New owner, new veiled

[TwiceBorn]

Hi everyone. Our family is new to chameleons, and we just picked up a young (pet store manager thought he was around 7-8 months), male veiled from our local mom and pop pet store. This was supposed to be for my 7 year old son, but I think I'm more excited about it than he is (plus I'm doing the upkeep). He is eating and drinking well, his cool zone is right around 70 while his basking zone is low 80's. His habitat is not adequate for a chameleon, as it is a normal reptile tank, but we will remedy that this weekend when we pick up a fully screened, upright enclosure.

My questions are concerning feeding and nutrition, specifically as it relates to vitamins and supplements.

Firstly, if we have a good UV bulb (ours is a 5.0 bulb) do we need to supplement with the Calcium with D3 or is just the daily calcium powder w/o D3 fine since we have a brand new UV bulb?

As I researched on the website here, there is a danger to giving the calcium with D3 too often so I wanted to be sure about amount and frequency.

Secondly, what multivitamin is recommended (brand, etc.)? Are these also a powder that you sprinkle on the feeders or is it a liquid?

Not nutritional related but what is the recommended humidity range for a veiled? His tank is hovering around 55%.

Also, is there a way I can tell how old he is?

I really appreciate all of the information that is available on this website and the positive community interactions that I've observed on the forums. Thanks in advance!

 

[carol5208]

Hello and welcome! Now for your questions....dust your feeders with a powder calcium with no d3 daily. The schedule which most everyone uses successfully is regular calcium daily, calcium with d3 twice monthly and a multi vitamin twice monthly also. I use Herptivite for a multi, some people use Reptivite. 55% is a decent humidity. You can get it to go higher when you mist the cage down and then it will go lower again when the water starts to evaporate. Adding live plants will raise the humidity also. If you post a picture of your chameleon we should be able to give you an estimate on age. Have it sit on your hand or something we can compare the size to as pics can be deceiving. Also, does you chameleon have spurs on the back of his back feet? Those are little points that stick out. Only the males have them. Pet stores often are not aware of this and sell males as females and vice versa. If you post a pic of the back feet, we can tell you the sex also. If you click on the Care Resources link over to the left, and the then Caresheets you will find one for Veilds and it will give you all the info you need to keep your chameleon healthy.

 

[eat2muchrice]

Welcome, there is so much to learn about these amazing little creatures. Here is a good place to get started https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/ , most of us here follow these guidelines for successfully raising up Veil’s. Pictures would be great and people would be able to better guess his age and confirm sex, I have found that mine is growing about an inch a month so I would imagine yours seems pretty large by now.

 

[TwiceBorn]

Thanks. I'll get pictures this evening after I get home from work. He is a male, for sure. I followed the guide and located the tarsal spurs.

I know they had the herptavite at the local shop, so I'll probably just grab that.

When we get the screen enclosure this weekend, we'll pick up a live plant or two. Thanks for the information!

 

[TwiceBorn]

Attached the pics.

Here he is, he's on my 8 year old's hand, with my hand just on the other side for size reference.

 

[carol5208]

I would guess around 6months but it is possible that he could be 8 like the store said. Some are bigger than others and grow at different rates.

 

[mvad]

I'm guessing he is closer to 5-6 months. His casque is not very big yet but as many have stated size and age can vary greatly.