Stress!

[craig]

Hey everyone. Well some of you know I have a male and female veiled chameleon and I had them together in the same cage. Well I separated them and now I notice the female has been black and puffed up. WHat is wrong? My temps are alittle cooler. I have a 75w basking light and my thermometer reads 77F usually which I know if cool but the thermometer is lower than the light. The same thing for my male at the same temps in his other cage. Here is the females cage

Is it maybe she doesn't want to be parted from the male? I just notice now that she has been stressed. ANy info would be greatful. I still mist her cage like 3 times a day too and feed her in the afternoon. Thanks. Craig.

 

[Laragail]

it looks like your UVB light is pointed out away from the cage rather then into it.

yeah- your temps are too cool-- you could point the basking light closer to the top.

She may be stressed from the new environment, rather then being separated.

also, she shouldn't be climbing on the side like that- maybe she needs some more vines.

Whats the humidity? i don't see a hydrometer in the pic..

 

[craig]

hey, well the uvb is pointing down and out too. I have the basking light at an angle because when I set it on the cage she would hang underneath it and i didn't want her to get burned. Yeah she keeps climbing on the screen and iam going to the petshop today to get some heavy duty vines for her. I don't have humidity level in the cage, just a digital temp.

 

[craig]

oh that isn't her stress pic, she gets real dark and puffs up. Its like she see's something in the cage with her but its nothing. She was happy when the male was in there. I think she has a crush on him

 

[Cherron]

The darkness is probably due to her temperatures being too low. The ambient (room temp) of the cage is good at 77 but you need to provide her with a basking area of around 90. Chameleons will get dark in an attempt to soak up as much heat as possible.

Some of it could also definitely be stress from moving into a new enclosure.. not to mention the human who keeps peeking at her

Be sure to provide her with plenty of water, the above mentioned basking spot and try just leaving her alone for a day or two. She will adjust to the new enclosure. She is definitely not missing the male and in the long run she will definitely be happier and healthier.

 

[craig]

hey cherron. She has been in this enclosure since I had her, its just I took the male from this one too and put him in another cage. He has the same temps and all but he is as green as can be. Its like since I took him from the cage she got dark. Maybe I will put another basking light on there too to bring the temps up.

 

[Cherron]

If you just angle the one that you have downward, it will probably raise the temp below it quite a few degrees. I would play around with that before I bought a new one. All of my veileds do well with one basking light as long as it is appropriately placed.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Is it possible to raise the position of the enclosure?
They like to be as high up as possible.
Also, in my opinion, 90 degrees would be the maximum basking
temp for a young veiled. 80 to 85 is the range I would shoot for
until she's at least 6 months old.

-Brad

 

[Julirs]

Craig-put the thermometer probe on the outside of the cage right where the basking light can hit a spot she can sit in and then make sure it is hitting around 90 degrees.

 

[Jordan]

It sounds to me like your chameleon is trying to get heated up. Puffing up serves two purposes. One to make themselves look big when aggravated. Two is for them to create more surface area to catch light in an effort to regulate their body temperatures. Now my chameleons seem to like some security when basking. That is to say they like to retreat and rather quickly sometimes when the see me back into the vegatation. I think you need some branches and maybe to adjust the basking light.

Before you buy anything you can probably do this for free with stuff around the house. Now branches are easy for most people to get just go outside. Collect some of various diameters and lengths. I wash with soap and water. Now some people do throw them in the oven at low temperatures. I think whether you do this or not really depends on the weather you have been having recently. Cool and dry screw the oven. Warm and moist probably not a bad idea to stick them in. When washing the branches also look for loose flakey bark. If there is any peel it back or as much off so that you can see the area. Fungus among other things likes these types of spots and this will ensure that you have inspect the branch well. Some people sand the branches. You can if you want just remember not to get it to smooth. Chameleons have pretty good grip but when your supporting you whole body with one arm trying to pull yourself up like a gymnast it does help to have some traction.

Now I like to lay have an empty cage and a little time to mess around. Perhaps moving her to a different location to sleep tonight. If you can get her onto a branch almost any where will do as long as it is safe and dark. Get the branches to the size you want to fit in the cage. Drill some holes in the ends to secure them to the screening. I use wire ties but your cage probably has holes that are to small for these so you could use some twist ties (come with most garbage bags so you may already have some). Stick them through the branch hole and now through the screen and simply twist them up a bit. I personally like to mix and match real branches and the store bought vines. You can use the twist ties to secure these to the screen as well. If you have any branches that feel loose you can wrap the vine around it or something like that to sinch them up a bit.

If you have any excess wood around the house say like a 2"x2" or really almost anything provided it can take some heat you can elevate the dome reflector off of the screening and hopefully up the cage temperature a bit. I think with the size that your chameleon looks like in the picture a basking area that is 90*F should be okay. The branch you are setting up for the basking area should not run directly under the bulb or she could get a little burn on her casque. To get this just right you may have to experiment with the bulb wattage. The distance of the branches to the bulb...etc...

Another thing you can do to help the plant out (schefferella especially) is to provide some stick inside them. Little sticks work good for this the idea is to keep them off of the limbs that have the leaves on them. When your chameleon gets a little more weight the can easily break these just by walking around. With practice you can manipulate the plant into growing into the cage. I have a schefferella in my female's cage. Now if it where to stand completely up it would be about 4 1/2' tall her cage is only 30" tall. I forced the plant to grow out instead of up by using sticks.

Some chameleons are really shy. So providing them a quick out from the basking area to some vegatation to hide is something you may want to think about when setting all this stuff up. Sorry I think I made this post all out of order but hopefully it makes sense.

 

[Laragail]

Instead of the more expensive "reptile vines" they sell at the pet store, I use vines from the fake flower isle at Wal*Mart.

they are a lot cheaper, and you get a much bigger selection.

Just make sure you wash them off REALLY good, and use common sense when picking them out. don't get any that could injure your cham.

 

[craig]

i set the light down and now she is happy. She is as green as can be. Thanks. I'll keep ya posted.

 

[craig]

thanks jordan. she got dark again but now it looks like she is ready for sleep. I will make sure I check out a temp on just the basking,light. Bought new bulbs and put those in. I'll keep you guys posted Thanks. Craig.