Hi all, I'm new to forum and to owning a reptile and wanted some advice and to make sure we're doing the best thing for our chameleon. I've filled out the care sheet below to give people an idea on general care of the chameleon
The problem I'm experiencing today is with his food since we got him (about two weeks ago) we've fed him on crickets and he's put on weight well and enjoyed them we decided to try him on some locusts (same size if not smaller than the crickets) and he appears intimidated by them and is avoiding where he normally sits as they are there !! Do we need to take them out of his viv ? He also has displayed stressed colourations since them being in there !! And last night when got up I noticed he had moved during the night which he never normally does and is near on black this morning has the change in food upset him or is this coincidence and I'm missing something ?
Chameleon - Male Veiled chameleon got him at 10 weeks old owned him for about 2 weeks.
Location - London UK
Housing - Viv exotic arboreal vivarium (wood and glass but lots of vents at front and back) size 1ft,11 inch x 1ft,7inch x 3 ft. No substrate in viv decorated with jungle vine, plant vines, 2x fake plants, 2 largest branches and Exo terra rock background
Lighting - 1x repti glo 5.0 18inch uvb ( at top of viv) 1x 75 w heat lamb in exto terra light dome on lighting bracket outside on top of viv over mesh top. Controlled by lighting timer to provide 12 hours of uvb and light daily.
Tempretures - basking temp between 86-91 f, ambient temp of around 80f - 82f and night temp between about 72-74f (no heat lamps overnight) all temps controlled by microclimate mini stat. Humidity between 30-80% higher humidity post misting.
Food + supplements - main diet of crickets tend to put between 15-20 in daily of 6-10mm silent brown crickets ( so he can see them easier as viv quite large for him he doesn't eat them all then they're removed at night) as stated tried on locusts today but didn't seem interested and seemed intimidated and also previously tried on wax worms which he also did not take. Free range fed has not taken anything via cup feeding or hand feeding although have tried both. Supplemented on Exo Terra Calcium Liquid Magnesium Supplement or calcium dust (no d3) daily either or and nutrobal dusting weekly.
Watering - misting heavily twice daily and use of Big Dripper 2x daily for roughly 1 hour.
Handling - Done daily for up to 15-20 minutes appears calm when handled active (always try's to climb to top of your head!) and good colourings doesn't hiss does sometimes turn away from hand when trying to get out of viv and start displaying darker colours but when he does this we back away and leave him and only get him out when he is good colour and climbs onto hand voluntarily. I just ordered a mesh pop up Viv so in the summer can take him out for fresh air if warm enough I take him out on my hand for fresh air.
Faecal movements have observed half brown half white hard faecal matter in Viv since getting him
History - no problems known about or observed. Brought from a known breeder.
Does this seem right to everyone or is there anything we should be doing my profile pic is him on a normal day as stated today with the locusts he was displaying darker squares all over outlined black one locust jumped on his back and he shook it off but haven't seen any others bothering him in that way any suggestions on how to get him to eat more variety and if we need to take locusts out ?
Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions
The problem I'm experiencing today is with his food since we got him (about two weeks ago) we've fed him on crickets and he's put on weight well and enjoyed them we decided to try him on some locusts (same size if not smaller than the crickets) and he appears intimidated by them and is avoiding where he normally sits as they are there !! Do we need to take them out of his viv ? He also has displayed stressed colourations since them being in there !! And last night when got up I noticed he had moved during the night which he never normally does and is near on black this morning has the change in food upset him or is this coincidence and I'm missing something ?
Chameleon - Male Veiled chameleon got him at 10 weeks old owned him for about 2 weeks.
Location - London UK
Housing - Viv exotic arboreal vivarium (wood and glass but lots of vents at front and back) size 1ft,11 inch x 1ft,7inch x 3 ft. No substrate in viv decorated with jungle vine, plant vines, 2x fake plants, 2 largest branches and Exo terra rock background
Lighting - 1x repti glo 5.0 18inch uvb ( at top of viv) 1x 75 w heat lamb in exto terra light dome on lighting bracket outside on top of viv over mesh top. Controlled by lighting timer to provide 12 hours of uvb and light daily.
Tempretures - basking temp between 86-91 f, ambient temp of around 80f - 82f and night temp between about 72-74f (no heat lamps overnight) all temps controlled by microclimate mini stat. Humidity between 30-80% higher humidity post misting.
Food + supplements - main diet of crickets tend to put between 15-20 in daily of 6-10mm silent brown crickets ( so he can see them easier as viv quite large for him he doesn't eat them all then they're removed at night) as stated tried on locusts today but didn't seem interested and seemed intimidated and also previously tried on wax worms which he also did not take. Free range fed has not taken anything via cup feeding or hand feeding although have tried both. Supplemented on Exo Terra Calcium Liquid Magnesium Supplement or calcium dust (no d3) daily either or and nutrobal dusting weekly.
Watering - misting heavily twice daily and use of Big Dripper 2x daily for roughly 1 hour.
Handling - Done daily for up to 15-20 minutes appears calm when handled active (always try's to climb to top of your head!) and good colourings doesn't hiss does sometimes turn away from hand when trying to get out of viv and start displaying darker colours but when he does this we back away and leave him and only get him out when he is good colour and climbs onto hand voluntarily. I just ordered a mesh pop up Viv so in the summer can take him out for fresh air if warm enough I take him out on my hand for fresh air.
Faecal movements have observed half brown half white hard faecal matter in Viv since getting him
History - no problems known about or observed. Brought from a known breeder.
Does this seem right to everyone or is there anything we should be doing my profile pic is him on a normal day as stated today with the locusts he was displaying darker squares all over outlined black one locust jumped on his back and he shook it off but haven't seen any others bothering him in that way any suggestions on how to get him to eat more variety and if we need to take locusts out ?
Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions
