My chameleon won’t eat
- Thread starter Ashley Rmz
- Start date
Kate_n_17
New Member
I was having the same problem for a little while when i first got mine. How long have you had yours? Sometimes when you first get them it can take a while for them to adjust to their new surroundings and they won’t eat for some time. If you’ve only had her for a few days or weeks, she might still be getting adjusted so I would just keep leaving some in her cage and taking out the dead ones. If you didn’t just get her then maybe try switching up her diet. My chameleon loves hornworms as most do so maybe try that or black soldier fly larvae.My chameleon runs away every time we try to feed her crickets and doesn’t eat them either when we leave the crickets in her cage for her to catch. We also tried giving her worms and she didn’t even bother to try one, idk what to do and I want her to be happy
AmandaS
Retired Moderator
What size crickets are you offering? What kind and size of worms?
If you fill out the help form, it will give us a better idea of whats going on.
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.
Chameleon Info:
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Please Note:
If you fill out the help form, it will give us a better idea of whats going on.
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.
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 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?
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Please Note:
- The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
- Photos can be very helpful
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ashley Rmz
New Member
Chameleon info
- Veiled chameleon, juvenile, female. She has been in our car for almost a month
- We handle her once a week, we try to get her out to get some sun but it’s almost impossible to get her out because she tries to bite and hisses so we leave her alone.
- We feed her crickets in the afternoon and we get the crickets from petsmart. We have tried to give her worms but she never wanted them. The crickets vary in size between small and regular size
- We have repticalcium for her and dust the crickets 1-2 a week with it
- We water her cage 2-3 times a day and we’ll switch between spraying the inside and dropping some water from the top of the cage to create like a slight rain effect for droplets for her to see, she is drinking water.
- Her poop has been solid and brown and her pee had a slight tone of yellow in it but it went back to white
- We purchased her at petsmart they didn’t give us much info about her or past.
- Cage type- glass and mesh 18x18x24
Lighting- 8am-8pm
Temp- 90 at basking 77 cage floor, 75 temp at night (two thermometer/hygrometer combos)
Humidity- 55-70 maintained though misting
Plants - all fake but we plan to buy real ones soon
Cage- corner of room, nearest vent/fan is 6 feet away, about 3.4 feet off of ground
Geography- Southern California
Attachments
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Guess @AmandaS isn’t around so I’ll review your husbandry. Putting my feedback in red.
Chameleon info
Chameleon info
- Veiled chameleon, juvenile, female. She has been in our car for almost a month
- We handle her once a week, we try to get her out to get some sun but it’s almost impossible to get her out because she tries to bite and hisses so we leave her alone. You’ll want to work on building trust with her. It takes times and it’s possible she’ll always hiss & try to bite when you stick your hand near. Food is always a good trust builder. Start slow with holding a feeder cup and progress to hand feeding. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
- We feed her crickets in the afternoon and we get the crickets from petsmart. We have tried to give her worms but she never wanted them. The crickets vary in size between small and regular size Is best to feed early in the day to give your cham time to bask and digest. You’ll also want to offer more variety of feeders. They need to be gutloaded too in order to pass on nutrition to your cham. Attaching graphics on those.
- We have repticalcium for her and dust the crickets 1-2 a week with it Your cham will be needing more than this. Basic supplementation is a phosphorus free calcium without D3 on every feeding but one per week. That one weekly feeding you’ll alternate between calcium with D3 and a multivitamin. So, one feeding per week is calcium with D and next week is multivitamin, etc.
- We water her cage 2-3 times a day and we’ll switch between spraying the inside and dropping some water from the top of the cage to create like a slight rain effect for droplets for her to see, she is drinking water. Good! You don’t say how long your spraying for. Should give a good 2 minutes at least.
- Her poop has been solid and brown and her pee had a slight tone of yellow in it but it went back to white This is normal. It’s always a good idea to have a fecal done to test for parasites.
- We purchased her at petsmart they didn’t give us much info about her or past. They honestly have no idea.
- Cage type- glass and mesh 18x18x24 This will be needing an upgrade. Minimum for an adult veiled is 24x24x48” or equivalent.
Lighting- 8am-8pm From the pic, you have a coil UVB which isn’t able to provide adequate UVB levels unless your cham is like 3” away. Best UVB is a T5HO fixture with a 5.0 (or Arcadia 6%) uvb bulb that spans the width of the enclosure. You could put a plant bulb in that empty side of the dual dome.
Temp- 90 at basking 77 cage floor, 75 temp at night (two thermometer/hygrometer combos) Basking is too hot. Needs to be in the low 80’s and no hotter than 83-85*. At night it can cool down considerably. Veiled’s can handle temps as low as the mid 50’s.
Humidity- 55-70 maintained though misting Too humid for daytime. Needs to be between 30-50%. At night when it’s cooler, it can go as high as 100%.
Plants - all fake but we plan to buy real ones soon Real plants are always best. Veiled’s nibble their plants so they need to be real and safe. This is a great resource for safe plants.
Cage- corner of room, nearest vent/fan is 6 feet away, about 3.4 feet off of ground Ideally you’ll want to raise it much higher. Chams feel safest when they are able to look down upon us and their world.
Geography- Southern California
You have a very nice enclosure, however at current it is better suited for an animal like a crested gecko than a chameleon. Your cham really needs height. She also needs many more branches and vines to travel. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Get some branches from outside, wash with Dawn dish soap, rinse with a hose and dry in the sun. Avoid pine and other woods that have sap.
It looks like you have a substrate on the bottom. These can become a bacterial breeding ground and are not recommended. Either bare floor or bioactive is best.
Your young lady will be laying infertile eggs a few times a year and will be needing a lay bin. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video.77225/ I suggest keeping it as a permanent part of your enclosure to avoid guessing when she needs it and the stress of putting it in/taking it out. Laying does take a lot out of them and can shorten their lives, so is usually a good idea to try and reduce both frequency of laying and clutch size. This may help a bit. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
There are several great resources (along with the forum) to help you learn more about keeping your chameleon healthy and happy. https://chameleonacademy.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3n4S2GRkOGfk2U8-xhaw6Q
Of course, always ask questions here and someone will offer you help. ?
AmandaS
Retired Moderator
Thank you, it was my grandma's birthday, so I was awfully busy.
