New Baby Veiled Help

[Nemzes]

Hello
Just got my first Veiled chameleon after a lot of research online but have a feeling im doing somethign wrong. Any assistance is greatly appreciated,

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male veiled approx 6 weeks old
Handling - none yet
Feeding - feeding crickets gutloaded with cricket drink with calcium and a few wax worms. Supplements - dusting with zoomed repti calcium every other day.
Watering - The little dipper and misting cage 3x per day.
Fecal Description - Tested an no parasites.
History - bred at LLL Reptile

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Screen 18x18x36
Lighting - ReptiGlow 5.0 compact UVB and UVA Lamp. 100W basking lamp.
Temperature - temp at bottom 72 and basking 82-87
Lowest overnight temp 65,genarally 68..Use a heat emitter at night
12 hour timer for day/night
Humidity - humidity between 34-60 misting and repti fogger . misting 3x day 9am /1pm/4pm. 2 . zoomed hydromiter/thermometer
Plants - live plant and 2 fake.
Placement - Home office, on small dresser.
Location - Poplar Grove, IL
Current Problem - Seems very timid. Had him 10 days. He will hide everytime someone comes near him. I fed him the first couple days from a cup, now he seems scared of it. I know if no one is around he seems more active but im concerned as i dont see him eat or drink. How many pin head crickets should i give? I normally try to 2 sets of 5 throughout the day, i know he doesnt eat them all as i pull some out at night. Others im hoping he ate, but its hard to find stuff in the cage, they are so small . Also, i have a very hard time keeping the humidity level up. I read putting a substrate can help, but others say no. Currently i have paper in the bottom.
Do i need to move him to an area of the house where its very quiet, spare bedroom maybe? Hoping im not somehow slowing killing him. Heres a pic of the enclosure...sorry, bad phone camera.

 

[camimom]

hes just getting used to his home, its normal.

For gutloading- you need to find information from sandra chameleonblogs on good gutload foods, such as fresh fruits and veggies.

just because you dont see him eat and drink, doesnt mean he isnt. it just means that you dont see it. my babies i never see eat and drink,but i know they do. just dont watch him after you feed and mist.

supplements- you need a calcium without d3 for every feeding,a calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.

substrate- no. he might eat it and trust me, you dont want to deal with an impacted chameleon baby.

noises arennt really going to bother him, they are for all intensive purposes, deaf.

just let him settle in, make sure he has enough cover, light, and foliage, and he will settle.

 

[MollyT]

First of all, hello and welcome to the forums. I am in no way an expert, but I will tell you the things that popped out at me. First, you should dust his crickets with the calcium without D3 every feeding. You also need to get calcium with d3 and multivitamins, and the feeders should be dusted with each of them twice a month, though not together. I do mine on Sundays, and just alternate them. You also need to gutload your crickets. Sandrachameleon has some great blogs on gutloading, so I would recommend looking her up on here and reading some of them. As far as him getting enough water, you can tell is he is hydrated by his urates(the white part of his poop). It should be white. If it is really yellow or orange you know he needs more water. I would continue to try cup feeding. His cage is a bit big, so it may be hard for him to find the crickets since he is so small. He will grow quickly, though, and the cage will be a great size for him when he's older, but until then, cup feeding will probably work best. I'm trying to figure out why he would suddenly become scared of the cup. Did you change cups? Maybe the color of it bothers him. What color is it? They can be very sensitive to colors. I hope this helps. Your setup looks good. Looks like he has plenty of places to hide. It sounds like you are doing pretty good so far, you just need to tweak a few things and he should be fine! Good luck to you!

 

[Nemzes]

Thanks for the fast replies. The calcium is without D3, sorry..should have mentioned that. I will now try and dust every feeding though. Ive dsted once with herptivite multivitamins aswell. The feeding cup is just a worm feeder cup with white tape to block off the holes at the bottom. its a see thru whiteish cup. Maybe he needs a red solo cup . Thaks again for the replies. It helps a lot. Will also look into the gut loading sites.

 

[Lathelia]

Hi and welcome
Don't switch the cup to red one, he might be afraid of it. And one more thing - at this age he can and should eat as much as he can. You could add more variety to his diet, though finding small feeders other then crickets might be dificult, but you could try fruit flies.

 

[MollyT]

I agree with the above comment...red will likely upset him. I wouldn't think a white cup would bother him. Hmm. I would still try cupfeeding. Of course, if he seems really disturbed I guess you will have to take it out. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help....I've never heard of this.

 

[Nemzes]

I think i have figured it out. He hates me . I didnt see him the other day while spraying and got him pretty good with spray, since then he runs in fear of me. I had someone else hold the cup today and he came up and ate it. Ive ordered an auto misting system/rainfall system so hopfully he will only see my hand as "the hand of food" going forward. I may be completely wrong and today was a fluke. Atleast i saw him eat, so im happier now. Thanks all once again for the tips.

 

[squeekz1992]

Aww he doesn't hate you! You just startled him. They tend to be jumpy when they first come home

 

[ChameleonMom]

I'd say you've done your research pretty well as your setup as you described in the form seems pretty good. When I saw the pictures I was pleasantly surprised! Nice job!

However, one thing I would do is remove the hear emitter at night. Chameleons benefit from a temperature drop at night and don't require heat. Also, the general rule of thumb from the forum for supplementing is: Calcium without D3 at every feeding, Calcium w/D3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month. The schedule for every other Sunday such as MollyT mentioned is a great idea. Give him some time to get familiar with his surroundings. It can take up to 3 weeks for him to become comfortable and one thing I've learned with my chams, don't let them be the boss...you need to be assertive and firm with them but loving. If you are hesitant and 'scared' then they seem to take advantage of that and end up ruling the roost. It may take a while but with love, attention and a good talking to every day will enable him to warm up to you. Also, remember that chameleons are solitary reptiles and I've learned they are 'one person' pets...my chams love me but don't care for my other family members so if you want your cham to be YOUR cham, then I would keep the care from others down to a minimum as you want him to learn YOU are his keeper.

Good luck!

 

[HolyToledo]

Maybe he is related to my Prometheus? He is from LLL also and I'm not blaming them but this guy is the meanest, nastiest, people hater I have ever seen and even after 6 months has gotten not much better about anything But, (knock on wood) he is healthy and beautiful and I love him anyway.

I hope yours gets better with time and patience. good luck.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum We all remember that first cham feeling of worry that you might be slowly killing him. Don't panic!
Your setup looks really nice, I'm sure he'll learn to be a happy and confident lizard. I agree with the idea of fruit flies and any other variety you can get into him at this stage, to help later on in case he turns fussy. Your basking site is a bit hot for a baby, they do like to walk upside down on the ceiling sometimes, so be extra careful to make sure the hot mesh can't burn him.
Here is a great basic caresheet I recommend to all new people with Veileds- https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

 

[MollyT]

Don't feel bad if he isn't your #1 fan just yet. Mine is still terrified of me and I've had him a month! I have been slowly working with him and handling, but it is a slow process. I didn't touch him for the first 3 weeks(and I wanted to SO bad!)! I know I shouldn't pick him up a lot, and I don't. My main concern is getting him used to me holding him just in case I have to take him for a vet visit or to take him outside. That kind of thing. It will just make it so much easier if he isn't terrified of me! Basically, what I'm trying to say is....you are not alone! haha Veileds are known to be a bit sassy. Mine is definitely no exception to that! haha I hope yours comes around.