New Cham Owner, How's this look?

[rebecca26]

First time chameleon owner, we've had lizards in the past. Mostly curious if he is really male, if my enclosure looks sufficient, and if he looks like he is doing good. Thanks!!!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon Veiled chameleon, maybe male but not total sure, probably 3-4 months. Just got him 2 days ago.
• Handling Long enough to put him in his enclosure.
• Feeding He didn’t eat for about 36 hours, but has eaten at least 6 small crickets today (offered probably 10 or so). When do we move up to medium crickets?
• Supplements None yet.
• Watering There is a fogger in there. I have been misting 2-4 times a day, saturating the foliage for the most part, but it seems to evaporate quick. He’s started drinking from the fogger drops that fall off the cage
• Fecal Description One piece, dark brown, looks like a very minature human poop basically.
• History Got him from a pet store.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type Screen ZooMed Reptibreeze enclosure 16”x16”x30”
• Lighting 150 watt basking bulb, 5.0 UYB reptisun bulb, and 60w Daylight blue bulb. 10 hours off at night.
• Temperature temp at top is between 85-93, bottom temp is 70, this morning the top temp was 68 when I turned the light on… What’s too low at night?
• Humidity Rises to about 75 when misting but falls to around 40-50 at other times. Evaporates quick with the screen enclosure.
• Plants No live plants yet, just plastic foliage
• Placement It’s located on the main floor entry way, not really high traffic but can be when everyone gets home or leaves, I put a cardboard on the 2 exposed sides of the enclosure until he adapts to his space. No vents or fans around, top of cage is about 66” from ground.
• Location Colorado

Current Problem First does my enclosure look sufficient? How do I raise the temp and humidity with a screen cage? His first 24 hours he spent in the very top corner of the cage (away from all foliage) and was almost a black color. I am not sure if he was trying to match the color of the cage or if he was upset. We went and got more foliage for him and he moved into the foliage and turned green. So is he happy now? And my second question, is he a he? I thought he was a he until I started reading about the spurs, and now I am not sure. Does he have little tiny spurs (uploaded some pics of his/her feet) or is he a she?

 

[PTCham]

The basking bulb is way too strong. A 50 to 75 watt bulb would work fine (honestly your day time bulb could be fine). For a young cham, hotter temps could be problematic. As for sex, I believe your chameleon may be female due to the apparent lack of tarsal spurs. This means you'll need an egg box some time in the future (Read up on egg binding if you haven't already). Coloration looks very good in the pictures you sent. If she truly was 'black' (not brown or dark green) then that indicates extreme stress levels. Your humidity is fine (We are looking for an average humidity of 50-80, so its ok if it drops after misting). Veiled's can do fine with low temps at night (let's try to keep it above 60, some say they can tolerate as low as 40). As for medium crickets, if you mean 1/2 and 3-4 months is accurate, your chameleon should be ready.

The only concern I would have is with the feces. You mention it looked like human feces. Does this mean smooth tubular or lumpy? If tubular, sounds good. If lumpy, idk.

Instead of cardboard, you may find success with plastic table cloth. (Idk if cardboard can encourage mold growth because it absorbs water somewhat)

Honestly, she's an adorable cham, what's her name?

 

[rebecca26]

Thank you for your response!

So "his" name is Tweek..... but if he is a she I might need to rename her. Tweek isn't pretty for a girl. I will read up on the egg box, that is not something I knew about.

We had just the 5.0 bulb and the blue daytime bulb and we couldn't get the temps above about 85 and they dropped a lot. I wasn't sure if that was too low or not so we got the second bulb which brings it up to about 95. If 85 is warm enough I will remove the second bulb. It won't get below 60 in here, but I will keep an eye on the night temps. She has been a really pretty green since last night when we got her more foliage. She does get blackish-brown spots when I mist near her. I need to get an automatic mister for her because the fogger just pools on top of the screen and then drops.

She has been very active today, so I hope that means she likes her new home. She was in a 12x12x12 (or smaller) at the pet store, so I hope she likes all her climbing room!

For food I read that you should give them crickets that are about the length of their head (eye to eye). That would be about a half inch. These crickets we are getting are so tiny that I just feel like she isn't getting enough. Though I am excited that she is eating. I read about rainbowmealworms.net today so I have been exploring that site, maybe get her some treats.

Thanks again for the response, I appreciate any advice I can get!

 

[rebecca26]

Couple other things you asked about... Yes I mean tubular feces, but there is no white part, is that an issue?

And the cardboard isn't touching her enclosure and I take it down to spray. I'm more just using it to shield her a little.

So this isn't the tarsal spur?

 

[kinyonga]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon Veiled chameleon, maybe male but not total sure, probably 3-4 months. Just got him 2 days ago. Can't see for sure ...photo not clear on my tablet.
• Handling Long enough to put him in his enclosure.
• Feeding He didn’t eat for about 36 hours, but has eaten at least 6 small crickets today (offered probably 10 or so). When do we move up to medium crickets? Go by what looks like it would fit into his mouth comfortably. Some say the width of the space between the eyes.
• Supplements None yet. You need to start soon... phosphorus-free calcium at almost every feeding and twice a month with a phosphorus-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder.
• Watering There is a fogger in there. I have been misting 2-4 times a day, saturating the foliage for the most part, but it seems to evaporate quick. He’s started drinking from the fogger drops that fall off the cage. You can set up a dripper too. Are they all stopped at night so the cage can dry out?
• Fecal Description One piece, dark brown, looks like a very minature human poop basically. White part??
• History Got him from a pet store.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type Screen ZooMed Reptibreeze enclosure 16”x16”x30”
• Lighting 150 watt basking bulb, 5.0 UYB reptisun bulb, and 60w Daylight blue bulb. 10 hours off at night. No colored light is recommended.it should be white. You can use a regular incandescent household bulb of a wattage that produces the right temperature in the basking area.
• Temperature temp at top is between 85-93, bottom temp is 70, this morning the top temp was 68 when I turned the light on… What’s too low at night? Temperature can go down to 55 but I don't let it go that low. Just because it can suvivemthat doesn't mean it should.
• Humidity Rises to about 75 when misting but falls to around 40-50 at other times. Evaporates quick with the screen enclosure.
• Plants No live plants yet, just plastic foliage veileds eat foliage so real nontoxic well washed, both sides of the leaves is best...helps humidity too.
• Placement It’s located on the main floor entry way, not really high traffic but can be when everyone gets home or leaves, I put a cardboard on the 2 exposed sides of the enclosure until he adapts to his space. No vents or fans around, top of cage is about 66” from ground. If cold air comes in there when the door opens I'd move it.
• Location Colorado

Current Problem First does my enclosure look sufficient? How do I raise the temp and humidity with a screen cage? His first 24 hours he spent in the very top corner of the cage (away from all foliage) and was almost a black color. I am not sure if he was trying to match the color of the cage or if he was upset. We went and got more foliage for him and he moved into the foliage and turned green. So is he happy now? And my second question, is he a he? I thought he was a he until I started reading about the spurs, and now I am not sure. Does he have little tiny spurs (uploaded some pics of his/her feet) or is he a she? Good that you added more foliage. Why do you want to raise the temperature? Can't see if it makes or female for sure..my tablet doesn't show them clearly in your photos....sorry.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Cardboard has that little area of space in between, so I am pretty sure that mold likes it Great pic of the feet, though. Some people struggle with that. I am also unsure of the sex, the photo doesn't come in super clear on my device, either. At first I thought female, but that could be wrong.
Measure your feeder size by the rate your chameleon grows. The feeder should be as wide as the space between the chameleon's eyes, no more, just like @rebecca26 and @kinyonga said before. Sometimes chameleons like foods that are a little smaller, but do not make it so small that they escape or cause the chameleon to have trouble eating/aiming their tongue.
Check this link out: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/poop-101.120171/
It is everything you need to know about poop!
Tweek is such a cute name! There are videos on YouTube that explain how to set up a lay bin for your chameleon. @kinyonga posted a really good video a few days/weeks ago that was very helpful, you may want to contact her for that video if you are worried or want to be extra prepared.
The eyes look a tiny bit sunken but that may be because she is not drinking a whole lot due to the new change in housing. May I ask where you bought her? I would monitor her hydration status because some babies can be stubborn drinkers, believe me, I know The lack of urates might be another sign of dehydration, maybe something else.
The fogger may not be doing a whole lot for the humidity, you may want to upgrade to a warm mist humidifier. They are extremely beneficial to have. I have covered my cage in a fitted dropcloth I bought at Home Depot, (I have a screen cage) and it slightly helps with the humidity. I know that the analog gauges are notoriously inaccurate, you may want to upgrade to a digital humidity gauge and thermometer if you don't already have them. I am unsure whether you said you had them or not, I might have missed it.
Calcium supplements are especially important to females who are producing eggs. If she doesn't have enough calcium, it could lead to Metabolic Bone Disease and/or difficulty giving birth.

It took me forever to type this! I am sorry if I repeated some things that people said, I was typing as more messages were posted. Hope some of that helped

 

[rebecca26]

Thank you for your reply! I have some sample calcium that came with the cage that I will use with her next feeding. I ordered all of the Repcal supplements and will start those as soon as they get here. The fogger has basically become a dripper because it just pools on top of the cage. Yes I stop the fogger at night and turn off all the lights. The blue light is a UVA bulb and the other bulb is UVB. I will look at getting a white UVA bulb. I am trying to raise the temp at the top because with the single bulb it is only 85. Is 85 sufficient? It's far enough away from the entry door that opening the door does not effect the cage. It's also the garage door so not as cold as an exterior door. There is no white part in her feces. I will keep watching for more, but what does that mean if there is not a white part and what can I do about it?

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Just make sure she is drinking. Make sure she has no access to any of that pooled water, and do you mean 85 degrees or watts? It seems okay for either. At night I would say do not let it drop below 50. 50 is about the lowest temp they can handle, but I have heard or some chameleons enduring more. The hottest temp I would say they can withstand is about 90, but you really do not want it to get that high. For the calcium, you may want to buy more high end products. Some can contain phosphorus, which is not very good. I have yet to find a good calcium for my girl, I can't get my hands on any without phosphorus. Speaking of, I posted a thread because I was wondering whether Repashy products are made with phosphorus. Maybe if someones gives an answer about that here, you can buy some of that. If I get a reply on my thread, I will be sure to convey it here. Hopefully you can find some calcium sans phosphorus by yourself. If you do, I would love to know.

 

[rebecca26]

Cardboard has that little area of space in between, so I am pretty sure that mold likes it Great pic of the feet, though. Some people struggle with that. I am also unsure of the sex, the photo doesn't come in super clear on my device, either. At first I thought female, but that could be wrong.
Measure your feeder size by the rate your chameleon grows. The feeder should be as wide as the space between the chameleon's eyes, no more, just like @rebecca26 and @kinyonga said before. Sometimes chameleons like foods that are a little smaller, but do not make it so small that they escape or cause the chameleon to have trouble eating/aiming their tongue.
Check this link out: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/poop-101.120171/
It is everything you need to know about poop!
Tweek is such a cute name! There are videos on YouTube that explain how to set up a lay bin for your chameleon. @kinyonga posted a really good video a few days/weeks ago that was very helpful, you may want to contact her for that video if you are worried or want to be extra prepared.
The eyes look a tiny bit sunken but that may be because she is not drinking a whole lot due to the new change in housing. May I ask where you bought her? I would monitor her hydration status because some babies can be stubborn drinkers, believe me, I know The lack of urates might be another sign of dehydration, maybe something else.
The fogger may not be doing a whole lot for the humidity, you may want to upgrade to a warm mist humidifier. They are extremely beneficial to have. I have covered my cage in a fitted dropcloth I bought at Home Depot, (I have a screen cage) and it slightly helps with the humidity. I know that the analog gauges are notoriously inaccurate, you may want to upgrade to a digital humidity gauge and thermometer if you don't already have them. I am unsure whether you said you had them or not, I might have missed it.
Calcium supplements are especially important to females who are producing eggs. If she doesn't have enough calcium, it could lead to Metabolic Bone Disease and/or difficulty giving birth.

It took me forever to type this! I am sorry if I repeated some things that people said, I was typing as more messages were posted. Hope some of that helped

I see what you mean with the cardboard. I will look into plastic or something else. I may move her enclosure all together, but I don't know where else in my house to put her.

She is doing good with eating, I've watched her eat a few crickets and my husband has as well so I know she is getting food. For water, I watched her sit under where the fogger is dripping and lick it off her head. I will keep an eye on her though to make sure she gets water.

I have a digital thermometer at the top and analog humidity and thermometer at the bottom.

I guess I will keep an eye and see if those "spurs" get bigger or not.

 

[rebecca26]

Just make sure she is drinking. Make sure she has no access to any of that pooled water, and do you mean 85 degrees or watts? It seems okay for either. At night I would say do not let it drop below 50. 50 is about the lowest temp they can handle, but I have heard or some chameleons enduring more. The hottest temp I would say they can withstand is about 90, but you really do not want it to get that high. For the calcium, you may want to buy more high end products. Some can contain phosphorus, which is not very good. I have yet to find a good calcium for my girl, I can't get my hands on any without phosphorus. Speaking of, I posted a thread because I was wondering whether Repashy products are made with phosphorus. Maybe if someones gives an answer about that here, you can buy some of that. If I get a reply on my thread, I will be sure to convey it here. Hopefully you can find some calcium sans phosphorus by yourself. If you do, I would love to know.

It gets to 85 degrees. Is that were it should be? I thought it was 85-95, so I thought 85 was like the low end of ok. And the cage at the pet store was like 105... You also asked where I got her, Petsmart. Probably not the best place, but none of the reptile stores around had any juveniles or veileds. Since she is inside and we keep our house at about 72 it won't get below 50 in here.

I got the Rep-Cal products, so we will see how those go. I was looking at Repashy, but the one I was looking at you feed to the crickets. Is that what you were talking about? Do you feed your veiled fresh veggies like Kale? I just tried to offer her crickets rolled in calcium, and she wasn't interested and the crickets fell to the bottom of the cage. I will try again tomorrow with her next feeding.

Thanks again for all the advice. I just love watching her and seeing what she does.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

I bought my veiled girl at Petco, but as long as they get good care when they are taken home it doesn't matter too much because the pet store cares for them for such little time. Anything in the 90s temperature wise is too hot, and that Petsmart seriously scares me with those temps. . . wish I could buy 'em all up and bring them home. Yes, I feed my chameleon fresh veggies and greens like kale, carrots (so she is full), among a large list of other ingredients. I think I will post the list to a new thread because I have gotten so many requests to see it.
Also, I love watching my chameleon too! They never get boring, and there is always something new for you to do with them or buy for them. I have to say I always go overboard buying her the latest and greatest stuff. Thankfully I have not gone broke *yet*
You may have to ease her into the calcium, like starting with a light dusting that she may not notice and then slowly increase. Females get hungrier and hungrier as they grow up, and mine (a year old) is eating roaches like crazy. My girl doesn't really care what she is fed as long as it gets into her stomach quickly. What she doesn't know is that I am the one who cares what she eats
All females are different, but I do know that they are hungry most of the time because they need as many nutrients as they can get in the wild in order for them to raise healthy eggs. Unfortunately I can't find any Rep-Cal products near me. Where did you buy yours?

 

[kinyonga]

@rebecca26 said..." what does that mean if there is not a white part and what can I do about it?"...he white part is the urates/urine...so it means the chameleon didn't pee. Look for it in the cage...it might have bounced somewhere else.

 

[rebecca26]

I bought my veiled girl at Petco, but as long as they get good care when they are taken home it doesn't matter too much because the pet store cares for them for such little time. Anything in the 90s temperature wise is too hot, and that Petsmart seriously scares me with those temps. . . wish I could buy 'em all up and bring them home. Yes, I feed my chameleon fresh veggies and greens like kale, carrots (so she is full), among a large list of other ingredients. I think I will post the list to a new thread because I have gotten so many requests to see it.
Also, I love watching my chameleon too! They never get boring, and there is always something new for you to do with them or buy for them. I have to say I always go overboard buying her the latest and greatest stuff. Thankfully I have not gone broke *yet*
You may have to ease her into the calcium, like starting with a light dusting that she may not notice and then slowly increase. Females get hungrier and hungrier as they grow up, and mine (a year old) is eating roaches like crazy. My girl doesn't really care what she is fed as long as it gets into her stomach quickly. What she doesn't know is that I am the one who cares what she eats
All females are different, but I do know that they are hungry most of the time because they need as many nutrients as they can get in the wild in order for them to raise healthy eggs. Unfortunately I can't find any Rep-Cal products near me. Where did you buy yours?

I found all the Rep-Cal products on Amazon. I got the 3 recommended, they should be here in like 3 days.

 

[rebecca26]

@rebecca26 said..." what does that mean if there is not a white part and what can I do about it?"...he white part is the urates/urine...so it means the chameleon didn't pee. Look for it in the cage...it might have bounced somewhere else.

I will look around for it. And keep an eye out for more feces to make sure she is doing good.
You seem extremely knowledgeable, from the foot pics I posted, do you think s/he is a male or female? I've been reading about egg laying and am a little freaked out now....

 

[rebecca26]

I will look around for it. And keep an eye out for more feces to make sure she is doing good.
You seem extremely knowledgeable, from the foot pics I posted, do you think s/he is a male or female? I've been reading about egg laying and am a little freaked out now....

Just noticed you already commented on his or her sex.... Thanks for looking. I hope it becomes more apparent soon.

 

[kinyonga]

Tarsal spurs...
http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html

 

[CJ's Exotics]

The basking bulb is way too strong. A 50 to 75 watt bulb would work fine (honestly your day time bulb could be fine). For a young cham, hotter temps could be problematic. As for sex, I believe your chameleon may be female due to the apparent lack of tarsal spurs. This means you'll need an egg box some time in the future (Read up on egg binding if you haven't already). Coloration looks very good in the pictures you sent. If she truly was 'black' (not brown or dark green) then that indicates extreme stress levels. Your humidity is fine (We are looking for an average humidity of 50-80, so its ok if it drops after misting). Veiled's can do fine with low temps at night (let's try to keep it above 60, some say they can tolerate as low as 40). As for medium crickets, if you mean 1/2 and 3-4 months is accurate, your chameleon should be ready.

The only concern I would have is with the feces. You mention it looked like human feces. Does this mean smooth tubular or lumpy? If tubular, sounds good. If lumpy, idk.

Instead of cardboard, you may find success with plastic table cloth. (Idk if cardboard can encourage mold growth because it absorbs water somewhat)

Honestly, she's an adorable cham, what's her name?

Great advice, but the bulb is not way too strong. The wattage depends on your location and conditions. You should take out the 60 watt, and leave the 150 watt to see what the temperatures are, and go from there.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

It is recommended by many keepers to have a linear UVB, which is generally more effective.

 

[rebecca26]

Great advice, but the bulb is not way too strong. The wattage depends on your location and conditions. You should take out the 60 watt, and leave the 150 watt to see what the temperatures are, and go from there.

What is an ideal daytime temperature? I've read 85-95, so should I shoot for 90 degrees? If I move the 150w to the front of the enclosure (away from the basking spot) it lingers around 85-90, but that is with the blue bulb still in. I think that my UVB is a linear bulb this is the one I have.

This is the 150w bulb I have:

 

[CJ's Exotics]

For a juvenile Veiled, I would recommend a 85 degree basking spot, give or take a degree or two. That is not a linear UVB, I would recommend changing it out.