Quesetions!

[Aj1988]

So im semi new to the chameleon life but everything the old owner told me about my veiled chameleon seems to be a lie....... so i need some advice.

Questions

1 how can i tell if its a boy or girl someone suggested its a boy because of the dark colours it can turn??? heres a normal photo of him/her
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa463/nibbler1988/cammy3.jpg

2. How old is he/she how can i determine the age range ?

3. its recently become vicious, it hisses and bites .......it never use to iv had it a couple of months know and only recently started this is it a hormonal thing ???

4. I know there suppose to have variety of foods, but mine will only eat crickets, it wont eats worms or any other type of bug not even veggies is there anything else i can feed it as it seems to be getting skinny and its starting to worry me.

5. I know this sounds dumb but... Do chameleons get lonley ? should they be kept with more then one chameleon ?

 

[Damus]

I dont kno much about veileds and im no expert, but it looks female to me, your supposed to look for spurs i think. And maybe she is old enough to be laying eggs and really needs to (thus the viciousness). How long have you had he/she. And no, they shouldnt be kept with other chams.

 

[Aj1988]

iv had him/her a couple months and it has never layed eggs.....

 

[Leroux2008]

hmmmm u would have to look at his back feet....see if there are these little spurs or nudges on it.... i wouldnt necissarily go by colors..... it could be a boy though.. its hard to tell from the angle its at... looks anywheres from 8months to maybe 14months?

it could be a hormonal thing.... chameleons especially veilds can tend to be random.... mien will one day love me then the next not want anything to do with me... just be patient and respect him when he doesnt want to be messed with.

You should try different ways of feeding him the other foods.... try putting them in a dish... if he doesnt like that...try hand feeding...if not that try letting the bugs crawl around on the cage.... if not that your guy could be scared to eat in front of you.

No dont keep them with other chameleons that is not good. They will remain stressed out and at worst fight the other chameleon.

 

[Leroux2008]

o and My female is a year and she has not laid eggs yet either but you cant go off of that exactly. If you feed your female too much she will produce mroe eggs and cause her to lay bigger clutches but you will risk her egg binding.... From that picture their looking rather plump.

 

[Leroux2008]

the only FOR SURE way is to look for the spurs.... try taking another picture of your cham with their head facing a straight across if you can so we can see the cask or maybe take a picture of the back legs so we can ateast try to guess that way.

 

[Carlton]

1 how can i tell if its a boy or girl someone suggested its a boy because of the dark colours it can turn??? heres a normal photo of him/her
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa463/nibbler1988/cammy3.jpg

2. How old is he/she how can i determine the age range ?

3. its recently become vicious, it hisses and bites .......it never use to iv had it a couple of months know and only recently started this is it a hormonal thing ???

4. I know there suppose to have variety of foods, but mine will only eat crickets, it wont eats worms or any other type of bug not even veggies is there anything else i can feed it as it seems to be getting skinny and its starting to worry me.

5. I know this sounds dumb but... Do chameleons get lonley ? should they be kept with more then one chameleon ?

You can tell it is a boy if it has "spurs" on its hind feet. Look where the toes connect at the ankle. On the back side there would be a pretty obvious spur (actually sort of a nubbin) in the center. If there isn't a spur it's a female.

Often once a cham gets used to a new home it becomes more defensive of its territory (its new cage). Moving to a new home can be very stressful and often the cham is so focused on hiding any stress it doesn't show its true personality. It can also be hormonal. Many veileds go through a more aggressive period at around 6 months. It may calm down again once it is a full adult, but it may not. This can be pretty hard to predict.

If the cham was only fed crickets in the past that may be the only insect it recognizes as food. They are suspicious of new things. If you put crickets and one or two of a new insect in a larger container so the cham can watch the movement for a while, it may shoot a new bug by accident or out of curiousity. Just have to keep trying. Once they try a new food they usually add it to the "safe foods list".

No chams don't get lonely. They are not social creatures. One cham per cage. They also don't like to even see another cham from across a room. Some are more tolerant than others, but it is safest to house them singly.

 

[Aj1988]

hmmmm u would have to look at his back feet....see if there are these little spurs or nudges on it.... i wouldnt necissarily go by colors..... it could be a boy though.. its hard to tell from the angle its at... looks anywheres from 8months to maybe 14months?

it could be a hormonal thing.... chameleons especially veilds can tend to be random.... mien will one day love me then the next not want anything to do with me... just be patient and respect him when he doesnt want to be messed with.

You should try different ways of feeding him the other foods.... try putting them in a dish... if he doesnt like that...try hand feeding...if not that try letting the bugs crawl around on the cage.... if not that your guy could be scared to eat in front of you.

No dont keep them with other chameleons that is not good. They will remain stressed out and at worst fight the other chameleon.

i thought maybe he/she was afraid to eat infront of me but its in a low traffic area in my house and is often alone, iv tried hand feeding it crawls away iv tried putting it in a dish it leaves them there and doesnt touch them. iv tried letting them crawl around it doesnt eat it either, it will only eat crickets..... heres other pictures of it if it might help.
I cant get close enough to it to see the back of the feet.

this is not the terrium its in now its just what it came in. this is the first day home from its old owner, http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa463/nibbler1988/DSCF0866.jpg

this is its now habitate
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa463/nibbler1988/DSCF0880.jpg

 

[Leroux2008]

fromt he first picture it looks like a female... and kinda overfed 0.0

 

[Leroux2008]

The cask isnt that tall... usually they are taller on males and females are shorter.... have u attempted to look at the back of the feet yet? If you do find out its a female you need to stick a laying bin in there as soon as possible.

 

[Aj1988]

fromt he first picture it looks like a female... and kinda overfed 0.0

I thought that to when she first came home, but now she/he is really skinny. the old owner fed it crickets once every 2 weeks thou.......so im not sure..

 

[Aj1988]

The cask isnt that tall... usually they are taller on males and females are shorter.... have u attempted to look at the back of the feet yet? If you do find out its a female you need to stick a laying bin in there as soon as possible.

there is a laying bin in its terrium it just never uses it... i cant get anywhere near its feet.

 

[Leroux2008]

once every 2 weeks 0.0 ... you should feed her every other day... about 5-10 crickets ... if you are gonna feed her anything else with that subtract soem crickets... like lets say.... I wlil feed my year old female...6 crickets with a super worm or 4crickets and a hornworm.

 

[Leroux2008]

well if it is a she.... she wont use it unless its time for her to lay. =p Youd have to like tempt..her/him out with food onto ur hand or put a plant right under her/him until it climbs on then take it out and maybe try that way.

 

[Carlton]

I thought that to when she first came home, but now she/he is really skinny. the old owner fed it crickets once every 2 weeks thou.......so im not sure..

You mean fed it crickets ONCE every two weeks???? Totally wrong! I feed my chams every other day once they are adults. It may take a while to improve her diet...and they can be stubborn. Just keep trying. I agree, looks like a female to me. The hind foot spur is usually very easy to see, you don't need to be that close to see it.

 

[Leroux2008]

ill try to see if i have a Clear picture of what my female and what my male looks like.

 

[Aj1988]

well if it is a she.... she wont use it unless its time for her to lay. =p Youd have to like tempt..her/him out with food onto ur hand or put a plant right under her/him until it climbs on then take it out and maybe try that way.

i feed her every other day her old owner didnt thou......
i cant even open the terrium without her lunging at me and trying to bite.... so im definetly not about to try and put her on my hand.... i dont get why shes like that all of a sudden. she was fine before a little skiddish but not overly freaked out like that. She wont eat any of the worms weve tried that and other bugs , she doesnt seem to care for them at all same with veggies ect weve been trying for about 2 months know with no success

 

[Leroux2008]

My females the green one Males the brown looking one

 

[Leroux2008]

well my Chams wont eat veggies either .. =[ They wont eat their plants.. but they will eat fruits and pretty much any bugs.... the lady that owned them before me only fed them crickets also. It did take some time... youll have to keep working with her.... She will get hungry I promise you like carlton said shes just unsure of what they are.... just try several diff ways of feeding them to her....i would first tyr the putting the other foods in a dish with the crickets and maybe shell go for the crickets and miss and get the other bug.

 

[Drew V]

my veiled bites the sh*t outa me every time i take him outside or something .. some are just vicious. Good thing im thick skinned lol i just let him have at it, they are usually less bitey after you get them out of there "territory"
mine seems to love crickets and dubia above all else to (anything extra crawlie), have to work hard to get him interested in worms. Good thing crickets are pretty cheap and accessible.