New cham owner in need of advice!

[Saalper]

So I just bought my veiled chameleon three days ago and i'm a little worried since i did buy her from Petco. So far, i haven't noticed anything wrong with her. I put a few small crickets in her cage and watched her eat them and I've watched her drink the water droplets after i spray her tank. Also i'm not even for sure that she is a she tbh lmao. i kinda just looked up how to tell the difference and i'm pretty sure shes a female so I've named her Iris. I know they get stressed out easily so I've only handled her twice and only for a small amount of time. I keep her tank at a 50% humidity level and around 85 degrees. Any advice y'all could give me is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jevin]

There's a form to fill out on how to ask for help, it's in this link: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

Of off the info you gave, the humidity needs to be higher.

Veiled Chameleon Caresheet: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Saalper]

There's a form to fill out on how to ask for help, it's in this link: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

Of off the info you gave, the humidity needs to be higher.

Do you have any tips on how to make the humidity higher?

 

[Jevin]

Do you have any tips on how to make the humidity higher?

Fill out the form in the link as how to raise humidity varies depending on your geographical location and cage type.

 

[Saalper]

Fill out the form in the link as how to raise humidity varies depending on your geographical location and cage type.

I live in south Texas. my tank is glass on all sides except the top is screen. Its 12"X12"X18". btw i know dirt isnt good for chams, there's coconut husk stuff at the bottom and it said its safe for chameleons. I have a 5.0 uvb light on right now. i have two thermometers. one on the outside that takes the temp higher up in the tank and one that's lower and also measures the humidity. I've been coating the crickets with repticalcium from zoomed. i don't have any live plants because I've heard bad things about them getting moldy and stuff. Also i just checked my humidity and its at 80% now.

 

[Jevin]

The cage size could be too small, and from the picture, it looks like you only have one light. You should have a basking light in addition to a uvb light, and coconut husk fiber can still cause impaction, especially when your chameleon is young and small. You need to make sure the zoomed repticalcium is phosphorus free. I can't tell from the photo how many or what kind of lights you have exactly, however you did state that you had a UVB bulb.

Things needed:
1) basking lamp
2) UVB bulb (linear style)
3) remove the coconut husk
4) phosphorus free calcium without D3
5) phosphorus free calcium with D3
6) multivitamin
7) hand mister
8) automatic mister (if you want to, most do have one)
9) more foliage, either real or fake
10) more vines to make more walkways and travel routes
11) live plants like pothos or ficus, although you might have to wait until you get a larger cage to do that.

My first chameleon was a female veiled chameleon and I had live plants in the cage and never had an issue with them going moldy or anything. It's recommended to have live plants in a veiled chameleon enclosure as they tend to eat live plants like the ones I suggested.

Example of supplements needed:

 

[JacksJill]

This is good general info. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
To boost humidity You can hand mist more often, add a dripper (you will need a screened top container to catch the excess) and live plants. Pothos make good plants for cages.
Cover the soil in the plant pot with rocks larger than your chams head or screening to prevent soil ingestion/impaction.

 

[Fireborn]

Organic dirt or top soil is way safer than coco fibre. I keep my hatchlings in fully planted glass vivariums with a drainage layer under the soil. Eventually he/she will need a much larger enclosure as it grows.

 

[Fireborn]

Reptiles in the wild most frequently ingest dirt as they catch bugs. It's the artificial stuff we put them on like coco fibre, sand, wood chips, etc that is not fine enough to pas through their systems often causing impacting.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Where in South Texas? The Coastal area or the desert area? You can raise humidity with live plants. Do not handle her/him, it is actually recommended that you do not handle them for at least 1 week or more.