New to Chams and very confused, Help !

[sallyb]

Hi everyone,
I recently got a veiled chameleon after researching for sometime and foolishly taking the advice of the chap i bought her from. Gizmo is 8 weeks old now i bought her a 6 weeks. Within 10 minutes of getting her home and into her glass tank she was eating. Within days she had settled quite well and was eating 2+ crickets a day. However she is now eating 1-2 crickets a day and twice now she has eaten nothing for a couple of days. The guy i bought her from said to feed her every other day - is this correct ? Maybe i am worrying over nothing, but after reading several threads on here i realised that this man had advised me poorly. I have today removed the substrate that he sold me and now use newspaper, but i am really worried that she has not eaten since monday (Wed today) and she is hiding in the silk greenery. She also looks unusually pale instead of the nice green colour she was before today. I have added a vine to her tank today and wonder if this is upsetting her as she seems to be largely avoiding it.

I am misting her 2-3 times a day for 2-3 minutes with pretty warm water, have a uvb5 tube 12 hours a day and a 75watt infra red heat lamp which i use with a thermostat. Her hot spot is 34degrees. She also shed when i first got her with no problems. Any help or advice will be gratefully received.

 

[jannb]

Where do you live Sally? Normally a glass tank is not good. A veiled that young should be eating up a storm. BTW Welcome to the forums! Jann
A great place for info: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[Chameleons Canada]

Hi Sally and Welcome to the forum,

Is not the norm that she is not eating and at this age they should be fed every day. The first thing I would suggest is take her out of the tank and put her on a screen cage, this could be one of the main reasons why she is not happy.

Check out this link, it has plenty information about veilds and feel free to ask questions any time on this forum:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[RachelRiot]

My veiled is 4 months and she is eating anywhere from 15 to some days 25 crix a day. They eat a lot when they are little.

Welcome.

 

[sallyb]

I live in Leeds, England. The chap i got her from told me to buy a glass tank, he also gave me all sorts of substrate for her - i was horrified to find it could make her ill. He said i should feed her 3-4 crickets every other day, but i do not know what to believe now as it appears his advice was very poor. I have been buying stage 4 crickets which look rather big could i be using the wrong ones ? She has seemed very happy until now, she is even very happy to be handled and seems to crave human contact.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

34 degrees Celsius = 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit is too hot for a veiled that young.

I would try to drop it down to 85 or so. You can do this by raising the casking light.

So you run the infrared light at night? If so it should be off and allow a cooling off period at night. As low as 60 can be tolerated but 60 + is a little better. A 10 degree drop from the ambient temp at night would be best.

do you have any live plants in the cage?

 

[sandrachameleon]

I suspect she is also too hot. 34C is too hot for a young one, especially in a glass enclosure which likely has little ventilation. Hot spot should be closer to 27F and cooler side 21C --they need a gradient to allow them to regulate their temperature.

 

[jannb]

I'm not sure what stage 4 crickets are but she should have crickets no biger than the size between her eyes.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

I live in Leeds, England. The chap i got her from told me to buy a glass tank, he also gave me all sorts of substrate for her - i was horrified to find it could make her ill. He said i should feed her 3-4 crickets every other day, but i do not know what to believe now as it appears his advice was very poor. I have been buying stage 4 crickets which look rather big could i be using the wrong ones ? She has seemed very happy until now, she is even very happy to be handled and seems to crave human contact.

It is OK to use a glass tank if the proper ventilation is allowed. It is done a lot in England. Not so much here in the US . Is it a screen top? Can you blow a fan gently into the Cage via the screen top?

 

[jannb]

Are you using a UVB light? it will not pass through glass.

 

[sallyb]

Thank you all so much for the help - i have turned her temperature down already so hopefully this will help. Her infra red heat lamp is on a thermostat so i can control her temperature, the UVB light is on for 12-14 hours a day and is directly into her tank not through glass or anything thankfully. I cannot use a fan at the moment, but my other half is going to build her a new tall terrarium as soon as he can so we will make sure this is an option too.

Poor little girl - i have been feeding her huge crickets like the chap in the shop said. I did wonder about size as it just did not seem right. I`m going to the pet shop asap for smaller crickets.

She does not have live plants at the moment will these be beneficial to her and please could you give me an idea of some safe ones to get ? Again, thank you all i really appreciate it.

 

[jannb]

There's a safe plant list here on the home page on the right under live plants. I use Potho and Ficus mostly.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Pothos are really easy plants, and safe.

 

[alhickabee]

Sounds like you're figuring it out. Only thing I would recommend is to get rid of the infra red heat light. Chameleons don't need a heat lamp at night and a temp drop down to ~65*F (sorry dont know what that is in C) is actually good to help them sleep more deeply. Just use a 60w regular incandescent bulb on the dimmer to get the basking temp. Good luck with our little girl!

 

[sallyb]

Thanks i will definitely do that alhickabee. I feel much better now that i know what she really needs. It is so frustrating to think that a pet shop can sell an animal without the correct knwledge to pass on to the new owner. Hopefully she will now be much happier and comfortable for everones advice.

 

[sallyb]

Good news ! i bought some much smaller crickets this morning, popped them in Gizmos tank and she began wolfing them down - huge relief. She is also out and about again so the temperature drop has also helped. thanks guys.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

Good news ! i bought some much smaller crickets this morning, popped them in Gizmos tank and she began wolfing them down - huge relief. She is also out and about again so the temperature drop has also helped. thanks guys.

I love a happy ending.

 

[alhickabee]

Congrats, keep us updated on her progress and growth. We all love seeing them grow through pictures, so the more the better!

 

[BocaJan]

Good job! Cricket size is important. I was at PetCo yesterday checking out chams because every once in awhile they have one. Well, they had two babies in a glass cage. They have a thermometer and hydrometer in the cage and everything was ok in that regard, however they had substrate and crickets almost the size of the babies! Ackkkk I will go back this weekend and check on them and let someone know about the cricket size. Couldn't tell if they were misting but they had a water dish. tsk tsk tsk.

 

[sallyb]

I will definitely keep you up to date with pics etc - we are just thrilled that she seems happy and hungry again. Heaven knows what would have happened without the right advice from you all.