New baby veiled nutrition worries

[CoolishReagent]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon – baby female, about as long as my finger, we think female based on lack of wrist knuckle the internet says means male, veiled Cham. Had 3 days
• Handling – She comes quickly to us when we offer hand, she gets handled 2-3 daily.
• Feeding – this is the issue. Pets store here was out of crickets, so we got freeze dried just until we could get something better but we organically compost and have BFSL out the wazoo and I’ve been placing them in her feed bowl but she has only eaten 1 since we got her. Today I bought flightless fruit flies from petsmart and she is devouring them but still nothing else.
• Supplements – repticalcium is sprinkled on the food but again only eaten the 1 BSFL And tiny fruit flies
• Watering – Hand misting until our mister comes in, multiple times a day she like to drink the droplets out of the screen so we try and keep droplets there
• Fecal Description – have t seen any yet
• History – only had a few days
• Cage Info: 18x18x36 screen with metal frame, bioactive live plants coming from TheBioDude. But plastics climbing vine and leafy stuff for now, preserved moss and moss vine
  • Cage Type – it’s the chameleon habitat found at pet smart.
  • Lighting – to dome lighting kit, 5.0 UVB bulb and Blue light bulb
  • Temperature – in warmest spot ranges from 90-95, bottom of cab is 70
  • Humidity – fogged is on the way but we mist often, we know from our mold inspections (they do them where I live quarterly) our house is around 50%
  • Plants – live plants are on the way, for now plastic from petsmart and preserved moss bedding
  • Placement – there is a fan in the room always on low no vents in area though (hence the fan) habitat is about 2 feet off ground up against a wall
  • Location -coastal georgia
• 
  Current Problem – I’ve read BSFL are a good staple and since they come from my organic compost they should be RICH with nutrients and “gut loaded” but she will only eat the fruit flies right now as I think the BSFL are to big still. Will she be ok eating only fruit flies and should I try and cultivate my own fruit flies using compostables or are the store bought flies sufficient?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome! I’ll do my best to review your husbandry but not sure I can answer your questions about your bsfl.
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon – baby female, about as long as my finger, we think female based on lack of wrist knuckle the internet says means male, veiled Cham. Male veiled chameleons have a little nub (spur) on their back feet. Had 3 days
• Handling – She comes quickly to us when we offer hand, she gets handled 2-3 daily. This is too much too soon. You need to give her time to settle in and acclimate to her new home.
• Feeding – this is the issue. Pets store here was out of crickets, so we got freeze dried just until we could get something better but we organically compost and have BFSL out the wazoo and I’ve been placing them in her feed bowl but she has only eaten 1 since we got her. Today I bought flightless fruit flies from petsmart and she is devouring them but still nothing else. Chameleons will only eat live bugs. Rule of thumb for feeder size is nothing bigger than the space between their eyes. Bsfl are great feeders, but I have no idea what you put in your compost pile so I don’t want to say they are ok.
• Supplements – repticalcium is sprinkled on the food but again only eaten the 1 BSFL And tiny fruit flies Basic supplementation is phosphorus free calcium with NO D3 on every feeding except one per week. For that one weekly feeding you are going to alternate giving calcium WITh D3 and a multivitamin.
• Watering – Hand misting until our mister comes in, multiple times a day she like to drink the droplets out of the screen so we try and keep droplets there Is best to mist at least 2-3 times daily for about 2 minutes...mist the plant leaves as that is what chams usually lick water from.
• Fecal Description – have t seen any yet It’s always a good idea to get a fecal to check for parasites
• History – only had a few days
• Cage Info: 18x18x36 screen with metal frame, bioactive live plants coming from TheBioDude. But plastics climbing vine and leafy stuff for now, preserved moss and moss vine As she grows, she will be needing a much larger enclosure. 24x24x48” or equivalent is the minimum for an adult.
  • Cage Type – it’s the chameleon habitat found at pet smart.
  • Lighting – to dome lighting kit, 5.0 UVB bulb and Blue light bulb You need to upgrade this ASAP. The coil uvb bulbs don’t provide adequate uvb unless your cham is about 2-3 inches away. You need a linear T5HO with a 5.0 uvb bulb (or Arcadia 6%). It needs to be long enough to span the width of the enclosure. Also, replace the blue bulb with a regular old fashioned incandescent light bulb. Colored lights are bad for cham eyes. You may need to raise your lights off of the screen as the little ones tend to screen climb.
  • Temperature – in warmest spot ranges from 90-95, bottom of cab is 70 Way too hot for a little one. Basking temp should be in the low 80’s...not higher than 83-85*. At night it’s good if temps drop down.
  • Humidity – fogged is on the way but we mist often, we know from our mold inspections (they do them where I live quarterly) our house is around 50% You’ll need to get a hygrometer to monitor levels. Ideal level during the day is between 30-50%. At night when it’s cooler it can go as high as 100%
  • Plants – live plants are on the way, for now plastic from petsmart and preserved moss bedding You’ll definitely need to get rid of all artificial plants and plant matter. Veiled’s nibble their plants so you need them to be real and safe. Pothos is excellent and can be gotten anywhere.
  • Placement – there is a fan in the room always on low no vents in area though (hence the fan) habitat is about 2 feet off ground up against a wall Need to raise the enclosure high enough so that your cham is able to look down at you. They feel safest when up high.
  • Location -coastal georgia

You haven’t posted a pic of your enclosure so I’m going to address some common general things new cham keepers tend to do.
If not going bioactive, a bare floor is best and most hygienic. You may need to figure out a drainage system to manage excess water. Make sure there’s lots of branches and vines to give your cham lots of little roads. You can use branches from your yard as long as they are pesticide free and not from pine or other trees with sap. Wash with dish soap, blast with a hose and sun dry. No fogging during the day, but at night is ok.

• 
  Current Problem – I’ve read BSFL are a good staple and since they come from my organic compost they should be RICH with nutrients and “gut loaded” but she will only eat the fruit flies right now as I think the BSFL are to big still. Will she be ok eating only fruit flies and should I try and cultivate my own fruit flies using compostables or are the store bought flies sufficient?
  I don’t see that this is really a problem to eat the fruit flies other than they may be too small for her. I really have no idea about your bsfl. I know that when we buy them, they haven’t been fed for several days. I want to say they would be ok if you didn’t feed the bsfl for a few days before giving to your cham, but I can’t be certain. Maybe our bug lord @jamest0o0 or someone else will be better able to advise. I can/am attaching feeder & gut load graphics.
  A couple of great places for learning more about caring for your cham: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3n4S2GRkOGfk2U8-xhaw6Q
• https://chameleonacademy.com/
• 
  
  
  

 

[CoolishReagent]

Thank you for all the info! First I want to say we are going with bioactive and the trees plants soil are on their way We just didn’t want to stick any pot his in there cause if it was treated with pesticide or chemicals she could get sick right? Also our compost is all organic produce waste, no yard waste and such.
I have a higher place I can move the housing, and I understand I need a bigger one as she grows I’m building one out of screen mesh and will transfer her habitat to it when I’m done.
The light isn’t blue but the bulb is called a blue daylight bulb, I read up to 95 was ok but I’ll move the light up higher and replace the UVB bulb with a tube.. why does the pet shop sell this kit if it’s all crap.. anyway it’s not an issue to replace it. And I understand about the size of feeders but I’ve been to both pet shops we have an neither have the smaller crickets and all I can find small enough are the tiny fruit flies which she ended up eating nearly all of.
her day time humidity is 40-50 we have a humidity gauge now next to her enclosure. Once the fogger gets Here we’ll be able to get it higher at night and today I learned about a dripper, For adding water to the leafy plants is this a good idea or can the fogger if it leaves droplets on the leaves sufficient?

I’m mostly concerned with her eating if I can’t find better feeder options..one pets shop said only frozen or dried crickets the other said someone bought all the smallest crickets and only left the full size. Is there a feeder bug supplier I can order from?

 

[MissSkittles]

There’s lots of feeder places you can order from. Check the site sponsors. Mori feeders has really nice silkworms and you can most likely get some small ones, which would be a good size. Lady silkworm has been posting, but I haven’t checked out her site. I get crickets from https://www.ghann.com/. They have every size you could wish for. If you’re looking for roaches https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/roaches-and-isopods-updated.174164/
I don’t use a dripper...just have automatic mister. I have to water my plants weekly or so. I am in the process of changing to bioactive so not yet sure what I’ll be needing to water or not. The one that has been up and running for a few weeks, I do still water the hanging plants. The ones in the substrate seem to be getting enough.

 

[CoolishReagent]

Several days later follow:
we adjusted the height of the enclosure and temps and UVB tube light with hood. She now sits at basking height higher than we are tall, it’s 87 in her basking spot.

we finally caught the store with some crickets and we bought about 200 pinheads and some adults. We setup a crickets enclosure for them to feed and Reproduce, we feed them gut loaders and calcium supplements,

so now that she hunts crickets we’ve seen her pattern turn very bright striped with dark bands and spots. This is so amazing! Ever time she sees a cricket or fly she changes and starts stalking

Were also working out a way to either build our own or have built a custom sized enclosure. the enclosure we got the zoo-MED Cham habitat, is basically 6 window screen that attach at the corners so we figured we could order customer screens from Lowes and then connect them to make something larger, Ned from the beginning to go up to around 3’x3’x5’, with several trees and plants all bioactive to basically give her the most natural enviroment we can without just releasing her lol

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!

For the future...when your chameleon is mature, she can produce eggs without having mated...if you overfeed her when she's approaching that maturity she can produce huge clutches that will lead to health issues and likely death...so you will need to be sure you feed her properly. Also she will need an egg laying bin in the cage at all times so you won't miss her need to lay eggs.

 

[CoolishReagent]

Welcome to the forum!

For the future...when your chameleon is mature, she can produce eggs without having mated...if you overfeed her when she's approaching that maturity she can produce huge clutches that will lead to health issues and likely death...so you will need to be sure you feed her properly. Also she will need an egg laying bin in the cage at all times so you won't miss her need to lay eggs.

Will she not be able to just dig into the natural earth substrate? We have a bio active set up on its way. She’ll have a natural earth ground with plants planted directly in it, she should be able to lay her eggs naturally, I’m also aware that as an adult she needs to be moderated but as she is tiny we are letting her eat her fill

 

[kinyonga]

She should eat as much as she can right now in a couple of minutes at each feeding!

I was just posting the information now because you might not know and we might not remember to tell you later!if the bioactive is deep enough she could lay them there...but then you have to dig them up later....

 

[MissSkittles]

Several days later follow:
we adjusted the height of the enclosure and temps and UVB tube light with hood. She now sits at basking height higher than we are tall, it’s 87 in her basking spot.

we finally caught the store with some crickets and we bought about 200 pinheads and some adults. We setup a crickets enclosure for them to feed and Reproduce, we feed them gut loaders and calcium supplements,

so now that she hunts crickets we’ve seen her pattern turn very bright striped with dark bands and spots. This is so amazing! Ever time she sees a cricket or fly she changes and starts stalking

Were also working out a way to either build our own or have built a custom sized enclosure. the enclosure we got the zoo-MED Cham habitat, is basically 6 window screen that attach at the corners so we figured we could order customer screens from Lowes and then connect them to make something larger, Ned from the beginning to go up to around 3’x3’x5’, with several trees and plants all bioactive to basically give her the most natural enviroment we can without just releasing her lol

Glad to hear you’ve made some changes. Basking temp is still a bit too high. See if you can it to the lower 80’s. Maybe move the basking spot down a few inches or the light up.
Many members make their own enclosures...repurposed China cabinets, diy wood frame, etc. As I was assembling a Repti Breeze I realized I could probably make my own with screen framing. Maybe another time.
Now, you have neglected one of the most important aspects of chameleon husbandry...where are the pics?!?! We love seeing everyone’s scaly babies.?

 

[CoolishReagent]

Glad to hear you’ve made some changes. Basking temp is still a bit too high. See if you can it to the lower 80’s. Maybe move the basking spot down a few inches or the light up.
Many members make their own enclosures...repurposed China cabinets, diy wood frame, etc. As I was assembling a Repti Breeze I realized I could probably make my own with screen framing. Maybe another time.
Now, you have neglected one of the most important aspects of chameleon husbandry...where are the pics?!?! We love seeing everyone’s scaly babies.?

So I had the temp at around 80 degrees but she went back to climbing on the ceiling to get closer to the heat and when I lowered the light to make the spot 85 she went back to the branch ??‍ Also not sure if I ever established her name... Venus! I’ve included pics!!
One of those shows are on chill mode light green and yellow, hunter mode dark striped, and in her Spider-Man hunting hang upside down and snipe the crickets from above pose.

 

[MissSkittles]

What a little beauty! They look so very sweet when sleeping. ? Love the name Venus...Goddess of love...or the tennis player. Lol
Thanks for posting the pics!