New Veiled Owner

digglesworth

digglesworth

New Member
I'm new to owning a chameleon. I got my veiled about 3 days ago and I'm loving it. I'm hoping to learn more about caring for him. We have some reptiles already, but first chameleon. I have him kinda set up so far. I'm getting more stuff in today and picking more supplies up tomorrow.

Here's a pic of Riff Raff.

IMG_0996.jpg


I will be moving him off of plastic plants very soon, these are temporary
 
I have a small UVB and the red is temporary until the Ceramic heater comes. I will be changing out the small UVB for one that goes across the enclosure. I had these on hand already. It's 70ish in my office at all times so he has warmth all around.
 
Needs to be at about 80 degrees at basking. T5ho for uvb and he'll eat fake plants cause that's what veiled do and they could die from it
 
I am upgrading the lamps and the foliage within the week. Most likely this weekend. I checked the temperature where he is basking and it is a bit over 80F. He's good.
 
Hi and welcome! That’s a little cutie you’ve got there. :) I’d like to be pushy and ask to review all of your care/husbandry. With so very much misinformation out there about chameleons I’d love to help make sure that you have everything just right for your sweet little one. If you’d like to do that, I‘ll need you to answer the following questions and provide pics of your entire enclosure. If you don’t want to do that, I urge you to check out https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ and Neptune the chameleon on YouTube for correct care guidelines. Very glad to have you here.😀

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • 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.

--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
MissSkittles said:
Hi and welcome! That’s a little cutie you’ve got there. :) I’d like to be pushy and ask to review all of your care/husbandry. With so very much misinformation out there about chameleons I’d love to help make sure that you have everything just right for your sweet little one. If you’d like to do that, I‘ll need you to answer the following questions and provide pics of your entire enclosure. If you don’t want to do that, I urge you to check out https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ and Neptune the chameleon on YouTube for correct care guidelines. Very glad to have you here.😀

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? I just got the chameleon on Wednesday. So far it looks to be a male. I was told he's just over 6 months.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have not handled him yet. I'm letting him adjust to the environment first.
  • 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? I've been doing gut loaded crickets at the moment. I put a couple in the enclosure in the morning and see how he's doing with them. I'm making a feeder to hang in the enclosure tomorrow to make this easier. I'm considering doing dubia roaches and alternating with the crickets. I'm using Repti Calcium with D3 and I think it's Flukers Quencher and Flukers cricket food
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I was spraying manually every couple hours to make sure he had opportunities to drink, but I just received my dripper and I'm setting it up tomorrow. I also received my fogger today and I was about to set it up but saw this message. I'm going to fog in the morning probably about 5am since I get up at 6 and car start the feeding routine.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? I don't if he's been tested. Just got him. Waiting for a dropping. Heard he might not go since he was just set up and could be nervous.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. No previous history. He was purchased at PetSmart on Wednesday.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen, 16" x 16" x 30" with plans to make a bigger one, this one is temporary.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? a UVB bulb in a dome and I have a red heat bulb I think from Zoo Med in place at the moment. I have ceramic heat emitters on their way. The UVB will be replaced with a 22" UVB Repti Zoo UVB T5, its been ordered.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking is at 84F and his other spots he likes to go to are 75F. The lowest I saw it go at the mid level was 67F. I have a thermometer probe halfway down the enclosure and I've been using an infrared temp checker through out the day.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I haven't received a Hygrometer yet. It's on order as well.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I do not have any live plants yet. Since I'm going with a drip water system I'm going to move over to live plants. Plan on looking for some tomorrow while I'm out running errands.
  • 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 enclosure is in my office on top of a very sturdy shelf unit. The air vent is as far away from it as can be but not a huge room so there is air circulation, but not enough to be disturbing. Top of the enclosure is about 7 feet up.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? I'm in Northern Virginia close to WV and MD.
Click to expand...

I have been watching Neptune the Chameleon videos to get a lot of ideas since Wednesday.

MissSkittles said:
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I was concerned with how to feed him correctly since the crickets having been climbing too high. I am going to installing a feeder that will hold them with some screen inside and it will be mounted where he can easily see it. Any recommendations on anything will be appreciated. We have other reptiles, this is the first chameleon.
Click to expand...

MissSkittles said:
--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful. I've attached a pic of him and how the enclosure is as of this moment, but it will be very different tomorrow as I put in more sticks and I hope to get some live plants and install the fogger and dripper.
Click to expand...
IMG_0996.jpg
PXL_20220127_202230441.jpg
 
Since your bold print reverted to regular when I pasted, I’ll put my feedback in bold. I don’t want to overwhelm you, but I do see that you’ll be needing to make a lot of changes. So sit back, take a deep breath and away we go. ;)

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? I just got the chameleon on Wednesday. So far it looks to be a male. I was told he's just over 6 months. I can’t tell from your pics if Riff Raff has tarsal spurs. However, he/she does look a lot younger than 6 months old. I would guesstimate age at around 3 months old, so that I’ll be going by those age guidelines.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have not handled him yet. I'm letting him adjust to the environment first. Perfect! Great blog on building trust. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Crickets are ok, but variety is best. Make sure feeders aren’t any bigger than the space between the eyes. It’s important to keep your feeders well fed and healthy so that they are more nutritious. Attaching graphics below.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I've been doing gut loaded crickets at the moment. I put a couple in the enclosure in the morning and see how he's doing with them. I'm making a feeder to hang in the enclosure tomorrow to make this easier. Yes! Having a feeding station helps so much. I'm considering doing dubia roaches and alternating with the crickets. I'm using Repti Calcium with D3 and I think it's Flukers Quencher and Flukers cricket food See graphics below. For supplements you want to be using a phosphorus free calcium without D3 at every feeding except one per week. The calcium with D3 is to be used one feeding every other week, alternating with a good multivitamin. Since you already have the D3, I’d suggest getting Reptivite without D3 as it contains preformed vitamin A for eye health.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I was spraying manually every couple hours to make sure he had opportunities to drink, but I just received my dripper and I'm setting it up tomorrow. I also received my fogger today and I was about to set it up but saw this message. I'm going to fog in the morning probably about 5am since I get up at 6 and car start the feeding routine. It’s best to mist for about 2 minutes, 2-3 times daily…right before lights on and off and mid day is optional. If you use a dripper mid day, you only want to run it for about 20 minutes. More on the fogger below.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? I don't if he's been tested. Just got him. Waiting for a dropping. Heard he might not go since he was just set up and could be nervous. Always good to have a fecal check.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. No previous history. He was purchased at PetSmart on Wednesday. Definitely want to get a fecal check then.
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen, 16" x 16" x 30" with plans to make a bigger one, this one is temporary. Actually this is a good size for a little one. Veileds do grow super fast though so plan on an upgrade to at least a 2x2x4’ in the next couple of months. If you can go bigger than that, your cham will be super happy.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? a UVB bulb in a dome and I have a red heat bulb I think from Zoo Med in place at the moment. I have ceramic heat emitters on their way. The UVB will be replaced with a 22" UVB Repti Zoo UVB T5, its been ordered. No colored lights ever as they can hurt sensitive cham eyes. I’d recommend against using heat emitters as it is usually the light that they are attracted to for basking. Unless your night time temps drop below 55-60, you won’t need the heat emitters. Plain old fashioned incandescent bulbs are great to use. I would start at about a 60w bulb. Avoid LED as they don’t put off significant heat. I would pop a basking bulb in one side of your double dome and a plant light in the other side. Something like this works well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BRKG7X1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I’m glad you’ve ordered the correct uvb. I’m assuming the bulb strength is the correct 5.0? You’ll want basking area to be about 8-9” below your lights. Now, since your cham is little, screen climbing will happen and there’s risks for burns. You’ll need to elevate your lights a few inches off of the screen top. You can buy Repti risers off Etsy or I just use wire bins from Dollar Tree.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking is at 84F and his other spots he likes to go to are 75F. The lowest I saw it go at the mid level was 67F. I have a thermometer probe halfway down the enclosure and I've been using an infrared temp checker through out the day. 84 is just a bit too hot for a little one. For adult males that temp is perfect. For little ones and ladies we keep it around 80. Great for having temp variants.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I haven't received a Hygrometer yet. It's on order as well. You’ll want to keep daytime humidity between 30-50%. At night if you can achieve a good temp drop below at least 70 (lower is better), this is when you’ll use the fogger and boost humidity all the way. This simulates the natural hydration of dog in the wild.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I do not have any live plants yet. Since I'm going with a drip water system I'm going to move over to live plants. Plan on looking for some tomorrow while I'm out running errands. All live, safe and washed plants are best. List below. You can attach the fake plants on the outside of the enclosure for added privacy. Veileds nibble their plants FYI.
  • 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 enclosure is in my office on top of a very sturdy shelf unit. The air vent is as far away from it as can be but not a huge room so there is air circulation, but not enough to be disturbing. Top of the enclosure is about 7 feet up. Perfect! The higher they are, the safer they feel.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? I'm in Northern Virginia close to WV and MD.
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I was concerned with how to feed him correctly since the crickets having been climbing too high. I am going to installing a feeder that will hold them with some screen inside and it will be mounted where he can easily see it. Any recommendations on anything will be appreciated. We have other reptiles, this is the first chameleon. I love the shooting gallery feeder. https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032 It keeps the buggies in and visible. You could easily craft your own if so inclined.

00A56D6B-283F-4CD3-A4E2-BE8972B31DB1.jpeg
4F3A0296-8FDA-4407-8313-374B188A9EE6.jpeg
A04291C1-CDB5-453E-BE8F-CD8C70579984.jpeg
 
I have to run off for work, but did want to show you the small enclosure I’ve got for my littlest chameleon. Just to maybe give you some ideas. I attached branches to the frame so that I could then attach more branches to those. A good sized schefflera, dracaena and pothos in the back sitting on upside down plant pots for height.
44F6DC95-B295-44EF-92BB-FE46917EC1D6.jpeg

Then this is one of my males double sized XL enclosure to give you further ideas for the future. There is substrate as it’s bioactive.
48CFF41A-9C08-4927-9FE4-1ABA6893D0A9.jpeg
 
Both of those enclosures look wonderful. I will go through your responses a bit more and give my reply to it. I will say, I'm making a shooting gallery feeder tomorrow. I pretty much plan on most of tomorrow will be working on his enclosure and a lot of Sunday as well.
 
digglesworth said:
Both of those enclosures look wonderful. I will go through your responses a bit more and give my reply to it. I will say, I'm making a shooting gallery feeder tomorrow. I pretty much plan on most of tomorrow will be working on his enclosure and a lot of Sunday as well.
Click to expand...
The most important things to get dialed in ASAP are correct lighting and supplements. While everything works together and all needs to be as correct as possible, those are the priorities. When you make your feeding station, make sure to melt the sharp edges a little bit to dull them.
Many of us have started about where you have and you’ll find it’s always a learning experience and a wonderful journey. As we learn more about our chameleons, we learn new and better ways to keep them.
 
MissSkittles said:
The most important things to get dialed in ASAP are correct lighting and supplements. While everything works together and all needs to be as correct as possible, those are the priorities. When you make your feeding station, make sure to melt the sharp edges a little bit to dull them.
Many of us have started about where you have and you’ll find it’s always a learning experience and a wonderful journey. As we learn more about our chameleons, we learn new and better ways to keep them.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping to have 90% of everything completed this weekend. I want him to be chill and have a good life.
 
Klyde O'Scope said:
Nah.... HERE's a pic of Riff Raff! 😁 :ROFLMAO:

View attachment 319201



??? First I've heard this one. What's the rationale for limiting to 20 min.? :unsure:
Click to expand...
I believe I heard it when I was learning basics and it’s made sense to me. There’s no reason to have a dripper running all day or even for hours. It doesn’t give the enclosure a decent dry period if run too long and can increase humidity out of range. Often when drippers are talked about, no specific length of time is mentioned. One of my own newbie mistakes was running a dripper all day, turning Grumpy’s enclosure into a hot humid swamp. I did hear from Bill Strand (podcast maybe?) to the effect that a well hydrated chameleon most likely won’t even take advantage of a dripper.
What would be the rationale for not limiting the length of time a dripper is used?
 
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