Hi all, I am new here to the forum. I have been keeping reptiles for quite a while now but I am quite new to Chameleons. I have a male Veiled Chameleon called Colin who is around 6-7 months old.
When I got Colin he was very small and I kept him in a glass Exo Terra arboreal terrarium with the screen top. He was very happy in there and there was never a problem. I didn't realise how fast a Cham can grow though so it wasn't long before he was starting to need a new home as the terrarium was a small one.
Around about a month or so ago I built him a new enclosure that I think should last him for the rest of his life but we'll see how it goes. It's an all screen enclosure which is 4ft high, 2ft wide and 2ft deep. He has loads of vines and branches for climbing on plus some Exo Terra polystyrene 3D background at the top half of the back. There is also a good few plants dotted around for cover but he seems to be happy out in the open more often than not.
I have a 100w heat bulb giving him temps of around 30c on his basking spot and it's around 20c just below midway down the enclosure. He never goes down below the middle. He also has a 5.0 UVB compact bulb.
He is sprayed 3 times a day and has a dripper system on 3 times a day and has a fogger which runs for 5mins at a time, 5 times a day. I can't say for sure his humidity levels as I have discovered for myself that it is very hard to keep up humidity in a screen enclosure. I am also waiting on a new Hygrometer to come in the mail as the one I have currently doesn't seem to be all that good.
So now that the details are out of the way, here's why I am writing this post:
Right at the time I moved Colin into his new bigger enclosure, he developed an eye infection. As it turned out he was about to go into shed at the time I moved him but I wasn't aware. The stress of the move into a new enclosure that was alien to him caused a bad shed and the skin around his eyes took a long time to remove itself. Consequently this led to bacteria getting into the eyes. He started to keep his eyes closes a lot and rubbed them on the branches a lot too and eventually he stopped eating and drinking because he wasn't able to see. As he couldn't then move around much he would just stay in one place all day whereas before he would wander part of the day.
So it was off to the vet for antibiotics. The antibiotics didn't seem to be improving him enough so he was put under anesthetic and had his eyes flushed out. He was in the vets for nearly two weeks as they kept an eye on him (no pun intended!) for a while after and fed him vitamins and a food substitute in water through a syringe into his mouth. Eventually this seemed to do the trick and he was up and about again but not eating insects, only the stuff in the syringe.
So the vet let him home a few days ago and he gave me the stuff to put in the syringe to give to him but said I should keep offering insects anyway just in case he'd eat them.
The day after I got him home he took a few mealworms from a cup but didn't seem keen on trying to catch crickets. He also started to drink from his dripper again. So this was great news and it meant I don't have to give him the stuff in the syringe so much either.
He definitely seems more active than he was when he had the eye infection although he does still have periods of inactivity. I am probably just being overcautious now and worrying about every little thing but I was wondering from the more experienced keeps here, how active should a Cham be during the day? Do they sit a lot, do they wander a lot or a bit of both? I'm just trying to make sure he is back to normal and happy in his environment.
He seems to like climbing into crazy places and positions and will climb the walls now (because they are screen and not glass anymore) and even the roof upside down! He climbed onto the polystyrene 3d background earlier before I went out at about 7pm. I am back now and have checked on him at nearly 11pm and he is still there where I left him. Does that sound ok?
He has a favourite place to sleep on the right wall up at the very top of the enclosure and will head off there and night to settle down around lights out time.
I will try and get photos if it helps anyone to see what his enclosure is like but I am just wondering do you think everything sounds ok and normal and am I over worrying or do I have any cause for concern?
He had his first poo today since getting him back and it was mostly just water but I expected that with having been on a water mixture for the last 2 weeks at the vets. Now he has taken a few worms and hopefully some crickets in the coming days I expect his next poo will be more solid.
When I got Colin he was very small and I kept him in a glass Exo Terra arboreal terrarium with the screen top. He was very happy in there and there was never a problem. I didn't realise how fast a Cham can grow though so it wasn't long before he was starting to need a new home as the terrarium was a small one.
Around about a month or so ago I built him a new enclosure that I think should last him for the rest of his life but we'll see how it goes. It's an all screen enclosure which is 4ft high, 2ft wide and 2ft deep. He has loads of vines and branches for climbing on plus some Exo Terra polystyrene 3D background at the top half of the back. There is also a good few plants dotted around for cover but he seems to be happy out in the open more often than not.
I have a 100w heat bulb giving him temps of around 30c on his basking spot and it's around 20c just below midway down the enclosure. He never goes down below the middle. He also has a 5.0 UVB compact bulb.
He is sprayed 3 times a day and has a dripper system on 3 times a day and has a fogger which runs for 5mins at a time, 5 times a day. I can't say for sure his humidity levels as I have discovered for myself that it is very hard to keep up humidity in a screen enclosure. I am also waiting on a new Hygrometer to come in the mail as the one I have currently doesn't seem to be all that good.
So now that the details are out of the way, here's why I am writing this post:
Right at the time I moved Colin into his new bigger enclosure, he developed an eye infection. As it turned out he was about to go into shed at the time I moved him but I wasn't aware. The stress of the move into a new enclosure that was alien to him caused a bad shed and the skin around his eyes took a long time to remove itself. Consequently this led to bacteria getting into the eyes. He started to keep his eyes closes a lot and rubbed them on the branches a lot too and eventually he stopped eating and drinking because he wasn't able to see. As he couldn't then move around much he would just stay in one place all day whereas before he would wander part of the day.
So it was off to the vet for antibiotics. The antibiotics didn't seem to be improving him enough so he was put under anesthetic and had his eyes flushed out. He was in the vets for nearly two weeks as they kept an eye on him (no pun intended!) for a while after and fed him vitamins and a food substitute in water through a syringe into his mouth. Eventually this seemed to do the trick and he was up and about again but not eating insects, only the stuff in the syringe.
So the vet let him home a few days ago and he gave me the stuff to put in the syringe to give to him but said I should keep offering insects anyway just in case he'd eat them.
The day after I got him home he took a few mealworms from a cup but didn't seem keen on trying to catch crickets. He also started to drink from his dripper again. So this was great news and it meant I don't have to give him the stuff in the syringe so much either.
He definitely seems more active than he was when he had the eye infection although he does still have periods of inactivity. I am probably just being overcautious now and worrying about every little thing but I was wondering from the more experienced keeps here, how active should a Cham be during the day? Do they sit a lot, do they wander a lot or a bit of both? I'm just trying to make sure he is back to normal and happy in his environment.
He seems to like climbing into crazy places and positions and will climb the walls now (because they are screen and not glass anymore) and even the roof upside down! He climbed onto the polystyrene 3d background earlier before I went out at about 7pm. I am back now and have checked on him at nearly 11pm and he is still there where I left him. Does that sound ok?
He has a favourite place to sleep on the right wall up at the very top of the enclosure and will head off there and night to settle down around lights out time.
I will try and get photos if it helps anyone to see what his enclosure is like but I am just wondering do you think everything sounds ok and normal and am I over worrying or do I have any cause for concern?
He had his first poo today since getting him back and it was mostly just water but I expected that with having been on a water mixture for the last 2 weeks at the vets. Now he has taken a few worms and hopefully some crickets in the coming days I expect his next poo will be more solid.
