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Veiled Cham101

Veiled Cham101

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My chameleon was sleeping at 3:45pm. The light was off, but I turned it on and he was still sleeping. His eyes sticks out every now and then, and I'm worried. Is anything wrong? I mist him twice a day, and give him his worms. I'm gonna give him dusted crickets soon. :confused:
 
Hi and welcome!

We can't help you unless we have a few more details about your little guy, otherwise we're shooting in the dark, and that's never useful. If you could fill out the form I'm copying below, that would be fantastic. Please try to use as much detail as possible and attach photos if you have them.

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.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, male, he's 8 months, but I've had him for 7 months.

Handling -once every day or every other day

Feeding - 8 worms at a time or 15 small crickets at a time. I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening. I don't know what gut-loading is.
Supplements - The lady at PetsMart dustes the crickets, and we go there once a week.

Watering - I use a spray bottle and spray it until the drops are big and half the cage is watered down really good. I mist two or three times a day for like 4 minutes. I do see him drinking with his eyes closed and his mouth open catching water, then he gulps.

Fecal Description - Dark and light green alot, brown with black spots rarely, blue and green striped, and light green with dark green spots when stressed. I don't know if he had been tested, but I'll ask the person with the ownership paper. His dropping come fine...I guess like every day or two....I don't know!

History - He goes to sleep at 5:00pm and wakes up at 6:00am. He pops his eye out every know and then, but I don't see him cleaning it. He has lived with his brother, but got dominate and scared the baby to DEATH.

Cage Info:

Cage Type -Screen cage and 26x24 in.

Lighting - He gets the dining table light, and it's on 24/7.

Temperature - 71 degrees at average every where and 68 degrees when misted. Lowest temp would be 68 degrees. I have a temperature record in the cage.

Humidity - ???He's inside, I don't know what the humidity is in my house.

Plants -I have fake plants.

Placement - My cage is located on a bench by a window. Not near fans, but there is an air vent on the ceiling that is diagonal from his cage, and he's overlooking the back yard. He is 18 in from the ground.

Location -In the South.

Current Problem - My chameleon pops his eye out every now and then, and goes to sleep early.
 
Veiled Cham101 said:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, male, he's 8 months, but I've had him for 7 months.

Handling -once every day or every other day

Feeding - 8 worms at a time or 15 small crickets at a time. I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening. I don't know what gut-loading is.What type of worms? Also, you should feed your cham earlier in the day. They need heat to digest food and at night they don't have that heat. Gut loading is when you feed your feeder insects. We do this so when our chameleons eat them, they get different nutrients from the feeder.
Supplements - The lady at PetsMart dustes the crickets, and we go there once a week. You need to dust them yourself. They do not have the adequate schedule for a chameleon. You need to use calcium WITHOUT D3 every day, calcium WITH D3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.

Watering - I use a spray bottle and spray it until the drops are big and half the cage is watered down really good. I mist two or three times a day for like 4 minutes. I do see him drinking with his eyes closed and his mouth open catching water, then he gulps.

Fecal Description - Dark and light green alot, brown with black spots rarely, blue and green striped, and light green with dark green spots when stressed. I don't know if he had been tested, but I'll ask the person with the ownership paper. His dropping come fine...I guess like every day or two....I don't know! I'm assuming in the beginning of the paragraph you were describing your chameleon. It would be very odd to have green striped poop. Fecal description is basically a poop description.

History - He goes to sleep at 5:00pm and wakes up at 6:00am. He pops his eye out every know and then, but I don't see him cleaning it. He has lived with his brother, but got dominate and scared the baby to DEATH.

Cage Info:

Cage Type -Screen cage and 26x24 in.

Lighting - He gets the dining table light, and it's on 24/7. This is a huge problem. They need a UVB light in addition to a basking light. Without a UVB light, your chameleon will eventually develop MBD, a calcium deficiency which weakens the bone structure. The damage can not be reversed. The UVB light we recommend is the reptisun 5.0.

Temperature - 71 degrees at average every where and 68 degrees when misted. Lowest temp would be 68 degrees. I have a temperature record in the cage.

Humidity - ???He's inside, I don't know what the humidity is in my house.

Plants -I have fake plants.

Placement - My cage is located on a bench by a window. Not near fans, but there is an air vent on the ceiling that is diagonal from his cage, and he's overlooking the back yard. He is 18 in from the ground.

Location -In the South.

Current Problem - My chameleon pops his eye out every now and then, and goes to sleep early.
Click to expand...
My answers are in red. I wrote this all on my phone so cut me some slack. :p
There were some things wrong in your husbandry that could be causing your issue. I'm going to attach my blog for new users below.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/pilotman800/548-new-chameleon-owner-information-husbandry.html
 
First welcome to the forums and great job on seeking out help. All of do somewhere along the line.
There are some improvements you could do to improve your Chams home. This will also probably help some of his issues. I will just hit the major ones, I am sure there will be more from others but I do not want to overload you.


Handling -once every day or every other day

Feeding - 8 worms at a time or 15 small crickets at a time. I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening. I don't know what gut-loading is.
Supplements - The lady at PetsMart dustes the crickets, and we go there once a week.You need to gut load your crickets. The Cham gets what they eat and it is gone after 24 hours. They also need supplements- I have a link attached that explains a lot of this in more depth the things I have in blue and much more information you can use

Watering - I use a spray bottle and spray it until the drops are big and half the cage is watered down really good. I mist two or three times a day for like 4 minutes. I do see him drinking with his eyes closed and his mouth open catching water, then he gulps.

Fecal Description - Dark and light green alot, brown with black spots rarely, blue and green striped, and light green with dark green spots when stressed. I don't know if he had been tested, but I'll ask the person with the ownership paper. His dropping come fine...I guess like every day or two....I don't know!
Fecal is his poop color/ urate is the white/orange /yellow that comes with it. What colors you got coming out of him?
History - He goes to sleep at 5:00pm and wakes up at 6:00am. He pops his eye out every know and then, but I don't see him cleaning it. He has lived with his brother, but got dominate and scared the baby to DEATH.
hey do not usually do well together they are solitary creatures :([/COLOR]
Cage Info:

Cage Type -Screen cage and 26x24 in.

Lighting - He gets the dining table light, and it's on 24/7.]They need 12 hours on and 12 hours off. You don't mention a UBV light. They need one to be healthy

Temperature - 71 degrees at average every where and 68 degrees when misted. Lowest temp would be 68 degrees. I have a temperature record in the cage.

Humidity - ???He's inside, I don't know what the humidity is in my house.

Plants -I have fake plants.

Placement - My cage is located on a bench by a window. Not near fans, but there is an air vent on the ceiling that is diagonal from his cage, and he's overlooking the back yard. He is 18 in from the ground.

Location -In the South.

Current Problem - My chameleon pops his eye out every now and then, and goes to sleep early.

Here is the link

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
Good Luck with you baby
 
He has orange/white poop. I will get a nice light for him, and dust the crickets myself from now on. He eats mealoworms, small ones, and how do you feed the insects he eats?
 
Veiled Cham101 said:
He has orange/white poop. I will get a nice light for him, and dust the crickets myself from now on. He eats mealoworms, small ones, and how do you feed the insects he eats?
Click to expand...

Mealworms should remain a treat. I personally don't feed them at all.

As for the feeders, I know you can feed crickets with fresh fruits, veggies, and a product called Repashy big burger. Sandrachameleon has a fantastic blog on gut loading.
 
Welcome to the forums!

Mealworms and superworms should really only ever be used as treats as they are higher ain fat and can lead to fatty livers and such As a treat, they are great but the best staple feeders imo would be between Dubia roaches and crickets. Roaches breed like crazy and you get a lot more then you paid for if you start a colony lol. For gutloading, you can buy collard greens, other various veggies and just buy a large piece of tupperware, throw some potato's and veggies in, throw in some egg crate, and then just toss crickets in and it is pretty much just self care. Just clean it out every now and then and you should be fine!

As others have said, multi vitamin usually 2 times a month or more if your cham is showing signs of malnourishment or going to eat soil as well as calcium with d/3 and calc w/o d3. I do Calc w/ d3 two times a week and obviously calc w/o d3 every day.

The light you need to get is a UVB bulb. The one pilot recommended is excellent. Orange/white poop means a bit dehydrated. Make sure he starts drinking more by spraying more frequently.

If you have any questions, feel free to send a private message and if I can't answer it I would more than happily find someone who can. :)

I am happy to see that you are taking the time to help your little one and get it to where they need to be. If possible could you post pictures?
 
Last edited:
I just reread and saw this:
71 degrees at average every where and 68 degrees when misted. Lowest temp would be 68 degrees. I have a temperature record in the cage.

That is a little chilly. You need 2 lights for him. One is the ubv light that was already mentioned for health reasons.
The other is a basking bulb. Nothing fancy a regular light bulb will work and that is what most of us use. He should be able to get to a place near the top of the cage to get heat- around 82-85 degrees. This helps with digestion. That is the basking bulbs job. Usually put it in a dome you can by at lowes or home Depot. Just make sure when on a branch he can not get too close to the bulb and burn himself.

I use a 60 watt bulb to get my temps and the bulb is 5 inches from the screen.

You might have to play around with watts and distance but it is important for digestion and they need it :)


Orange/white means he is dehydrated a bit, you can up his mistings Or put him in the shower. He goes on a plant or a branch. The water hits the wall then bounces onto him. He may not like it at first but it will be good for him. It might even help a little with that eye buldging. Use warm water also
 
Last edited:
Now that we have slightly overloaded you with everything we said and the links we gave you Take a deep breath, relax.

Most of us had to do a lot of changes when we first came here. It gets easier as the time goes by and routines are set. the good thing is it is all worth it. The pictures of the Healthy Chams on this site are fantastic and the long time keepers are too!

If you have any questions on anything we have said feel free to post again on what you need. This way you can get answers quickly because everyone can see them and respond. If you have new questions ask them too, thats why we are here- to help one another.:D
 
DavidBuchan said:
Hello, welcome to the forum :) I know you've read lots of new advice already (all good stuff), but I noticed the gutloading link in Pilotmans post didn't work for me so I'll put this one up..........https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html
Click to expand...

You're right! That was a link to Sandrachameleons blog. For some reason it was not working. I re did it and it seems to be working again.

The same thing happened for the link to JannBs blog. I re did that one as well.

Thanks for letting me know!
 
Hello welcome to the forums. I agree you have some husbandry issues and may be the root of your problem. You have a lot of great info but here are a couple of my favorite links :)

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ryan-jarosek/119-new-arrival-bringing-home-new-chameleon.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...sphorus-ratios-common-good-gutload-foods.html

I would definitely make the necessary changes and see if that helps.
 
I put my veiled chameleon, Rex, out in the sun today with half his cage in shade. I gave him dusted crickets and he ate about ten of those. I misted him for ten minutes, and I saw him drink. Then he climbed up the branch and went to go get water forming on the top of the screen cage. None of his eyes were bulging. Now I have a question. If I put him directly under the big dining table light on the dining table, will he be good for the night? I have checked his temp thingy and it said 84.5! Thanks for all the advice. Pics will be coming soon!
 
Veiled Cham101 said:
. Now I have a question. If I put him directly under the big dining table light on the dining table, will he be good for the night? I have checked his temp thingy and it said 84.5! Thanks for all the advice. Pics will be coming soon!
Click to expand...

At night there should be no lights on. Chameleons sleep best with complete darkness. 84.5 is way too hot for a night temperature.
 
Sounds like he had a wonderful Day! That is great.

Like Pilotman said No lights at night they do sleep better and they need/like the Temp drop- that what happens where they live in the wild -night, cool ,sunrise heat, eat, rain, repeat :)
 
No it’s 84.5 degrees outside right now! Here is a pic of him!!!


Rex101.jpg
 
Good job with doing those changes! Just so you know, even those "night time" red lights can still keep a cham up. Best to just have it straight up dark when they are sleeping. If you have enough plants in your enclosure you shouldn't really have to worry about putting half in the sun and half in the shade as long as the temps aren't 85+. A temp like that should be for strictly basking, they need to have a gradual decrease so they can self regulate when they are too hot and too cold.
 
Okay so to recap:

1.Give him dusted crickets as meal, and mealworms as a treat. Do crickets twice a day.
2. No light on at night, but light on during the day. Okay to be in sun as long as temp is under control, but lightbulb if inside.
3. Mist him for ten minutes a day until his poop color is right, then you can mist him for five minutes when better.
4. Give him certain vitamins twice a week, or once a month. This depends on the type of vitamin.
5. Try to gut-load the insects he eats. You do this by putting them in a crate, then giving them potatoes and greens, and clean it out every once in a while.
6. 68 degrees is a little chilly, so try to keep it above this.
7.Shower him if he gets too dehydrated.

Is all of this right?Any more helpful info???
 
Veiled Cham101 said:
Okay so to recap:

1.Give him dusted crickets as meal, and mealworms as a treat. Do crickets twice a day. Correct! You should give more than just crickets though. Phoenix worms, locusts, dubia roaches, silkworms are all great to add in, too!
2. No light on at night, but light on during the day. Okay to be in sun as long as temp is under control, but lightbulb if inside. Correct!
3. Mist him for ten minutes a day until his poop color is right, then you can mist him for five minutes when better. Correct!
4. Give him certain vitamins twice a week, or once a month. This depends on the type of vitamin. Almost! You need calcium WITHOUT D3 EVERY day, calcium WITH D3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.
5. Try to gut-load the insects he eats. You do this by putting them in a crate, then giving them potatoes and greens, and clean it out every once in a while. Correct about how to feed them, but a little more than potatos and greens should be given. Im going to link you to sandrachameleons blog.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
6. 68 degrees is a little chilly, so try to keep it above this. Correct, around 78 normal temperatures, with basking temps in the mid and low 80s.
7.Shower him if he gets too dehydrated.
Correct.
Is all of this right?Any more helpful info???
Click to expand...

You've learned a lot! My answers are in red.
 
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