hey i just picked up a veiled male chameleon earlier this week (wed i believe) I now have him in a 65 gallon reptarium w/ a ficus tree, a schefflera and a pothos the last two are on stands to make them higher in the cage (only 5-8 inches higher) I have a 6ft cord of biovine going through the cage as well. He is about 4inches long, maybe a month-1.5 months old i assume maybe? who knows. bought him from a local reptile store for $70 (bleh, but hes cool i'm happy) i just have a few questions to ask
is the 65 gal too big? at first i had him in a rubbermaid container w/ just the pothos and no top on for 2 days maybe 3 before i got the reptarium. I have yet to see him in the schefflera or the pothos anymore, he loves the ficus tree i picked up for him. I have been releasing crickets into the cage everyday, some stay in there over night (1-2) I have yet to see him eat, but he does poop and the crickets are disapearing, or they are hiding in the pots. His poop used to have a wet sheen to it, now its more dry, so i have stepped up themisting and have added a paper cup w/ a hole on the bottom for a drip set up.
he was handled alot the first day i got him, i was building a cage (3ft tallx2ftx2ft) but abandoned it once i realized it was wayyy to big for the guy, maybe in 3-4 months he can use it i hope, its a real nice wood cage i halfway constructed. when i first got him, he would readily climb on my hand and crawl around. now hes dead scared of me, I think it might have to do with have 3 younger siblings and i have noidea how much they go look at him. he's in my lanai for now until i can figure a way to house the reptarium inside w/o much mess, and until i can go buy the bulbs ($25 for 2foot reptisun 5.0!!) he develops these brown spots on his side, i'm pretty sure indication hes stressed/pissed off. he blows himself up big alot too. I dont handle him at all, i haven't touched him in 3-4 days. but he just got into the reptarium yesterday or 2days ago. i can't remember.
no substrates, the ficus had fertilizer in the soil, so i layed a fresh top soil to cover it all up. I plan to replant all of the plants into rectangular pots for easier set up of the cage.
When should i start handling him more often so as to induce him to not feel endangered when i'm near. I feel that on wed. or thursday i'll be able to bring him inside. i have alot of other things to do until then, and thats my first day of freedom. I have read that if you continue to expose him to handling, he will not feel as threatened, but i have heard that panthers are more susceptible to handling and veileds not so much. I read on another forum that when the chameleon head butts you, you let him do it to the back of your hand and dont move to show that you're not gonna budge, and eventually he will associate your hand w/ rewards such as getting out of the cage, feeding, etc. I feel that this is vital for me to be able to care for this chameleon, I don't want to have a pissed off male all the time that I can't even move to clean the cage.
I have been feeding him crickets, and bought 'cricket yummies' as a gut load for them, its a pack of green crap that says its got vitamins and minerals, etc. I dusted the crickets w/ a mix of calcium and herptivite twice so far, 5 of them today, and 7-8 like 2-3 days ago. I'm going to start dusting w/ repcal phos. free w/ vit d3 every feeding soon.
the crickets i have are pinheads w/ some larger maybe .5 inch, but i have enough for today/tomorrow then i need to get more, should i try feeding him meal worms or something? his eyes were sunken a little bit a few days ago, i felt it was from all the stress hes been incurring (3 new enclosures including the one w/ 25 baby veileds within the last week) and the handling he experienced the first day, I had my each member of my family hold him for about a moment to quench their curiousity, i think only my sister went back to hold him again the next day. his skin was a little loose today, so i misted him heavily sprayed him. I have yet to see him drink or eat, my mom was lucky enough to see him nab one cricket.
I know that this was a long essay w/ many run on sentences, however i just had so much information to spit out about the current situation that it may be a bit disorganized. Any input/help is appreciated.
P.S. I have two friends that have chameleons, they are sub adult veileds (now) from the repticon expo @ usf in april, they're fillin in their colors nicely and are getting quite big. One of them also is caring for a jackson chameleon (very cool)
P.S.S I feel like i should get some meal worms, i don't know if hes getting all of the crickets, but he has been shitting, i think hes maybe nabbing 2-3 of them, unsure to be honest. How should i feed them to him? definately not gonna try to hand feed yet.
thanks
is the 65 gal too big? at first i had him in a rubbermaid container w/ just the pothos and no top on for 2 days maybe 3 before i got the reptarium. I have yet to see him in the schefflera or the pothos anymore, he loves the ficus tree i picked up for him. I have been releasing crickets into the cage everyday, some stay in there over night (1-2) I have yet to see him eat, but he does poop and the crickets are disapearing, or they are hiding in the pots. His poop used to have a wet sheen to it, now its more dry, so i have stepped up themisting and have added a paper cup w/ a hole on the bottom for a drip set up.
he was handled alot the first day i got him, i was building a cage (3ft tallx2ftx2ft) but abandoned it once i realized it was wayyy to big for the guy, maybe in 3-4 months he can use it i hope, its a real nice wood cage i halfway constructed. when i first got him, he would readily climb on my hand and crawl around. now hes dead scared of me, I think it might have to do with have 3 younger siblings and i have noidea how much they go look at him. he's in my lanai for now until i can figure a way to house the reptarium inside w/o much mess, and until i can go buy the bulbs ($25 for 2foot reptisun 5.0!!) he develops these brown spots on his side, i'm pretty sure indication hes stressed/pissed off. he blows himself up big alot too. I dont handle him at all, i haven't touched him in 3-4 days. but he just got into the reptarium yesterday or 2days ago. i can't remember.
no substrates, the ficus had fertilizer in the soil, so i layed a fresh top soil to cover it all up. I plan to replant all of the plants into rectangular pots for easier set up of the cage.
When should i start handling him more often so as to induce him to not feel endangered when i'm near. I feel that on wed. or thursday i'll be able to bring him inside. i have alot of other things to do until then, and thats my first day of freedom. I have read that if you continue to expose him to handling, he will not feel as threatened, but i have heard that panthers are more susceptible to handling and veileds not so much. I read on another forum that when the chameleon head butts you, you let him do it to the back of your hand and dont move to show that you're not gonna budge, and eventually he will associate your hand w/ rewards such as getting out of the cage, feeding, etc. I feel that this is vital for me to be able to care for this chameleon, I don't want to have a pissed off male all the time that I can't even move to clean the cage.
I have been feeding him crickets, and bought 'cricket yummies' as a gut load for them, its a pack of green crap that says its got vitamins and minerals, etc. I dusted the crickets w/ a mix of calcium and herptivite twice so far, 5 of them today, and 7-8 like 2-3 days ago. I'm going to start dusting w/ repcal phos. free w/ vit d3 every feeding soon.
the crickets i have are pinheads w/ some larger maybe .5 inch, but i have enough for today/tomorrow then i need to get more, should i try feeding him meal worms or something? his eyes were sunken a little bit a few days ago, i felt it was from all the stress hes been incurring (3 new enclosures including the one w/ 25 baby veileds within the last week) and the handling he experienced the first day, I had my each member of my family hold him for about a moment to quench their curiousity, i think only my sister went back to hold him again the next day. his skin was a little loose today, so i misted him heavily sprayed him. I have yet to see him drink or eat, my mom was lucky enough to see him nab one cricket.
I know that this was a long essay w/ many run on sentences, however i just had so much information to spit out about the current situation that it may be a bit disorganized. Any input/help is appreciated.
P.S. I have two friends that have chameleons, they are sub adult veileds (now) from the repticon expo @ usf in april, they're fillin in their colors nicely and are getting quite big. One of them also is caring for a jackson chameleon (very cool)
P.S.S I feel like i should get some meal worms, i don't know if hes getting all of the crickets, but he has been shitting, i think hes maybe nabbing 2-3 of them, unsure to be honest. How should i feed them to him? definately not gonna try to hand feed yet.
thanks
