My veiled chameleon is weak and not taking his calcium.

I have a baby veiled chameleon. He won’t take his dusted crickets. He will only eat regular crickets. I don’t know what’s wrong and I am worrying. Please help.
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I have a baby veiled chameleon. He won’t take his dusted crickets. He will only eat regular crickets. I don’t know what’s wrong and I am worrying. Please help. View attachment 319304View attachment 319305View attachment 319303
Hi there. Welcome to the forum. So the cage is not set up right for him. UVB is incorrect... You want a T5HO fixture and a 5.0 linear bulb for it and then basking branch would sit 8-9 inches below the fixture.

The reptivite packet should only be dusted on feeders 2 days a month. Say the 1st and the 15th. Then all the other feedings you will use the calcium without D3 you have. But you want bugs to be lightly dusted and not looking like a powdered donut. Feeders should also be about 1/4 inch at this age and size. If they are larger he will not go for them.

All the stuff in the bottom should be cleaned out completely and it should be a bare bottom. Remove all tape from the inside of the cage. If this peels up baby can get stuck to it and it is truly one of the most horrific things because you can peel their skin off trying to remove it.

You need live plants for the dripper to drip on to higher in the cage.

Start reading everything here. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
I'm concerned about the first picture it appears to me as if you pick your chameleon up. Hope its just maybe my perceived perspective but i dont recommend grabbing chameleons.
Instead let it walk onto a stick or your hand because they can get injured ribs, tail or mittens if forcefully removed from cage not to mention stressful. Could be in shock from stress
 
About removing the tape… so one time the dropper flooded the cage so we put like cardboard and a folder and taped it to the mesh. We can’t take it off cause in will flood again.
 
We are getting new heating bulbs because our heating bulb emits light and the chameleon can’t sleep at night
This is not healthy for your chameleon and may be part of its problem...why it's weak. Unless the temperature is dropping to the low 50's there is no need for heat at night.
 
This is not healthy for your chameleon and may be part of its problem...why it's weak. Unless the temperature is dropping to the low 50's there is no need for heat at night.
we can tell he’s cold at night though because the temperature at night gets to like 60 degrees at night and when we turn the heat on he runs to it
 
ha ha I just accidentally left the door to the cage open and had my tank of crickets open next to it and the chameleon got into the cricket tank and ate a bunch of them!
 
we can tell he’s cold at night though because the temperature at night gets to like 60 degrees at night and when we turn the heat on he runs to it

I will try leaving the heat off for 1 night
You will kill him if your leaving lights on at night and adding heat at night. Temps can drop to 60 without an issue for chams. And they actually need the cool down. During the day the max temp at basking is 80. Anything hotter and you could dehydrate him.

Per the tape find another way... like a drain pan to sit under the cage. This is what happens to chams that get stuck to tape https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/help-chameleon-scales-ripped-off.170289/

Read everything here... you need to be able to not understand what the chameleon needs to thrive but understand how to provide it correctly. Start https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
So we took off the tape and left the heat off and he looks better. He looks more well rested. I checked on him at night and he was so cute sleeping on the vine ha! He still looks a little bit weak but I’m sure if we keep doing this he will get better. and also about the crickets I dust them very very very very very very very very very very very lightly and he eats them. It has to be exact like if I do any any more he won’t eat it. At least he’s still getting his calcium and vitamin
 
And also the uvb light. I know it is incorrect but they are very expensive. We also thought that it would be too sudden of a change for him. We will change it eventually (eventually= when I find the money 😅) and the dripper we are going to return it and stick with misting those leaves.
 
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