So Happy

SycoSquirl

Member
I am beyond happy to say that my 9 month old veiled chameleon has finally taken a poo and a pee for the first time since I got him a little over a week ago. For a while there I was really worried about him but I think he was just having to get used to his new surroundings and giving him the weekend alone really helped him out =D

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - I have a male veiled chameleon that is 9 months old, I have had him for 10 days
Handling - I have handled him twice, the day I got him, and then the day after when trying to improve his cage set up
Feeding - about 10-12 medium crickets, and 5-7 waxworms, I do this about an hour after lights come on, i am not gutloading the crickets at this moment but I have this yellow gel stuff to feed the crickets
Supplements - I dust with calcium daily (exoterra I believe), I dust with calcium with d3 and herptivite 2ce a month ( not at the same time)
Watering -I have a fogger set up to turn on every 3 hours or so that will drip some water as well, I have a dripper slowly dripping, and everytime I go check on him if his leaves are dry I will spray for a minute with a hand spray bottle
Fecal Description - today was his first poo and pee, the poo there was 2 different dropping, both were about the size and shape of a jelly bean not watery and not really hard, and his pee was long and mostly white with a little yellow on one end, as far as I know he was not tested for any parasites
History - Since ive only had him for 10 days there isnt much information, but he has fallen a few times and will seem like he is having some trouble climbing, not sure if due to fake plants or if the drift wood I have is too thick so its harder for his feet to grip onto or not

Cage Info:
Cage Type - The outside is a wide metal mesh, the inside is a very fine mesh, it is 2'x2'x4', he has now been in it for 10 days
Lighting - I am not sure about the brands but I have a UVB 100W and vitamin 50W
Temperature - I have been having problems with temperature ranges in my cage since its not very tall, the basking spot is between the 80-90F and the bottom is between 75-80F Both during the day, as for night time the basking is around 75F and the bottom is about 70F, I dont know what to do to get the bottom cooler. I have 2 thermometers one hanging on the side of his basking spot, and the other is hovering over the bottom of the floor
Humidity - Right now my humidity ranges between 60%-75%, I have a fogger that comes on every 3 hours or so by a timer, and I mist everytime I check on him with a hand help spray bottle (that is if the fake vines are dry) and when I leave I turn on my dripper to a slow drip, I monitor the humidity by having a humidity gauge on the outside top of the cage
Plants - I do not have live plants yet, I plan on getting at least a pathos by next month, I want him to get used to what he has now for a little while before changing it all up again. Ive been doing a lot of research since I got him, and I also want to get him a bigger cage before I go back to school in New Mexico in August so I can have it all set up before the drive back to school so he will have a new larger space to use when I get to school
Placement - Right now he is sitting on the edge of my desk (its a big desk) about hip high on me ( I am 5'8") its a very low traffic house in general we have 3 people in a 3,017 square foot house, my room is upstairs, so we mostly are downstairs. Sadly it is almost cenetered under my ceiling fan and I dont know how that is affecting him because I need to leave it on or have the window open so my room doesnt get uncomfortably hot, I had it off and window closed once and the temperature at the basking spot got to 94F and the floor was about 85F which was too hot for him
Location - Redondo Beach, CA during the summer, then Albuquerque New Mexico for the school year (in which I may have a harder time keeping the humidity up in the winter but ive heard different was to combat that thanks to this forum)

Current Problem: He still seems to be having problems with climbing, he has a strong grip though so I dont know if the fake vines I have are not sturdy enough for him, or his drift wood I got him is too thick making it harder for him to climb, but thankfully he hasnt fallen down from the top of the cage in the last 3-4 days, so could it be a lack of horizontal branches and the unsturdyness of the fake vines making his life more difficult or should I be worried about MBD?
 
I'm glad he finally "went" for you. :) If you post some pictures of your guy and his enclosure it might help people give you pointers on how to help him.
My guys (panther chameleons) use their horizontal branches a lot, especially when they patrol their cages.
My big guy, also likes to climb down his pothos vines. They do move, but he doesn't fall. Are the fake vines, slick or hard for your guy to grab onto? Can you get a few smaller diameter sticks, and set them up horizontally for him? There are lots of ways to tie them into place. You can use a couple push pins/thumb tacks through the screen and into the branch, or even use tiny zip ties/thin wire/fishing line to tie them to the mesh. If he's having a hard time getting around, it might be worth it to add some paths for him, even if it might temporarily make him unhappy while you're doing it.
 
Some pictures of the cages and him (especially his joints/limbs) would be great.

One thing I would stop doing would be feeding the waxworms. They are pure fat and not healthy feeder. I feed soft bodied worms like silk worms and hornworms, sometimes even butterworms. But be careful with butter worms as a lot of chams seem to have an allergic reaction to them. Large phoenix worms are a great feeder too also known as calciworms or reptiworms because they can be fed in fly form or worm form and both have high calcium.

Other worms to avoid are mealworms.

You can feed superworms but be careful because they bite and can be addicting for chams.
 
I just started with the mealworms this weekend to give him a treat (I wouldnt normally be feeding them to him)
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I dont have many picture of him because I cant get a picture of him through his cage, the cameras just focus on the outter mesh, but I know his cage isnt that big which sucks I really want to get him a bigger one soon, I am saving up for it right now. As for the vines, they are plastic so it could be they are too slippery for him, especially if they are wet I bet
 
I am happy that your cham finally had a good poop!
I have a different problem, every time I open his cage door so he can free roam my place, suddenly my coffee table becomes his favorite place to drop a nice big load! :mad:
 
at least yours will come out to free range, when I leave my cage door open he gets worked up and puffs out and gets really bright thinking that he isnt safe anymore or that I might attack him. This could be due to the type of cage ( I honestly hate the cage so much) the opening is on the bottom of the cage, and slides up but the opening is only on the bottom half of the cage so he is up on the top and I literally can not reach in to get him unless he is on the bottom which he is only ever on the bottom when the cage is too hot or he is hunting. The only other opening is the roof will slide open but you arent supposed to grab from above so its a terrible cage for him and I think that could be a big problem with leaving his bottom door open to see if he wants to come out, plus I dont have a free range set up so he would just be hanging out on my desk which isnt very climbing friendly right now. >.< I definitely have a long way to go to make this guy as happy as I can
 
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Finally got some pictures of his front right leg that the joint looks pretty large, also has anyone else had problems with their nails curling like mine are?
 
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Finally got some pictures of his front right leg that the joint looks pretty large, also has anyone else had problems with their nails curling like mine are?

Definitely a lack of appropriate climbing opportunities/materials or an inability to climb. That doesn't happen overnight, either.

If you can, get some real sticks of various sizes - that will help wear down his nails and keep them trim. Dowel rods might be too hard for him to use currently with his nails in that shape. Poor little guy.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/mbd-130462/
 
sadly all the trees around us here dont drop any branches or twigs that would be strong enough to hold his weight so i have to buy everything which is quite annoying and dont know where i can just get branches of varying size, im going to try a craft store today and see what i can find for my beautiful little guy
 
I am happy that your cham finally had a good poop!
I have a different problem, every time I open his cage door so he can free roam my place, suddenly my coffee table becomes his favorite place to drop a nice big load! :mad:

I'd rather have it on my coffee table than on my hand! One of my females only wants to come visit when she has to poop! She's super friendly and I love taking her out when she wants to, but I always have to wait a few minutes before handling her so she can drop a poop first.
 
I'd rather have it on my coffee table than on my hand! One of my females only wants to come visit when she has to poop! She's super friendly and I love taking her out when she wants to, but I always have to wait a few minutes before handling her so she can drop a poop first.

i dont think i would mind as long as mine does poop lol mine seems to like to wait full weeks or more to poop
 
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