New cham owner jitters!

[Kimbothecham]

Hey guys names Robby purchased my first veiled cham (kimbo) about a week ago pretty sure I may have the first time owner scares for sure haha owned many reptiles pythons boas anoles and gekos etc.. in the past and very advid green thumb as i work in agriculture. Thought might as well combine 2 things i love reptiles and plants. Just wanted to chime in with the more experienced out there and see if im doing anything wrong what I can improve on and see if I just need to give him some more time as I know anoles stress easily and can be brown but not as sensitive as my cham I definitely know that. I have some books on the way will attach pictures of them hopefully there good did so much research before hand ill attach pics of my little guy kimbo as well. Just alittle concerned on his coloring and possibly him being to stressed or if its just him getting used to his environment and being wild caught. I've noticed him get some golden brown coloring and some white over the last few days his green has definitely gotten alittle brighter over the last few days as well.
any information is greatly appreciated!! looking forward to chatting with everyone!
Hopefully I didn't get in over my head after finding out he was wild caught after I purchased him so definitely on the nervous side! made a big mistake and had fake moss caught his butt eating it 3 days after I got him and immediately removed the one vine he seems to have passed it though thank god. Did eat a cricket outta my fingers a few days ago but still super timid. He dosenst flee to the back of the terrarium now when I open the door to feed or mist so thats a good sign i hope. Work scedule from 6 am to 5 pm and wife works just as long so he has alot of uninterrupted time with no movement 5 days a week. Very bright green when he wakes up too so beautiful. Moved his vines around noticed he was rubbing his crest on the screen attached a picture of his home as well and if I need to make adjustments let me know

• Your Chameleon - adult veiled, male, roughly 7 to 8 months is what they told me,I've had him 8 days now
• Handling - just to his new home no more
• Feeding - 5 to 6 large crickets gut loaded with a flukers orange cubes (not to fond of the fake flukers stuff will work on a natural gutload very soon) along with 2 super worms every day (eats like a pig) gonna introduce horn worms as soon as I can get them outta stock
• Supplements - repti calcium without d3 every feeding and one feeding so far with repti calcium with d3 have reptivite as well and will use it on alternate weeks
• Watering - mist 2 times daily along with a fogger for 3 hours in the am and when I get home from work for a few hours. ( I see him drink every time I mist) I mist on lunch at 12pm and once before bed
• Fecal description - firm dark round almost black with white urate every other day it seems and every day a few times as far as frequency no smell
• History - purchased from a locally owned pet store petland he was in a very small terrarium felt so bad for him. Kimbo does consistently eat every day - drinking every day active roams around for a few and heads back up to bask seems to balance great very alert is sleeping watched him wake up the other day and open his eyes.

Cage Info :

• cage type - glass with vents 18x18x36 (plan to build a bigger screen enclosure will keep updates as I do that)
• Lighting - zilla t8 hood reptisun10.0 uvb bulb 100w incandescent for heat also bought a 75w incase the 100w is to warm. 8:30am on 8:30pm off on a timer
• temperature - basking spot 85 to 88 ( measured with ag hygrometer and infrared laser temp gun) drops to 70 75 center of terrarium and 65 bottom. Never colder than 62 at night
• Humidity - 50 to 55 % constantly lowest ive seen is 45% highs 70 to 75% when misted
• Plants - yes fake for now combination of vines and sticks looking for a dwarf umbrella tree or a dwarf money tree to put in there with him havent found one yet
• placement - corner of the living room by window for natural light as well low traffic as its only the wife and me about 3 foot up off the floor on a table​
• location- central New mexico very dry.

Let me know how im doing i sure do love my little guy already.

 

[Shanar808]

Soo cute! Congratulations on your new baby. I’m not familiar with veileds but your husbandry form looks pretty good. You will probably need to swap out the fake plants ASAP before he tries to eat them too and get impacted. I’m sure an experienced member will hop on and give you some great advice soon. Good luck and welcome to the family!

 

[Gingero]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new chameleon! Thank you for filling out the form and including pics -- I see a lot of changes that need to be made ASAP in order to give your guy a long, happy life. Feedback in red.

• Your Chameleon - adult veiled, male, roughly 7 to 8 months is what they told me,I've had him 8 days now Looks about right if not older.
• Handling - just to his new home no more
• Feeding - 5 to 6 large crickets gut loaded with a flukers orange cubes (not to fond of the fake flukers stuff will work on a natural gutload very soon) along with 2 super worms every day (eats like a pig) gonna introduce horn worms as soon as I can get them outta stock I would stop using the orange cubes. They are not nutritional in the slightest. Instead use pre-approved fruits and veggies like mustard greens, sweet potato, and carrots. Video has more info. I'd also start to cut back on how often you feed him and switch to every other day.
• Supplements - repti calcium without d3 every feeding and one feeding so far with repti calcium with d3 have reptivite as well and will use it on alternate weeks Does your Reptivite have D3 in it?
• Watering - mist 2 times daily along with a fogger for 3 hours in the am and when I get home from work for a few hours. ( I see him drink every time I mist) I mist on lunch at 12pm and once before bed I would move your 12pm misting to early in the morning before lights turn on. This is closer to what they experience in the wild.
• Fecal description - firm dark round almost black with white urate every other day it seems and every day a few times as far as frequency no smell
• History - purchased from a locally owned pet store petland he was in a very small terrarium felt so bad for him. Kimbo does consistently eat every day - drinking every day active roams around for a few and heads back up to bask seems to balance great very alert is sleeping watched him wake up the other day and open his eyes.

Cage Info :

• cage type - glass with vents 18x18x36 (plan to build a bigger screen enclosure will keep updates as I do that) He has already outgrown that enclosure and needs a bigger enclosure ASAP. This should be a top priority for you.
• Lighting - zilla t8 hood reptisun10.0 uvb bulb 100w incandescent for heat also bought a 75w incase the 100w is to warm. 8:30am on 8:30pm off on a timer I suggest switching to a 5.0 T5 UVB. The T8s are older tech and are no longer recommended for chameleons.
• temperature - basking spot 85 to 88 ( measured with ag hygrometer and infrared laser temp gun) drops to 70 75 center of terrarium and 65 bottom. Never colder than 62 at night
• Humidity - 50 to 55 % constantly lowest ive seen is 45% highs 70 to 75% when misted Your humidity is on the higher end but this is partially due to being in a glass enclosure.
• Plants - yes fake for now combination of vines and sticks looking for a dwarf umbrella tree or a dwarf money tree to put in there with him havent found one yet
• placement - corner of the living room by window for natural light as well low traffic as its only the wife and me about 3 foot up off the floor on a table
• location- central New mexico very dry.

Relevant videos:

 

[MissSkittles]

Ho and welcome! So there’s a few changes I’d recommend. Will put my feedback in red.

• Your Chameleon - adult veiled, male, roughly 7 to 8 months is what they told me,I've had him 8 days now
• Handling - just to his new home no more
• Feeding - 5 to 6 large crickets gut loaded with a flukers orange cubes (not to fond of the fake flukers stuff will work on a natural gutload very soon) along with 2 super worms every day (eats like a pig) gonna introduce horn worms as soon as I can get them outta stock Your guy is old enough that you’ll need to feed only once every other day. The amount is fine for now, but in a couple of months you’ll want to cut back to just 4-5 feeders every other day. Obesity happens fast and is very bad for chams. The orange cubes...well, they suck. Lol. Attaching feeder and gutloading sheets for you. It’s not really gutloading so much as it’s feeding your bugs well so they are healthy and therefore are more nutritious.
• Supplements - repti calcium without d3 every feeding and one feeding so far with repti calcium with d3 have reptivite as well and will use it on alternate weeks Perfect! Just make sure your Reptivite doesn’t contain D3.
• Watering - mist 2 times daily along with a fogger for 3 hours in the am and when I get home from work for a few hours. ( I see him drink every time I mist) I mist on lunch at 12pm and once before bed No foggers during the day...only at night when temps are cool. You can mist 3 times a day for at least 2 minutes each time. Some use dripper for a short time during the day...I personally don’t care for them.
• Fecal description - firm dark round almost black with white urate every other day it seems and every day a few times as far as frequency no smell Since he’s wild caught, most definitely you should get a fecal done for parasites.
• History - purchased from a locally owned pet store petland he was in a very small terrarium felt so bad for him. Kimbo does consistently eat every day - drinking every day active roams around for a few and heads back up to bask seems to balance great very alert is sleeping watched him wake up the other day and open his eyes.

Cage Info :

• cage type - glass with vents 18x18x36 (plan to build a bigger screen enclosure will keep updates as I do that) A bit small. An upgrade to a minimum 2x2x4’ or equivalent would be great.
• Lighting - zilla t8 hood reptisun10.0 uvb bulb 100w incandescent for heat also bought a 75w incase the 100w is to warm. 8:30am on 8:30pm off on a timer I’d suggest getting a T5 with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb. The T8 doesn’t have the same range and basking would need to be about 6” down from the light, where with a T5, it can be around 8” down.
• temperature - basking spot 85 to 88 ( measured with ag hygrometer and infrared laser temp gun) drops to 70 75 center of terrarium and 65 bottom. Never colder than 62 at night A bit too hot during the day. I’d say aim for around 82 with no higher than 85. Try a 75w bulb.
• Humidity - 50 to 55 % constantly lowest ive seen is 45% highs 70 to 75% when misted A bit on the high side. Ideal range is between 30-50% during the day. At night when it’s cool is when you can use your forget and get humidity as high as 100% for naturalistic hydration.
• Plants - yes fake for now combination of vines and sticks looking for a dwarf umbrella tree or a dwarf money tree to put in there with him havent found one yet Try pothos for now and get rid of the fake. Veileds have been known to eat fake leaves and get impacted. Safe plant list. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/ Looking at your current enclosure, you could add more branches or vines for more little roads for him.
• placement - corner of the living room by window for natural light as well low traffic as its only the wife and me about 3 foot up off the floor on a table With glass enclosure, just be careful of heat coming thru the window. Chams feel safest when they are higher than us. Might be hard to do now, but when you upgrade his enclosure, do keep that in mind.
• location- central New mexico very dry.

Let me know how im doing i sure do love my little guy already. He is a little beauty!

 

[MissSkittles]

Looks like @Gingero beat me.

 

[Kimbothecham]

Awesome guys! I kinda had thought that may be the case on most of what I was doing i will definitely get the Humidity down thats not an issue and moving mistings are not a problem either. I'll definitely have to wait on the fixture upgrade and will start building him an enclosure soon
Fecal is already called on just have to take it on my days off comming up. The reptivite is the one with no d3. Planning on picking up some carrots sweet potatoes mustard greens and kale later for some good food for the feeders i appreciate all the feed back guys you have no idea.

 

[Kimbothecham]

Update on kimbo hes doing great colors commin back stronger hes getting into a little routine its awesome. Eating great still moved his feedings every other day i got the basking temp down and the humidity down to recommendation by you guys as well as mistings looking into an automated mister on my next check. Gut load for feeders mustard greens kale sweet potato carrots.
free of parasites Woo-hoo!!
Got him a golden pothos and a dwarf umbrella tree as well. Washed them (per your guys advice on another thread) repoted them there drying right now added stones to top of soil to avoid impaction on my little guy. Dad wanted a project so hes building a new enclosure for him 18dx24wx48t or even an 18x36x48. Will post pictures when I get it done. T5 fixture is in the works as well for a the new enclosure

 

[Kimbothecham]

Also found out why he's so grey i started seeing flakes of skin today he's gonna shed any tips for that or just keep an eye on his toes ?
Here's a picture of the terrarium with the plants so far added some more walk ways up top as you suggested. Between sticks and vines

 

[DocZ]

Update on kimbo hes doing great colors commin back stronger hes getting into a little routine its awesome. Eating great still moved his feedings every other day i got the basking temp down and the humidity down to recommendation by you guys as well as mistings looking into an automated mister on my next check. Gut load for feeders mustard greens kale sweet potato carrots.
free of parasites Woo-hoo!!
Got him a golden pothos and a dwarf umbrella tree as well. Washed them (per your guys advice on another thread) repoted them there drying right now added stones to top of soil to avoid impaction on my little guy. Dad wanted a project so hes building a new enclosure for him 18dx24wx48t or even an 18x36x48. Will post pictures when I get it done. T5 fixture is in the works as well for a the new enclosure

Definitely go wider 36+ if you can. It makes heat, light, and exposure gradients easier to accomplish. Upgrading to T5 lights is important for his long term health, check out https://chameleonacademy.com/uvb/ for more info. This site basically covers everything and can guide your current care and new build
I think he looks pretty healthy overall. Good looking guy

 

[DocZ]

Here’s another great gutloading image made by some really talented keepers while I watched

 

[Kimbothecham]

@DocZ thanks for the info!! Appreciate everything and will keep the 36+ in mind.
Been using chameleon academy alot in reference with here the information is invaluable.

 

[Kimbothecham]

Update on kimbo doin great he shed just fine took him about 6 days than took him in the bathroom for a shower on his umbrella tree to get the last few pieces off wasn't to fond of it at first but was better towards the end.
Talk to the owner of the pet store and she said that and swared to me all of her chameleons she gets are captive bred. So that's a plus! Got him a vet appointment for about 3 weeks out to just get him in for his annual check up. Feeders staying alive longer with the natural gutload so positives there. Started hand feeding him so that makes me happy. Working on the new enclosure decided on 48"h x 36"w x 20"d solid back and floor with drainage holes the enclosure is going to sit up on 4" legs with a drainage tray underneath for ease of cleaning went with the aluminum pvc coated screen material charcoal. some support braces on the top to hang 2 pothos and something along the lines of my own design on the dragon strand ledges. Mist king on its way got my t5 fixture from the local grow shop for 15 bucks with my sweet discount from work. Ill definitely be Posting some pictures once I start building. Hopefully within the next few weeks got everything to build it now.

 

[ERKleRose]

Update on kimbo doin great he shed just fine took him about 6 days than took him in the bathroom for a shower on his umbrella tree to get the last few pieces off wasn't to fond of it at first but was better towards the end.
Talk to the owner of the pet store and she said that and swared to me all of her chameleons she gets are captive bred. So that's a plus! Got him a vet appointment for about 3 weeks out to just get him in for his annual check up. Feeders staying alive longer with the natural gutload so positives there. Started hand feeding him so that makes me happy. Working on the new enclosure decided on 48"h x 36"w x 20"d solid back and floor with drainage holes the enclosure is going to sit up on 4" legs with a drainage tray underneath for ease of cleaning went with the aluminum pvc coated screen material charcoal. some support braces on the top to hang 2 pothos and something along the lines of my own design on the dragon strand ledges. Mist king on its way got my t5 fixture from the local grow shop for 15 bucks with my sweet discount from work. Ill definitely be Posting some pictures once I start building. Hopefully within the next few weeks got everything to build it now.

Do not shower your chameleon, all the chlorine and other bad stuff in the water is ingested! Also, chameleons are dry shedders and all husbandry (especially humidity) must stay the same while shedding! Just because he is captive-bred does not mean he doesn’t have parasites, infections, etc. When you go to the vet (who should be experienced with chameleons), make sure to bring a fresh fecal sample with you and that they do bloodwork and x-rays, etc, too! Drop off 2-3+ more fresh fecal samples after that to make sure no parasites were missed. If you could get 24” deep on his enclosure you’re building him that would be preferred. How high up will it be from the floor? Get either a Zoo Med 5.0 or Arcadia 6% linear UVB of the matching size to your T5 fixture and get it set-up ASAP!

 

[Kimbothecham]

Let me refraise that my house has a reverse osmosis filtration setup on it as I grow alot of plants i work in agriculture so no chlorine what so ever I know the harm that it can cause the piece that were stuck were the size of dots that he had for a few days that were stuck I gentally rubbed them with a qutip and they came off did not directly shower him either it was mostly for warm humidity. Did one fecal sample already and he was clear and healthy. Ill do another when I take him back in a few weeks. The vet comes highly recommended for a friend that's owned reptiles her entire life along with chams. 5ft off the floor to the bottom of the enclosure. I can definitely make it 24in deep just need to buy a new table for the enclosure which shouldn't be an issue. @ERKleRose

 

[ERKleRose]

Let me refraise that my house has a reverse osmosis filtration setup on it as I grow alot of plants i work in agriculture so no chlorine what so ever I know the harm that it can cause the piece that were stuck were the size of dots that he had for a few days that were stuck I gentally rubbed them with a qutip and they came off did not directly shower him either it was mostly for warm humidity. Did one fecal sample already and he was clear and healthy. Ill do another when I take him back in a few weeks. The vet comes highly recommended for a friend that's owned reptiles her entire life along with chams. 5ft off the floor to the bottom of the enclosure. I can definitely make it 24in deep just need to buy a new table for the enclosure which shouldn't be an issue. @ERKleRose

Showers aren’t needed though, since chameleons are dry shedders. Also don’t try to take off shed unless it’s absolutely needed.

 

[Kimbothecham]

Will definitely keep that in mind for next time I'll leave him be longer. And not even worry about the shower thing I've read alot of people talk about. Thank you @ERKleRose !!

 

[ERKleRose]

Will definitely keep that in mind for next time I'll leave him be longer. And not even worry about the shower thing I've read alot of people talk about. Thank you @ERKleRose !!

Happy to help! Please ask any more questions you need/want to or if you need any info cleared up and more on here, everyone here wants to make sure everyone‘s chameleons are happy and healthy with the correct husbandry!

 

[Kimbothecham]

Everyone on here is awesome! Next question than because the guys at the pet store have no idea what there talking about apparently no longer asking questions there haha . So the t5 fixture I bought one to span the length of the enclosure so 36in this is the best option correct ? been using cham academy alot and the say ideally to use an arcadia 12% at 6 inches above the enclosure or would you recommend the 6% right on the screen ?

 

[ERKleRose]

Arcadia 6%

 

[Gingero]

You should find these videos about shedding and UVB helpful: