Newbie veiled chameleon owner questions! ❤️

Speechgirl2

Speechgirl2

Member
Good afternoon! We recently adopted a chameleon the previous owner could no longer take care of… trying to learn on the fly… so any and all suggestions welcome. I’m assuming it’s a juvenile… long skinny and maybe around 7-8 inches nose to tail? Trying to figure out how much and how often I should feed him? He easily downs 20 small dubias per day but with him seeming so scrawny I thought maybe he needs more? Any and all guidance appreciated!

CTHULHU CHAMELEON HAND TRAINING Day 2b
 
Speechgirl2 said:
Good afternoon! We recently adopted a chameleon the previous owner could no longer take care of… trying to learn on the fly… so any and all suggestions welcome. I’m assuming it’s a juvenile… long skinny and maybe around 7-8 inches nose to tail? Trying to figure out how much and how often I should feed him? He easily downs 20 small dubias per day but with him seeming so scrawny I thought maybe he needs more? Any and all guidance appreciated!

CTHULHU CHAMELEON HAND TRAINING Day 2b
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Hello and welcome!
Would you mind filling out a husbandry review to go over and give you any advice if needed?
We would love some full body photos of your new chameleon and it’s cage
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.

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Please Note:

  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
Thank you so much one and all… ok giving as much info as I can ❤️

  • Your Chameleon - The species VEILED CHAMELEON, sex MALE , and age of your chameleon UNKNOWN BUT SEEMS TO BE A JUVENILE. How long has it been in your care?l A FEW WEEKS
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? SPORADICALLY AS HE TOLERATES IT
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? SMALL CRICKETS & DUBIA , What amount? ABOUT 12-20 PER DAY What is the schedule? MORNING FEED How are you gut-loading your feeders? GUT LOAD FEED
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium REPTICALCIUM WITHOUT D3 DAILY and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? D3 & HERPTIVITE 2x per month
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? FOGGER, SPRAY PLANTS, DRIPPER How often and how long to you mist? FOG ALL NIGHT, SPRAY/DRIP INTERMITTENTLY THROUGHOUT DAY. Do you see your chameleon drinking? NO BUT I DON’T WATCH HIM FOR PROLONGED PERIODS
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? NOT SURE BUT I’LL CHECK AND FOLLOW UP
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. NOT MUCH HISTORY, THE PERSON WHO HAD HIM BEFORE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH INFO

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? SCREEN 18” X 18” x 30”
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? NATURAL LIGHT, HEAT & DAYLIGHT LAMPS ALL DAY, BOTH OFF AT NIGHT
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? HOUSE IS KEPT AT 70, HEAT LAMP IS ON TOP OF TANK
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 50 to 60 DURING THE DAY, 80 ISH AT NIGHT How are you creating and maintaining these levels? FOGGER, MIST SPRAY, DRIPPER What do you use to measure humidity? HYGROMETER
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? POTHOS
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? IN A CORNER NEAR A WINDOW AWAY FROM HOUSE TRAFFIC At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? TOP OF CAGE IS ABOUT 4.5 FEET ABOVE THE FLOOR
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? CENTRAL TEXAS

VIDEO
 

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If one of the others here can not get to review your husbandry tonight, I can in a little while. Can you share specifically what gutload you are using? Is it a commercial one? Also, I see you have the linear UVB which is fantastic! What strength is the bulb?
 
Gloriawood said:
If one of the others here can not get to review your husbandry tonight, I can in a little while. Can you share specifically what gutload you are using? Is it a commercial one? Also, I see you have the linear UVB which is fantastic! What strength is the bulb?
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Thank you so much! ❤️ I can check when I get home and see what additional details I can provide
 
Last edited:
See my feedback in red. I’ve been keeping just over a year, so I’m not perfect and will tag in others as needed. Some more experienced keepers may chime in and cover anything I may miss. I’ll also split this in two parts.


  • Your Chameleon - The species VEILED CHAMELEON, sex MALE , and age of your chameleon UNKNOWN BUT SEEMS TO BE A JUVENILE. How long has it been in your care?l A FEW WEEKS he does seem younger but I’m not great with age. Someone else can help you here
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? SPORADICALLY AS HE TOLERATES IT they are solitary creatures. It’s great to build trust with them, but it can take up to two weeks for them to settle in. @Beman has a great blog on building trust.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? SMALL CRICKETS & DUBIA , What amount? ABOUT 12-20 PER DAY What is the schedule? MORNING FEED How are you gut-loading your feeders? GUT LOAD FEED the amount he will eat will depend heavily on how old he is. Until someone chimes in with an age, this seems like a good amount based on his size IMO. I’ll attach a guy load list for you. Fresh is best, but if you go the commercial route, I suggest Repashy Bug Burger. It’s what I used until I got comfortable making my own and now I use it in addition to my gutload mix to round things out.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium REPTICALCIUM WITHOUT D3 DAILY and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? D3 & HERPTIVITE 2x per month repticalcium without d3 is perfect. You can use reptivite with d3 or repashy loD 2x per month in place of the herpivite and D3. They are combo products that have both the vitamins and D3 in them. Just makes it a bit simpler, less supplements to deal with.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? FOGGER, SPRAY PLANTS, DRIPPER How often and how long to you mist? FOG ALL NIGHT, SPRAY/DRIP INTERMITTENTLY THROUGHOUT DAY. Do you see your chameleon drinking? NO BUT I DON’T WATCH HIM FOR PROLONGED PERIODS this is great. They are shy drinkers. Some keepers never see their chams drink, so this isn’t uncommon. This is why we closely monitor their poo to make sure they are hydrated.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? NOT SURE BUT I’LL CHECK AND FOLLOW UP solid brown poo and white or mostly white urate is what you want. A little orange or yellow in the urate is fine as long as it’s half or more white, then your guy is hydrated.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. NOT MUCH HISTORY, THE PERSON WHO HAD HIM BEFORE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH INFO
 
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? SCREEN 18” X 18” x 30” you’ve already mentioned you’ll be upgrading this.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? NATURAL LIGHT, HEAT & DAYLIGHT LAMPS ALL DAY, BOTH OFF AT NIGHT 12 hour on 12 hour off is good. I looked at your UVB bulb and it is 7%. @Beman or @MissSkittles, it should be 6% correct? Or is 7% ok?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? HOUSE IS KEPT AT 70, HEAT LAMP IS ON TOP OF TANK do you have a thermometer in his basking area? His basking temp should not go above 85. 70 is good ambient.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 50 to 60 DURING THE DAY, 80 ISH AT NIGHT How are you creating and maintaining these levels? FOGGER, MIST SPRAY, DRIPPER What do you use to measure humidity? HYGROMETER this is a bit high during the day. 50% is what the max should be. Maybe cut the misting during the day down a little bit.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? POTHOS perfect!
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? IN A CORNER NEAR A WINDOW AWAY FROM HOUSE TRAFFIC At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? TOP OF CAGE IS ABOUT 4.5 FEET ABOVE THE FLOOR great! Height is safety for these guys. The higher he can be, the better
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? CENTRAL TEXAS

overall you are doing great! Just some fine tuning here and there. So glad to have you guys here. Welcome to the chamily!!🥰
 

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Gloriawood said:
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? NATURAL LIGHT, HEAT & DAYLIGHT LAMPS ALL DAY, BOTH OFF AT NIGHT 12 hour on 12 hour off is good. I looked at your UVB bulb and it is 7%. @Beman or @MissSkittles, it should be 6% correct? Or is 7% ok?
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I’m afraid the entire 7% light which you have - both fixture and the bulb - won’t work at all for a chameleon. That particular strength is for more shade dwelling or nocturnal animals and is not able to provide the uvb output needed by a chameleon. The fixture and bulb are designed to only work properly with each other. Here is the explanation of it by a uvb and lighting pro. https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...ot-the-same-as-the-22-5-6-ho-fixtures.191400/ If you are able, return that light ad get the correct T5HO with either a 5.0 or 6% uvb bulb. Arcadia and ReptiSun are the recommended. I personally had bought and tested the output of one of the more well known alternate brands uvb set up and it did not come close to adequate. There are some areas where you can take shortcuts or save a few $$, but uvb lighting is not one of them. Todd at https://www.lightyourreptiles.com/ is excellent and very helpful in ensuring you buy the correct set up and you can contact him.
 
Oh my goodness your veiled is so darling! I am in love with him already!!!

One thing I noticed in a video you shared, do you have your fog machine going during the day? If so, you will want to only fog at night and if you can achieve temps of 68 degrees F or lower. :)
 
Thank you so much. I’m so in love with him. I’ve started just misting once in the morning and doing a slow dripper throughout the day so he can drink. Previously, I was turning the fogger on for a few minutes once or twice a day just to let some moisture accumulate on the leaves
 
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