Questions on a Grumpy Veiled

[shell74]

Your Chameleon - Male Trans Veiled Cham approx 7 months old. Been with us about 2-3 weeks
Handling - Very rarely? Decreasing since he has turned grumpy.
Feeding - Laterallis roaches, dubia roaches, crickets and superworms? Handfull of feeders in the am same in evening? Feeders eat Romain, carrots, misc veggies?
Supplements - Reptivite every 2-3 days on crickets?
Watering - Small water fountain, which I have observed him drinking from? Mist 2 times a day? We see him drinking from both?
Fecal Description - Dark pieces, white pieces and little liquid. He has not been tested as far as I know
History - He was very docile when he first came home climbing out on our hands and walking around.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage appro 20 x 24 x 36
Lighting - Reptilglo 5.0 UVB, incandesent basking lamp? about 12 on 12 off
Temperature - What temp range have you created approx.70-90(cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp 70? measured by digital thermometer.
Humidity - 30-60% by digital reading?
Plants - sch???? Typical umbrella
Placement - cage located in my bedroom about 4 feet off the floor
Where are you geographically located? NE USA

Current Problem - He was very docile when he came home, coming out for feeders etc.... Now it seems that once he got in his cage he has become very aggressive, hissing when we open the door to clean or move anything.

Are we doing anything to really upset him or is he settleing in and getting territorial?

Anything constructive would be appreciated!

 

[Astray]

Sounds like he may be getting a little territorial, what I've read a lot of people do on here is put in a stick to coax their cham on to it for cleaning and/or handling.

It's not much to worry about, all chameleons are very territorial and from what I've seen and heard veiled are the more out spoken of the breeds.

 

[graydon]

Chameleon's are territorial, solitary reptiles. They don't enjoy being handled, so the less the better. Only cleaning, vet, and switching from inside to outside is really the only time the cham should be out.

Cut out the romaine lettuce and gutload your feeders with collard, kale, or mustard greens, carrots, squash, sweet potato and of course cricket crack.

Is your uvb a tube or coil?

You might want to invest into a bigger cage. something like a 18x18x36 or even a 24x24x48 so he can grow into it. You will need a lot more live plants and some vines so the animal can crawl as much as he wants.

What wattage is your basking lamp?

Get rid of the fountain, its a bacteria trap and all the cham does is defecate in it anyway. Invest into a drip system and mist 3x a day for at least a minute.

You need calcium without d3 daily and calcium with d3 2x a month with a multivitamin 2x a month.

So basiclly your cham is upset because the animal thinks you are a threat and you are making the cham angry. Like I said the less you try and hold the animal the better. Good luck

 

[shell74]

Chameleon's are territorial, solitary reptiles. They don't enjoy being handled, so the less the better. Only cleaning, vet, and switching from inside to outside is really the only time the cham should be out.

Is your uvb a tube or coil?

You might want to invest into a bigger cage. something like a 18x18x36 or even a 24x24x48 so he can grow into it. You will need a lot more live plants and some vines so the animal can crawl as much as he wants.

What wattage is your basking lamp?

Get rid of the fountain, its a bacteria trap and all the cham does is defecate in it anyway. Invest into a drip system and mist 3x a day for at least a minute.

You need calcium without d3 daily and calcium with d3 2x a month with a multivitamin 2x a month.

So basiclly your cham is upset because the animal thinks you are a threat and you are making the cham angry. Like I said the less you try and hold the animal the better. Good luck

When my cage came in the mail my daughter set it up, I immedietely realized I bought the wrong size, but since it was together they wouldnt take it back.

He does have some vines and such as well as a huge plant. I do have more plants just couldnt fit them in this screen cage

My bulb is the coil, which I have read isnt the best, for the next few weeks it will need to do. I just had surgery on Wednesday and cant be doing to much. I will get that rearranged asap. Guess I could borrow the uvb tube from my tortoises every other day for now.

I dont remember the wattage for the basking lamp, I believe it is 100. Just had neck surgery and cant reach up to check on that one.

I covered most of the fountain with the exception of the running water area and so far so good. It was really just a quick fix while I was away since the kids would only be available to mist 1 time per day when I was in the hospital.

Once I am back up on me feet I will work on a bigger cage. OH I dont worry about holding him, I understand thats not what they are about. They are just so wonderful to watch. Just wanted to make sure we werent doing something really horribly wrong.

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry to hear that you had to have neck surgery...hope all is going well with it??

 

[shell74]

Sorry to hear that you had to have neck surgery...hope all is going well with it??

Thanks, recovery really stinks, its so slow. I had my cervical spine fused, they go thru the front. My little cham keeps coming over to the edge to see me. OK, hes probably just irritated that I am in his room, or waiting for food, but he is great to watch all day. Makes me think about getting him a girlfriend at Repticon in May. Just not sure I want 2 huge cages. We will see, I have plenty of time to think about it,lol.

 

[Leilaskeeper]

When my cage came in the mail my daughter set it up, I immedietely realized I bought the wrong size, but since it was together they wouldnt take it back.

He does have some vines and such as well as a huge plant. I do have more plants just couldnt fit them in this screen cage

My bulb is the coil, which I have read isnt the best, for the next few weeks it will need to do. I just had surgery on Wednesday and cant be doing to much. I will get that rearranged asap. Guess I could borrow the uvb tube from my tortoises every other day for now.

I dont remember the wattage for the basking lamp, I believe it is 100. Just had neck surgery and cant reach up to check on that one.

I covered most of the fountain with the exception of the running water area and so far so good. It was really just a quick fix while I was away since the kids would only be available to mist 1 time per day when I was in the hospital.

Once I am back up on me feet I will work on a bigger cage. OH I dont worry about holding him, I understand thats not what they are about. They are just so wonderful to watch. Just wanted to make sure we werent doing something really horribly wrong.

Thank you for the suggestions.

That information on coil bulbs is incorrect. People prefer linear due to past issues but there is nothing wrong with coils. If there was, your chameleon would have issues with its eyes. I believe it was Reptisun that was an issue before - if you have Exo Terra, there is nothing wrong with using it. If you want further information, PM me and I'll give you some links.

 

[renzo0684]

That information on coil bulbs is incorrect. People prefer linear due to past issues but there is nothing wrong with coils. If there was, your chameleon would have issues with its eyes. I believe it was Reptisun that was an issue before - if you have Exo Terra, there is nothing wrong with using it. If you want further information, PM me and I'll give you some links.

I used a coil bulb and it gave Jasper horrible burns on his sides. I would deffinately not use them or tell anyone else to use them either.

 

[Cooper007]

grumpy veiled

I too have a veiled who is 7mnths and getting very aggressive ,doing a hissing clicky noise and actually turning to bite.he usually pretty friendly comin out of his cage for silkies and such,plus he's been sleepin on branches low toground,is this normal?

 

[Leilaskeeper]

I used a coil bulb and it gave Jasper horrible burns on his sides. I would deffinately not use them or tell anyone else to use them either.

Burns probably means you had the basking light too close. That has nothing to do with a UVB coil bulb. They barely emit heat, let alone enough to burn a chameleon. Please don't give wrong information based on an experience you had when you don't even know the real reason of the burn. That's an assumption.

 

[Carlton]

That information on coil bulbs is incorrect. People prefer linear due to past issues but there is nothing wrong with coils. If there was, your chameleon would have issues with its eyes.

I think you meant to say that SOME coils cause problems and others don't. We don't know which coil he has. Until he tells us which specific one he's using we can't say it is safe. Eye problems could be just around the corner if it is the wrong type.

 

[LVmama]

Sounds like he may be getting a little territorial, what I've read a lot of people do on here is put in a stick to coax their cham on to it for cleaning and/or handling.

It's not much to worry about, all chameleons are very territorial and from what I've seen and heard veiled are the more out spoken of the breeds.

My panther and Veiled are treated the exact same way and have the same set up and feeds. About the same age too.

My Panther has a lovely disposition and is quite social, my veiled on the other hand is a horrible grump and barely tolerates me and certainly can't even tolerate others at all! He is all bark and no bite though and I love him anyway.

I do manage to interact with him without him knowing, I put a piece of paper towel up so he can't see me and I dangle a silky from above or I stand behind him and put a silky in front, so I still get the satisfaction of hand feeding.

Keep on with him, they do get grumpy while getting used to habitat changes.

 

[Charger]

I think it is a battle of wills until they learn you won’t hurt them. If you are scared they will use it and also stress every time you go near the cage which is not good.

My wife’s Veiled is so friendly he loves to be around people. Even from day one he was 6 months and he crawled up behind her ear and went to sleep. When he wants out he comes to the front of his cage by the door and waits for us to open it up then he walks right out onto our hand. We have Emeril My wife’s Veiled 2 years , Monkey my Panther 18 months , Dexter a panther 7 months, and a set of twins just received from a breeding with my wife’s veiled last summer. All of them are very friendly we only allow a few people to hold them after they wash their hands.

Good luck I hope you can calm your Veiled down

 

[beeze]

Free time is excellent. They are usually more laid back when out of a cage.

 

[moody232002]

i found with Mista that if i hovered my hands at the bottom of the cage but didn't go near him for a while until he got used to it.then gradually move up over a few weeks he was fine.
now i can do anything with him and he doesn't budge.
good luck with the cham and the surgery recovery.

 

[shell74]

I think it is a battle of wills until they learn you won’t hurt them. If you are scared they will use it and also stress every time you go near the cage which is not good.

Sounds just like the parrots! They will take advantage of you if you let them,lol.

I opened his door yesterday and started to do some cleaning. He did hiss at me, but slowly I got him to walk onto my hand and he was fine, I let him come out in the sun room to have free time. I havent checked out all the plants so I had to keep re-routing over to the one side. I figured good time to take his picture for the photo contest too(hopefully we get chosen). He was just fine till the camera came out, then I saw a huge hissing cham. Once he relaxed, he was fine again and he climbed right back on my hand to go back to his cage. Once I get him a larger cage he will be in the sunroom most of the year, only a few months that the nights will get below 60.

Thanks everyone,
Shell

 

[shell74]

Sleeping Position

Last night I peaked over and saw that Bud was hanging from the ceiling of the screen enclosure verses being curled up in the plant where he normally sleeps at night. I did do some searching on here and read about turning the lights off gradually instead of all at once but couldnt find anything related to this sleeping position being a problem. I wanted to take a picture but was afraid to scare him. He hung there completely upside down all night, I didnt fall asleep till after 4AM, no clue when he finally moved. What in the world would posses him do do this?

Thanks,
Shell

 

[renzo0684]

Burns probably means you had the basking light too close. That has nothing to do with a UVB coil bulb. They barely emit heat, let alone enough to burn a chameleon. Please don't give wrong information based on an experience you had when you don't even know the real reason of the burn. That's an assumption.

No the bulb was 5 inches from the top of the screen. It was the coil bulb that burned Jasper.

EDIT--- This is what it did to his side...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/picture-jaspers-side-sore-31298/

 

[Leilaskeeper]

No the bulb was 5 inches from the top of the screen. It was the coil bulb that burned Jasper.

EDIT--- This is what it did to his side...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/picture-jaspers-side-sore-31298/

Yeah dude, it's just reiterating what I said. The basking light was too close.

Are you confusing the 'coil bulb' with the basking light? We're talking about the UVB coil bulbs.

 

[Leilaskeeper]

I think you meant to say that SOME coils cause problems and others don't. We don't know which coil he has. Until he tells us which specific one he's using we can't say it is safe. Eye problems could be just around the corner if it is the wrong type.

Yes, you're right. I did mean to say 'some' but I have an issue with coming across as 'matter of fact' Something I need to work on.

Here is a past thread that might help clarify what I was trying to say.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/subject-coil-uvb-bulbs-36225/