ERKleRose
Chameleon Enthusiast
My feedback and any questions will be in red. Helpful links and images will be posted below. Sorry @GrayMadder and @cruz.m if I repeat anything. As long as you make the needed adjustments, he should be okay, depending on how bad his MBD is. Coming here, asking for help, and learning and adjusting is great, so you’ll be a great chameleon mom if you make the changes needed ASAP (and know in the future if you ever get another cham). AN EXPERIENCED CHAMELEON VET IS NEEDED ASAP, THOUGH!
male veiled chameleon he is about 1 year old he has been in my care for about 8 months
he comes and kinda scratches in the corner of his cage so i let him out and he crawls right onto me and i would say i do that about 4 or 5 times a week i know that a lot but he asks to come out This a sign of him wanting to get out because his enclosure is uncomfortable for him, not wanting to come out for attention or anything.
i feed my chameleon 7 crickets every other day i feed him horn worms 2 times a week and as a treat i feed him 2 wax worms a month You should be cutting down to 2-3 crickets (or the equivalent of) every two days or three times a week. They should be properly (and well) gutloaded and supplemented. What do you gutload with, and how do you gutload? Variety is key for gutloads/gutloading ingredients, along with healthy feeders to rotate through! I’ve posted charts for both below.
i feed my chameleon D3 repti calcium once a month and rep-cal herptivite multivitamins every time i feed He needs a quality phosphorus-free calcium without D3 every feeding, a quality phosphorus-free calcium with D3 once every two weeks, and a quality multivitamin without D3 every two weeks. Your multivitamin does not contain preformed Vitamin A, so you’ll need to either switch to one with it in it (like Zoo Med Reptivite without D3) or buy preformed Vitamin A 10,000 IU gel capsules and put a dot on the back of a feeder once to two times a month or as needed. You are overdosing on multivitamins and underdosing calcium and D3. This will change your supplement schedule if your multivitamin has any fat-soluble vitamins in it. Getting bloodwork done from an experienced chameleon vet will be best to determine the levels of everything. I’ll let keepers with more experience in multivitamins add extra info/feedback.
i use a big dripper and i always make sure it is running, i use purified spring water, and i spray his cage 3 to 4 times a day i dont see him drink i used to but not anymore but his pee and poop is normal. His misting sessions should be a minimum of 2-5+ minutes each time for daytime mistings. Try to only mist in the morning and late afternoon/night for his daytime mistings when the cage is cooler, if your humidity allows it.
poop is soft pee is white and one little speck of yellow
no he has never been to the vet yet. He needs an experienced chameleon vet ASAP! Make sure to bring a fresh fecal sample with you, along with getting bloodwork and x-rays done, too. Drop off 2-3+ more fresh fecal samples afterwards to make sure no parasites were missed.
rango got really sick and almost died a couple of months ago he wasnt eating or drinking but he eventually started back up again with the right lighting and some pedialyte A vet is needed. Which pedialyte, how much of it, how often, and how did you do it? I’m not sure how this affected him, so I’ll let others comment on it.
my cage is a screen cage and i believe it is 30"L x 18"w x 30'H As long as his grip strength is good, he needs a minimum size cage of 2’ x 2’ x 4’ tall, but preferably 4’ x 2’ x 4’ tall or bigger. Bigger is always better!
i have the zoo med reptisun 10.0 uvb mini compact fluorescent and i use a repti basking spot lamp He needs a linear UVB bulb and fixture (either the length of his permanent bigger enclosure or a foot longer) ASAP! Get an Arcadia 6% of the matching size if you can; they are preferred over Zoo Med 5.0 linear bulbs because you only have to replace them once a year (Zoo Med is every 6 months). Either way, get a Solarmeter 6.5 to check UVI levels and know when to replace his UVB bulb (when the readings are cut in half) if you can afford it! When it gets warmer out, take him outside for natural UVB (just make sure you don’t give too much D3 if he’s kept long enough out there). GET RID OF THE RED HEAT BULB ASAP! He needs a regular white light household incandescent bulb for his basking bulb! You’ll have to play around with the wattages to get the correct temps! How far away is his basking branch from his UVB and heat bulbs?
i use a reptile thermometer i got it from petco and his cgae temp is always between 75-90 degrees overnight temp is about 60 degrees That is too hot. Male veileds basking temps should be 85*F at the max! Raise the dome and heat bulb up higher and/or get a lower wattage bulb. Overnight temp is perfect. Is your thermometer digital or analog? If it’s digital, does it have a probe? You need a digital thermometer with a probe and put the probe where his casque/top of his back is when he’s on his basking branch. It shouldn’t be above 85*F there!
i use a humidity Gage from petco, it stays about 40-60% humidity. Veileds need between 30-50% humidity during the day and up to 100% at night. Is your hygrometer digital or analog?
i took out one of my live plants because he was eating the dirt. He needs to have live plants (chameleon-safe and properly cleaned) only! You must cover all soil in the pots with rocks too big for him to eat! Take out all fake plants, fake leaves and bunches, fake vines with leaves on them, fake flowers, etc. ASAP! They are an impaction risk for veileds! He needs only live plants, real and/or fake vines (fake without leaves on them), and branches (that don’t come from sap-producing trees)!
the cage is located in my bedroom around 5 feet from a window and i run the fan in my room on low to get good air circulation. and like i said im not at home right now so im guessing the top is about 8 or so feet from my floor. How fast is your fan on low?
i live in Minnesota
im concerned about my food scheduled im giving him and MBD First experienced chameleon vet, proper lighting and supplements, proper temps and humidity, and live plants only, then cage size and everything else!
Here are the links and images (make sure to read through every module and listen to as many podcasts as possible from The Chameleon Academy, they have the most accurate and up-to-date info!):
https://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
https://flchams.com/chameleon-safe-plant-list/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
male veiled chameleon he is about 1 year old he has been in my care for about 8 months
he comes and kinda scratches in the corner of his cage so i let him out and he crawls right onto me and i would say i do that about 4 or 5 times a week i know that a lot but he asks to come out This a sign of him wanting to get out because his enclosure is uncomfortable for him, not wanting to come out for attention or anything.
i feed my chameleon 7 crickets every other day i feed him horn worms 2 times a week and as a treat i feed him 2 wax worms a month You should be cutting down to 2-3 crickets (or the equivalent of) every two days or three times a week. They should be properly (and well) gutloaded and supplemented. What do you gutload with, and how do you gutload? Variety is key for gutloads/gutloading ingredients, along with healthy feeders to rotate through! I’ve posted charts for both below.
i feed my chameleon D3 repti calcium once a month and rep-cal herptivite multivitamins every time i feed He needs a quality phosphorus-free calcium without D3 every feeding, a quality phosphorus-free calcium with D3 once every two weeks, and a quality multivitamin without D3 every two weeks. Your multivitamin does not contain preformed Vitamin A, so you’ll need to either switch to one with it in it (like Zoo Med Reptivite without D3) or buy preformed Vitamin A 10,000 IU gel capsules and put a dot on the back of a feeder once to two times a month or as needed. You are overdosing on multivitamins and underdosing calcium and D3. This will change your supplement schedule if your multivitamin has any fat-soluble vitamins in it. Getting bloodwork done from an experienced chameleon vet will be best to determine the levels of everything. I’ll let keepers with more experience in multivitamins add extra info/feedback.
i use a big dripper and i always make sure it is running, i use purified spring water, and i spray his cage 3 to 4 times a day i dont see him drink i used to but not anymore but his pee and poop is normal. His misting sessions should be a minimum of 2-5+ minutes each time for daytime mistings. Try to only mist in the morning and late afternoon/night for his daytime mistings when the cage is cooler, if your humidity allows it.
poop is soft pee is white and one little speck of yellow
no he has never been to the vet yet. He needs an experienced chameleon vet ASAP! Make sure to bring a fresh fecal sample with you, along with getting bloodwork and x-rays done, too. Drop off 2-3+ more fresh fecal samples afterwards to make sure no parasites were missed.
rango got really sick and almost died a couple of months ago he wasnt eating or drinking but he eventually started back up again with the right lighting and some pedialyte A vet is needed. Which pedialyte, how much of it, how often, and how did you do it? I’m not sure how this affected him, so I’ll let others comment on it.
my cage is a screen cage and i believe it is 30"L x 18"w x 30'H As long as his grip strength is good, he needs a minimum size cage of 2’ x 2’ x 4’ tall, but preferably 4’ x 2’ x 4’ tall or bigger. Bigger is always better!
i have the zoo med reptisun 10.0 uvb mini compact fluorescent and i use a repti basking spot lamp He needs a linear UVB bulb and fixture (either the length of his permanent bigger enclosure or a foot longer) ASAP! Get an Arcadia 6% of the matching size if you can; they are preferred over Zoo Med 5.0 linear bulbs because you only have to replace them once a year (Zoo Med is every 6 months). Either way, get a Solarmeter 6.5 to check UVI levels and know when to replace his UVB bulb (when the readings are cut in half) if you can afford it! When it gets warmer out, take him outside for natural UVB (just make sure you don’t give too much D3 if he’s kept long enough out there). GET RID OF THE RED HEAT BULB ASAP! He needs a regular white light household incandescent bulb for his basking bulb! You’ll have to play around with the wattages to get the correct temps! How far away is his basking branch from his UVB and heat bulbs?
i use a reptile thermometer i got it from petco and his cgae temp is always between 75-90 degrees overnight temp is about 60 degrees That is too hot. Male veileds basking temps should be 85*F at the max! Raise the dome and heat bulb up higher and/or get a lower wattage bulb. Overnight temp is perfect. Is your thermometer digital or analog? If it’s digital, does it have a probe? You need a digital thermometer with a probe and put the probe where his casque/top of his back is when he’s on his basking branch. It shouldn’t be above 85*F there!
i use a humidity Gage from petco, it stays about 40-60% humidity. Veileds need between 30-50% humidity during the day and up to 100% at night. Is your hygrometer digital or analog?
i took out one of my live plants because he was eating the dirt. He needs to have live plants (chameleon-safe and properly cleaned) only! You must cover all soil in the pots with rocks too big for him to eat! Take out all fake plants, fake leaves and bunches, fake vines with leaves on them, fake flowers, etc. ASAP! They are an impaction risk for veileds! He needs only live plants, real and/or fake vines (fake without leaves on them), and branches (that don’t come from sap-producing trees)!
the cage is located in my bedroom around 5 feet from a window and i run the fan in my room on low to get good air circulation. and like i said im not at home right now so im guessing the top is about 8 or so feet from my floor. How fast is your fan on low?
i live in Minnesota
im concerned about my food scheduled im giving him and MBD First experienced chameleon vet, proper lighting and supplements, proper temps and humidity, and live plants only, then cage size and everything else!
Here are the links and images (make sure to read through every module and listen to as many podcasts as possible from The Chameleon Academy, they have the most accurate and up-to-date info!):
https://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
https://flchams.com/chameleon-safe-plant-list/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
Dropping in some helpful videos. 
