I recently adopted a magnificent old male veiled chameleon. I say adopted...but I did pay a nominal fee. I got him from a pet store that specializes in reptiles. They were very up front about him..said he was five years old. He was one of their feature animals when they took their reptiles to the school etc. so he's probably had a fairly stressed life for a chameleon. That said...this place takes excellent care of their reptiles and he looks fabulous. I wasn't really in the market for another reptile, but honestly I live in a college town and I thought for the price he was being offered for ($50 for him, his entire set up...large screened cage, light etc); plus...the reptile manager said...if I'd take him, and he should die at any point, they'd cut me a super deal on a young veiled chameleon. I thought if I didn't take him, some college kid would get him (because he is so cool) and he'd be dead in no time....so I took him because I knew I could give him a good home.
I took him home decked out his enclosure with live plants, gave him water (filtered bottled water) on a pump/bubbler. (He drinks a lot...which surprised me). Here's the problem. He is so incedibly slow and tentative when feeding he can hardly catch anything. I ended up squishing a little dog food through the screen at the top of the enclosure right exactly where his favorite branch ends ..so the crickets and flies will stand there on the screen eating right under his nose. He's caught a few unawares..that way; but there is no other way to describe him then slower than molassas. So slow that even with my dog-food trick he doesn't get but a few crickets a day; furthermore he doesn't seem to want to be hand fed. I think next I might trying coolering my crickets so they become slower too. But, I'm runing out of ideas.
You guys have any ideas. This guy (Haggret) looks so awesome and healthy. The guy at the store said, "Hey he's just a grand daddy and he probably has six months left. He also said they observed him spending too much time on the floor and his hand grip was weaker, but, I haven't noticed either of those things. He's always up high unless he comes down to drink at the bubbler. Currently, I have his enclosure out on my deck surrounded by a jungle of plants and covered by a large umbella. He gets just enough sun, lots of fresh air, etc. It's a pretty sweet set up for him. I know he's old, I'd just like to figure out how to get some more protein in him and keep him alive as long as possible.
I took him home decked out his enclosure with live plants, gave him water (filtered bottled water) on a pump/bubbler. (He drinks a lot...which surprised me). Here's the problem. He is so incedibly slow and tentative when feeding he can hardly catch anything. I ended up squishing a little dog food through the screen at the top of the enclosure right exactly where his favorite branch ends ..so the crickets and flies will stand there on the screen eating right under his nose. He's caught a few unawares..that way; but there is no other way to describe him then slower than molassas. So slow that even with my dog-food trick he doesn't get but a few crickets a day; furthermore he doesn't seem to want to be hand fed. I think next I might trying coolering my crickets so they become slower too. But, I'm runing out of ideas.
You guys have any ideas. This guy (Haggret) looks so awesome and healthy. The guy at the store said, "Hey he's just a grand daddy and he probably has six months left. He also said they observed him spending too much time on the floor and his hand grip was weaker, but, I haven't noticed either of those things. He's always up high unless he comes down to drink at the bubbler. Currently, I have his enclosure out on my deck surrounded by a jungle of plants and covered by a large umbella. He gets just enough sun, lots of fresh air, etc. It's a pretty sweet set up for him. I know he's old, I'd just like to figure out how to get some more protein in him and keep him alive as long as possible.
