New adopted cham!

NatNat1028

New Member
Hey all! So I just adopted this lite guy about a week ago now! I am a new cham owner! Now I just want to make sure I'm doing it right! First of all she told me she powdered her crickets every other feeding. But I noticed that it was calcium with D3. I read that D3 should only be given to them once or twice a month so... Since I'm at work during the day it's hard for me to tell if he is drinking. I try and spray in the morning and at night maybe a few times and I try and get someone in the house to do it at least once during the day. His humidity is usually in the higher 30 or 40s and I try and keep his temps in the day around 90. I'm going to post his cage(I got his cage from his owner) and the lights I have which I got the second day I had him since the owner couldn't tell me what kind of light he was using at the time I got him. I'm still trying to figure out how much to feed him so he isn't over weight. That's one of the things I'm paranoid with with all my animals so if I got get maybe an estimate on how many crickets or other kinda of foods I should give him. AND ANY ADVICE WELCOME!I want to change his cage cuz I don't think he has enough to climb on and I want to add a fogger and a dripper but I need help figuring out which are the best ones! And I'm posting a pic of him! If you notice anything tell me! I just took him to the vet and besides his eye(which was shut but opens all the time now) said he is healthy but still would like to get cham people to look at him! Thank you all!
 

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Hey there, and welcome to the forums! You're off to a good start, but there are several important things you're going to want to change:

(1) Neither of the light bulbs you are using are good choices. Firstly, chameleons are not nocturnal, so that bulb is unnecessary. What you want instead of that for his heat lamp is simply a household incandescent bulb. Much cheaper and provides naturally-colored like (red is not natural for chams). The
UVB bulb is actually the bigger problem here, though. The bulb you have for UV does not distribute light well enough for chameleons. You want to switch to a linear style UVB bulb like a reptisun 10.0 or an arcadia 12% since you have a veiled.

(2) Feed him every other day, 7-10 appropriately sized food items. Don't forget to gutload before feeding.

(3) Make sure each misting session is at least 2 minutes long and do not use untreated tap water.

(4) For supplements, you actually need 3 different types total. First - calcium without D3 for daily feedings; Second - calcium with D3 twice a month; Third - a multivitamin also twice a month

Your enclosure looks pretty nice! That ficus is a perfect fit. if you want to add anything more, I would recommend several more sturdy horizontal branches like the basking branch he has near the top
 
The fogger will only raise the humidity not provide him with any water source. For the humidity you could add a pothos and even a few fake plants around the top. If all that doesn’t work you can get like a trash bag,cut it up, and tape it to a side or two to hold the humidity.
 
You don't need to see him drink because chances are you won't. Just keep an eye on his poop if the urates aren't white he needs more water. If you're finding it to be a problem a dripper is a cheap thing to start with if you can't get an automatic mister right away.
 
Hey there, and welcome to the forums! You're off to a good start, but there are several important things you're going to want to change:

(1) Neither of the light bulbs you are using are good choices. Firstly, chameleons are not nocturnal, so that bulb is unnecessary. What you want instead of that for his heat lamp is simply a household incandescent bulb. Much cheaper and provides naturally-colored like (red is not natural for chams). The
UVB bulb is actually the bigger problem here, though. The bulb you have for UV does not distribute light well enough for chameleons. You want to switch to a linear style UVB bulb like a reptisun 10.0 or an arcadia 12% since you have a veiled.

(2) Feed him every other day, 7-10 appropriately sized food items. Don't forget to gutload before feeding.

(3) Make sure each misting session is at least 2 minutes long and do not use untreated tap water.

(4) For supplements, you actually need 3 different types total. First - calcium without D3 for daily feedings; Second - calcium with D3 twice a month; Third - a multivitamin also twice a month

Your enclosure looks pretty nice! That ficus is a perfect fit. if you want to add anything more, I would recommend several more sturdy horizontal branches like the basking branch he has near the top
Ok perfect! Now my main reason I have the red and I keep the red on is because my house is usually cold. I am scared it won't be warm enough for him if I change bulbs and not use the red like at the same time
 
Ok perfect! Now my main reason I have the red and I keep the red on is because my house is usually cold. I am scared it won't be warm enough for him if I change bulbs and not use the red like at the same time
I just need a suggestion for what would be the best way to keep him warm! Thank you so so so much for the advice!
 
I just need a suggestion for what would be the best way to keep him warm! Thank you so so so much for the advice!

Like I said in my original post, "What you want instead of that for his heat lamp is simply a household incandescent bulb. Much cheaper and provides naturally-colored light." There is no benefit whatsoever to using the red light. Most importantly, there must be absolutely no light on at night, no matter the color, or he will not be able to sleep properly. He will be fine unless temps dip below 50-55F at night in his area, which is not common
 
Like I said in my original post, "What you want instead of that for his heat lamp is simply a household incandescent bulb. Much cheaper and provides naturally-colored light." There is no benefit whatsoever to using the red light. Most importantly, there must be absolutely no light on at night, no matter the color, or he will not be able to sleep properly. He will be fine unless temps dip below 50-55F at night in his area, which is not common
Ok so if I use that bulb at night it will keep him warm? That's perfect I will change that as soon as I possibly can!!! Now my next important question is does he look over weight? The owner before would feed 20 crickets at one time.
 
Ok so if I use that bulb at night it will keep him warm? That's perfect I will change that as soon as I possibly can!!! Now my next important question is does he look over weight? The owner before would feed 20 crickets at one time.

Nooooo. Nope. No. Please try to read more carefully, there are some very concerning misunderstandings going on here and I am being as clear as I possibly can.

In my last message I said "Most importantly, there must be absolutely no light on at night, no matter the color." No. Light. At. Night. Period. Chameleons are diurnal. They will not sleep with lights on.

If it is absolutely essential to use a heat source at night (and the only situation that would be the case in is if his temps drop below ~50 at night), then you can use a ceramic heat emitter, which produces heat without light - and therefore does not interrupt sleep. However, please do not use one of these either, unless the temps are truly in the dangerous range. It is actually GOOD for chameleons to have a temperature drop during the night. It is rare when supplementary heat is required. I live in Minnesota, where it routinely dips below 0 for weeks on end and even I don't need to use any heat at night
 
As for his weight, yeah he looks a little chunky haha. Definitely feed less than the previous owner! Shouldn't be a problem, though
 
As for his weight, yeah he looks a little chunky haha. Definitely feed less than the previous owner! Shouldn't be a problem, though
Haha thank you so so much! He is getting a diet for sure haha! I am so sorry if I ask you to repeat things I just want to make sure I understand so I don't get this wrong.so I will change his light with what you suggested! And spray him for 2 min each time until I get my automatic misyer! I will feed him 10 instead of 20 crickets! Now for the heat at night I live in California but I do not use any heaters in my house at all what so ever. Every once in a while we get random nights that go below to abouT 30 and usually night time is maybe 40 or 50. For those temps do you think I need that thing? It's getting close to those temps in the house.
 
Yea you should get a ceramic heat emmiter and only turn it off if the temp go below 55 f


Think it was a typo but youll want you turn the ceramic heat emitter ON if temps go below 55*F.

Its good for their metabolism to have night time drops in their enclosure. Veiled chameleons are native to Yemen which regularly have night time temps of around 50-60*F if i recall in my previous research.

Brief summary:
Basking light and UVB lights ON for 10-12 hours during the day. Absolutely NO lights at night for atleast 10-12hrs. If your house gets below 50*F then have a Ceramic Heat Emitter ready to use during cold night.
 
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