New Baby Chameleon, New Young Owner.. Advice welcome :)

B

britteny123

New Member
Hello!

I recently purchesed a Vieled Chameleon from a local pet shop. I was looking for a reptile, saw him, and fell in love. Unfortunatly the pet store did not know much about him or chameleons in general. I have had him for almost 2 weeks now which would make him about 8 weeks old (if the lady at the pet store told me the right age.). Every day I look up new things and find out different things about chameleons. I have figured out (I think) that he is a boy. I decided on the name TD (shotr for tie-dye) because the first day I held him I had on a tie-dye shirt with greens and he lended right in on my shoulder.

Our routine is almost set in stone. I wake up in the mornings between 7:30 and 8:00 and turn on his day time light and his black light on for him to warm up. About an hour later I remove the black light, feed him, and turn on his drip system. After I have seen him eat and drink, I put a few more crickets in his food dish and take away the drip system. between 9:00PM and 10:00, depending on my work schedule, I remove his daytime light and put the black light on with a blanket over it. About an hour after that i remove the black light and keep the blanket on his cage over night.

He is such a ham and he knows it. One of his favorite things I catch him doing is looking at himself in the mirror. He does not seem intimidated by it, nor does he show signs of stress or agression (changing colors, puffing up, hissing, ect.) towards it. He almost seems fascinated by it. He moves his head all around, walks in front of it, tries to climb it, and just stares at himself in it for hours on end.

I currently keep him in a 25 gallon fish tank on my desk. I know it is frowned upon but the tempature in my house varies to much for him. Plus I keep him in the basement with me and I have dogs who like to wonder around down there with me and if I have a large mesh cage it would have to stay on the floor. At first I had the carpet like stuff that was green on the bottom of his cage but i noticed that his toenails kept getting caught in it and he would not touch the ground unless he absolutly had to. So I investes in some subtrate and got him a large vine and 2 trees and the stick on the wall leaves which he loves. I tend to keep the tempature beetween 75 and 80 with a 10 degreese drop at night.

He is handled either every day or every other day. He will sit on my hand or shouler and watch TV. Yes he actually watches it! I also mist him and his cage 2-3 times daily and keep the humidity level around 50%. He eats every other or every 3 days a lot of crickets and some meal and wax worms. I dust the crickets with a D3 vitamin and calcium powder which he does not seem to mind. I also gutload my crickets with fruits and veggies.

I guess I am just wondering if I am taking care of him correctly, and if not what else needs to be done so i have the happiest and healthiest chameleon alive. I love him and I can not wait to get another.

Any comments or advice is welcome!
*pictures pending :)

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Last edited:
britteny123 said:
Hello!

I recently purchesed a Vieled Chameleon from a local pet shop. I was looking for a reptile, saw him, and fell in love. Unfortunatly the pet store did not know much about him or chameleons in general. I have had him for almost 2 weeks now which would make him about 8 weeks old (if the lady at the pet store told me the right age.). Every day I look up new things and find out different things about chameleons. I have figured out (I think) that he is a boy. I decided on the name TD (shotr for tie-dye) because the first day I held him I had on a tie-dye shirt with greens and he lended right in on my shoulder.

Our routine is almost set in stone. I wake up in the mornings between 7:30 and 8:00 and turn on his day time light and his black light on for him to warm up. About an hour later I remove the black light, feed him, and turn on his drip system. After I have seen him eat and drink, I put a few more crickets in his food dish and take away the drip system. between 9:00PM and 10:00, depending on my work schedule, I remove his daytime light and put the black light on with a blanket over it. About an hour after that i remove the black light and keep the blanket on his cage over night. Try to get his lights on a 12 on/12 off schedule. Mine come on a 9:00 AM and go off at 9:00 PM. Chameleons require a good amount of sleep at night - mine literally go to sleep the moment the lights go off and don't wake up until they turn back on. They don't need any light or heat at night, provided the temps in your house don't fall too low (like below 64). Also, what lights do you have specifically? If you don't have a 5.0 UVB light, you NEED one. A Reptisun 5.0 tube light is best, but Reptiglo is ok as well. A 5.0 UVB is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for your cham's survival and health.

He is such a ham and he knows it. One of his favorite things I catch him doing is looking at himself in the mirror. He does not seem intimidated by it, nor does he show signs of stress or agression (changing colors, puffing up, hissing, ect.) towards it. He almost seems fascinated by it. He moves his head all around, walks in front of it, tries to climb it, and just stares at himself in it for hours on end. You need to remove the mirror. While he's young, this isn't so bad, but as he gets older it will stress him out to see himself. He will think it's another male cham trespassing on his territory. Chameleons are extremely solitary and territorial creatures.

I currently keep him in a 25 gallon fish tank on my desk. I know it is frowned upon but the tempature in my house varies to much for him. Plus I keep him in the basement with me and I have dogs who like to wonder around down there with me and if I have a large mesh cage it would have to stay on the floor. At first I had the carpet like stuff that was green on the bottom of his cage but i noticed that his toenails kept getting caught in it and he would not touch the ground unless he absolutly had to. So I investes in some subtrate and got him a large vine and 2 trees and the stick on the wall leaves which he loves. I tend to keep the tempature beetween 75 and 80 with a 10 degreese drop at night. A screen cage is best, but he at least needs a glass TERRARIUM (the kind with ventilation at the bottom). Aquariums can be detrimental for chameleons and their very sensitive systems.

He is handled either every day or every other day. He will sit on my hand or shouler and watch TV. Yes he actually watches it! I also mist him and his cage 2-3 times daily and keep the humidity level around 50%. He eats every other or every 3 days a lot of crickets and some meal and wax worms. I dust the crickets with a D3 vitamin and calcium powder which he does not seem to mind. I also gutload my crickets with fruits and veggies. You need calcium without D3 for everyday dusting, calcium with D3 once every other week, and a multivitamin once a month. This is the general consensus on the best way to supplement chams. As long as they have their UVB light, they will make most of the D3 they need on their own.

I guess I am just wondering if I am taking care of him correctly, and if not what else needs to be done so i have the happiest and healthiest chameleon alive. I love him and I can not wait to get another.

Any comments or advice is welcome!
*pictures pending :)
Click to expand...


These are just a few suggestions, but they are very important. I'm sure some other members can give you some more advice, but I have to leave for work now, so I'll check back later. Hope this helps :)
 
britteny123 said:
Hello!

I recently purchesed a Vieled Chameleon from a local pet shop. I was looking for a reptile, saw him, and fell in love. Unfortunatly the pet store did not know much about him or chameleons in general. I have had him for almost 2 weeks now which would make him about 8 weeks old (if the lady at the pet store told me the right age.). Every day I look up new things and find out different things about chameleons. I have figured out (I think) that he is a boy. I decided on the name TD (shotr for tie-dye) because the first day I held him I had on a tie-dye shirt with greens and he lended right in on my shoulder.

Our routine is almost set in stone. I wake up in the mornings between 7:30 and 8:00 and turn on his day time light and his black light on for him to warm up. About an hour later I remove the black light, feed him, and turn on his drip system. After I have seen him eat and drink, I put a few more crickets in his food dish and take away the drip system. between 9:00PM and 10:00, depending on my work schedule, I remove his daytime light and put the black light on with a blanket over it. About an hour after that i remove the black light and keep the blanket on his cage over night.

He is such a ham and he knows it. One of his favorite things I catch him doing is looking at himself in the mirror. He does not seem intimidated by it, nor does he show signs of stress or agression (changing colors, puffing up, hissing, ect.) towards it. He almost seems fascinated by it. He moves his head all around, walks in front of it, tries to climb it, and just stares at himself in it for hours on end.

I currently keep him in a 25 gallon fish tank on my desk. I know it is frowned upon but the tempature in my house varies to much for him. Plus I keep him in the basement with me and I have dogs who like to wonder around down there with me and if I have a large mesh cage it would have to stay on the floor. At first I had the carpet like stuff that was green on the bottom of his cage but i noticed that his toenails kept getting caught in it and he would not touch the ground unless he absolutly had to. So I investes in some subtrate and got him a large vine and 2 trees and the stick on the wall leaves which he loves. I tend to keep the tempature beetween 75 and 80 with a 10 degreese drop at night.

He is handled either every day or every other day. He will sit on my hand or shouler and watch TV. Yes he actually watches it! I also mist him and his cage 2-3 times daily and keep the humidity level around 50%. He eats every other or every 3 days a lot of crickets and some meal and wax worms. I dust the crickets with a D3 vitamin and calcium powder which he does not seem to mind. I also gutload my crickets with fruits and veggies.

I guess I am just wondering if I am taking care of him correctly, and if not what else needs to be done so i have the happiest and healthiest chameleon alive. I love him and I can not wait to get another.

Any comments or advice is welcome!
*pictures pending :)
Click to expand...

First welcome to the forums! and congrats on TD!
Now, there are some things youneed to change.
PLease dont feel discouraged by everything im about to say.
1- no fish tanks. these are not designed for chameleons. I understand you need help with the humidity and temps, so go buy the largest glass terrarium you can. terrariums are differnt from fish tanks. FIsh tanks dont breathe, they are meant ot keep water in.
2- why does he have access to a mirror? even though hes not showing stress now, he will once he gets older.
3- NO SUBSTRATE! they can eat this, and become impacted. remove it. use paper towels or nothing on the bottom.
4- what kind of 'trees' did you get?
Side note- great job on the temps!
5- he should be eating every day. babies need to eat everyday until they are roughly 6 months old, then you reasses his eating habits.
6- dont feed meal worms daily. theyhave a hard exo skeleton which when consumed in large quanitities, can cause an impaction. wax worms, while good for treats, should also not be fed daily.
7- supplements- you should NOT be using a d3 everyday.
the accepted schedule is as follows:
calcium without d3 or phosphorus every feeding.
calcium with d3 2 times a month.
a multivitamin 2 times a month.
8- what are you gutloading your crickets with?
9- now, the black light... why? you need two bulbs, a 5.0 reptiglo or reptisun uvb bulb. you can use a regular 50-60 watt house bulb for basking.

i know this seems like alot of info, and it is. but relax, and take it one step at a time! and any questions you ahve, post away!
 
Thanks so much for all of the feed back and it will be taken into coincideration. I can not figure out how to post pictures. Any help there? and I got subturate so i could leave his drip system on for him for a while. If i take the subturate out what do i use to collect water? ok duh a bowl but what if he falls in it? And im not sure what light bulbs i have but they are a full spectrum UVB bulb.
 
Easiest way to post pic. Make an account at photobucket it is free. after you upload you pics to there they have codes under them. Mouse over the IMG code it will automatically copy- then paste that in you post here.

I am very new to Chams and have been listening to what the senior members have been saying. So no advice from me on that, but they do know what they are talking about especially, when you see the pics of their beautiful healthy Chams:D
 
britteny123 said:
Thanks so much for all of the feed back and it will be taken into coincideration. I can not figure out how to post pictures. Any help there? and I got subturate so i could leave his drip system on for him for a while. If i take the subturate out what do i use to collect water? ok duh a bowl but what if he falls in it? And im not sure what light bulbs i have but they are a full spectrum UVB bulb.
Click to expand...

WHen you creat a new thread, you will see a little paper clip up in the tool bar of the post. click it, it wil bring up a box, browse thru your pics, and clickl upload after each one. then close the window. click the paper clip again, and click insert all.
now for the water collection. What I do is let the dripper run all day, slowly, and let the dripper drip into one of his four plants in his cage.
Others have created drainage systems, which you can search for on this site.
do you stil have the boxes from the bulbs you got? if so, take a pic and post it. If you post a pic of your cham sitting on your hand, we can estimate the age for you.
If you want, you can thru my posts here and see pics of what you can expect, as well as my veiled at differnt ages.
this was Kink when I first got him at 2-3 weeks old https://www.chameleonforums.com/pics-my-new-addition-54260/

Kink at 6 weeks https://www.chameleonforums.com/new-colors-after-first-shed-56709/

4-5 months https://www.chameleonforums.com/sun-color-vs-inside-color-62830/

Current https://www.chameleonforums.com/first-fire-up-64623/
 
Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
I didn't even notice when I read earlier that you are only feeding him every 2 or 3 days. He definitely needs to eat every day. Chameleons grow fast and need a lot of food to support their growth. If he is younger than 6 months, he needs at least 10-15 crickets each morning or about 8-9 crickets and a few worms. Remember not to feed too many worms because they are not particularly nutritious, and the hard outer shell of mealworms can cause impaction if he eats too many at once.
 
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