my cham sleeps on live plants—never falls. IMO live plants are the only way to go for any chameleons; they help increase and maintain humidity.

The above plant chart comes from https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
which also explains how to best set up a hierarchy of plants in your enclosure. ;)

Can you get a better (focus) close-up of that brown spot?
 
I got home today from classes and the brown spot is gone and she is moving around perfectly fine thank you for all your information ill definatly change the eating habits if you still want all that information I can post it later on. Ill also be getting the stuff ready for her to lay eggs thank you so much.
 
I got home today from classes and the brown spot is gone and she is moving around perfectly fine thank you for all your information ill definatly change the eating habits if you still want all that information I can post it later on. Ill also be getting the stuff ready for her to lay eggs thank you so much.
Yeah it's still good to get your husbandry checked
 
I got home today from classes and the brown spot is gone and she is moving around perfectly fine thank you for all your information ill definatly change the eating habits if you still want all that information I can post it later on. Ill also be getting the stuff ready for her to lay eggs thank you so much.
Yes, if you could still answer the questions, it would be great...just make sure all else if good. :)
 
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