New! Introduction and advice!

Mikedixon22

New Member
Hey everyone new to the cham world of only a few months just wanted to introduce myself, meet some fellows chameleon enthusiasts, and gain as much info as I can going into this. I have a male veiled chameleon around 6 months I think (ya'll chime in if I'm wrong about anything I put here) that I got from petco. First few weeks I had him things went well, I noticed some breathing issues and signs of a uri. Brought him to the vet immediately and he was prescribed some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory. It's now been 8 days since treatment started. It was definitely a tough week since he was very week, not eating, or drinking. Had to force feed and hydrate to get him though it. He is now doing immaculately better. His appetite Is still diminished, but has eaten a little by hand feeding. I'm hoping once he is done with his antibiotics his appetite will rise back up. Anyways I have completely changed he's husbandry and have flooded myself with all the knowledge yall have put into this forum, very thankful for it and everyone who contributes to the health and well beings of these animals. If any of you can please give me any further advice I'd really appreciate it. Will post pics of enclosure. Husbandry info: reptibreeze cage 18×18x30 (will be upgrading to 24×24x48 or better soon), T5 ho uvb 24", 60 watt daylight basking bulb (basking temp low 80s), ambient temp during the day is around 72 and nights 62-68. humidity during day is 30-50%, nights 50-80%. Removed all fake plants and only live now. He recieves calcium without d3 every feeding execpt 2x a month he gets reptivite with d3 ( my vet advised that I do the reptivite once a week instead of every other week). I use a wide variety of feeders: crickets, dubies, bsfl, hornworms, mealworms/wax worms (for snacks). Just recently got a shooting gallery and smaller feeding bowl for worms. I have a mister set up to spray for 2 min every 4 hours and also a dripper. I just want to make sure everything is up to par for my cham (Henry) and want to give him the best life possible. Please let me know what you think and any feedback is welcome.
 

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Hi and welcome! :) All sounds good to me except for a few things. The first is I think you have a Henrietta. Around 4+ months old, males start to show vertical color bars which your cham doesn’t have. Males also from hatching have a prominent nub (tarsal spur) at the heels of their back feet. See my pic below (he was about 5 months old at the time of the pic)
The care for females is a little bit different, primarily that we keep their basking temps at 80 and take care not to overfeed. Overfeeding leads to producing more eggs, which can increase the risk of egg binding. Also, laying shortens the lives of our ladies so we try to reduce it thru temp and diet. Going to be super lazy and attach a screen shot of previous advice I’ve given (yup, too lazy to even look for the link, 😁)
It would be better to mist less frequently and give time for your enclosure to dry out in between. Generally we mist for 2 minutes just 2-3 times a day - right before lights go on, off and mid day is optional. Instead of a mid day misting, you could use the dripper for about 20-30 minutes.
When you get the upgraded enclosure size, I suggest adding many more branches and vines for your cham to travel on. Dragon Ledges make it super easy to hang branches and even plants. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/
You are correct in that you’ll use the ReptiVite with D3 for one feeding every other week. Many exotics vets aren’t very experienced with chameleons and their correct and up to date husbandry standards. Since good chameleon vets are few and far between, often we need to drive a bit to get to one.
If you follow the keeping advice you’ve seen here in other posts and at https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ you’ll be doing just great! Do ask any questions you may have and again, welcome. :)

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Nice colors already. This is a great place for information and welcome to the group :)
 
Thanks for your reply @MissSkittles , he definitely has ponounced tarsal spurs (will post pics below). The only reason i mist often is because i live in az where it is very dry and this is the only way i keep his humidity levels correct. His enclosure does dry out between mists. Is it more beneficial to mist more frequently, or cover more sides of his enclosure to retain the moisture? As far as the branches go i will try to integrate more, I set it up like this to still be able to remove my plants for cleaning. His previous set up had a ton of branches but less foliage, he would never go down or explore in his previous set up. He will now go down and hide in the foliage with the new set up. I will post a picture of the old set up.
 

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Can you post more pics for us of her at rest. I think you have a female with a tiny tarsal... A male would have a much more developed spur at 6 months. Resting colors for a male would show baring. Your pictures of her at rest are showing female colors and no baring. Even her pissed off colors are indicative of a female.

Spur on my male when he was about 6 months old.

Tarsal spur1.jpg tarsal Spur2.jpg



Where in AZ are you? I am in Flagstaff. I highly recommend putting some solid sides on the back and two sides of the cage. This will help keep ambient humidity more level. You can use pvc sheets, corrugated plastic panels, or duct window film. I run longer mistings morning and evening to maintain humidity. The cage drys out completely during the day.
 
@Beman thank you for the reply, will definitely add some siding and reduce misting. I'll add some more photos, one with him/her near my hand for size reference. Maybe it'll be easier for yall to tell an age. I'm located in dewey near prescott valley. About an hour drive from flag, so definitely close to you.
 

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@Beman thank you for the reply, will definitely add some siding and reduce misting. I'll add some more photos, one with him/her near my hand for size reference. Maybe it'll be easier for yall to tell an age. I'm located in dewey near prescott valley. About an hour drive from flag, so definitely close to you.
Yes, I am from the PV area so very familiar with it. Definitely add solid sides. It will help you quite a bit to regulate your humidity. I have a full hybrid enclosure and they work tremendously well in our climate.

Ok so with your little one. When did you get it? And do you have any pics from then? I am trying to get a better idea on size. I am not sure if this is really a 6 month old.

Could be why we are leaning towards female if it is in fact a younger one. Tarsal spur is more pronounced in this one and I see a very faint baring.
 
Hey @Beman sorry for late reply, it's been a busy few days. I do believe this cham is a lot younger than what I thought. Here is some pics a month ago.
 

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Hey @Beman sorry for late reply, it's been a busy few days. I do believe this cham is a lot younger than what I thought. Here is some pics a month ago.
Ok based on the size hun I believe more like 3-4 months there. So 4-5 months now. If you are still feeding crickets that large I would drop back the size you get. Smaller feeders are easier for them to get down. Less struggle involved.
 
@Beman i definitely use smaller feeders. I believe in that picture those were the smallest I could get at the store at the time. So thinking 4-5 months old do you still believe it's a female? Just want to be sure so I can adjust the environment accordingly.
 
@Beman i definitely use smaller feeders. I believe in that picture those were the smallest I could get at the store at the time. So thinking 4-5 months old do you still believe it's a female? Just want to be sure so I can adjust the environment accordingly.
LOL I am leaning towards male. But the spurs are so small and the one image where it is fully spotted and pissed off looks more female. ALTHOUGH I had a young male Veiled display almost exact markings. Now if baby is really more 4-5 months then the smaller spurs would be on point. Color development should start deepening over the next month. It does have faint barring which indicates male.
So good news is male or female at this age should not be kept hotter than 80 at basking and both would be fed the same.


This is the baby I was talking about at about 3 months


This is a month later at 4ish months you can see the baring.



Same baby not fired up....

6 months old and full colors for a males showing at all times. Spotted when fired up.

 
LOL I am leaning towards male. But the spurs are so small and the one image where it is fully spotted and pissed off looks more female. ALTHOUGH I had a young male Veiled display almost exact markings. Now if baby is really more 4-5 months then the smaller spurs would be on point. Color development should start deepening over the next month. It does have faint barring which indicates male.
So good news is male or female at this age should not be kept hotter than 80 at basking and both would be fed the same.


This is the baby I was talking about at about 3 months


This is a month later at 4ish months you can see the baring.



Same baby not fired up....
Wow what a pretty boy! I'm exited to see the development over the next month. I will definitely be putting up some pictures as he grows. Thanks for everything btw!
 
Wow what a pretty boy! I'm exited to see the development over the next month. I will definitely be putting up some pictures as he grows. Thanks for everything btw!
Your welcome. Show us pictures again in about 3-4 weeks. But I am leaning towards male with the last pics you added.
 
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