New (semi paranoid) Chameleon owner with some questions!

[stimattson]

I very recently brought home my first veiled chameleon. He is a 4 month male named Finnbar

It's been tricky getting his humidity to adequate levels. With lots of additions and trial I am able to have it rest between 70-95% during the day, with drops down to 40-60% at night.
Nighttime humidity is definitely a concern of mine at the moment. It's hard to find a straight answer anywhere since everything seems to be based on opinion. Do I get a fogger to keep the humidity HIGHER at night like some people say? Or do I turn the auto mister off at night for a lower humidity? At the moment I have my auto mister going 4x a day. It sprays for 45 seconds at 8:17am, 2:17pm, 8:17pm, and 2:17am.

My primary concerns at the moment are that Finnbar began to shed the day after I brought him home (I know this is normal for a new environment). However, he still has a small amount of shed left after ~3 days. I have read that this could be caused by a problem in the humidity.

Additionally, he finally pooped today! The problem is, I can't find his urate so I am not positive how hydrated he is. There was some very small white/yellow *something* next to some leaves where I found his waste, but I don't think it is urate.

I would love any input/help from the chameleon community! (would love for someone with badges next to their name to send me that template and answer all my burning questions haha)

Thanks!
Matt/Finnbar

 

[stimattson]

Here he is! He spends lots of time basking on a spiral branch I have suspended in the middle of his cage. He likes to hide in the top corner, and sometimes climbs around on the screen.

 

[GrannyK]

Hi there and welcome!!! Your little one is adorable and you have come to a great place for advice! I am not an expert but part of the welcoming crew and see you’ve asked for a husbandry review form. I’ve pasted it below. They say you can copy and paste it, and add your answers. The experts should jump in and guide you once completed.
One thing I do see is your humidity seems backwards. I believe it should be 40-50 during the day and 70-90 at night with misting before lights go on and after they shut off but I’ll leave the recommendations to the experts! Good luck with your little fella, share lots of pics as he grows!


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?How
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[Reptar313]

You will want to have lower humidity during the day and higher at night. I would mist for longer durations fewer times a day. The white/ yellow part is Urate and is indicating slight dehydration. Sure others will comment. Hope that helps a little

 

[stimattson]

Your Chameleon - Finnbar is a 4 month old, male veiled piebald chameleon
Handling - I just got him not even a week ago so I have not handled him since he moved in.
Feeding - (Like I say, he's new so not a lot of time with this) He ate 5 small crickets 2 days ago, around 10 yesterday, and has not touched his crickets today. They are gut-loaded with "Fluckers high calcium diet". I have been feeding him in the late morning/early afternoon. I feed him using a small glass bowl that I place on the ground of the enclosure.
Supplements - Repticalcium with d3 and reptivive vitamins with d3. I dust the crickets with repticalcium daily. I used reptivive for some extra vitamins yesterday.
Watering - I auto mist 4x daily for 45 seconds each time. The mister is set to go off at 8:17am, 2:17pm, 8:17pm, and 2:17am. I have been in the habit of lightly misting again in the morning around 11 to get the humidity up. Additionally, I have a dropper that's tree shaped with droplets falling down the faux leaves.
Fecal Description - Finally saw his waste today (I can link photo). I did not see any urate, but did see and photograph something else near his poop. He has not been tested for any parasites yet.
History - I bought him from a breeder at a reptile expo this past weekend. The only notable concerns I saw were that the owner was handling the chameleons a lot, there were about 6 others in the cage with him too. He was fed romaine lettuce and crickets. I have been able to feed him crickets but have not gotten him to touch any collard greens.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an all mesh cage (reptibreeze). The dimensions are 16"x 16"x 30".
Lighting - I am using zoomed lights. I have a 100w daylight blue bulb for heat, and a reptisun 5.0 13w bulb for UVA. I have a 12 hour on, 12 hour off light schedule. Lights come on at 8:37 am, and shut off at 8:37pm.
Temperature - His basking spot is around 75-90 Fahrenheit. The bottom of the cage is 10 degrees cooler sitting around 70-80. I measure with a hydrometer/thermometer near the bottom of the cage, and with a probe suspended at the top of the cage near his basking spot.
Humidity - Humidity fluctuates between 65-95 during the day. Typically its between 70-80. Nighttime humidity is ~60 (I'm sure it gets higher after the 2:17am misting but I have not been awake for it). One side is covered with a damp beach towel (I wet it every morning). The other two are covered with garbage bag which I am upgrading to shower liner this afternoon. I measure the humidity with a hydrometer in the middle of the enclosure. (I have had many failed attempts to fixate or stick it to the side of the cage)
Plants - I have one medium sized Pothos at the bottom of the enclosure. Otherwise I have fake plants which I plan on swapping out in a few weeks.
Placement - The cage is on top of my dresser. The top of the cage is 5 feet off the floor. I have relatively high ceilings, and the vent is around 6 feet away.
Location - I am located in southern Wisconsin.

Currently I am concerned about the accurate humidity for my chameleon at different times of the day, and the best way to maintain this. I want to ensure he finishes his first shed soon, and stays hydrated. (I need to see some healthy urate!)
I would love input on my misting schedule.

I'm also curious if I should be concerned about his appetite. He is very new, but has had an appetite the last couple days. I put 10 crickets out in his bowl around 45 minutes ago but he is staying at the top of his cage.

Thank you so much again to anyone who reads/helps!

 

[Beman]

Hi there Matt, welcome to the forum. If you give me a little bit I will go through your husbandry form.
@GrannyK thank you for sharing it

 

[Beman]

See my feedback in bold. Please let me know any questions you have. I will also need pics of the entire enclosure including the lights on top.


Your Chameleon - Finnbar is a 4 month old, male veiled piebald chameleon Congrats on your lil boy. piebalds are my favorite.
Handling - I just got him not even a week ago so I have not handled him since he moved in.
Feeding - (Like I say, he's new so not a lot of time with this) He ate 5 small crickets 2 days ago, around 10 yesterday, and has not touched his crickets today. They are gut-loaded with "Fluckers high calcium diet". I have been feeding him in the late morning/early afternoon. I feed him using a small glass bowl that I place on the ground of the enclosure. So you want to put feeders in first thing in the morning. Look into getting a feeder run. Either a shooting gallery or a full throttle feeder would be good. He should be eating quite a bit every day at this point. Your looking at about 2 dozen small feeders a day.
Supplements - Repticalcium with d3 and reptivive vitamins with d3. I dust the crickets with repticalcium daily. I used reptivive for some extra vitamins yesterday. This you want to change. You need repti calcium without D3 for your every day supplement. And then two times a month say the 1st and the 15th you will use the reptivite with D3 multivitamin.
Watering - I auto mist 4x daily for 45 seconds each time. The mister is set to go off at 8:17am, 2:17pm, 8:17pm, and 2:17am. I have been in the habit of lightly misting again in the morning around 11 to get the humidity up. Additionally, I have a dropper that's tree shaped with droplets falling down the faux leaves. The fake waterer you can remove these grow bacteria. For misting you want a longer misting session morning and evening. 2-3 minutes. You can add a plastic solo cup on top of the cage with tiny pin holes in the bottom and add ice cubes to it. This will provide a slow drip on the leaves below.
Fecal Description - Finally saw his waste today (I can link photo). I did not see any urate, but did see and photograph something else near his poop. He has not been tested for any parasites yet. Urate will be white/orange. Fecal should be brown and solid.
History - I bought him from a breeder at a reptile expo this past weekend. The only notable concerns I saw were that the owner was handling the chameleons a lot, there were about 6 others in the cage with him too. He was fed romaine lettuce and crickets. I have been able to feed him crickets but have not gotten him to touch any collard greens. Remove the veg. They actually should not be given it as food they are insectivores. Since you got him from an expo I would get a fecal sample tested to ensure he does not have parasites.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an all mesh cage (reptibreeze). The dimensions are 16"x 16"x 30". You will need to look into upgrading his cage size within the next month to a 24x24x48inch enclosure.
Lighting - I am using zoomed lights. I have a 100w daylight blue bulb for heat, and a reptisun 5.0 13w bulb for UVA. I have a 12 hour on, 12 hour off light schedule. Lights come on at 8:37 am, and shut off at 8:37pm. Is this the double dome that comes in the chameleon kit? If so you will need a linear T5HO fixture and the 5.0 uvb bulb for it. Buy the 24inch fixture because you will need that for the larger cage size. Then this sitting on the top of the cage you will want 8-9 inches to the closest basking branch below for him to be in the correct UVB exposure. 100 watt bulb is a bit strong I would reduce this to a 60 watt. 12 hour lights on/off cycle is correct.
Temperature - His basking spot is around 75-90 Fahrenheit. The bottom of the cage is 10 degrees cooler sitting around 70-80. I measure with a hydrometer/thermometer near the bottom of the cage, and with a probe suspended at the top of the cage near his basking spot. Basking is far too hot. 80 max for a little guy. Even as an adult the basking temp range is only 80-85.
Humidity - Humidity fluctuates between 65-95 during the day. Typically its between 70-80. Nighttime humidity is ~60 (I'm sure it gets higher after the 2:17am misting but I have not been awake for it). One side is covered with a damp beach towel (I wet it every morning). The other two are covered with garbage bag which I am upgrading to shower liner this afternoon. I measure the humidity with a hydrometer in the middle of the enclosure. (I have had many failed attempts to fixate or stick it to the side of the cage) Humidity is far too high. Daytime should be in the 30-50%max range. Nothing higher. Then at night if temps are below 67 you can have higher humidity but it has to be with airflow. So remove the damp towel you can leave the shower curtain on the side and back. Is your hygrometer a digital one? or analog? analog are not accurate and I would pull it out due to anything sticky being dangerous with chameleons skin.
Plants - I have one medium sized Pothos at the bottom of the enclosure. Otherwise I have fake plants which I plan on swapping out in a few weeks. Swap out the fake plants for live veiled tested plants. See image below. These will help balance your humidity and provide natural drinking surfaces.
Placement - The cage is on top of my dresser. The top of the cage is 5 feet off the floor. I have relatively high ceilings, and the vent is around 6 feet away.
Location - I am located in southern Wisconsin.

Currently I am concerned about the accurate humidity for my chameleon at different times of the day, and the best way to maintain this. I want to ensure he finishes his first shed soon, and stays hydrated. (I need to see some healthy urate!)
I would love input on my misting schedule.
See feedback above about misting. Shed may be taking longer due to the humidity being way too high.
I'm also curious if I should be concerned about his appetite. He is very new, but has had an appetite the last couple days. I put 10 crickets out in his bowl around 45 minutes ago but he is staying at the top of his cage. See feedback above. Get the feeder run. Put it in at basking level so he can see them moving in it. If the crickets are too large he will back off from eating as well.

Thank you so much again to anyone who reads/helps!

Start reading through every module in this husbandry program and ask questions here. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

 

[stimattson]

See my feedback in bold. Please let me know any questions you have. I will also need pics of the entire enclosure including the lights on top.


Your Chameleon - Finnbar is a 4 month old, male veiled piebald chameleon Congrats on your lil boy. piebalds are my favorite.
Handling - I just got him not even a week ago so I have not handled him since he moved in.
Feeding - (Like I say, he's new so not a lot of time with this) He ate 5 small crickets 2 days ago, around 10 yesterday, and has not touched his crickets today. They are gut-loaded with "Fluckers high calcium diet". I have been feeding him in the late morning/early afternoon. I feed him using a small glass bowl that I place on the ground of the enclosure. So you want to put feeders in first thing in the morning. Look into getting a feeder run. Either a shooting gallery or a full throttle feeder would be good. He should be eating quite a bit every day at this point. Your looking at about 2 dozen small feeders a day.
Supplements - Repticalcium with d3 and reptivive vitamins with d3. I dust the crickets with repticalcium daily. I used reptivive for some extra vitamins yesterday. This you want to change. You need repti calcium without D3 for your every day supplement. And then two times a month say the 1st and the 15th you will use the reptivite with D3 multivitamin.
Watering - I auto mist 4x daily for 45 seconds each time. The mister is set to go off at 8:17am, 2:17pm, 8:17pm, and 2:17am. I have been in the habit of lightly misting again in the morning around 11 to get the humidity up. Additionally, I have a dropper that's tree shaped with droplets falling down the faux leaves. The fake waterer you can remove these grow bacteria. For misting you want a longer misting session morning and evening. 2-3 minutes. You can add a plastic solo cup on top of the cage with tiny pin holes in the bottom and add ice cubes to it. This will provide a slow drip on the leaves below.
Fecal Description - Finally saw his waste today (I can link photo). I did not see any urate, but did see and photograph something else near his poop. He has not been tested for any parasites yet. Urate will be white/orange. Fecal should be brown and solid.
History - I bought him from a breeder at a reptile expo this past weekend. The only notable concerns I saw were that the owner was handling the chameleons a lot, there were about 6 others in the cage with him too. He was fed romaine lettuce and crickets. I have been able to feed him crickets but have not gotten him to touch any collard greens. Remove the veg. They actually should not be given it as food they are insectivores. Since you got him from an expo I would get a fecal sample tested to ensure he does not have parasites.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an all mesh cage (reptibreeze). The dimensions are 16"x 16"x 30". You will need to look into upgrading his cage size within the next month to a 24x24x48inch enclosure.
Lighting - I am using zoomed lights. I have a 100w daylight blue bulb for heat, and a reptisun 5.0 13w bulb for UVA. I have a 12 hour on, 12 hour off light schedule. Lights come on at 8:37 am, and shut off at 8:37pm. Is this the double dome that comes in the chameleon kit? If so you will need a linear T5HO fixture and the 5.0 uvb bulb for it. Buy the 24inch fixture because you will need that for the larger cage size. Then this sitting on the top of the cage you will want 8-9 inches to the closest basking branch below for him to be in the correct UVB exposure. 100 watt bulb is a bit strong I would reduce this to a 60 watt. 12 hour lights on/off cycle is correct.
Temperature - His basking spot is around 75-90 Fahrenheit. The bottom of the cage is 10 degrees cooler sitting around 70-80. I measure with a hydrometer/thermometer near the bottom of the cage, and with a probe suspended at the top of the cage near his basking spot. Basking is far too hot. 80 max for a little guy. Even as an adult the basking temp range is only 80-85.
Humidity - Humidity fluctuates between 65-95 during the day. Typically its between 70-80. Nighttime humidity is ~60 (I'm sure it gets higher after the 2:17am misting but I have not been awake for it). One side is covered with a damp beach towel (I wet it every morning). The other two are covered with garbage bag which I am upgrading to shower liner this afternoon. I measure the humidity with a hydrometer in the middle of the enclosure. (I have had many failed attempts to fixate or stick it to the side of the cage) Humidity is far too high. Daytime should be in the 30-50%max range. Nothing higher. Then at night if temps are below 67 you can have higher humidity but it has to be with airflow. So remove the damp towel you can leave the shower curtain on the side and back. Is your hygrometer a digital one? or analog? analog are not accurate and I would pull it out due to anything sticky being dangerous with chameleons skin.
Plants - I have one medium sized Pothos at the bottom of the enclosure. Otherwise I have fake plants which I plan on swapping out in a few weeks. Swap out the fake plants for live veiled tested plants. See image below. These will help balance your humidity and provide natural drinking surfaces.
Placement - The cage is on top of my dresser. The top of the cage is 5 feet off the floor. I have relatively high ceilings, and the vent is around 6 feet away.
Location - I am located in southern Wisconsin.

Currently I am concerned about the accurate humidity for my chameleon at different times of the day, and the best way to maintain this. I want to ensure he finishes his first shed soon, and stays hydrated. (I need to see some healthy urate!)
I would love input on my misting schedule.
See feedback above about misting. Shed may be taking longer due to the humidity being way too high.
I'm also curious if I should be concerned about his appetite. He is very new, but has had an appetite the last couple days. I put 10 crickets out in his bowl around 45 minutes ago but he is staying at the top of his cage. See feedback above. Get the feeder run. Put it in at basking level so he can see them moving in it. If the crickets are too large he will back off from eating as well.

Thank you so much again to anyone who reads/helps!

Start reading through every module in this husbandry program and ask questions here. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/


View attachment 331767View attachment 331768View attachment 331769

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice!
I’m worried about stressing my chameleon out by changing his environment so much right after move in. Is that an issue?
I can upgrade my lighting and enclosure in the next couple weeks. I have a 60w bulb I can swap back to.
I’m also going to go ahead and order a feeder run online right now.
Based off your misting suggestion. I should be misting twice and day and that will keep the humidity at night? How can I get the higher higher at night without having a light or multiple misting? How do you suggest attaining the humidity with “airflow” as you said?

 

[stimattson]

Attached are photos of his poop and “urate”? from earlier today.

 

[Beman]

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice!
I’m worried about stressing my chameleon out by changing his environment so much right after move in. Is that an issue?
I can upgrade my lighting and enclosure in the next couple weeks. I have a 60w bulb I can swap back to.
I’m also going to go ahead and order a feeder run online right now.
Based off your misting suggestion. I should be misting twice and day and that will keep the humidity at night? How can I get the higher higher at night without having a light or multiple misting? How do you suggest attaining the humidity with “airflow” as you said?

So this is part of the switch up game when we have to correct stuff. I prefer to remove a chameleon and put them into a dark box with a stick shoved through about an inch from the bottom. Make sure there is no tape they can get stuck to though. But this way they fall asleep while major changes are done. I find this to be the least stressful way.

Per the lighting the correct UVB lighting is an ASAP purchase. this one can not wait. Without the correct uvb they can develop MBD. The Arcadia ProT5 24in fixture with the 6% bulb is an excellent product.

So humidity at night all correlates to temps at night temps at night have to be cooler for this to work correctly. Most of us drop night temps to 65 max. But high night time humidity actually has more to do with another form of hydration. They are able to breath in the cold humid air and retain moisture to say it simply. Some use a fogger with these cold temps to help increase ambient humidity. Airflow is important no matter what we do with a chameleon cage. there has to be some form of movement to the air.
For example I have a hybrid enclosure the only open screen is the top panel and bottom front service door. This creates the chimney effect pulling in air up and out the top. I then also have a small pc fan on top of the cage in a corner that is aimed to pull air up and out the top.

We do not mist them consistently because the cage needs to dry out during the day. Also this would produce humidity levels that are far too high leading to respiratory infections due to the hot temps from the lights. So misting 2-3 minutes morning and evening works for most. Fine tuning this for your individual environment. For example I am in AZ and have extremely low humidity. I run 5 minute misting sessions to maintain 45% daytime levels. I have a hybrid to help hold and balance my humidity and temps. And I have all live plants that help balance humidity. Again fitting your settings to the needs of your environment and going with hybrid or screen based on your species needs and ambient home levels.