New chameleon came home today

PurpleSweater72

New Member
I have a few questions. He’s climbing to the top of the cage and clawing at the light (attaches pictures) I’m worried about this. Also how’s my habitat for him? Trying to make him as comfy and happy as possible.
 

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Get a t5HO linear bulb and fixture once you have the cash. Add more branches and vines, mostly horizontal, everywhere! Could you fill out the ask for help form to make sure the rest of your husbandry is on point, please?
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Make Veiled chameleon
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I’ve only handled him one at the store but it’s the first day I’ve owned him
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? So far crickets and wax worms dusted in calcium without d3 daily and the multivitamin I plan on once every other week
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Flukers reptile vitamin planning on using once every other week and flukers calcium without d3 daily
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I hand mist three times daily. I also have a reptirain but have not set it up yet
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Haven’t seen any yet only been a few hours
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Bought from Hewitt Reptile Emporium here in Washington. Seemed like a very well kept knowledgeable place

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen reptibreez medium size plan on getting an extra large as he gets bigger
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Give me a day or two to fine tune this
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 80%humidity currently have two live plants and a couple fake vines
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? And ivy plant and also a ribbon plant
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It is in my guest bedroom/computer room near a window thinking about moving it away from window
  • Location - Where are you geographically located located right outside Seattle Washington
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Make Veiled chameleon
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I’ve only handled him one at the store but it’s the first day I’ve owned him
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? So far crickets and wax worms dusted in calcium without d3 daily and the multivitamin I plan on once every other week
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Flukers reptile vitamin planning on using once every other week and flukers calcium without d3 daily
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I hand mist three times daily. I also have a reptirain but have not set it up yet
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Haven’t seen any yet only been a few hours
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Bought from Hewitt Reptile Emporium here in Washington. Seemed like a very well kept knowledgeable place

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen reptibreez medium size plan on getting an extra large as he gets bigger
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Give me a day or two to fine tune this
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 80%humidity currently have two live plants and a couple fake vines
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? And ivy plant and also a ribbon plant
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It is in my guest bedroom/computer room near a window thinking about moving it away from window
  • Location - Where are you geographically located located right outside Seattle Washington
How old is your cham? Are you gutloading? Crickets are good, waxworms should be fed as treats or to fatten them up. Other feeders are roaches, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, snails, stick insects, painted lady butterflies, black soldier fly larvae and flies, etc. Supplement schedule is good, don’t forget about calcium with D3 twice monthly, too. Set up the ReptiRain. Fill out the lighting! 80% humidity is high for veileds, find a way to bring that down to 70% at the highest. Ivy is toxic to chams, I’m pretty sure, especially veileds because they’ll eat them! FL Chams has a chameleon-safe plant list on their website under caresheets, I believe.
 
If you have only owned him for a couple days he will wonder the cage and do strange things for a bit. Wait about a week and he should begin to settle in.

Chams do not take change quickly.

The humidity seems a little high. Make sure the humidity has a difference from the top of your cage to the bottom the same with temp.
 
Looking at the pictures you shared, here are two comments regarding lights:

(1) Get rid of the blue bulb. Chameleons are very color-oriented animals and blue is not a natural color of light. You don't need to buy the specialty bulbs "made" for reptiles. Just substitute what you have with a regular incandescent household bulb. Only white lights should be used with chams

(2) switch out the compact UVB bulb which I think you have to a linear model instead. Those spiral/compact bulbs don't do a good job at all of dispersing UVB light and are also sometime associated with eye health problems
 
How old is your cham? Are you gutloading? Crickets are good, waxworms should be fed as treats or to fatten them up. Other feeders are roaches, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, snails, stick insects, painted lady butterflies, black soldier fly larvae and flies, etc. Supplement schedule is good, don’t forget about calcium with D3 twice monthly, too. Set up the ReptiRain. Fill out the lighting! 80% humidity is high for veileds, find a way to bring that down to 70% at the highest. Ivy is toxic to chams, I’m pretty sure, especially veileds because they’ll eat them! FL Chams has a chameleon-safe plant list on their website under caresheets, I believe.
Thanks very much. I’ll pull the ivy plant for now and do more research. I’m not exactly sure what type it is. I used a plant identification app. I’ll drop that humidity I think it’s just because the hygrometer is on the plant. I’ll move it. Also I’ve only had him for 5 hours now so I’m hauling this more to make sure I gather what I’m missing and make sure I take appropriate care from day one. I plan on gutloading soon. Researching what to use at the moment. How often should I have the reptirain run for and for how long.
 
Thanks very much. I’ll pull the ivy plant for now and do more research. I’m not exactly sure what type it is. I used a plant identification app. I’ll drop that humidity I think it’s just because the hygrometer is on the plant. I’ll move it. Also I’ve only had him for 5 hours now so I’m hauling this more to make sure I gather what I’m missing and make sure I take appropriate care from day one. I plan on gutloading soon. Researching what to use at the moment. How often should I have the reptirain run for and for how long.
Veileds are semi-arid, so I don’t know about the misting, hopefully someone with veileds will chime in. When you get the money, upgrade to an Exo Terra Monsoon or MistKing. They’re better misters with better options
 
Looking at the pictures you shared, here are two comments regarding lights:

(1) Get rid of the blue bulb. Chameleons are very color-oriented animals and blue is not a natural color of light. You don't need to buy the specialty bulbs "made" for reptiles. Just substitute what you have with a regular incandescent household bulb. Only white lights should be used with chams

(2) switch out the compact UVB bulb which I think you have to a linear model instead. Those spiral/compact bulbs don't do a good job at all of dispersing UVB light and are also sometime associated with eye health problems
1 can do!

2 I plan on ordering the longer 5.0uvb bulb tonight from amazon!
 
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