See my feedback in bold. Please let me know if you have any questions. This will be a lot of info.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
She’s a female veiled at I believe 8 months. I’ve had her for about 2, 3 weeks now.
How long has she been showing gravid coloring? The dark black.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
I mean semi often cause she always seems to like climb on the door of the cage when I come in my room and like sprints out onto my hand. But she’s made it clear before when she doesn’t want me to touch her.
You will want to try not to handle her. She is wanting out because she is not content with the enclosure and is looking for some place better to go. With her being gravid she needs to be in the cage to focus on laying her eggs.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
I’m feeding her medium sized dubia roaches dusted without d3 every day except Fridays where I alternate between with d3 and multivitamins. Of those I try to feed her about 6-8, lately though she’s only been eating 2-4 and then acts uninterested. I’m just throwing in a baby carrot every day for the roaches and then taking the old one out.
She may be getting close to laying. They will go off food prior to laying. Now for the feeders time to cut her back on how much she is getting food and temps directly impact how large a clutch of eggs will be. Now I would wait to reduce or change food intake until a few days after she lays her eggs. But here is the info for what you want to do. By about 6-7 months she should be getting about 5-8 small feeders each day. At about 7-8 months you want to slowly reduce by cutting down feeder amounts so that she is on a feeding schedule of 3 days a week with 3 feeders. You want them to be on this schedule by the time they are 9-10 months old. See image for gutload for insects. You want more than just a carrot.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
The dust and such is all zoo med. the schedule is right above.
What multivitamin are you using? Can you please take a pic of your three supplements so I can see the labels?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
I mist the cage for a minute every 8 hours and she seems to stay hydrated. I’m thinking of turning it on sooner though but so far, like I said I’m seeing white urates and keeping an eye out constantly for them. There was one where I couldn’t really tell if there was anything but I’m keeping a close eye on them.
Just make sure she is able to fully drink. Not getting enough water can cause issues later in life for them. 1 minute is not very long to trigger a drinking response.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
It’s hard to see the actual poop sometimes but the couple I’ve seen they seemed pretty ok. And I’m not sure about the parasites.
Parasites are very possible since she was purchased from a reptile expo... You can not see them they are microscopic. Some are fairly harmless in low numbers and others can cause extreme health issues. Getting a fecal sample tested is the only way to know for sure.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
I have no previous history about her, I got her from a reptile show and at that she was moving all around the table and seemed very people friendly.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
It’s a reptibreeze screen one. I can’t remember the exact dimensions but it’s the large. I think 18x18x32 or 36?
So this will need to be upgraded. It is too small for her. A female should really have the same cage size as a male. They need the room to move around. 24x24x48 is recommended.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Zoomed brand again for lights. A 75watt for now, about 7-8 inches from here her back would be at the basking spot. Thinking of upgrading to a 100 watt cause I think the cage may be a bit cold. Any advice on that and how high to put that bulb would be greatly appreciated.
The uvb light is a t5 12”.
What UVB bulb strength are you using? Really want the fixture to be as wide as the cage to give proper coverage. I would get a 24 inch when you upgrade the cage size. I would not use 100 watt bulb. Not only can this increase thermal burn risk but it will create much too hot of temps for a female.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Basking spot is about 80-85, I have I think a zoo med digital that I just tied around the basking spot and set the stick thing right on top. The temp/humidity gauge sits at the back of the cage somewhat near the top, about 3/4 of the way up and it sits at like 70-75 but I can move it to the ground below the basking around like 1/3 up? The lowest it would get overnight is 65 which I heard it could possibly go lower so I believe it’s ok.
So basking is actually too hot for a female You will not ever want basking to be over 78-80 for her. Very important for females because as she ages she needs this temp no higher at basking to help control the amount of eggs she produces. It also reduces her metabolism for the reduced feeder intake.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Humidity id like to get higher and I plan to get shower curtains on two of the sides to help with that. But it used to sit at about 40-50 now the lowest it goes is 35 so I need that higher. I’ll even turn on my fogger at max and it doesn’t get higher than 60 so I definitely need to increase it I think. I do try and spike it at night.
Make sure you are not running the fogger during the day. This can cause them to develop a respiratory infection due to the heat from the lights. 35% is still within limits for a veiled. Their range is 40-50% daytime.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yea there’s four at the bottom, I can’t remember the one name but there’s a Swiss cheese plant, pothos, I forget the name of the other but I know it’s safe for sure cause we looked it up when we bought it.
I have some fake vines and stuff throughout the top to provide cover for her but I’d like to get a live pothos in the corner to get that cover.
I would get some tall live plants. See the veiled tested ones on the image below. Pull all fake vines out. You can attach them to the outside of the cage to provide cover. But these are very dangerous to have in a veiled cage. Very high impaction risk due to them trying to eat them.
Is the bottom of the cage 100% bioactive? Drainage layer and clean up bugs? or is it only soil? If only soil you will need to either convert to 100% bioactive with sand in the soil so it can hold a tunnel or remove everything and have bare bottom and a permanent lay bin.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
It’s in my room on my desk. There’s no fans or vents and sometimes I move around in my room as need be but I try to move slow and steady as to not freak her out. If I’m doing stuff late at night I cover her cage with a towel.
Make sure you are not covering the top of her cage. You want airflow. And I cannot tell you the exact from the exact but like 5-5.5 feet?
Location - Where are you geographically located?
I’m in southern Pennsylvania.
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
I’m sure there’s something wrong with the cage as she’s either spending her time at the basking spot constantly or at the one bottom corner looking like she’s trying to break out. I will say, that corner is the only corner with an open space outside of it, and seeing how she was at the show could she just be explorative? She’s also pregnant right now and I’ve been keeping a close eye on that progress but so far I can’t really see profound evidence of eggs in her and no real signs of digging despite in the corner where she looks like she’s escaping. However when I see her doing it she normally looks like she’s avoiding ground contact. She just clings to the side of the cage.
@MissSkittles can give you specific info for what to look for with egg laying.
