New veiled chameleon owner with some questions

[zelphos]

I rescued a veiled chameleon last weekend, hes skinny and looks like he wasn't taken care of, I just built him an enclosure because he was in a 20 gallon tank with no climbing room at all, it's 4 1/2 ft tall and 3ft wide/long here is a picture http://tinypic.com/r/1zl6bud/6
I got a reptisun 10.0 uvb in till the 5.0 gets here and its a 36 inch long bulb with a 90 watt flood light, he's a year old and I got him to eat some super worms yesterday, but he's been staying a darkish color, he's lightened up a lot since he's been moved to his new enclosure but he's a teal kind of color and grayish? and sometimes gets light blue polka dots? I've only had him a few days so I was just wondering if maybe he's stressed because of being moved around? I put plants in that are safe for him that I found from this site and I guess om just looking for advice how to properly care for him, I also used hardware cloth for his cage and after I built it I saw a sticker saying it could cause cancer and reproductive issues the state of California believes, is this safe to have in my house around my family and is this safe for the chameleon? Thanks!

 

[MollyT]

Hello and welcome to the forums! I am glad that you rescued your little guy. Your cage looks nice. He has a ton of climbing room and places to hide and feel secure. Are you supplementing with calcium and multivitamins? If not, you will need to get some calcium without D3 and give it to him every day. You will also need calcium with D3 and a multivitamin to give every 2 weeks. That is crucial to chameleon care. I'm not sure why his colors look like they do. Are you sure he is a male? Is there any chance it could be a female? Hydration and humidity are also very important. He will need a dripper so he can have fresh, moving water. No water bowls or waterfalls. Also, you will want to give his cage a good misting 3 or 4 times a day. Just make sure it dries in between mistings. You also might want to try feeding him crickets or dubia roaches. I hear they can get addicted to superworms and refuse to eat anything else! It looks like you have a good start with his cage. I'm not sure about the hardware cloth, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people use it. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in. Good luck with your little guy!

 

[Lovereps]

Welcome to the forum Zelphos!
It's very kind of you to have rescued that cham.
Your cham enclosure looks totally awesome
I didn't even see your cham in there--which is the way chams like it!
You've certainly found the right place for reliable info.


Chameleons need the right warm temperatures to be able to digest their food and stay healthy--neither too cold nor too hot.
It's important that they have a basking spot that lets them warm up enough, but doesn't let them get close enough to the bulb to get burned by the light.
Adult male veileds can have a basking spot of 85-90 while it's recommended that adult females basking spot be kept a bit cooler by about 5 degrees to discourage them from egg laying (they can do this even without a mate).
The cham needs to be able to get within about 12" or less of the 5.0 UVB bulb to be able to get enough UVB.
Plain calcium each feeding, calcium with D3 2x a month and a multivitamin 2x a month, combined with a varied diet are all good for your cham.
Here's one source of a variety of feeders--you just need to go lightly with the waxworms and superworms (very fatty) and mealworms are said to be too tough to digest.
If he is skinny, then a few supers to fatten him up a bit should be a good start.
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/


Since they live in trees and bushes in the wild, they don't recognize bowls of water but instead drink drops of water off plant leaves.
Using a mister and a dripper are the ways to keep the humidity up to levels that chams need and provide the drinking water drops.
You can get an appliance drain pan or something similar to keep the water from soaking the wood on the cage floor and growing unhealthy molds or bacteria.
It is important to be sure to thoroughly wash the plants to make sure there's no insecticides or fertilizers on them which can poison your cham.
Thoroughly washing the leaves with dish soap and rinsing them thoroughly should do the trick.
If there's any little balls of fertilizer or sticks or rocks in the soil, you'll need to cover it up with either very large rocks that your cham couldn't possibly swallow or some potting soil that doesn't have fertilizer balls/moisture beads, etc in it.
Cham's can accidentally ingest this stuff and it can have disastrous consequences.

I suspect that the hardware cloth is made with either lead solder or lead in the metal itself--hence the CA health warning.
The long-term safety of the material for your family and your cham would really depend on how much of the bad stuff is actually in the metal/solder.
If you want to get a quick replacement LLLReptile and DIYCages both have nice screen cages
http://www.diycages.com/15201/index.html
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...ile-cages-and-vivariums/screen-reptile-cages/

Here is a great 2 part post that outlines just about everything you need to know about caring for a Veiled cham and how to keep him healthy.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...e/396-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet-part-2.html

Glad you found the forum and want to help your new cham to have a good life with you!

 

[zelphos]

I've been misting his enclosure with a spray bottle for now, I'm getting a mist system tomorrow, I've been giving him crickets everyday but he has only ate one that I've saw so I got about 10 supers from a family member because I was worried he wasn't eating then i had a super in my hand and he went right for it, and actually I'm just guessing its a male, that's what I was told from the person that had them before, I don't know how to check to make sure it is? and in that picture of the enclosure he's in there on the upper left hand corner if you look well enough I'll be sure to get calcium I already have the reptical multivitamin but I'm running very low on money after having to order and buy so many things for him this weekend so I will have to next week. What kind of screen do you guys use on your enclosures also will he eat any plants I put in there? maybe a hibiscus?

 

[zelphos]

Oh and the plants I washed in the shower with soap and then I put organic soil over it if that's fine?

 

[Lovereps]

That's the way I cleaned my first chams' plants and they were fine.

A velied male has veileds spurs on the heel of the back feet Females don't have the spurs.

You know your eyesight stinks when you don't see a big handsome cham in a pic like yours

The cham safe plants are safe because chams can eat them without getting sick.
Hibiscus are apparently nice and tasy--according to my chams.

 

[zelphos]

I am not sure what you mean by spurs? is there a reference picture I could see? I'll have to buy a hibiscus and put it in there, I was wondering if anyone knows how I can make the hardware cloth safe? is there something I can do? and thank you everyone for all the information! I'm definitely taking it all in! ^_^

 

[MollyT]

Oh wow! I went back and looked and he popped right out at me! He is a very pretty male!

 

[Lovereps]

Here are 2 past posts that show spurs and the absence of spurs:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/sexing-baby-vieled-yemen-88391/#post827056
https://www.chameleonforums.com/help-been-mislead-about-my-chamleons-gender-91692/

As I said earlier about the possible danger of the hardwarecloth, it depends on how much of anything there really is in the metal/solder. It may or may not be a small amount but requires a warning notice.
You'd probably have to either look up the California laws and assume it is lead or contact the manufacturer and ask them about the composition of the hardwarecloth.
I've seen lead materials warning labels on electrical cords, if that gives any indication as to how strict the law might be.

 

[zelphos]

He is cute, we decided to name him Waldo because when we look in his enclosure we're always like "where is he?" so now we can say where's Waldo does anyone know what light blue polka dots mean? if I put him on his jungle vine and hold him to put him on it to give him supers he turns really light and gets light blue polka dots

 

[zelphos]

Ah thank you Lovereps I'll check tomorrow I don't want to disturb him/her while they're sleeping, I'll be sure to post tomorrow or take a picture and show you guys if I can't tell and I'll have to do that to make sure, thanks!

 

[Lovereps]

You're quite welcome.
You'll find yourself playing "Where's Waldo" more often than you might think
I have Jackson's chameleons, so I was clueless about the polka dots BUT a search of past posts came up with this helpful post:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/polka-dots-chameleon-27775/