New to this world

[AllieKat0421]

Hello everyone. I’m new to this and a new veiled chameleon mom. I’m a vet tech so I’m familiar to reptiles but not so much chameleons. I know some basic care needs due to doing ALOT of research. However I just want to make sure I’m giving my little girl the best care possible. Any tips?

 

[Gingero]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on the new chameleon A great place to start is by answering the questions found here in as much detail as possible: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66 Also post a picture of the enclosure from the top down.

 

[AllieKat0421]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon female. About 3 months. I just got her over the weekend
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once to add more vines in her cage. She puffs up any other time I’ve tried to get her out
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets about 5-7 a day. Also meal worms with her calcium and vitamins on them. They are easier to dust. The crickets are fed raw potatoes and have a water gel cube with vitamins in them. I haven’t had time to go to the store to buy more greens to Gutload with
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed calcium and zoomed multivitamin. I dusted both mealworm meals for 2 days Sunday and Monday this week. I only gave her 2 at each meal they are small
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i use a spray bottle and mist about 3-4 times a day. I mist until I see drops coming off the vines and leaves. I haven’t seen her drink but I mist and leave her because she is really shy
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown with white. Poops once a day. No haven’t tested her yet.
• 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?16x16x30. Screen all the way
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?zoomed 60watt daylight it’s a blue bulb. I also have a 75watt basking bulb also zoomed it’s just an extra but it’s not turned on. Zoomed reptisun 5.0 compact 26 watt uvb light in a exco terra compact mini hood fixture. Her lights are on from 9am-9pm and no night lighting
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Her basking spot is about 80-85 mid is 80-75 and bottom is 75-70. I have a thermometer wrapped around the basking vine and one in mid and one at the bottom. At night it’s 70-73
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is at 50-60. I just spray her cage with a spray bottle. I use a thermometer
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I’m working on getting I’ve plants but right now I just have fake.
• 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?the cage is located upstairs in a low traffic room. All of the air vents are placed on the ceilings. Her cage sits on a side table which is about 2 feet off the ground
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I’m located in Tennessee United States

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I don’t really have any problems just trying to make sure I have what she needs

 

[Mrjamwin]

The water dish might be the only concern here. They have a tendency to be pooped in a lot and can gather diseases and such and the preferable method is either a misting system, a dripping system on spraying the enclosure for several minutes to provide the drinking water they need. Just some food for thought.

 

[Beman]

@AllieKat0421 Quite a bit to go through so give me a minute to look over your entire form. There will be multiple changes and upgrades you will need to do for your little one.

 

[JuniorC]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon female. About 3 months. I just got her over the weekend
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once to add more vines in her cage. She puffs up any other time I’ve tried to get her out
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets about 5-7 a day. Also meal worms with her calcium and vitamins on them. They are easier to dust. The crickets are fed raw potatoes and have a water gel cube with vitamins in them. I haven’t had time to go to the store to buy more greens to Gutload with
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed calcium and zoomed multivitamin. I dusted both mealworm meals for 2 days Sunday and Monday this week. I only gave her 2 at each meal they are small
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i use a spray bottle and mist about 3-4 times a day. I mist until I see drops coming off the vines and leaves. I haven’t seen her drink but I mist and leave her because she is really shy
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown with white. Poops once a day. No haven’t tested her yet.
• 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?16x16x30. Screen all the way
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?zoomed 60watt daylight it’s a blue bulb. I also have a 75watt basking bulb also zoomed it’s just an extra but it’s not turned on. Zoomed reptisun 5.0 compact 26 watt uvb light in a exco terra compact mini hood fixture. Her lights are on from 9am-9pm and no night lighting
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Her basking spot is about 80-85 mid is 80-75 and bottom is 75-70. I have a thermometer wrapped around the basking vine and one in mid and one at the bottom. At night it’s 70-73
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is at 50-60. I just spray her cage with a spray bottle. I use a thermometer
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I’m working on getting I’ve plants but right now I just have fake.
• 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?the cage is located upstairs in a low traffic room. All of the air vents are placed on the ceilings. Her cage sits on a side table which is about 2 feet off the ground
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I’m located in Tennessee United States

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I don’t really have any problems just trying to make sure I have what she needs

I see a few things that need to be changed. Be patient and gingero will follow up with the proper information

 

[kinyonga]

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon female. About 3 months. I just got her over the weekend

• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once to add more vines in her cage. She puffs up any other time I’ve tried to get her out
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets about 5-7 a day. Also meal worms with her calcium and vitamins on them. They are easier to dust. The crickets are fed raw potatoes and have a water gel cube with vitamins in them. I haven’t had time to go to the store to buy more greens to Gutload with. you can feed her more than that for a while longer. At that age I feed them as much as they will eat in a couple of minutes at each feeding and then leave a couple more crickets in their cage for a snack later. Once they are sexually mature/get their big girl colors I cut them back to prevent them from producing huge clutches of eggs.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed calcium and zoomed multivitamin. I dusted both mealworm meals for 2 days Sunday and Monday this week. I only gave her 2 at each meal they are small. I don't recommend using mealworms as a main feeder...one once in a while is likely fine. Crickets, roaches, locusts, silkworms, hornworms, BSFL and lots of other insects are better for them. Once in a while waxworms and superworms are ok too. I dust at all feedings but 4 a month lightly with a phos free calcium powder and on two of the remaining four days, two weeks apart I dust lightly with a phos free calcium/D3 powder and the other 2 days, once every two weeks I dust lightly with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A. If needed a small amount of a prEformed vitamin A can be given...but this way there's little chance of overdosing it. D3 from supplements can also build up in the system so dusting twice a month only and leaving it to produce the rest of its D3 from its UVB exposure avoids the overdose with that too. Vitamin A and D3 are somewhat antagonistic to each other so they need to be in balance and of course the phos and calcium need to be in the right balance for strong bones, etc too.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i use a spray bottle and mist about 3-4 times a day. I mist until I see drops coming off the vines and leaves. I haven’t seen her drink but I mist and leave her because she is really shy I would recommend setting up a dripper for her too...it should drip at the rate of one or two drips per second IMHO.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown with white. Poops once a day. No haven’t tested her yet.
• 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?16x16x30. Screen all the way
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?zoomed 60watt daylight it’s a blue bulb. I also have a 75watt basking bulb also zoomed it’s just an extra but it’s not turned on. Zoomed reptisun 5.0 compact 26 watt uvb light in a exco terra compact mini hood fixture. Her lights are on from 9am-9pm and no night lighting light on the cage should be white only IMHO. The basking light can be a household incandescent bulb of a wattage that produces the appropriate basking temperature. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear reptisun 5.0 tube light.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Her basking spot is about 80-85 mid is 80-75 and bottom is 75-70. I have a thermometer wrapped around the basking vine and one in mid and one at the bottom. At night it’s 70-73
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is at 50-60. I just spray her cage with a spray bottle. I use a thermometer
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I’m working on getting I’ve plants but right now I just have fake. real non toxic well washed, both sides of the leaves, are recommended for veileds because they munch on leaves...especially the females do.
• 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?the cage is located upstairs in a low traffic room. All of the air vents are placed on the ceilings. Her cage sits on a side table which is about 2 feet off the ground
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I’m located in Tennessee United States

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I don’t really have any problems just trying to make sure I have what she needs
I hope this helps!

 

[Beman]

Hi hun so see my feedback and questions in red bold. Please do not get overwhelmed by the feedback. We were all new at one point.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon female. About 3 months. I just got her over the weekend Are you sure it is a female? Husbandry will be different for female vs male. Do you know how to tell the difference between the genders?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once to add more vines in her cage. She puffs up any other time I’ve tried to get her out. For now let her be and do not handle her. She is young so she will stress very quickly. Baby needs to adjust to the new enclosure.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets about 5-7 a day. Also meal worms with her calcium and vitamins on them. They are easier to dust. The crickets are fed raw potatoes and have a water gel cube with vitamins in them. I haven’t had time to go to the store to buy more greens to Gutload with. Ok so lots here to go through. So with it being so young she will need to eat much more each day. At that age they can take down 15 a day easily. Do not feed mealworms they are high in chitin and are nutritionally lacking what she needs. For the gutload I am attaching an image to help with this. Potatoes will not work because they are just water. You want a variety of greens or you can do a commercial gutload like bugbuger by repashy.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed calcium and zoomed multivitamin. I dusted both mealworm meals for 2 days Sunday and Monday this week. I only gave her 2 at each meal they are small Can you take pics of the exact supplements you are using please? With supplementation you will use Calcium WITHOUT D3 at every feeding. Then every week you will rotate between Calcium WITH D3 and a multivitamin so that these are given 2 times a month.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?i use a spray bottle and mist about 3-4 times a day. I mist until I see drops coming off the vines and leaves. I haven’t seen her drink but I mist and leave her because she is really shy. So you will want to upgrade to a mistking misting system. But in the meantime you want to mist her plants for a minimum of 2 minutes. You can use plastic to cover the back and a side of the enclosure so you avoid spraying out the back.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown with white. Poops once a day. No haven’t tested her yet. You will want to get a fecal for her done to ensure she does not have 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?16x16x30. Screen all the way. This will need an upgrade by the time the baby hits 6 months old. You want a 24x24x48 enclosure. I happen to prefer Dragon strand enclosures because they have ledges to attach plants and branches to along with a drip pan to contain the water run off. Better quality and they do not rust.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?zoomed 60watt daylight it’s a blue bulb. I also have a 75watt basking bulb also zoomed it’s just an extra but it’s not turned on. Zoomed reptisun 5.0 compact 26 watt uvb light in a exco terra compact mini hood fixture. Her lights are on from 9am-9pm and no night lighting. This is a number one priority for upgrading. You need to get rid of the compact uvb bulb and get a T5 linear fixure and a 5.0 UVB bulb for it. You want it to run the width of the enclosure. So if you are going to upgrade the enclosure you want a 24 inch fixture. It will not hurt to have it overhang for now. This is very important because the compact bulb will not give her the proper UVB lighting. Double check your temps due to running a basking and daylight blue. This is alot of output in heat.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Her basking spot is about 80-85 mid is 80-75 and bottom is 75-70. I have a thermometer wrapped around the basking vine and one in mid and one at the bottom. At night it’s 70-73 If the temps are accurate these are good. no hotter then 85 at basking.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is at 50-60. I just spray her cage with a spray bottle. I use a thermometer. Is this the level right after misting or constantly? You want the ambient humidity to be 30-40% it can spike after misting though.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I’m working on getting I’ve plants but right now I just have fake. Pothos are great for Veileds. Make sure you get 1 inch or larger rock to cover the soil of the plant though or the baby will try to eat it. Live plants help stabilize humidity and also veileds like to munch on them. They give a better surface area for drinking.
• 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?the cage is located upstairs in a low traffic room. All of the air vents are placed on the ceilings. Her cage sits on a side table which is about 2 feet off the ground
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I’m located in Tennessee United States

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I don’t really have any problems just trying to make sure I have what she needs

Here are additional resources.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
Bill Strand does podcasts and also has this website.
https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/
www.dragonstrand.com

 

[AllieKat0421]

She does not have the spur on her back feet. What about the bottom of the cage I’ve heard a lot of mixed things. Right now she has the repti carpet from zoomed.

 

[Beman]

She does not have the spur on her back feet. What about the bottom of the cage I’ve heard a lot of mixed things. Right now she has the repti carpet from zoomed.

ideally you want a bare floor so it can be cleaned and does not hold bacteria unless you have a fully bio active enclosure. Repti carpet is not good for chameleon cages. You will want to look into drain pan options as well.

 

[AllieKat0421]

when should I start looking for her to lay clutches

 

[kinyonga]

Once she gets her big girl colors she's old enough to produce eggs. That's mustardy yellow splotches and blue dots.

 

[AllieKat0421]

Is there a good place to get accessories for the cage I’m having a hard time getting things to make cage full

 

[Beman]

Is there a good place to get accessories for the cage I’m having a hard time getting things to make cage full

Did you read through the help forms that we posted in response to yours?

 

[AllieKat0421]

Yes can I just get them from Lowe’s? Should I change the soil or just put rocks in the pot?

 

[Beman]

Yes can I just get them from Lowe’s? Should I change the soil or just put rocks in the pot?

Take the plants down to the roots then use organic soil. Rinse the plant really well first. Then re pot and put the 1 inch or larger rocks over the dirt so that there is no dirt visible. And yes you can get the plants from lowes.