annefirth12
Established Member
Hello! I’m a new keeper and I would appreciate help. I am seeing a vet tomorrow to address some of my health questions, but if anybody has any ideas about any of my concerns or can suggest improvements to my setup, it would be much appreciated.
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - I have a couple concerns. Here they are listed in order:
She doesn’t seem to be all that bothered by people, though we’ve been trying to leave her alone anyways. She’ll head to her food dish even before I’ve closed the screen door (and with a camera pointed at her!), she took food right out of my hand on day one, and I’ve frequently seen her drink right after I’ve misted. She also I think realizes that hands = food already, because whenever I go over and refill her dripper or check temps, she goes right up to her food dish and stares at me. I’m a little worried that these are less because she’s brave and more because she’s really hungry/dehydrated, so if anybody can give any insight into my concerns, it would be much appreciated.
Photos below: As you can see, she's much greener at night.
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Female (?) veiled chameleon - I don’t know how old she is, since she was a Petco rescue (oops), but she looks to be about in the 6-9 months range based on her length (5-7 in). This is the third day she’s been home.
- Handling - She has been handled only to be put inside her enclosure, but she’s taken feeders right out of my hand while I’ve been putting them in her bowl, so she’s surprisingly not hand-shy. Other than that, I’ve been hands-off.
- Feeding - I’ve fed her three times - once a mealworm, on the day we got her, to lure her into her enclosure, yesterday some medium crickets, mealworms, and a hornworm, and today, about 10 medium crickets and 2 mealworms. I am not sure how much to be feeding her - I definitely don’t want to overfeed her, since I know that can be really bad re: eggbinding, but she finished everything I gave her in under ten minutes. My crickets are eating the recommended gutload ratio from this forum - 75% mustard greens, 10% rosemary, 5% banana, and 5% flukers cricket cubes, blended. I have silkworms and BSFL on the way, and I’m going to be buying hornworms and crickets somewhat regularly as well from a local reputable reptile store. I’ve been feeding her about two hours after her lights turn on (which is when she goes from warming up to sitting above her food dish and looking at me expectantly).
- Supplements - I’m dusting every day with Calcium without D3 (I have a sample of the zoomed repti calcium that I’m using up, and then I’m going to use the Fluker’s calcium), and then alternating every two weeks with sticky tongue farms Miner-All and Repashy Superfoods calcium plus.
- Watering - I have a DIY dripper set up over one of her plants as well as misting in the morning, midday, and evening, but I’m worried she’s not getting enough water. I have seen her drink, but the heat lamps dry off the water quite quickly and the DIY dripper tends to pool on the screen and not actually drip through. At night I’m misting for about two minutes right before lights out. I am unsure if I should be using room-temp or warm water.
- Fecal Description - This is one of my concerns - despite the fact that she’s eating really well, I haven’t seen any poop. I don’t know if three days is not a long time for a juvenile chameleon not to go, but I’m worried she may have impaction from her time at Petco, where they were keeping her on wood chips.
- History - As I said previously, she was a petco purchase. I spoke to the associates and it seems she was there for a long time, where she was cohabiting with another female (I think) chameleon. I actively saw them fighting while I was in the pet store, which is what spurred me to pick her up (even though I know it’s a bad idea, you shouldn’t support petco, etc. etc…. I’m a bleeding heart lol). At Petco, she was only eating crickets and mealworms, which is why I’m still feeding her mealworms, though I’m trying to phase them out so I can just use them as treats instead of a main part of her diet.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Reptibeeze medium (18x18x30) - I’m going to upgrade it if she is still doing well in about half a year or so, or if she gets bigger sooner than that. For the moment it seems an ok size.
- Lighting - I was a fool and I bough the zoomed chameleon kit right before reading about how much it was useless, so right now I have a 75W zoomed reptile basking spot lamp on a thermostat and a 10 UVB Reptisun compact in a dual dome fixture, but I already have a T5 HO 5 UVB light on the way (12”). Right now, lights turn on at 8 am and off at 8 pm.
- Temperature - Basking temperatures are at about 84-86, tank temps are about 69-75 from bottom to top. I had a shower curtain around 3 sides of her cage to help insulate the temperatures, but I think it might have been stressing her out? She kept gaping at the walls - I think she was hearing sounds but not seeing what was making them. I’m hoping that the T5 UVB linear will help keep the temperatures up lower in the cage. Night time I have the lights and heat off, and the enclosure is around 65-68. I’m hoping to drop it a little lower as per the chameleon academy recommendations.
- Humidity - Daytime humidity is around 45-55, depending on how humid it is outside (I live on the west coast so ambient humidity fluctuates quite a bit), night time humidity is sitting a little low around 75, but I also have a humidifier/fogger on the way that should be here very soon. I’m planning on keeping the humidity closer to 100% at night. I'm going to still cover her cage with the shower curtain at night until the fogger gets here to keep humidity up.
- Plants - One silk plant that we’re replacing soon, 1 wandering jew vine, 1 maidenhair fern, 1 schefflera. We have one spider plant and one Pothos that are going to replace the silk plant.
- Placement - She is on a table in our kitchen, which is the most temperature-controlled room of our house. We have large potted plants on either side of the cage and she’s on a table so the top of the enclosure is about 5 and 1/2 feet above the ground, backing on a wall. Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of foot traffic through the kitchen right now, but that should decrease in a week or so when school starts. We do have two small dogs and there’s really no way to bar them from the kitchen, but she doesn’t seem to be particularly phased by them since they're way below her and they ignore her completely.
- Location - Western Washington.
Current Problem - I have a couple concerns. Here they are listed in order:
- I saw her with her nose in the air this morning - I’m worried she might have been developing a respiratory infection. Fortunately, I’m taking her to the vet tomorrow where hopefully my worries can be cleared up.
- She hasn’t pooped despite how much she’s been eating, and she maybe looks a little bloated. I don’t have any substrate in the cage, and I’ve put big rocks on top of the dirt in the potted plants, but she was kept on wood chips or reptibark at petco and she might have been impacted there, particularly because they were feeding her from a dish on the ground. Hopefully this is also something the vet can clear up!
- She’s almost always dark colors - I think it might mostly be basking colors and stress of being in a new environment, but I’m concerned that she has an underlying health issue or something in my husbandry is really stressing her out. She’s also old enough (I think) that she could be gravid - what should I be looking for if so?
- How do I tell if she’s dehydrated? Does she look overweight to you guys? Underweight?
- In the summer, does anybody have any recommendations to keep the enclosure cool? I’m worried that the PNW will get another heat wave like last summer, and we don’t have central AC. We do have some portable ACs, but our house’s electric grid might not permit us to keep them running all day. Has the zoomed repticooler worked well for people?
She doesn’t seem to be all that bothered by people, though we’ve been trying to leave her alone anyways. She’ll head to her food dish even before I’ve closed the screen door (and with a camera pointed at her!), she took food right out of my hand on day one, and I’ve frequently seen her drink right after I’ve misted. She also I think realizes that hands = food already, because whenever I go over and refill her dripper or check temps, she goes right up to her food dish and stares at me. I’m a little worried that these are less because she’s brave and more because she’s really hungry/dehydrated, so if anybody can give any insight into my concerns, it would be much appreciated.
Photos below: As you can see, she's much greener at night.