New Cham owner...is she ok??

[Andee]

Well the fact that you are misting 3-4 times a day and aren't getting her humidity with that alone to go passed 30% (from what I understand) during a mist then that shows you aren't misting enough. In my opinion her urates are not as white as I have seen on well hydrated chameleons, and for really well hydrated chameleons I always see a huge amount of clear liquid with a bowel movement. Anything from soft bodied feeders (like silkworms and hornworms) can make a chameleon more hydrated than they would be willing to by drinking alone. As far as with water, you need to mist regularly for 4 minutes, time it so that you don't skimp. Longer misting sessions for about 8 minutes I recommend for veileds around 2-3 times a weeks so they can really clean their eyes well. The humidifier does not need to be on 24/7 and is in fact detrimental to be on that long. It needs to be either turned off after an hour or two session and should only be used at most twice a day for her species, or not used at all. I have never used a fogger/humidifier for a vieled or panther, I only started using one once in a while, when I got my montane and it hits summer time.

 

[alphakenc]

If she is dark sitting under the basking light then that will explain why she is dark in the first place.
I will try let her eat as much as she can eats since she is still a younger chameleon ,I wont use the shower on the younger chameleon due to they wont be as steady as the heavier older cham stand in the shower but I will mist her longer n more often.
And I highly recommend take her to a vet just to do a regular routine check up so u will for sure to know she is 100percent well under ur care.

 

[Andee]

She honestly doesn't look that young to me. I didn't see a mentioned age? Did I miss it? She looks around 5-6 months, which is when females start producing clutches and it is recommended to restrict meal sizes.

 

[alphakenc]

I dont think restricting the meal will be a good idea since she is not growing to her fully potential n become an adult female,feed her the proper amount according to the care sheet info that probably will be the better choice.
Also the vet check since we can only here to suggest and the chameleon specialist vet will be able to give the chameleon a proper examine along with the fecal test like the professional do.
www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Solliebaby]

Read the can it will say with or without D3 if your giving calcium with D3 everyday that is not healthy and a what you described white around nostrils can mean too much d3. The norm is need to dust daily with calcium without D3. 2 times a month with d3 + multivitamin

The label says 0% d3.

 

[Andee]

It is always recommended by various keepers of egg laying species if you have a female you aren't breeding to start reducing meal sizes around 5-6 months, ESPECIALLY for veileds. I can tag people if you want. I do agree with the vet thing, getting a check up is always good especially since she is stable at the moment. At 5-6 months is when veileds and many other egg laying species will start producing clutches whether fetilized or not, and veileds are one of the ones who are known for producing the largest amounts averagely reaching around 55-70 eggs in a clutch (sometimes more). You are usually really lucky if you get less. I don't think the OP should not feed every day, but I think she should do controlled feeds. And keep the girl's temps low like they have been even when she reaches adulthood. It's one of the best ways to reduce production.

 

[alphakenc]

In that case they should put the restricting meal on the forum care sheet ,personally I wont restrict the female diet , and I wont over feed them cause they do still need all the nutrition to grow into an adult female(bones,size...etc)
I definitely recommend the vet check up with the fecal test and if this was an overweight female I probably will recommend the restricting meal diet but in this case it will be a different story until the check up to be done by the vet,I hope everything will be ok for this beautiful veiled.

 

[Andee]

I do agree in this case it may be different for sure. I am not sure why it isn't on the care sheet. I know Jann does it, Dillie Bean's person does it, and various other veiled keepers do. I am not sure if panthers are as big of a worry as veileds. From what I have noticed on various thread panthers tend to be a bit older before they start showing receptive signs averagely compared to veileds. There have been veileds known to get egg bound at 4 months and yet not show much gravid signs at all. I have never had to deal with a panther female, so I have never actually known how early they get gravid compared to most veileds, and I also don't know their average clutch size.

If this girl is truly underweight and dehydrated like I fear, then there is very likely some other serious issues to that need to be cut off before it gets out of control. Definitely recommend a vet no matter what.

 

[alphakenc]

@Andee I just want you to know u are a great person and I like u as a great person ,but I saw something different to disagree ,no hard feeling

 

[kinyonga]

She looks like she is close to full grown and is showing the mustard splotches a sexually mature veiled chameleon shows. I would make sure to put an egglaying container in the cage. It should be opaque and a minimum size of 12" deep x 8" x 8". It should be filled with washed playsand that is moist enough to hold a tunnel. Can you tell me an approximate length please or put something in the picture we will know the size of compared to her?

I would remove the water dish. Unless you keep them very clean they are just a place for bacteria to grow.
To help with hydration I would recommend using a dripper. It can be as simple as a deli cup with a small hole in the bottom. It should drip at the rate of one or two drips per second.

Overfeeding female veileds constantly especially once they are sexually mature can push them to producing large clutches, eggbinding, prolapses, and even MBD. The main reason for not pushing the temperatures too high in the basking area is that slightly lower temperatures (low 80's F) is to slow her metabolism a bit so that she won't need to eat quite so much and hopefully won't produce large clutches.
How much do you feed her a week?

Live plants are best for veiled chameleons IMHO because they eat vegetation and may try to eat fake leaves if they are in the cage.

As for dusting...its recommended that you dust at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest of it from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues where the D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light won't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

Its also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. prOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed sources will so this is safe and allows you to control the prEformed vitamin A and give it when it's needed.

It's important to feed/gutload your insects well too. I feed/gutload my crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with a wide and of greens such as dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a little fruit such as berries, melon, apple, pears.

The feces and updates you showed are not bad but this will show you more...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/poop-101.120171/page-9#post-1341425

Regarding the stuff on your chameleon's nose...it looks like she'd. They do sneeze out salts if they need to....but it is NOT CALCIUM Bekkageary said it was.

Hope this helps!

 

[alphakenc]

I usually go by their receptive color when they next to the male when I had my veiled female,I wont breed them until she is in certain weight and same as my panther.
They can mature different time especially with their color showing.

 

[Andee]

@Andee I just want you to know u are a great person and I like u as a great person ,but I saw something different to disagree ,no hard feeling

Don't worry hun, I am not upset and hopefully neither are you. What I like about this forum is there ARE so many differing opinions and it often is very individualistic for each chameleon's case for what needs to be done. I know Ryker eats A LOT more than a regular panther even to just keep healthy weight on him. In order to keep him weight steady I have to feed him 3 cc every day when I do fluid oral feedings (which at the moment are fluxuating, certain days he eats enough where he only need 1 cc). But if I skip a day I do prefer to go up to 4-5 cc. None of these are done all at once, only one cc at a time and usually there is at least one hour in between the next one. But in order to get that much actual insects he would need to eat 3 large roach nymphs, two large super worms, two wax worms or maybe some other feeders, and two medium silkworms. He is likely only to eat 5 feeders in a single day and then maybe not eat any the next. Therefore when he could see and feed himself keeping him at a healthy weight is really hard, so he gets a higher fat diet than most chameleons. My female jackson gets high protein/high hydration/lower fat.

 

[alphakenc]

Don't worry hun, I am not upset and hopefully neither are you. What I like about this forum is there ARE so many differing opinions and it often is very individualistic for each chameleon's case for what needs to be done. I know Ryker eats A LOT more than a regular panther even to just keep healthy weight on him. In order to keep him weight steady I have to feed him 3 cc every day when I do fluid oral feedings (which at the moment are fluxuating, certain days he eats enough where he only need 1 cc). But if I skip a day I do prefer to go up to 4-5 cc. None of these are done all at once, only one cc at a time and usually there is at least one hour in between the next one. But in order to get that much actual insects he would need to eat 3 large roach nymphs, two large super worms, two wax worms or maybe some other feeders, and two medium silkworms. He is likely only to eat 5 feeders in a single day and then maybe not eat any the next. Therefore when he could see and feed himself keeping him at a healthy weight is really hard, so he gets a higher fat diet than most chameleons. My female jackson gets high protein/high hydration/lower fat.

I hope they all doing well for u and living in the happy long life,they are all lucky to have u as their owner ,I love my panther too especially with the female,I treat her better than my others,if I can only expressed the colors to communicate with them,I probably wear a tie dye shirt day after day , night after night by their side.

 

[Solliebaby]

Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions and advice!
@Andee, you were spot on with your age guesstimate. I was told she was 5-6 months. When everyone was talking about misting, I was squirting her and the enclosure with a spray bottle, a few times only...duh! Until we purchase a misting system, I have upped how long I "mist" her, and spray for approximately four minutes and really soak everything. Any recommendations on a misting setup to buy?

She is still eating and defecating normally.

I will reread again incase I missed it, but how many feeders should she get daily if we are reducing her diet a little? We are gut loading crickets.

I am going to set up an opaque container of sand as mentioned to lay her clutch if she needs to. Any advice or tips about this is appreciated!

I know it is probably because she is in a new environment, but I just want her to be the happy little chameleon we saw in the pet store. We are going to make changes based on all of your advice and do everything we can tomake her happy and healthy. Check out the YouTube video we took! Is it normal for these guys to come up to people like she did?




In the video I didn't yet know she was a female...

She had us sold. Again, thanks so much for your advice and suggestions.

 

[Solliebaby]

She looks like she is close to full grown and is showing the mustard splotches a sexually mature veiled chameleon shows. I would make sure to put an egglaying container in the cage. It should be opaque and a minimum size of 12" deep x 8" x 8". It should be filled with washed playsand that is moist enough to hold a tunnel. Can you tell me an approximate length please or put something in the picture we will know the size of compared to her?

I would remove the water dish. Unless you keep them very clean they are just a place for bacteria to grow.
To help with hydration I would recommend using a dripper. It can be as simple as a deli cup with a small hole in the bottom. It should drip at the rate of one or two drips per second.

Overfeeding female veileds constantly especially once they are sexually mature can push them to producing large clutches, eggbinding, prolapses, and even MBD. The main reason for not pushing the temperatures too high in the basking area is that slightly lower temperatures (low 80's F) is to slow her metabolism a bit so that she won't need to eat quite so much and hopefully won't produce large clutches.
How much do you feed her a week?

Live plants are best for veiled chameleons IMHO because they eat vegetation and may try to eat fake leaves if they are in the cage.

As for dusting...its recommended that you dust at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest of it from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues where the D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light won't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

Its also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. prOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed sources will so this is safe and allows you to control the prEformed vitamin A and give it when it's needed.

It's important to feed/gutload your insects well too. I feed/gutload my crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with a wide and of greens such as dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a little fruit such as berries, melon, apple, pears.

The feces and updates you showed are not bad but this will show you more...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/poop-101.120171/page-9#post-1341425

Regarding the stuff on your chameleon's nose...it looks like she'd. They do sneeze out salts if they need to....but it is NOT CALCIUM Bekkageary said it was.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much! Your entire post was so informative! I will definitely be referring to this often.

 

[Andee]

Depending on how much she gains and how quickly you may only want to reduce to 5-6 medium sized cricket or feeders that are equal to it, every day. But if she gains really quickly most people reduce female feedings 5-8 large cricket feeders every other day.

 

[kinyonga]

You're welcome..glad I could help!