My veiled isn't eating a lot

[Yearny65uk]

Hi all

I am new to the forum so please be gentle with me LOL
Basically I have a 5 month old veiled chameleon and over the past week he has gradually been eating less and less. He is now on one medium locust a day and the ocassional meal worm or wax worm. I haven't changed anything in his Viv or the supplier of my foods but what I have noticed that everyone I come to feed him he is more interested in climbing out of his Viv straight up my arm and then he sits with me for an hour or so then goes back but I'm really struggling to get him to eat. Only 2 weeks ago he was eating 5 or more locusts every day. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. John

 

[SaintJimmy]

What size is your cage?

Maybe he is just too big for his cage and it is stressing him out. That is what happened to me.

 

[Yearny65uk]

Thanks for the reply. When I got him I actually bought a big enough Viv to cater for him for all his life. It's roughly 2 feet wide and deep and 4 foot high with a mesh roof and front venting. He looks happy enough just wondered if I was doing something wrong.

 

[Ivan321]

What are his basking temperatures?

 

[camimom]

Something could be stressing him out which could explain why he wants out of his viv.

Can you post a photo of the cage and the surrounding area?

 

[Yearny65uk]

His basking temp is around the 80 mark his Viv is in the corner of my dining room. If someone could let me know how to upload a picture I will do it.

 

[camimom]

well that's part of you issue.

chams need heat to digest.

his basking temp is 5 deg too low.

they wont eat as much when they cant digest as fast.

try raising that temp and see how he does, might take a few days.

and to post a picture-

reply
paperclip in utility tray
browse comp- find pic, upload
once done, close the window that popped up
click paperclip again
insert attachments

subtmit reply

 

[Yearny65uk]

I have uploaded this pic. Any help would be gratefull

 

[camimom]

It seems a little sparse towards the side, and, why do you have a red light?

 

[Yearny65uk]

He hasn't looked like he has been struggling to digest anything and his feceies is normal brown colour with the white urine on the end. I have just lowered my heat lamp to its lowest setting so hopefully that will perk him up on the eating front. Should I be turning his heat lamp off at night as it's dropping to 55 at night now. I have been giving him 12 hours of both heat and uv a day but last week my local pet shop told me to leave the heat on all of the time now as it's too cold.

 

[Yearny65uk]

The red light is the heat lamp bulb I was given when I purchased the Viv. Should I be putting more plants in there do you think. I have changed the carpet today and replaced it with bark as I kept seeing locusts disappear under it and not come out.

 

[camimom]

OK-
to answer everything


1. he isn't going to look like hes struggling to digest, he's simply not going to eat. no heat=no food. turn the heat up, I bet he starts eating more.
2. NO LIGHT AT NIGHT. this is a huge no no. they need total darkness to sleep.
3. they can take temps down to the low 50's at night, and be just fine. as long as they have a good basking spot to warm up with in the morning.
4. no red bulb- you can use a regular house bulb for basking.
5. uvb and basking bulb should be 12 on, 12 off.
6. add more foliage, it will help him feel safer.
7. you should start to look into getting as screen cage for him, as an adult he will need a 2ftx2ftx4ft cage

 

[Yearny65uk]

I will nip out and get a different coloured bulb I did not know a normal house bulb could do the job. The Viv is 2 x 2 x 4 it's the biggest one they had in the store and they had 2 in store that house adults 24/7. I have another plant to add which I originally purchased I just thought that it was crammed in there but there more I read the more I learn. Many thanks for the advise.

 

[camimom]

I will nip out and get a different coloured bulb I did not know a normal house bulb could do the job. The Viv is 2 x 2 x 4 it's the biggest one they had in the store and they had 2 in store that house adults 24/7. I have another plant to add which I originally purchased I just thought that it was crammed in there but there more I read the more I learn. Many thanks for the advise.

we all use regular house bulbs for basking, its so much cheaper than the actual basking bulbs in pet stores. a regular bulb, not the coil version, you may want to get different wattages, and play around with them until you achieve a basking temp of 85-88

if the viv is already that size, then that's fine for him.

 

[Yearny65uk]

I'm off to get a couple of normal bulbs now and I have just added some more foliage to the Viv. Again thank you for your help I have uploaded another pic to show how it looks now obviously I still have the red bulb in but that will be gone within the hour.