Silly Veiled antics.....

JlaPinska

JlaPinska

Member
Me: *starts misting the chameleon* Chameleon: *runs away. nooo you idiot i don't want to get wet! I just want to take a sip. like 120 sips. in a row. without taking a breath. behind this bush where you cant see me. i dont like you so go away. but dont stop misting!*

I have a young 5 month old female and a 3 year old male. at least once a week they both do this and suddenly turn into parched camels. by the time they are full, my arms hurt from holding up the mister.

"make sure you feed me as much as i can eat on time every time but don't you dare LOOK at me while i'm trying to eat!"

When i feed them the little 1 will wait til your out of sight, snatch a bug, hide and eat it, over and over. The big 1 will run right up to his food cup and wait until he thinks no one is watching and gobble up every last bug as fast as he can but if you go over and look at him he stops and pretends he wasnt doing anything.

You walk over to the cage to take in their magesty. They freeze up. "you got a starin problem, man? while they look at you from 5 different effing directions!


Anyone care to add? Please go for it!
 
JlaPinska said:
Me: *starts misting the chameleon* Chameleon: *runs away. nooo you idiot i don't want to get wet! I just want to take a sip. like 120 sips. in a row. without taking a breath. behind this bush where you cant see me. i dont like you so go away. but dont stop misting!*

I have a young 5 month old female and a 3 year old male. at least once a week they both do this and suddenly turn into parched camels. by the time they are full, my arms hurt from holding up the mister.

"make sure you feed me as much as i can eat on time every time but don't you dare LOOK at me while i'm trying to eat!"

When i feed them the little 1 will wait til your out of sight, snatch a bug, hide and eat it, over and over. The big 1 will run right up to his food cup and wait until he thinks no one is watching and gobble up every last bug as fast as he can but if you go over and look at him he stops and pretends he wasnt doing anything.

You walk over to the cage to take in their magesty. They freeze up. "you got a starin problem, man? while they look at you from 5 different effing directions!


Anyone care to add? Please go for it!
Click to expand...
It's pretty normal for veileds to run away and hide while spraying/misting. I experimented with different water temperatures. I read on here that warm water was best, but my Kaiju hates it lol he always hissed and ran away. I then tried just room temperature water and he loves it. He'll just sit there at his basking spot close his eyes and stick his tongue out and drink, no hissing, no running away, he's just calm and bright. :) Feeding, I alternate from cup feeding to just tossing them into his enclosure for him to hunt. He's comfortable with eating from people's hands (when people come over they always want to feed him from their hand). Whether its a hornworm/cricket/fruit/veggie. I would just experiment and see what works! Every cham is different. :)
 
TheMusicalCham said:
It's pretty normal for veileds to run away and hide while spraying/misting. I experimented with different water temperatures. I read on here that warm water was best, but my Kaiju hates it lol he always hissed and ran away. I then tried just room temperature water and he loves it. He'll just sit there at his basking spot close his eyes and stick his tongue out and drink, no hissing, no running away, he's just calm and bright. :) Feeding, I alternate from cup feeding to just tossing them into his enclosure for him to hunt. He's comfortable with eating from people's hands (when people come over they always want to feed him from their hand). Whether its a hornworm/cricket/fruit/veggie. I would just experiment and see what works! Every cham is different. :)
Click to expand...


Oh i have done all of that with my older cham. He doesnt care to be directly misted no matter what the temp is. Unfortunately for him because he gets stuck shed so que me chasing him around the cage with warm water in the mister. Like dude, i'm trying to help, get back here!! He will eat from your hand as well but what he will NOT do is chase after his food anymore. He's got lazy. if it falls, it's free. I have to constantly pick up the ones he drops and replace them in the cup. Now the younger one, she's a rescue, i've had her for almost 2 months now, and she's still just not comfortable with hands at all. She will hunt her food if i let them free. The only time she ate close to my hand is when i first got her and she was starving. Now she's learning she doesn't have to take it from me and she'll still get fed. She is way more feisty but i'm chalking it up to her previous owner who was only 12 years old.
 
How old is your male? As for your female she's just getting used to her new environment I'm sure with time she'll be more comfortable and less feisty (especially if she hasn't grown out of her juvenile stage yet).
 
TheMusicalCham said:
How old is your male? As for your female she's just getting used to her new environment I'm sure with time she'll be more comfortable and less feisty (especially if she hasn't grown out of her juvenile stage yet).
Click to expand...

My male turned 3 in june. Easy to remember he's the same age as my oldest kid. He doesn't even really like crickets anymore so if i let them loose in his cage he won't even try to eat them. I have to pull off their back legs and stick them in the cup so they can't escape. I agree with you about the little one, and she is little. i need to start weighing her to make sure she's gaining cause it's hard to tell from looking at her but she's still new here and i don't want to stress her out and cause her to be more reclusive. she literally tries to bite me. my male just opens his mouth wide and headbutts my hand and only if i try to touch or pick him up. he's not a biter.
 
Did you ever feed him worms in the past? I know some chameleons will get addicted to worms and not want to eat anything else sometimes. At 3 years he shouldn't be lazy and not wanting to hunt. What's your set up for him?
 
If you could fill this out, it would help a lot. Specifics really help get an idea of what might be wrong. :)


Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • 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?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
 
People’s Chams getting picky, HA. My 1.5 year old female. Eats everything like it’s her favorite. Once i was loading cricket cages and walked out of the room, with her door open. Needless to say she found her way to the 100 crickets and feasted for a couple minutes before I got back in. LOL
 
My Veiled hated misting sessions until I started warming the MistKing reservoir. Now he's much more tolerant.
 
Sorry i don't think their is anything wrong with him he is literally just lazy and crickets are his least favorite food. Sometimes he goes off them entirely. I have a perfect setup. The only thing i want that i don't have is a good jungle dawn for his plant. he has a 4ft pothos in his cage and it does poorly in the winter due to less light coming in the nearby window since i have to cover it. I made this thread just for posting funny stuff that they do. But just to calm your concerns i will hurry up and list everything so you can rest assure he's perfectly healthy.




Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, 3.5yrs old. Been in my care since him and my oldest daughter were both 9 months old.
  • Handling - Used to handle him once or twice a week but now i have 2 kids so he only comes out the cage on his own accord if i leave the door open for him.
  • Feeding - I feed him lots of different feeders. crickets supers dubias hornworms mostly and sometimes i splurge and order butterworms from rainbowmealworms. I feed him enough to fill him up just depends what i give him that day i try to rotate the feeders evenly like if he's having supers for dinner i'll give him 14 or if hes having a hornworm he'll eat a full grown hornworm plus a few crickets or supers with it etc etc and he eats every other day. i give him spring mix in between feeder days AND he also sometimes will have a couple blueberries, strawberry, or red seedless grapes as treats. The bugs bought from the pet store are loaded up with chows and the dubia i breed myself and they eat EVERYTHING lots of vitamin packed oat meal they also get spring mix along with veggies too many things to name to be honest.
  • Supplements - I dust ALL feeders with rep-cal brand supplements he gets multivitamin every other week and calcium WITH d3 on the opposing weeks (always on fridays) and all other feedings and even his veggies get dusted with fluker's plain calcium. I actually made a yearly chart with symbols and a key chart so i can't mess it up or incase someone else has to feed them for me they can use the chart to find out which supplement to use like every single day is dated and labelled, compulsively. I do plan to switch to repashy (sp?) when my current supps go bad.
  • Watering - watering technique is done with a hand held mister you pump it a few times and it releases a nice steady mist. I use both distilled and filtered water. i spray the cages down until they are soaking twice a day because i'm a stay at home mom and i can do that. Yes he drinks. His casque looks nice and thick and hydrated.
  • Fecal Description - droppings are all always normal and healthy looking, i have personally never taken him to a vet, no idea if the vendor i got him from tested him for parasites or not. He seems pretty hardy.
  • History - no other thing to say, there is no problem lol
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - He's in an XL reptibreeze
  • Lighting - He has a 24" reptisun 5.0 strip UVB that i replace every 6 months and his basking lamp is a zoomed 75watt basking light in the biggest ceramic dome i could find. also his lights are on one of those stupidly expensive timers 12 on 12 off.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? i dont remember the gradient temperature from last time off hand but i do check them randomly to make sure they are in the right ranges with an infrared laser thermometer you cant be too careful with the basking lamps because they tend to burn really hot just before they burn out. We don't let the ambient temp in the house drop below 74 at night.
  • Humidity - Humidity levels stay around and above 50% i maintain it by keeping a schedule by misting properly twice a day and watering the massive live plant and yes sometimes i let the humidity climb a bit because he has a tendency to shed back to back and sometimes needs help. I have used many different gages to keep track of the humidity but they all eventually crap out on me. any suggestions on something that will last?? I use to use a big dripper but it was too heavy for my ceiling.
  • Plants - Yes a pothos a HUGE one 4ft tall and has numerous 6ft vines intertwined all over the damned place.
  • Placement - I keep both cages in my kitchen. not a super high traffic area but they are very comfortable there plus it's easy to clean up the spray off since it's over a laminate floor. The cage is attached to a custom welded industrial strength iron stand. the top of his cage is about a foot and a half from my ceiling.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? North carolina, USA.

any more questions lol
 
JlaPinska said:
Sorry i don't think their is anything wrong with him he is literally just lazy and crickets are his least favorite food. Sometimes he goes off them entirely. I have a perfect setup. The only thing i want that i don't have is a good jungle dawn for his plant. he has a 4ft pothos in his cage and it does poorly in the winter due to less light coming in the nearby window since i have to cover it. I made this thread just for posting funny stuff that they do. But just to calm your concerns i will hurry up and list everything so you can rest assure he's perfectly healthy.




Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, 3.5yrs old. Been in my care since him and my oldest daughter were both 9 months old.
  • Handling - Used to handle him once or twice a week but now i have 2 kids so he only comes out the cage on his own accord if i leave the door open for him.
  • Feeding - I feed him lots of different feeders. crickets supers dubias hornworms mostly and sometimes i splurge and order butterworms from rainbowmealworms. I feed him enough to fill him up just depends what i give him that day i try to rotate the feeders evenly like if he's having supers for dinner i'll give him 14 or if hes having a hornworm he'll eat a full grown hornworm plus a few crickets or supers with it etc etc and he eats every other day. i give him spring mix in between feeder days AND he also sometimes will have a couple blueberries, strawberry, or red seedless grapes as treats. The bugs bought from the pet store are loaded up with chows and the dubia i breed myself and they eat EVERYTHING lots of vitamin packed oat meal they also get spring mix along with veggies too many things to name to be honest.
  • Supplements - I dust ALL feeders with rep-cal brand supplements he gets multivitamin every other week and calcium WITH d3 on the opposing weeks (always on fridays) and all other feedings and even his veggies get dusted with fluker's plain calcium. I actually made a yearly chart with symbols and a key chart so i can't mess it up or incase someone else has to feed them for me they can use the chart to find out which supplement to use like every single day is dated and labelled, compulsively. I do plan to switch to repashy (sp?) when my current supps go bad.
  • Watering - watering technique is done with a hand held mister you pump it a few times and it releases a nice steady mist. I use both distilled and filtered water. i spray the cages down until they are soaking twice a day because i'm a stay at home mom and i can do that. Yes he drinks. His casque looks nice and thick and hydrated.
  • Fecal Description - droppings are all always normal and healthy looking, i have personally never taken him to a vet, no idea if the vendor i got him from tested him for parasites or not. He seems pretty hardy.
  • History - no other thing to say, there is no problem lol
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - He's in an XL reptibreeze
  • Lighting - He has a 24" reptisun 5.0 strip UVB that i replace every 6 months and his basking lamp is a zoomed 75watt basking light in the biggest ceramic dome i could find. also his lights are on one of those stupidly expensive timers 12 on 12 off.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? i dont remember the gradient temperature from last time off hand but i do check them randomly to make sure they are in the right ranges with an infrared laser thermometer you cant be too careful with the basking lamps because they tend to burn really hot just before they burn out. We don't let the ambient temp in the house drop below 74 at night.
  • Humidity - Humidity levels stay around and above 50% i maintain it by keeping a schedule by misting properly twice a day and watering the massive live plant and yes sometimes i let the humidity climb a bit because he has a tendency to shed back to back and sometimes needs help. I have used many different gages to keep track of the humidity but they all eventually crap out on me. any suggestions on something that will last?? I use to use a big dripper but it was too heavy for my ceiling.
  • Plants - Yes a pothos a HUGE one 4ft tall and has numerous 6ft vines intertwined all over the damned place.
  • Placement - I keep both cages in my kitchen. not a super high traffic area but they are very comfortable there plus it's easy to clean up the spray off since it's over a laminate floor. The cage is attached to a custom welded industrial strength iron stand. the top of his cage is about a foot and a half from my ceiling.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? North carolina, USA.

any more questions lol
Click to expand...
Looks good. Just curious, because I don't know if I can, but do you have allergies to the dubia's?
 
you know what i just realized? that questionnaire doesn't ask about any possible drainage system. what if i didnt have a drainage system? what if my paper towels were moldy?!!! (im not being serious, but that could be a potential problem that others aren't aware of so it might be good to add. I drilled holes in the white bottom piece of the reptibreeze directly under the 35gallon plant pot so all the water runs toward the middle like a drain, and i have a 15 gallon tub underneath on the shelf that collects the runoff. also the plant pot itself has drilled holes so there is NEVER any standing water of any kind. i also covered the top of the soil in the pot with large eggrocks so dippy-doo can't dig them up and get a mouth full of substrate on accident (y)
 
JlaPinska said:
you know what i just realized? that questionnaire doesn't ask about any possible drainage system. what if i didnt have a drainage system? what if my paper towels were moldy?!!! (im not being serious, but that could be a potential problem that others aren't aware of so it might be good to add. I drilled holes in the white bottom piece of the reptibreeze directly under the 35gallon plant pot so all the water runs toward the middle like a drain, and i have a 15 gallon tub underneath on the shelf that collects the runoff. also the plant pot itself has drilled holes so there is NEVER any standing water of any kind. i also covered the top of the soil in the pot with large eggrocks so dippy-doo can't dig them up and get a mouth full of substrate on accident (y)
Click to expand...
That is a good catch, but I think that that is solved by the constant demands for pictures of the enclosure.
 
JlaPinska said:
oh if you're serious, no, i don't, and had no idea you could have allergies to them. roach-dander? haha
Click to expand...
I don't know the name of the chemical, but it is found on them and their feces, so it is recommended that if you breed them, that yo use gloves and a well ventilated room. I heard you can develop the allergies if you don't have them already if you are not careful.
 
CJ's Exotics said:
That is a good catch, but I think that that is solved by the constant demands for pictures of the enclosure.
Click to expand...
ah i guess that makes sense. i can dig up a photo if you would like to sneek a peek. we can post photos directly to the forum now without having to host them elsewhere right?
 
CJ's Exotics said:
I don't know the name of the chemical, but it is found on them and their feces, so it is recommended that if you breed them, that yo use gloves and a well ventilated room. I heard you can develop the allergies if you don't have them already if you are not careful.
Click to expand...

hum thats the first ive heard of it. i keep them in a 30 gallon tall on a bottom shelf in my bedroom. sometimes having them in an open area freaaks out my friends so i just have them back in my room. havent had any issues in the year i've had them so far so good
 
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