Question about coloring in my female

M

my8kidsmom

New Member
My female is a pale lemon color. This is not the color she was this morning. Should I be considered that this indicates a problem health wise or is it nothing? I should note that she is showing no other signs of illness or dehydration.

Thanks
 
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Extremely pale colours could indicate; Overheating & Severe Dehydration, Extreme stress, or Health issue.

Some well colour balanced photos would help members decide hat it is most likley.

Also, where is she located in the cage, and what are the ambient and Basking temperatures. Be sure to use a Digital thermometer, since others can be and usually are far from accurate.
 
My batteries are dead in my camera but I am on my way to pick them up so I will have pics this afternoon. I have two thermometers but neither are digital (you learn something new every day) The temps are 75 and 70. She is very young (impulse buy I didn't know better but I am working hard at doing all my research) which is why I am keeping it low. So I don't think she is overheating. Perhaps it is too low? I can easily remedy that....
 
Ahh, I should have looked to see the user name of the poster. If I recall correctly then, you have a quite young specimen. The babies are usually much lighter than adults, especially during the time period before any type of variegated pattern begins to show on their side- So it could be nothing really, however better safe than sorry.
 
I would doubt your temps are too low, but try to incorporate different zones of temps and conditions in your cage and observe your chams behavior from a distance and that will tell you a lot....i couldn't know for sure but its my opinion you just have a very young chameleon and you are looking at all these full grown chams and being like dubya tee eff mate

but seriously pick up a very low wattage basking bulb and create a small basking zone...make sure its not to hot and not right against the cage because young chams are very vulnerable to frying themselves as are older chams, but not quite as much.

if its too cold your cham will seek the warmth and you can adjust your methods a few degrees if possible.....

also try the drip cup method with some vines and see if you cham hangs out in the wet zone.

these aren't all you can do but your problem seems to be you don't know what your cham needs exactly and the older he gets and better you get to know his tendencies, the more comfortable you'll feel making adjustments...just trying to get you thinking along the right lines here :)
 
ohhh ohh also I'm not sure if this is true but its been my experience that light colors may just mean a shed is very near....sorry to double post
 
Yes, a young veiled. She did shed last week. I thought it of shedding but was thought it was probably too soon. Thanks for the suggestions, I will get to work on them
 
If the warmest area of your chameleon's cage is only 75F then I would bump it up a bit to about 80F.

If this is your first chameleon you might like to fill in the questions under "how to ask for help" at the top of the page just to make sure that you are doing things right!

Do you know about gutloading? Supplementing?

Here are a couple of sites that you might like to look at too...
http://adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
 
kinyonga said:
Do you know about gutloading? Supplementing?

Here are a couple of sites that you might like to look at too...
http://adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
Click to expand...

I use a dry gutload from the pet store and I have ordered one from cricketfood.com I also put fresh fruit and lettuce in with them, no spinach. I supplement with calcium by flukers I am a bit confused by how often if at all to supplment with vitamins. So I havent started yet for fear of oversupplementing. (I have only had the chameleons for 1 week) I have read a lot of conflicting info. Thanks for all this help!
 
More info

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 29 gallon aquarium (I still struggling with the issue of glass vs. screen I am going to post in the setup forum for input
Lighting - Reptisun UVB and 50 watt basking light, on from 8am until 8pm
Temperature - 75 - 70 degrees during the day. I am setting up a basking area of 80-90 at night room temp which is 65 degrees
Humidity - I don't have a way to measure humidity yet, I was told it wasn't necessary for a veiled. Bad advice? I mist 3 times daily on one side of the cage
Plants - No live plants, once again I was told not. I know better know and I am picking up some Crotons and phildendrons(sp) tomorrow
Location - No fans, vents etc in the basement. We have a house full of kids so everywhere seems to be high traffic. She is in the room with the tv but my kids are only allowed to watch tv about hour a day. She has lots of hiding spots but doesn't hide very often.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female, veiled I believe 4 months old
Feeding - small crickets twice daily as much as she will eat at once
Supplements - Fulkers calcium each feeding
Watering - I mist and I have seen her drink, although not today
Fecal Description - white and brown watery but not overly
History - I have only had her 1 week
Current Problem - She is no longer green but yellow. This has not been her normal color

I am having a hard time uploading the picture, I am on dail up but she is defintely yellow.
 
You said..."aquarium (I still struggling with the issue of glass vs. screen I am going to post in the setup forum for input"...I live in Ontario and I have kept chameleons for years. When I first started out I mostly kept them in aquariums or wooden cages with glass fronts. Most of them had screened lids.
I then switched to glass cages with screened lids and doors....but those have proved to be difficult to keep heated and humid enough in the winter due to the dry cold climate here. I had very little problem with the glass tanks. You just need to make sure that you place the basking light to one side on the lid and to not let water stand on the floor of the cage.

You said you use a Reptisun UVB...5.0 or 10.0? Tube or compact? Some of the compacts and tube lights have caused eye problems.

You said..."Temperature - 75 - 70 degrees during the day. I am setting up a basking area of 80-90 at night room temp which is 65 degrees"...that's better now that you have a warmer basking area.

You said..."Humidity - I don't have a way to measure humidity yet, I was told it wasn't necessary for a veiled. Bad advice? I mist 3 times daily on one side of the cage"...veileds are fairly tolerant of poor humidity...but they need extra/better watering/hydration to compensate IMHO.

You said..."Plants - No live plants, once again I was told not. I know better know and I am picking up some Crotons and phildendrons(sp) tomorrow"...I don't know if either of those are safe....I've never used either. I mostly use pothos. Don't forget that veileds eat vegetation once they are about 5 months of age...greens, veggies and a bit of fruit too.

Since your veiled is female...please be aware that once she is about 5 months old she could lay eggs even though not mated...so you should provide a suitable place for her to dig in the cage so you don't miss the sometimes subtle indications that she needs to lay eggs. You may also want to control her diet once she is sexually mature to keep the clutches small and have her live longer.

You said..." Feeding - small crickets twice daily as much as she will eat at once"...good for now. You will want to give her a wider variety though.

Re: supplements...most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous...so dusting the insects before feeding them to her with a phos.-free calcium powder helps to compensate for it.

I dust with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A twice a month. Beta carotene won't build up in the system like preformed vitamin A will. However there is controversy about whether all chameleons can convert beta carotene to vitamin A or not and some people give them a little preformed once in a while. Excess preformed vitamin A will prevent the D3 from doing its job though and can lead to MBD.

D3 is produced when a chameleon is exposed to UVB light either from UVB lights or exposure to the sun. (The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic.) If your chameleon only gets UVB from exposure to lights, then you may want to dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder to make sure it has enough. D3 from supplements can build up in the system, so don't overdo it.

Crickets should be gutloaded before being fed to the chameleon too. You can use greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potato, white potato, sweet red pepper, squash, etc.) to do this.

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A all play important parts in bone health and need to be in balance. When trying to attain this balance, look at what you use for supplements, gutloading and feeding to the insects.

Re: watering...you can also use a dripper once she is about 4 months old.

You said..."She is no longer green but yellow. This has not been her normal color"...they do have the ability to change color...can't really tell you if its a problem or not...a picture might help.

Hope all goes well for her!
 
Wow, thanks much for the thorough answer. I am going to print it off to reference. BTW I just peeked at her. She is sleeping peacefully and is her normal color. I am praying she stays that way. I have been a nervous wreck all day!
 
yea make sure you mist her very well, maybe even consider taking her out and having a plant for her to stand on in the shower while you thouroughly mist her, there are only a few other components to keeping a chameleon healthy than hydration like lighting nutrition and enclosure for physical conditioning...and sometimes to properly hydrate it takes at least 5 minutes of straight misting which can prove to be a work out....in stead of mist mist mist mist try mist.......mist........mist if you see what I"m saying....I like to use filtered water and this makes the water last longer(or just let them get rained on) to make sure if my tap water has impurities or chlorates that my chams get a good chance to "flush" there systems with spring water or r/o water every couple days :D
 
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