question about my baby veiled!

[jacandguac]

I've had him for about two weeks now & up until yesterday, he had been very friendly. I haven't been handling him tooooo too much because he is also adjusting to a new home but he usually came right onto my hand with no problem. once he was out, he would climb around me & explore my bed (supervised, of course!). as of yesterday though, any time I put my hand near him, he pulls away & flares out his throat. he has even opened his mouth at me a few times.
also, sometimes, he will close his eyes & go into what appears to be a deep sleep? nothing really seems to bother him or wake him up. he will move though, if ushered. I was able to coax him onto my finger but he did not open his eyes the entire time, even while he was climbing on. I sat with him for about half an hour & he remained on the tip of my finger, eyes closed, the whole time. I then coaxed him back onto a branch in his tank - again, his eyes stayed close. after a few minutes of gentle coaxing but while he was still on my hand except for one foot, he opened his eyes & pulled away from my other hand although he was still almost completely on me.
i bought him "a dozen" (the guy at the store gave me probably almost 2 dozen) baby crickets last weekend. he still has 3 left in there & I plan on going to get him some more tomorrow. I cleaned his tank earlier today, washed his food & water bowl, fluffed up/mixed around his dirt, put new wax worms in the food bowl & fresh water in the water bowl. he has sufficient room, things to climb on, & both a daytime & nighttime lamp. is this normal behavior?? I don't want him to be afraid of me & I'm not sure what else to do/what I'm doing wrong or if this is not something to be overly concerned with. any input would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Kath44]

Welcome to a great place for info.
He shouldn't have a light on at night for starters, they like dark to sleep.
They don't normally use water bowls, except for pooping in. Depending on depth of water, it is also a drowning hazard.
There's a thread in health section, how to ask for help. If you copy and paste that and answer it all with as much detail as you can. Members can help out a bit more.
Also check the care sheets out on the forum.
Kath.

 

[jacandguac]

wow great to know about the water & light!! I read to do that online but wild fix that ASAP. & I will definitely post in the other forum, thanks so much!

 

[Ninkylou]

Time to learn all about your new friend!

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your new friend! They are a joy to own.

I am going to assume that you bought him at one of the big pet stores and the first thing I want you to do is forget pretty much everything they told you on how to care of him. Sadly, they are pretty misinformed.

Kath started with some good points and I'll add a few more.

First thing is to Read, read, read. The forums have some great information on how to set up and care for your veiled.

There is a link on the left called Care Resources and it will lead you to a number of great articles.

Here is the Care Sheet for your Veiled Chameleon, its a great place to start.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

Let me just touch on a few things that I picked up on from your post.

1. Get rid of the water bowl and start misting and using a dripper. Chameleons do not drink from standing water.

2. Make sure your lighting and temperatures are correct. You need to have a UVB light and and basking light (unless you have mercury vapor like a Sun Glow that does both). Since he is young his basking temperatures should be what is noted in the Care Sheet link (I don't have Veiled so I don't want to tell you something wrong) I know however that my local big box store keeps their babies at 100 degrees and that is WAAAAAY too hot. Make sure you are measuring temperature and humidity at the basking place and lower in the care. An infrared Temp gun is a relatively inexpensive but invaluable tool.

3. Make sure you have lots of vines and foliage for him to climb around in and hide. I would avoid trying to hold him for a while. Let him get used to having you around.

4. Get rid of the substrate. Chameleons do best with a bare bottom enclosure. Its actually much easier to clean, but more importantly they can accidentally eat the dirt and get impacted.

5. Waxworms are not very nutritious and should not be given as a regular feeder. The crickets are good, but add some more variety. There's lots to read here on feeders, but Dubia Roaches, silkworms, hornworms, super worms are all good. No one feeder should make up the bulk of his diet.

6. Make sure you are gut loading (feeding your feeders) a healthy diet. Fruits & Veggies and either commercial or homemade dry gut load. SandraChameleon has a great blog on this. The Orange Cubes they sell are junk. Your Chameleon is what he eats and that is the feeders.

7. Make sure you are giving him supplements. Dust his feeders with plain calcium at each feeding (No D3) and use a Calcium with D3 twice a month. Also a multivitamin once or twice a month as well. I use Repashy All in One low D and supplement with Calcium with D twice a month. I don't use an additional vitamin. Everyone has specific opinions on what they prefer, but the basics are pretty much the same.

8. Live plants are great for giving your cham a place to hide and helping to increase humidity.


Your fella should not be sleeping during the day, that could be a sign that something is wrong. Please fill out the form with as much detail as possible and add pictures. They are always helpful.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Again Welcome to the forums.

Never be afraid to ask questions, I always say the only dumb question is the one that was never asked. The search page is a great place to search past forum posts for quick answers as well. Most things you will ask, someone else has probably asked as well and you can get some quick answers that way.
I always search before I pot a question.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/search.php

 

[jacandguac]

wow that was very helpful, I really appreciate it!! I just posted in the health clinic forum, hopefully someone will have some insight for me. thanks for everything!

 

[Ninkylou]

wow that was very helpful, I really appreciate it!! I just posted in the health clinic forum, hopefully someone will have some insight for me. thanks for everything!

I started out buying my cham on impulse and had very little information, this forum taught me so much and the folks here love their chameleons and are always willing to help. I truly believe in paying it forward!