Hi everyone, I recently just got a red veiled chameleon about a month ago. I’ve been trying to research the best I can so I can care for him, but I have many questions that I was hoping people who have experience in caring for chameleons could educate me on. I just recently found out he’s not supposed to have his light on at night, so tonight I will start turning it off at night time, but I was wondering how I can tell if he is cold? My room has AC and we have fans on but I keep the heat lamp on during the day. Sometimes it goes to 66 degrees, sometimes to 79 and it’s hard for me to predict what temperature his cage is going to be. Also, is yawning normal? He opens his mouth wide sometimes like a yawn. He also coughs, or that’s what it sounds like. I couldn’t tell if it was a hiss or a cough but it really just sounded like a little hic like humans would do too. When I feed him super worms or crickets sometimes he gets some of his soil or mulch in his mouth too stuck on his tongue and eats it, so I’m not sure what to do about that. Any advice at all for a new owner would be so helpful!
New chameleon owner
- Thread starter clairekat
- Start date
Rango_TheManEater
Established Member
Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of Chams! 
Typically, your temp range should hover around the mid-60s at night. When a chameleon is cold, they often move slowly or stay a dark color (which I believe is an attempt to absorb heat, like how they change color when basking).
Yawning is perfectly normal! Usually my little veiled will yawn and shake his head, which scares me until I realize it’s just a yawn. However, if your veiled keeps his/her mouth open for an extended time period, they may be trying to cool off. As for the coughing… I’m unsure what to make of that, but I don’t doubt another user could help you.
I personally don’t have that issue with mulch because I feed my veiled from a bowl (small cup that used to hold mealworms). Usually this method poses a challenge (since Chams are attracted to movement), but I’ve learned that gently scratching your finger along the bottom of the cup encourages the bugs inside to move. Anyway— as long as your mulch and whatnot isn’t toxic to consume, I’m sure it’s probably fine if he/she accidentally gets a small bit with his meal every now and then.
Good luck on your journey with your new Veiled! Just a fair warning— Veileds are known to munch on their plants occasionally. Be careful what you put in their cage!
Typically, your temp range should hover around the mid-60s at night. When a chameleon is cold, they often move slowly or stay a dark color (which I believe is an attempt to absorb heat, like how they change color when basking).
Yawning is perfectly normal! Usually my little veiled will yawn and shake his head, which scares me until I realize it’s just a yawn. However, if your veiled keeps his/her mouth open for an extended time period, they may be trying to cool off. As for the coughing… I’m unsure what to make of that, but I don’t doubt another user could help you.
I personally don’t have that issue with mulch because I feed my veiled from a bowl (small cup that used to hold mealworms). Usually this method poses a challenge (since Chams are attracted to movement), but I’ve learned that gently scratching your finger along the bottom of the cup encourages the bugs inside to move. Anyway— as long as your mulch and whatnot isn’t toxic to consume, I’m sure it’s probably fine if he/she accidentally gets a small bit with his meal every now and then.
Good luck on your journey with your new Veiled! Just a fair warning— Veileds are known to munch on their plants occasionally. Be careful what you put in their cage!
You said..”When I feed him super worms or crickets sometimes he gets some of his soil or mulch in his mouth too stuck on his tongue and eats it,”…this is a problem…he could quickly become impacted and die. You need to get rid of the mulch and get a proper substrate set up. A bare floor in the meantime is safer so he can’t ingest things that are going to clog him up.
You said…”Also, is yawning normal? He opens his mouth wide sometimes like a yawn. He also coughs, or that’s what it sounds like. I couldn’t tell if it was a hiss or a cough but it really just sounded like a little hic like humans would do too.”…chameleons do yawn at times…but what would be concerning is if the hissing and yawning are due to a respiratory infection.
You said…”Also, is yawning normal? He opens his mouth wide sometimes like a yawn. He also coughs, or that’s what it sounds like. I couldn’t tell if it was a hiss or a cough but it really just sounded like a little hic like humans would do too.”…chameleons do yawn at times…but what would be concerning is if the hissing and yawning are due to a respiratory infection.
