I received a baby veiled chameleon via UPS today. He arrived at my work. I had brought a small 10 gallon tank to work with me and placed him in it until I could bring him home (about 6 hours). It had plenty of greenery and I misted it. He spent the day exploring and was nice and green most of the time. When we got home I transferred him to his larger habitat (24” x 18” x 18”). Since then he seems very stressed. He is a darker color and seems to be breathing a little fast. He has climbed to his basking spot but remains a sort of brown color. When he was first placed in, he noticed the wet leaves and drank right away. He didn’t seem interested in the crickets. My question is, should I consider putting him back in the smaller tank? The larger tank does have glass sides which I know is not a favorite here, but this is meant to be temporary until he gets a little larger. We live in MI and were trying to make sure he stays warm enough. The tank humidity is good and the temperature is good. Thank you for any advise for this newbie!
New little guy
- Thread starter Lucas F
- Start date
janjan20
Chameleon Enthusiast
Welcome! Give him some time, changes can stress them out. He may not eat for a couple of days. Dark colors can mean stress or heat absorption. It’s good he is drinking hopefully he will come around tomorrow. If it’s a glass enclosure just make sure he can’t see his reflection. Also, nothing wrong with glass you just have to make sure your husbandry is on point. I would not put him back in the 10 gal. Also, is there plenty of coverage for him to hide? Can you upload pics?
Thank you for the response! He has lots of greenery, a couple of different types, a real pathos plant and several layers of vines. His lights are out for the night but I can take a picture tomorrow! I didn’t know that brown could be heat absorption! Once we turned the lights off, he seemed to turn green again, so that must have been it. I sincerely appreciate the information. Hopefully he will settle in nicely over the next couple of days.
