Veiled acting weird

[splodeybaloney]

First off,

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male, veiled chameleon (named Finn), about 5-6 months old. I have had him for 4 1/2 months
Handling - Almost every day, probably about 5 minutes at a time
Feeding - He is fed with crickets, 5 per day in the morning
Supplements - I use a combination of Rep-Cal Herptivite and calcium + vit. D at least once a week
Watering - I mist the cage with a spray bottle at least every couple hours, just until everything gets wet, and I recently also got him a waterfall. His cage sits right next to my desk, and I see him drinking often.
Fecal Description - Feces have always been consistently normal, it seems. Nicely shaped little grayish-black pellets with a white bit accompanying it. He has not been tested for parasites, as he has never been to a vet

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an Exo-Terra screen cage, 24" x 18" x 24"
Lighting - I have an Exo-Terra Repti-Glo 5.0 bulb, and a Zoo Med 100 watt basking lamp
Temperature - The temperature at the bottom of the cage is about 75, and I don't know what it is toward the top. The one thermometer I have is mounted to the wall at the bottom of the cage.
Humidity - Humidity level is consistently around 50-60% in the day, regulated by my spraying the cage. I have a hygrometer stuck to the wall of the cage.
Plants - I just recently got him a live plant, it's a type of palm, but I'm not sure what kind exactly. That, and plastic plants.
Placement - The cage is located on a table in a corner of the room, kind of hidden away (so my CA doesn't see it). The top of the cage is probably 4 feet or so from the ground
Location - Ames, IA

I know this has been my second thread about this in the past week or so, but I'm starting to get worried about my little guy. For a week after I got his new cage, I just had all of the same things as in his old cage, plastic plants, a fake vine, etc. Last weekend I got him a waterfall and made a pseudo-vine out of PVC pipe and some nylon rope.

I posted a thread a few days ago because he kept standing around with his eye closed. I have since removed the vine I made, because it seemed like he never really liked it in the first place. He would always climb up to this one spot on the vine, and just sit there with his right eye closed. Since I've taken it out, he keeps climbing up the screen to about the same spot and just hanging there with his eye closed. If he ever climbs anywhere else, or if I pick him up and hold him, his eyes are open and doing just fine.

He also has started looking a bit off-colored the past couple days. I've noticed that the spots on his sides where he has white coloring, the areas around that look like a really fluorescent green, while the rest of him looks normal.

Also, he has started to look kind of pale when he's in the cage. I thought that maybe part of the problem with his eye was that it wasn't humid enough, so I hung a couple towels over the sides of the cage to help retain some of the moisture in the air. It mostly seems like he's been getting pale since then, maybe because he's trying to camouflage to the towels (?).

I just want to make sure something isn't going seriously wrong with him. People in the other thread said that the bulb I'm using is too bright, and I'm looking in to changing that, and that the waterfall is a bad idea. I know these things, and they will be taken care of. He still eats fine, he drinks water just fine, and he poops just fine. He just looks weird, and I want to make sure that he's going to be okay.

Pictures:

This is where he usually sits, and what he looks like when he does:


This is his cage, and him sitting up on the wall:


This is trying to show the areas of color around the white stripes on his side (I couldn't get a picture where they showed up really well):


I at least think he looks better when he's being handled.

 

[carol5208]

Chameleons do not close their eyes during the day, so yeah there is something wrong. I would change out that 100 watt for a 40 watt. You need to find out what your basking temp is. You don't want it too hot for the little guy. We frown on waterfalls. Most do not drink from them and if they do, unless they are cleaned out consistently they could breed bacteria which your chameleon can drink. Also, if they poop in there and he drinks out of it...well you get the picture. 5 crickets in not near enough. 12- 15 is more like it. What size are the crickets? Is that all he is eating or all you are offering. you need to feed more variety than crickets also. What are you feeding(gutloading) your crickets with? Get a plain calcium and use that at every feeding. The other two twice a month or so. Could be a vitamin difficiency or maybe the lighting.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

First i would suggest some more plants and vines for him. His basking spot should be between 80-85f i believe, with a lower temp gradient the lower you go. The basking bulb seems to be too high of wattage. A 60 or 75 watt regular house bulb should do. Out with the waterfall as you already are aware of. Most members here supplement calcium w/o D3 everyday, w/ d3 twice a month and a multi-vitamin twice a month rotating those two each week. How old is the UV bulb?

 

[splodeybaloney]

The crickets I've started getting recently come packaged with some potatoes, and I give them a supply of Fluker's orange cubes.

They are about the same size as a 'large' cricket I would get from a local pet store - about 3/4" to 1" long.

The bulb I got in May when I first got him. As far as the heat lamp, I'll probably switch back to the 75 I had earlier. Since the temperatures have been going down outside, my roommate and I have shut off the air conditioning, which was making it too cold before.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

Like Carol said, Is that all the crickets you offer him or all that he will eat?

 

[brandychams]

you need to add more branches and highways for him to climb he might be trying to get to the heat also loose the substrate it can cause impaction
potatoes unless theyre sweet potatoes are high in oxilates and are not a good gutload look at sandra chams gutloading blog to see what good items are

 

[splodeybaloney]

Crickets are all I offer.

I know some more branches would be nice, and I will be getting more of those soon.

 

[camimom]

if your cham is only 5 months old., he should not be eating large crickets. however if thats waht hes been eating, then feeding 5 a day prob isnt that bad.
however, he should be eatng small to medium sized crickets. the length of the feeder should be no longer than the space bewteen his eyes.
when my cham was 5 months old, he was eating medium crickets, which while slightly too big, he refused to eat the smaller ones. (hes a pig).

Now, as for gutloading, you should use the following...
oranges
apples
dandilion leaves
bee pollen
poatoes are ok, but not great.
carrots
mustard greens
thers more, but liek someone said, read sandras blog on it. or do a search for gutload.
remem,ber, waht your crickest eat, your cham eats.

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

I agree with all of the above, the enclosure is in need of some reorganizing, typically you should shoot for a vine highway from 4 inches from the top all the way down, many will use umbrella trees as a center piece and build around it, being as that waterfall has got to go!!, you will have more then enough room. Also the substrate should come out also, it looks to be reptibark, if a prey item escapes the mini dish and starts making its way across the reptibark and the chameleon snags it, it takes a chance of eating some of the substrate and could get impacted. the above temps are correct so make sure you stay within that realm. About his eyes being closed, it could be a variation of many things, but it may be stressing out due to lack of climbing material in the enclosure, Chameleons are arboreal creatures whom spend most their lives in smaller trees, so you want to replicate that kind of situation, have basking areas that are open , and denser areas for the chameleon to hide when needed, also by creating more of a vertical type enclosure it will give the chameleon a choice of climate much like in the wild. You will see worlds of difference in your chams mood, behavior, and health simply by creating a environment that suits him better.

 

[splodeybaloney]

The substrate is actually a brick of Zoo-Med's Eco-Earth compressed coconut fibers, and is more like a dirt than the loose bark I'm imagining 'reptibark' is.

I'll try and trade the waterfall for a mister or a fogger or something, and be sure to provide more climbing area for him. I know that's what he needs, I just haven't had a chance to get any yet.

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

I would also like to add- for a 5 month old he doesn't seem to have much color, i can see some banding on his side but usually a male veiled at 5 months is starting to show some basic thicker banding, etc..., he might be younger then you think, do you by any chance have the ability to photograph his back feet for the forum? is anyone else thinking this?

 

[camimom]

I would also like to add- for a 5 month old he doesn't seem to have much color, i can see some banding on his side but usually a male veiled at 5 months is starting to show some basic thicker banding, etc..., he might be younger then you think, do you by any chance have the ability to photograph his back feet for the forum? is anyone else thinking this?

I concur. when my male was 5 months, there was def some light banding.
I think, maybe, its a female.
cuz females dont get the banding that the males do.
if its a male, then he seems to be younger than 5 months, size wize, i think more like 3-4.

 

[carol5208]

gosh yes, I did not even look at the enclosure, please get some vines and branches for the little guy to climb on!

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

I concur. when my male was 5 months, there was def some light banding.
I think, maybe, its a female.
cuz females dont get the banding that the males do.
if its a male, then he seems to be younger than 5 months, size wize, i think more like 3-4.

I knew i wasn't crazy, lol, i was kinda thinking maybe female, and if not, much younger.

 

[splodeybaloney]

Nope, I'm pretty sure he's a he. He does have some banding on his sides, I guess my camera just sucks at picking that up.

I think this one shows his banding a bit better:

 

[camimom]

Ok well its definetly a boy.
In which case,
I knwo say he is younger than 6 months old.
I thikn closer to 4 months old.

 

[splodeybaloney]

Man, I knew I got him when he was young, but I never really knew how young. If he's that young, then I would have had to have bought him when he was only a couple weeks old. I bought him the first week in May (around May 4th), and have had him since then. That was ~4 1/2 months ago, so he has to be at least that old

 

[brooklynelizabeth]

yeppers a boy indeed, 4 months at the most, get some vines in there and you will see a huge change in your chams behavior, you might see more colors too

 

[camimom]

Man, I knew I got him when he was young, but I never really knew how young. If he's that young, then I would have had to have bought him when he was only a couple weeks old. I bought him the first week in May (around May 4th), and have had him since then. That was ~4 1/2 months ago, so he has to be at least that old

How big was he when you got him?
My male was 2 weeks old when i picked him up, his body was no longer than my pinkie finger. prob even a good half inch or so shorter than my finger
check out my thread where i questioned my own chams age.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-big-should-he-61781/

 

[splodeybaloney]

Yeah, about as big as my pinkie was about as big as he was when I first got him. The only picture I have of him that really gives a good idea to his size is a really bad picture, because it was taken before I got my new phone