New Chameleon Owner and Member

[GeneralCham]

Hi all! I just came home with my first Chameleon, a Veiled. Pet store said he was about 3 months old, but they didn't give me a gender. I was hoping you all could give me a few pointers on my enclosure here based on the attached pictures. I bought a setup that included a few things from ZooMed, and a few extras since it was a little light. The plants, besides the twig at the bottom, are fake, but I plan on adding real ones as soon as possible. I've got a hand mister and I feed him meal worms and crickets. The bottom is covered with real moss as well. Anything I'm missing in there? Anything I should replace first, if at all? Also, if anyone is able to tell, I'd love to know it's gender.

 

[fester2226]

look at the back of his foot if there are spurs or nubs than its a male and plz take a closer pic

 

[MoyaChan]

It seems a little bare to me in the middle, so I'd a bigger live plant, a ficus or a schefflera for example, but there are a whole lot of other plants that are good too.
A lot of people advise against mealworms because they can be harder to digest, you can try roaches or locusts for example.
I'd fill out the how to ask for help form on this forum, so the more experienced can point out where you can improve.

Do you gutload and dust?

 

[GeneralCham]

It seems a little bare to me in the middle, so I'd a bigger live plant, a ficus or a schefflera for example, but there are a whole lot of other plants that are good too.
A lot of people advise against mealworms because they can be harder to digest, you can try roaches or locusts for example.
I'd fill out the how to ask for help form on this forum, so the more experienced can point out where you can improve.

Do you gutload and dust?

I do not gutload, as I really don't know how. I do dust, though. I have some ZooMed ReptiCalcium that came with the enclosure setup, but I'm not sure what other kind I should get/use, if any.

 

[GeneralCham]

look at the back of his foot if there are spurs or nubs than its a male and plz take a closer pic

He seems to have nubs, here's a closers look.

 

[BayChams]

It is a male from what I can tell from the pic...

 

[GeneralCham]

It is a male from what I can tell from the pic...

Yeah, like I mentioned to fester2226, he's got the nubs. It's a male.

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!

Regarding supplements and gutloading...
You can feed / gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its important to dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to help make up for it.

To ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light its recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium / D3 powder.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

Appropriate temperatures are also important since they play a part in digestion and thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Most often recommended UVB light is the Reptisun 5.0 long linear tube light.

Good luck with your chameleon!

 

[Kboz1991]

Get repcal without d3 with d3 and multivitamin 3 different containers green pink and blue without d3 Monday through Saturday and alternate 1 and 3 Sunday pink with d3 and 2 and 4 Sunday use multivitamin blue. Cut up apples oranges collar greens strawberries they have a list and feed that to your crickets. This is very important.