Question about hissing and lack of eating

[Tanneregan]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Female, 4-5 months. Ive had her for 3 months
Handling - Used to be about every day, now hisses and puffs up when opening the cage
Feeding - 6 Crickets and 4 mealworms (both small) every morning.
Supplements -
Watering - fogger and hand sprayer fog is continual. spray about 2-3x per day. Never see her drink
Fecal Description - Feces = dark brown/black. Never tested as far as i know
History - up until about a week or week and a half ago she was totally cool with us holding her and letting her sleep on us. Ever since upgrading her cage she does like us and hisses at us when we open the cage and put our hand in.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen on all sides, including top. 20x20x36
Lighting - Standard ZooMed lighting, UV lamp, 75w Basking and night bulb? 12 hours of day 12 hours of night (8AM to 8PM -day, 8PM to 8AM -night)
Temperature - Center of cage is consistently around 70, Basking is close to 80 floor about 70. Night temp between 65-70. Basic thermometer.
Humidity - usually between 50 and 70%. Fogger and hand sprayer? Basic gauge located at the middle of the cage
Plants - No live plants.
Placement - We placed her cage in a room away from air vents and high traffic our high traffic areas. About 4.5 feet from the ground to the top of the cage.
Location - Northern Utah, Logan to be specific

Current Problem - Doesn't eat all of her food and has grown extremely temperamental, prior to cage shift she was happy and loved having us hold her and now wants nothing to do with us, she hisses when we open the cage.

We know they are a high stress animal and shouldn't be handled to much but coming from how we were handling her prior it seems a bit sudden to just act the way she is. Could it be that she is getting ready to shed? She has only shed 2x since we have had her.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
TannerEgan

 

[Sinfulintent]

How long ago did you switch her cages? Did it happen as soon as you changed cages? It may be that she is not used to the new cage yet and that may be your issue. I would give her a week or so to get used to her new home and try again. Or like you said it could be a grumpy shed

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum It does sound likely that she is going to shed soon. At that age it is usually approx. once a month. They are territorial animals so defending her new house is natural behaviour. If you hold her first food of the day near the door she might approach you to get it and associate door opening with food, so she'll be less hissy.
You don't mention calcium supplements, I assume she is getting them.
You don't mention the white part of her poop (the urate). This should be white.....yellow means dehydration.
Does your night bulb put out any light? Even the red bulbs can disturb sleep (chams have a parietal eye which can detect it even if she looks like she is sleeping soundly). If your temps drop below 60F at night a ceramic heater or maybe space heating would be much better
Here is a great all-round caresheet I always recommend to new people with Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html