Need some reassurance.

[Lollipopwatson]

Hi.

I am new at this and am a bit concerned. We have had Lollipop, a male Vailed Chameleon, for 3 weeks. He is eating very well, about 6 to 8 Dubai and 5 crickets every 2 to 3 days. I dust his food every time I feed him with Exoterra calcium and multi vitamin. He gets misted 4 times a day. His day time temp 27 degrees c night time about 19 degrees c. He is less likely to hide now when we come to the cage. But he is always brownish colour. First thing in the morning he is Grey's with nice greens, then changes. Please take a look at pics and give me some advice. PS his head is also very white.
Regards Chris from South Africa.

 

[GrannyK]

Has he shed since being with you? It almost looks like he is going to shed. As for the supplements, routinely we use calcium without D3 every feeding and your multivitamin and D3 only 2x per month say the 1st and 15th. He could be getting too much vitamin as well.
Welcome to the forum!!! Lollipop is a handsome boy!!!

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome! Generally chameleons will turn dark in order to better absorb heat and uvb. You could increase his temp a little up to around 29c during the day. What kind of UVB are you providing? What is the distance between his basking area and UVB?

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Has he shed since being with you? It almost looks like he is going to shed. As for the supplements, routinely we use calcium without D3 every feeding and your multivitamin and D3 only 2x per month say the 1st and 15th. He could be getting too much vitamin as well.
Welcome to the forum!!! Lollipop is a handsome boy!!!

Hi, thanks for the reply. He was shedding when we got him 3 weeks ago. I will stop the multivitamin each time and change to 2 x a month. He is a handsome lad.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Hi and welcome! Generally chameleons will turn dark in order to better absorb heat and uvb. You could increase his temp a little up to around 29c during the day. What kind of UVB are you providing? What is the distance between his basking area and UVB?

Hi.
See the pic for the lamp. The distance from the UVB and the basking area is approx 150mm. I will turn the temp up to 29 degrees c. Do you think he is looking ok?

Hi and welcome! Generally chameleons will turn dark in order to better absorb heat and uvb. You could increase his temp a little up to around 29c during the day. What kind of UVB are you providing? What is the distance between his basking area and UVB?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi.
See the pic for the lamp. The distance from the UVB and the basking area is approx 150mm. I will turn the temp up to 29 degrees c. Do you think he is looking ok?

Your uvb is actually a bit too close. The ideal distance would be around 20-22 cm. Most of the pics that we see of chameleons, they are all fired up and their colors are bright, while their usual resting state is more dulled and not nearly as exciting. However, he still should be having some more green to him than he has. It could be due to husbandry error and not necessarily ones from you, but from wherever he was previously. Make sure that your husbandry is as perfect as possible and see if he brightens up in time. If you want to have a full husbandry review, just let us know and we'll give the questions. If you don't want to do that, here are some great sites with accurate info. https://chameleonacademy.com https://www.neptunethechameleon.com Vet visits and having fecal check for parasite is always a good idea.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Thanks so much for the reply. I would like a full husbandry review.

 

[MissSkittles]

Awesome! Copy and paste the following with your answers and someone will get that going for you.

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 Info:

• 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?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Awesome! Copy and paste the following with your answers and someone will get that going for you.

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 Info:

• 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?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Vailed Chameleon. Male, 7 months, 3.5 weeks.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We are not handling him for the moment. The only time has been when we have made changes to the setup. Which has been 3 or 4 times. When he is handled he goes much brighter colors.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Dubia roaches, crickets and black fly lava. 6 Dubia roaches 2.5cm, 4 crickets 1cm and 4 black fly lava every two days. Gut loading them with, oats, carrot, lettuce and potato. He got a super worm yesterday for the first time. I am going to stop the crickets as I find them difficult to deal with.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Exo terra calcium and multivitamin. I dust the food every time I feed with calcium. I was doing the same with the multivitamin for the past week but will now do it twice a month.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have an smart Mius automatic misting system. It has two nozzles. It goes off every 6 hours for 2 minutes starting at 7am. I have never seen him drink.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Black to brownish solid piece. A white piece with an orange tip on the end of the white. I always find the black separated from the white. See photo. The one whitish one cam from the plant holder so it is a bit discolored and you can see some potting mixture behind it.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He came from a pet shop. He was in a cage the same as mine but did not have real plants but plastic. He was misted twice a day. He had a smaller female in the same cage. He had much brighter colors in this cage.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? The cage is 800mm high by 450mm wide and 450mm deep. It has glass sides and back. The front and top is mesh. The bottom is a plastic board.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I have a HO T5 UVB lighting kit size 315x58x42mm. 8watt UVB 5.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? The basking spot is set to 29 degrees c, the floor is 23 degrees c. over night is aprox 19 degrees c. it will get colder as we are going into winter but then the heaters will hold the basking spot at no less than 16 degrees c. I have a digital thermometor for the bottom and a probe at the basking spot which is attached to a Day/night Dimmerstat DTC-120 with timer. I have a 75watt ceramic heater and a 25watt mini halogen UVB/UVA bulb which is used for heating during the day only as it gives of UVA which the other lamp does not. This is what they say about the bulb. These compact little bulbs pack a punch. They have great heat projection but UVB is low. PLEASE! don't think you can get away from using other UVB bulbs. He often is at the top laying on his side flattening his body out, I presume to get as much heat as possible.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I have to be honest I don’t know what the humidity is. I am using the misting system.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? All living plants. Heart -leaf philodendron. Umbrella plant (Schefflera) and a Yellow Jassamine (Gelsemium), it has no flowers on it. I was told to fill out the cage and I could only get this locally to me.
• 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? The cage is on top of a cupboard and the top of the cage is 1.75m from the floor. It is in the corner of the room next to a window facing the sea. So he can see out to a 50 meter piece of green land in front of the beach.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Dwarskersbos, Western Cape, South Africa.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. He is a lovely green color first thing in the morning and then he changes to brown for the rest of the day.

Please see other photos at the beginning of this post.
Thank you for all your help, most appreciated.

 

[MzLaurie]

Dont worry mine male veiled turns brown to hunt! I think your maybe doing the same thing. Make sure he has a few place to rest under the lights and a few to hide among the leaves. Keep talking to him so he knows your voice. He is still adjusting to his new home and that could take a while. also a little dripper on as low as it goes or a plactic cup with a small hole in the bottom and fill with ice and have it drip onto leaves go down on a stalk and deposit in the planter. keep at same place as it may take a while for him to find it and fugure it out. once he does, you shouldnt have dehydration issues. But some of these guys can be stubborn! Good luck to you both!

 

[MissSkittles]

Give me a bit of time and I'll go thru it all.

 

[MissSkittles]

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Vailed Chameleon. Male, 7 months, 3.5 weeks.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We are not handling him for the moment. The only time has been when we have made changes to the setup. Which has been 3 or 4 times. When he is handled he goes much brighter colors. You'll want to work on building trust with him. There's a fantastic blog on how to do that. My computer is giving me grief about posting the link here, so I'll have to add it in a separate post. He brightens up when handled as he becomes stressed. That is considered him being fired up. His usual resting colors are more dull.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Dubia roaches, crickets and black fly lava. 6 Dubia roaches 2.5cm, 4 crickets 1cm and 4 black fly lava every two days. Those are good staple feeders and the variety is good. You could add silkworms and don't forget to give some treats every now and then. Superworms, hornworms and waxworks are all good treats. Gut loading them with, oats, carrot, lettuce and potato. This needs to be improved upon. My brain is too sleepy to remember why it's not good to use oats. Most lettuces are good only for hydration, as is potato. Try adding some greens -mustard, turnip, arugula, watercress, dandelion or collard - sweet potato, various squashes, bell pepper, and just a small amount of fruit. You can also add a bit of a quality commercial food like Repashy bug burger, Mazuri or cricket crack. The whole idea is to keep your feeders well fed and healthy, so that they will be nutritious. He got a super worm yesterday for the first time. I am going to stop the crickets as I find them difficult to deal with. You're not alone there. lol Most of us hate crickets. I have to ask though what kid of crickets you've been getting? Banded ones are mush better than domestic - less stink, less mess and less die off.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Exo terra calcium I hope this does not contain D3. and multivitamin. I dust the food every time I feed with calcium. I was doing the same with the multivitamin for the past week but will now do it twice a month. I'm going to recommend that you change your multivitamin to REPASHY Calcium Plus LoD. This is a great combo D3/multivitamin and it contains preformed vitamin A, which is good for eye health and is known to be better absorbed by chameleons than the preformed A.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have an smart Mius automatic misting system. It has two nozzles. It goes off every 6 hours for 2 minutes starting at 7am. I have never seen him drink. Many chameleons are secret drinkers, so just go by the urate to determine hydration status. Every 6 hours is a bit too often. Are you able to change that to even every 8 hours instead?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Black to brownish solid piece. A white piece with an orange tip on the end of the white. I always find the black separated from the white. See photo. The one whitish one cam from the plant holder so it is a bit discolored and you can see some potting mixture behind it. Poo and urate look fine. Having a fecal parasite check is always a good idea though.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He came from a pet shop. He was in a cage the same as mine but did not have real plants but plastic. He was misted twice a day. He had a smaller female in the same cage. He had much brighter colors in this cage. Chameleons should never be cohabited with any other animal. His colors were brighter because he was in a chronic state of stress, which is so very bad. Sadly, most pet stores (the chain ones are the worst) have little knowledge about chameleons and keep them all wrong.

Here is where I would be adding graphics of feeders and gutloadind items, but again, stupid computer is not cooperative.

 

[MissSkittles]

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? The cage is 800mm high by 450mm wide and 450mm deep. It has glass sides and back. The front and top is mesh. The bottom is a plastic board. He's needing much larger than that from now. The standard minimum is 60x60x120 cm. I've been giving my chameleons double that size and they are using all of the space.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I have a HO T5 UVB lighting kit size 315x58x42mm. 8watt UVB 5. Ok. You want a distance of about 22 cm between basking light and basking area.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? The basking spot is set to 29 degrees c, Perfect! the floor is 23 degrees c. over night is aprox 19 degrees c. it will get colder as we are going into winter but then the heaters will hold the basking spot at no less than 16 degrees c. I have a digital thermometor for the bottom and a probe at the basking spot which is attached to a Day/night Dimmerstat DTC-120 with timer. I have a 75watt ceramic heater and a 25watt mini halogen UVB/UVA bulb which is used for heating during the day only as it gives of UVA which the other lamp does not. This is what they say about the bulb. These compact little bulbs pack a punch. They have great heat projection but UVB is low. PLEASE! don't think you can get away from using other UVB bulbs. All you need for uvb is the T5 with 5.0 bulb. He often is at the top laying on his side flattening his body out, I presume to get as much heat as possible. Yes, plus he's getting the uvb too.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I have to be honest I don’t know what the humidity is. I am using the misting system. I appreciate your honesty. It is important to monitor humidity levels. The ideal range for daytime is between 30-50% At night, your temps are well below 20c, so you can add a fogger/humidifier and boot humidity all the way. This simulate the natural hydration that chams get at night in the wild thru fog.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? All living plants. Heart -leaf philodendron. Umbrella plant (Schefflera) and a Yellow Jassamine (Gelsemium), it has no flowers on it. I don't know if the yellow jasmine is safe, so I would remove it. Are you able to get Pothos (aka devil's ivy)? In time your plants will grow in fuller, but Pothos and the philodendron are great for really spreading vines all over. I was told to fill out the cage and I could only get this locally to me.
• 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? The cage is on top of a cupboard and the top of the cage is 1.75m from the floor. It is in the corner of the room next to a window facing the sea. So he can see out to a 50 meter piece of green land in front of the beach. Sounds like a beautiful view.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Dwarskersbos, Western Cape, South Africa.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. He is a lovely green color first thing in the morning and then he changes to brown for the rest of the day. When chams sleep, they wear their fired up colors which is why he's still bright in the AM. I'd post a pic of my male veiled, but once more, stupid computer.

 

[MissSkittles]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

...and still can't get my pics in here properly.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Dont worry mine male veiled turns brown to hunt! I think your maybe doing the same thing. Make sure he has a few place to rest under the lights and a few to hide among the leaves. Keep talking to him so he knows your voice. He is still adjusting to his new home and that could take a while. also a little dripper on as low as it goes or a plactic cup with a small hole in the bottom and fill with ice and have it drip onto leaves go down on a stalk and deposit in the planter. keep at same place as it may take a while for him to find it and fugure it out. once he does, you shouldnt have dehydration issues. But some of these guys can be stubborn! Good luck to you both!

Thanks for the reply and advise. Will do the dripper.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

...and still can't get my pics in here properly.

Fantastic reply. Wonderfull advice. I will certainly use it all. I feel much more comfortable now.

Take care and once again

 

[Lollipopwatson]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

...and still can't get my pics in here properly.

Just read this. Amazing.

 

[Lollipopwatson]

Just read this. Amazing.

I sat by my cage door today and offered Lollipop a black soldier fly larvae, to my total surprise he came straight up and took it from my hand. Wow what a wonderful feeling. Thanks to this great forum and the wonderfully helpful people. You rock.

 

[MissSkittles]

I sat by my cage door today and offered Lollipop a black soldier fly larvae, to my total surprise he came straight up and took it from my hand. Wow what a wonderful feeling. Thanks to this great forum and the wonderfully helpful people. You rock.

Yay! That is awesome!