Sleepy veiled

Clubber122

New Member
Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon unsure of exact age but its just longer than your finger and male I've had him about a month
Handling - Once or twice a week
Feeding - small crickets as many as he will eat or as many as will come out of the tub there's usually about 6-7 running around the tank
What is the schedule? Daily food is gut loaded prior to purchase
Supplements - nutrobal a dusting in each tub of crickets
Watering - dripper and misting 3 times a day Do you see your chameleon drinking? Some times but less so at the moment
Fecal Description - Black/brown/white with a solid bit and sludgy bit


Cage Info:
Cage Type - MDF with glass sliding doors 2 vents on rear with fans fitted 48x24x18inches
Lighting - Arcadia euro forest 5% uvb and 40watt light bulb for basking 12 on 12 off
Temperature - basking spot is 83f roughly I haven't measured anywhere else over night it drops to around 70f
Humidity - 60% standard except when misting then 70% orchid bark substrate to maintain humidity measured with a stick on hygrometer
Plants - Plastic plants and 1 live bromeliad on the floor
Placement - corner next to sofa see pictures
Location - Rochdale, UK

Current Problem - he is sleeping alot during the day and seems to not be drinking much or eating much although I have seen him doing both there seems to be a drop in this and the sleeping has made me worried

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

Hi Sean. Welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place to ask questions. Could you copy and paste and fill in the form, link above. Your little one is very cute but sleeping during the day is not a good sign. By the way it's raining in Aberdeen, enjoy the sun.:(
 
Sean sorry to hear your little one is having problems. Yes, sleeping during the day is not a good sign. Does he only sleep when in the cage under the lights?? If so the lights could be bothering his eyes. They look awfully bright in there and most of us do not have the lights on inside the cage due to burn injuries. Also, it would be wise to remove the mulch. You chameleon could eat and choke or become impacted and die. Lastly, chameleons like to be up high and putting your cage on the ground like that is not the best scenario. Those lights look very bright and intense in there. That could be your problem.
 
Sean sorry to hear your little one is having problems. Yes, sleeping during the day is not a good sign. Does he only sleep when in the cage under the lights?? If so the lights could be bothering his eyes. They look awfully bright in there and most of us do not have the lights on inside the cage due to burn injuries. Also, it would be wise to remove the mulch. You chameleon could eat and choke or become impacted and die. Lastly, chameleons like to be up high and putting your cage on the ground like that is not the best scenario. Those lights look very bright and intense in there. That could be your problem.

Thanks for your reply, the uv is just as bright as a standard fluorescent tube and its a standard 40watt light bulb so I didn't think it was that bright? But yes he only closes his eyes under them I assumed he was sleeping in the warm spot!
 
Thanks for filling in the form. There are a few things you need to change which might make a difference. Gutloaded food prior to purchase will have lost all its goodness by the time you feed them to your Cham. Sandrachameleon has some excellent blogs on here about gut loading. You will need a good dry mix and fruit or veg to provide moisture for your inscects all the time. Nutrobal contains d3 and multivitamins so using it every day is not good. I use it every 7-10 days. In between I use a plain calcium without d3 every day. Lightly dust all inscects to be fed that day. Substrate could cause problems especially if free ranging crickets. He could catch a piece of orchid bark when catching cricket. Also it tends to encourage mould. Some on here use paper towel, I use reptile carpet which is very easy to clean. You might need to put a guard over that light as they can climb and come in contact with it and end up with a thermal burn.:)
 
just because its not bright to you, doesn't mean its not too bright for them.


try raising the bulb some.
 
You should never have bulbs inside of a cage with them.

they can crawl on the bulbs and get burned.
 
That's a very bright light for such a little guy, they are sensitive.

I see some other problems with your setup.

It does not appear to be very well ventilated.
I see some round vents installed, but thats not nearly enough.
They need free flow of air to keep healthy.

The brightness from the lamp (lamps) could well be hurting his eyes, compounded with the heat and lack of ventilation your cham is not going to be very comfortable.

You also need to loose the floor substrait as veileds are well known for eating
any kind of trash they can find loose on the floor.
This can cause impaction, or choaking and death.

I would recommend moving him to a screen cage and invest in a few digital thermometers with probes to monitor the basking and ambient temps
accuratly.
 
I have a wooden viv and it works well for where I live and the natural temps I have to put up with. What could make your wooden viv better for your Cham would be to put mesh panels in the top and your light could sit on top lessening the risk of burns.:)
 
I'm pretty limited for the lighting as I have frogs in a tank on top, so I can't move the light outside and it can't go any higher, I will start to gut load insects prior to feeding, I also can't raise the tank off the floor as I have nothing to put it on, I've just moved in to my own house so I have little!
 
You can buy a light guard for your light, I have used them and it will keep him away from the light. You need plain calcium without d3 as well. Too much d3 can be just as damaging as not enough.:)
 
That's a very bright light for such a little guy, they are sensitive.

I see some other problems with your setup.

It does not appear to be very well ventilated.
I see some round vents installed, but thats not nearly enough.
They need free flow of air to keep healthy.

The brightness from the lamp (lamps) could well be hurting his eyes, compounded with the heat and lack of ventilation your cham is not going to be very comfortable.

You also need to loose the floor substrait as veileds are well known for eating
any kind of trash they can find loose on the floor.
This can cause impaction, or choaking and death.

I would recommend moving him to a screen cage and invest in a few digital thermometers with probes to monitor the basking and ambient temps
accuratly.

Thanks for the reply, I recognised the ventilation issue that's why I fitted fans to the vents, can I replace the light bulb with a ceramic and put a thermo stat in?
 
Light bulb is more beneficial than ceramic. You will still have the heat issue even with thermostat. Light bulb represents the sun for basking.
 
Light bulb is more beneficial than ceramic. You will still have the heat issue even with thermostat. Light bulb represents the sun for basking.

How do I resolve it then? If I move if outside the tank it's still as bright? I've put it on a thermo stat so it dims and it's at 86f and not as bright
 
How do I resolve it then? If I move if outside the tank it's still as bright? I've put it on a thermo stat so it dims and it's at 86f and not as bright

Your temps sound ok. If it is dimmed that's ok. Can you put your hand on it and not burn your skin, if so that's fine but if its too hot get a guard. I've had a similar viv to yours and I just had to adapt to make it safe. My Cham managed to get a thermal burn from a ceramic that was on the outside of the viv when my thermostat went wonky, I learned the hard way.:(
 
Your temps sound ok. If it is dimmed that's ok. Can you put your hand on it and not burn your skin, if so that's fine but if its too hot get a guard. I've had a similar viv to yours and I just had to adapt to make it safe. My Cham managed to get a thermal burn from a ceramic that was on the outside of the viv when my thermostat went wonky, I learned the hard way.:(

I don't date try that haha lights out now ill try tomorrow, is the uv still too bright?? I was always advised no guards because chams will climb on it?
 
I don't date try that haha lights out now ill try tomorrow, is the uv still too bright?? I was always advised no guards because chams will climb on it?

Better to climb on the guard than the light. 5% should be ok. If you add more live plants that will provide more foliage for him to hide behind to get away from the light if he wants to. It will also help with humidity if you go with recommendation to ditch the substrate .:)
 
Better to climb on the guard than the light. 5% should be ok. If you add more live plants that will provide more foliage for him to hide behind to get away from the light if he wants to. It will also help with humidity if you go with recommendation to ditch the substrate .:)

I can't seem to find the reptile matts I keep coming up with heat matts! Ill take the substrate out today when I get a minute, lights have just come on so when it gets to full temp and the light dims ill have a feel if it burns me lol
 
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