Veiled Chameleon hanging out at bottom of cage?

[spookylizards]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 10 months, been in my care for 3-4 months.
• Handling - more regular when i first got him, infrequent now as he seems to be a little more feisty
• Feeding - 6-8 super worms dusted with calcium (no d3) every feeding (every other day, although sometimes when i go to feed him i notice he still has a few left in his bowl so i’ll just add one or two), starting to dust with reptivite (with d3) once every two weeks. will be diversifying his diet soon! occasional horn worms. all bugs but loaded with Bio Dudes Bug Grub.
• Supplements - Calcium (no d3) every feeding, calcium (d3) once every few weeks. dusting with reptivite without d3 every other week. i’m using the zoomed repticalcium. just got Reptivite with d3 so i can combine both the multivitamin and d3 into the same schedule.
• Watering - Misting for 2-4 minutes in the morning and evening by hand. Handmade dripper at top of cage to provide constant droplets on his leaves
• Fecal Description - poops look fairly normal i would say, urates are white with a slight tinge of yellow at the tips. they seem a little curly?
• History - Got him from Petco (bad idea, i know) and immediately got him seen by a vet as he wasn’t eating or drinking. we were told he had a slight case of MBD. he was out on liquid calcium and given Vitamin A injections as he seemed to have some issues with his eyes as well. followed the course of the liquid calcium, gave him showers to ensure he was drinking enough water, and tried daily to hand feed him (once i had success it was such a great feeling) since then, he’s been eating on his own, drinking on his own, and climbing about his cage just fine. no problem with the eyes, they have a good bulge to them and his colors are nice and bright.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen cage, 3 sides are covered with a window cling film for humidity, door and top are uncovered. 16 x 16 x 30
• Lighting - 100 watt ceramic heat emitter situated at top of the cage. 75 watt incandescent bulb for heat lamp. Zilla T8 15 watt linear bulb.
• Temperature - 80-86 on the warm side of his cage. 75 on the cooler side of cage, reading with both gun thermometer and two digital temp readers on either side
• Humidity - Average 40-50%, sometimes gets up to to 85%.
• Plants - artificial plants for now, i try to only use silk ones as the plastic seem to be a little sharp and hard. planning on getting some live plants soon.
• Placement - in bedroom, on top of dresser.
• Location - Colorado

Current Problem - He seems to be hanging out towards the bottom of his cage since last night, woke up and he was in the same spot. I never noticed him doing this until now? I figured maybe his temps were too high and he’s trying to cool down, but his temps seemed fine for the night time. (about 70-75). he also tends to stay up in the corner of his cage, the back left specifically. i’m planning on getting some more plants, live this time, so he has more foliage. also wanted to ask about the dark spots around his head and eyes? i’ll attach some photos. as i was trying to take them he climbed onto the screen to make a fast hidden getaway. he’s kinda hard to catch on cam. also just posting here to get a few recommendations or ideas of what could be going on before i take him to the vet. i’m scheduling him an appointment as i’m typing this.

 

[spookylizards]

Update: Vet appointment scheduled for this coming Tuesday!

 

[Beman]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum! If you give me a little bit I will do your husbandry review.

 

[nightanole]

"80-86 on the warm side of his cage. 75 on the cooler side of cage"

Thats high, and they will go low when they get hot. Once my room temp hits 80 i even turn off bulbs from 10 till 2 during the heat of the day.

Also its a 10 month old male, so he will start "patroling" too keep males out of his territory/"tree". No females are going to come around a bugless tree because he let all the rookie males eat them all. They will even sweep the entire parameter of the room a few times a day if you free range them lol.

 

[Beman]

Please see my feedback in red bold. Please let me know what questions you have.


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 10 months, been in my care for 3-4 months.
• Handling - more regular when i first got him, infrequent now as he seems to be a little more feisty. Very common with Veileds as they mature. Continue to try to build trust by hand feeding. This can be very important as he matures so he knows that you are safe. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
• Feeding - 6-8 super worms dusted with calcium (no d3) every feeding (every other day, although sometimes when i go to feed him i notice he still has a few left in his bowl so i’ll just add one or two), starting to dust with reptivite (with d3) once every two weeks. will be diversifying his diet soon! occasional horn worms. all bugs but loaded with Bio Dudes Bug Grub. So you will want to add different types of feeders into his diet which you already mention your going to do. Superworms can be great but only in addition to other feeders. Now I would expect at his age for him to be eating quite a bit more. Also he looks to be a bit small for a 10 month old male. Your supplements are correct along with your rotation. It will be important for him to start getting the multivitamin.
• Supplements - Calcium (no d3) every feeding, calcium (d3) once every few weeks. dusting with reptivite without d3 every other week. i’m using the zoomed repticalcium. just got Reptivite with d3 so i can combine both the multivitamin and d3 into the same schedule. Perfect and you will drop using the calcium with d3 now that you have the reptivite with D3. So the reptivite with D3 would only be used 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th. Then all other feedings you would use the calcium no D3. Lightly dust the feeders right before you give them to him. You do not want them to look like powdered donuts.
• Watering - Misting for 2-4 minutes in the morning and evening by hand. Handmade dripper at top of cage to provide constant droplets on his leaves.. This sounds good. At his age it would be a good time to consider adding an automated mister like a mistking. These can be a game changer for them because you are not standing there in their space spraying.
• Fecal Description - poops look fairly normal i would say, urates are white with a slight tinge of yellow at the tips. they seem a little curly? Get a fecal done when you go to the vet. You want to take in a fresh one and have them run the test. Need to rule out parasite issue since he is not eating the amounts he should.
• History - Got him from Petco (bad idea, i know) and immediately got him seen by a vet as he wasn’t eating or drinking. we were told he had a slight case of MBD. he was out on liquid calcium and given Vitamin A injections as he seemed to have some issues with his eyes as well. followed the course of the liquid calcium, gave him showers to ensure he was drinking enough water, and tried daily to hand feed him (once i had success it was such a great feeling) since then, he’s been eating on his own, drinking on his own, and climbing about his cage just fine. no problem with the eyes, they have a good bulge to them and his colors are nice and bright. Perfect... glad he bounced back. Vitamin A injections make me nervous since it is a fat soluble vitamin that stores in the tissues. Too much and it can have the opposite effect on outcome. I have a petco baby so no judgements from me.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen cage, 3 sides are covered with a window cling film for humidity, door and top are uncovered. 16 x 16 x 30. Good about the film. But you want to get him into an upgraded cage size asap. Needs a 24x24x48 size. I prefer DIY brand over reptibreeze. They are built better. https://www.diycages.com/collection...ducts/sc4-48x24x24-jumbo-vertical-screen-cage
• Lighting - 100 watt ceramic heat emitter situated at top of the cage. 75 watt incandescent bulb for heat lamp. Zilla T8 15 watt linear bulb. So I would remove the ceramic heat emitter. These often produce much hotter than recommended levels and can cause thermal burns. You want to add a gauge with a temp probe below the heat fixture at the branch. This is the only way to get a really accurate temp reading. You want to upgrade your UVB type to a T5HO fixture with a 5.0 or 6% bulb strength. The T8 can not push uvb at the levels needed far enough into the cage for the cham. You can end up with MBD developing with the use of this one. Now I would order the t5HO in a 24 inch fixture because you will need that for the bigger cage. Then place it on the top of the cage and you want 8-9 inches between the bulb and the branches below to put the cham in the correct UVI level.
• Temperature - 80-86 on the warm side of his cage. 75 on the cooler side of cage, reading with both gun thermometer and two digital temp readers on either side. So your looking for a basking of 80-85 max. Most of us keep males right in the middle at about 83. So when you take your measurement with the gauge and probe you want to remember that is the temp at the branch. Where they rise up will be a few degrees hotter. Ambient temps should run low 70's during daytime. And you want a temp drop at night below 70. Shooting for 65.
• Humidity - Average 40-50%, sometimes gets up to to 85%. 40-50% is good daytime level. It should spike with misting but should not sit higher than that.
• Plants - artificial plants for now, i try to only use silk ones as the plastic seem to be a little sharp and hard. planning on getting some live plants soon. Yes, so get these switched out for veiled safe plants. Artificial are not recommended because they actively eat their plants. Putting artificial in would be an impaction risk.
• Placement - in bedroom, on top of dresser.
• Location - Colorado

Current Problem - He seems to be hanging out towards the bottom of his cage since last night, woke up and he was in the same spot. I never noticed him doing this until now? I figured maybe his temps were too high and he’s trying to cool down, but his temps seemed fine for the night time. (about 70-75). he also tends to stay up in the corner of his cage, the back left specifically. i’m planning on getting some more plants, live this time, so he has more foliage. also wanted to ask about the dark spots around his head and eyes? i’ll attach some photos. as i was trying to take them he climbed onto the screen to make a fast hidden getaway. he’s kinda hard to catch on cam. also just posting here to get a few recommendations or ideas of what could be going on before i take him to the vet. i’m scheduling him an appointment as i’m typing this.

More than likely temps are just far too high. I am betting they are actually higher than you think they are because Ceramic heat emitters pump heat out. Plus you have the heat lamp as well so that is just adding to the temp increase. With your temp gun your not getting accurate ambient temps below the heat. And with how the other gauges are mounted to the sides they are not pulling the actual temp below the lights. Also since he is in a baby cage there are not places for him to get away from the heat so he is going down because the entire top level is hot. Again because of his size getting a fecal test would be a very good idea just to rule out parasite issues.

Set up of cage needs to be changed up. You want to remove the bridge and the moss vines. Flukers makes fake vines if you want to use artificial. Those can be wiped off where the moss will just hold fecal and bacteria. I would also remove the metal bowls. These will produce a reflection. There are a few different types of feeder runs you can use that are safe. Full throttle and the shooting gallery are two that I like.

Start reading through this husbandry program it will walk you through total set up. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ Then ask your questions here.

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[spookylizards]

oh my goodness thank you guys so much for all the helpful and insightful tips! i will definitely be hitting up the local nursery today for some chameleon safe plants and replace the ones i have in there now and make sure i add plenty more for extra foliage! if i can’t find any good ones there, would Bio Dudes flora (online) be the best option? not sure if i want to hit up any sort of chain hardware store like Lowe’s for his plants. i will also be switching out the ceramic heat emitter and t8 bulb to a t5. i currently have the Reptisun t5 linear bulb, just been on a hunt for the fixture for it! i’ll definitely make sure to grab one of his freshest poops and take it with me on the 27th to his exam! thanks again for all the help everyone, i’ll take all of this into consideration and make some real good changes! if you guys have any other recommendations or if you think of something else please let me know! i’ll take all the tips i can get!

 

[nightanole]

I get all my plants from funerals and discount outlets. You just have to "prep" them but you should do it with all your plants. Wash the leaves and put either edible dirt(coconut fiber or topsoil with no added fert) for the first inch or two, or put large pebbles to keep the chameleon from eating dirt, and to prevent feeders from laying eggs