New Cham owners with Questions :)

[Ash&John]

Hi there!
My husband and I just got our first chameleon! And we are so excited!! but naturally we have tons of questions! lol
First off.. We are not sure if our cham is a boy or girl?? Any help with how to tell would be absolutely wonderful! We have been assuming it's a boy but it would be really nice to know for sure
Second.. We're not really sure how much to feed him. When we first got him and put him in the terrarium he ate at least 7 crickets right off the bat! Every time we have fed him since then, he eats (even out of our hand!). At the pet store he was with 2 larger chams.. and probably had to fight for his food. We just don't want to be over feeding. Also.. we were wondering how close to lights out at night we should stop feeding him, or if it really matters?
Another thing we were curious about.. Will they really sleep on you if they are comfortable or do they kind of play opossum?
Thank you!

And here are a few pictures of Kuzco

 

[jpowell86]

You have a male! Being young, they can have an insatiable appetite. Sleeping during the day is never a good sign, so hopefully if he is sleeping on you, it's because you picked him up after he had been asleep in his cage. A healthy chameleon will always be alert though. I would definitely ditch the substrate. Young chameleons have a tendency to miss their target out of excitement, especially if he has multiple targets in vision. No need to risk impaction. I would also pack that cage with live plants so he will feel more secure and be able to hide when he doesn't want to be seen. Remembering that Veiled Chameleons are notorious plant eaters, I would stick with pothos for now. It won't be long before you will be having to get a 24x24x48 screen enclosure for the boy either. Congratulations on the new fellow!!

 

[carol5208]

Yes as stated, you have a boy! You can tell this by the little bumps on the back of his back heels. These are called tarsal spurs and only the males have them. It is really the only way to tell a male at this young age. As they mature, the males will get colors and patterns on them that the females don't get. Also their casques(the that funny thing on top of their head) will get larger than the females. If your chameleon is in its cage and is sleeping during the day, then there is something wrong. They just do not nap or sleep during the day. Sometimes if they get scared or stressed, they will close their eyes. I have seen mine close their eyes while the vet was handling them and poking around to exam them. Also that moss and substrate is not really good to have as mentioned. Not only can it cause impaction issues, the the mulch will get wet and soggy and breed bacteria. How are you providing water?? Chameleons like to climb, so adding more vines and branches, along with foilage in the cage will give him more places to be active. I am attaching a care sheet from our Care Resources on Veild Chameleons. Please read it carefully and make sure you have all the things that you need to keep him happy and healthy. Welcome to chameleon ownership and ask as many questions as possible!https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Decadancin]

The only thing I would add to Carol's post is to make sure you are gutloading his feeders and dusting them according to the recommendations in the care sheets. This is the time when chameleons grow FAST and it is essential they get the nutrients they require to help prevent health issues. You can generally be sure that he was not getting what is needed from the pet store, so this is very important!

 

[brownie64]

I agree with all the information given so far it's good advice. The only thing I would add is if he only closes his eyes while you are holding him, and not while he is in his cage then there is nothing to worry about mine would do that all the time, and they lived for over 8-9 years. I think it is either stress, or the warmth of your hand. I would say though limit how much you hold him until he learns to tolerate you, and then I would do it sparingly. good luck, and welcome to our forum.

 

[Ash&John]

Thank you everyone! We are so happy to be on this forum
And we're happy to know he's officially a boy lol.

Jpowell86- we will get more plants! Is there such a thing as a too crowded terrarium? or the more plants the better?

carol5208 you asked about watering- We have a dripper on top that drips onto the plants. And we mist about 3-4 times a day.

Decadancin- we do gutload our crickets and dust them and the meal worms although he has yet to eat the meal worms :/

brownie64- We limit the amount we hold him. We've only held him while we clean his terrarium. Like yesterday, when my husband was cleaning, I was holding him and he was a really bright green and crawling around on my arm. I hope those signs that he's getting comfortable in his new home

A couple more questions please...
*Is there a good substitute for the substrate or should we just leave the bottom bare?
*For the UVB light.. is a 10.0 too much??

 

[LindsayG]

The more plants and vines the better. They like to stay hidden and love it when you can't find them (especially when you've been looking for minutes and they're right in front of your face)! I would just stick with no substrate. They shouldn't ever be on the ground anyways and it just makes it that much harder to clean their cages out. You could lay down some paper towels if you, that can make clean up easy. Just make sure you change them out at least once a day. Once you get enough plants in there though, those will mostly collect all the water and the bottoms of the screen cages slide out for easy clean up of poops or the occasional dead feeder.

 

[GillietheAmbilobe]

Since he is a veils chameleons and not a panther, there is a way to tell if he is male or female. Males have a spur on the back of their foot, while females lack this spur. ( He is most likely a male, judging by the pictures ). Make sure to cup feed him 7-9 crickets a day. Cup feeding offers more benefits than letting him hunt for the food. You can switch back to hunting once he gets older, but I recommend just stay I.g with cup feeding. Hope this helped a little and have a great day!

 

[jpowell86]

You don't want to pack so many plants in that there isn't a clear designated area for basking. The plants will help with the chameleons' overall comfortability in his enclosure and the shaded areas created by the plants are important for thermoregulation. So, I wouldn't say that there is such a thing as too many plants, as long as there are some open areas for general sitting and basking.

 

[Ash&John]

We will definitely be getting more plants then He especially loves sleeping in the ones we have now so it will be nice to give him more options.

This might be a silly questions but what exactly is cup feeding? He hasn't had any problems with hunting for his food that we've seen. We usually watch when we give him crickets and he hasn't missed one yet.

 

[jpowell86]

Cup feeding is simply placing the feeder in a container for the sheer reason of containment. It's a control method so you aren't simply releasing the feeder in the enclosure. I cup feed all my chameleons. You don't want any unaccounted for insects sneaking around eating fecal matter from your chameleon and then becoming a meal the next day. Also, crickets are notorious for chewing on sleeping chameleons....not cool!

 

[Ash&John]

That makes sense!
We've been feeding him out of our hand, but we will give the cup feeding a try

 

[brownie64]

The 10.0 will be fine especially if it's shinning through a screen, because it will absorb some of the UVB. I use a 10.0 on my enclosures and haven't seen any issues. Most use a 5.0, but I really believe the 10.0 is better. It's a matter of preference really.

 

[GrimCamel]

*Is there a good substitute for the substrate or should we just leave the bottom bare?

Many here on the forum gonna suggest you leave the bottom bare for a good reason. Its easy to clean and with that amount of misting you do in that glass terrarium it would easy grow mold or overflood. With more work you could maintain a good substraited enclosure but its more complicated. I would recommend you to google articles on bioactive terrariums for advise IF you're prepared to do it.

The bottom gonna have to look something like this:
1. A drainage possibility. (Works as easy with a small cut in half plastic bottle at the corner. When its time to drain you just drain it like an aquarium with a hose. You don't want too much water pool up at the bottom as it may collect bacteria. Get rid of it as soon as possible.)
2. A thick layer hydrograins or rocks. I use hydrograins as they absorb water.
3. On top of that place a barrier membrane of cloth (not regular fabric) or mesh to separate this layer from the next
4. Plantarium soil. Easy to get at a petstore. Absorbs water MUCH better than regular soil that would easy grow mold
5. A cover layer. For this I would go for moss, big thick moss that stick together and wont fall apart if your cham would miss an insect and get the moss instead. I do not recommend to use bare soil of any kind if your chameleon would by chance eat some

It's a bit harder and you can't skip one of these steps and expect your enclosure to do just fine. Its therefore easier to go just without it
Good luck!

 

[Ash&John]

Wow, That is very complicated as you said.. so I'm think we will go without lol. But that is wonderful instruction for if we change our minds later. Thank you GrimCamel!