Veiled Colors...

[SoCaliSon]

You say you know the breeder... Have you seen the sire of your cham? I think it is a very attractive brown. I have never seen it in any of my own Veileds...Which leads me to this thought; maybe genetics could be at play somewhat. While I am sure as he settles in, and matures and sheds, you will see new and more vibrant colors in his patterns, he is still very young to be showing many colors. There is a chance that his genes carry a bit more brown, which I think looks cool.


Edit: And I would definately move him away from the kids and the T.V., Those colors very well could be do to stress of some sort...But He looks healthy!
~Joe

 

[dodolah]

off course, these are all suggestions to better monitor and give your chameleon the best care. Many of the suggestions aren't exactly a rule that you have to follow or else.

But, it is puzzling to me on how people argue putting the baby in the large cage and free roaming the insects using "the nature" card.
I do agree on free roaming as a better simulation to hunt.

But, with that, a small cage is better for baby chameleon until he's big enough to hunt in the big world. Because the insects are almost always more accessible in the small cage than otherwise.
It is easier to know for sure that your chameleon is eating most of the "rationed" food that you gave for him for the day.

That is also why people suggest that if you are going to use the big cage, you should cup feed. It's all so that you can maintain the nutrition intake of your cham and knowing the fact that your chameleon is eating fine.

It has nothing to do with doubting the chameleon's ability to hunt.

If we want to talk about natural, then why supplementing? Heck, why the cage at all? I am sure in the wild, chameleon doesn't born inside an aluminum screen and have access to sprinkled insects.

Why stick with the feeder size rule? in the wild, many chameleons eat insect bigger than the width of their head.

Because, we want to minimize the chance of impaction.

You guys do realize that in the wild chameleon often die sooner than in captivity?

 

[thatchamguy]

i believe in free rangeing the food. IMO its better to make use of the cham's instincts. a cage, no matter the size, is smaller than their natural enviroment, so they should easily be able to catch their prey as they would in the wild. but thats my opinion


Jake

 

[littlevillage]

I free range my crix & I also put my young one in a big cage right from the start. But...I also keep a good eye on him & know how much he's eating. He's not shy about me being right there when he eats. If I thought he was having trouble I would cup feed. As for the color my males have always been green. My female turns brown when she is stressed. But it's nothing like the brown of your guy. He looks pretty cool if you ask me. I think he needs more foliage in his cage to make him feel more secure.

 

[BocaJan]

I cup feed my adult veiled because he prefers it that way. I use a round "rocks" glass, the kind you would use to serve a shot of booze in. Anyway, the crickets can't climb out because of the curved glass. I have a shelf in my cage where I put the glass. It can be removed if I am misting and there are any crickets left. He usually just wolfs them down. I remove the glass and put a small dish with his salad on the shelf. Works great!

 

[stucoady]

I have always free ranged feed my Yemen and he has always manged to find his food as there is never any food remaining. If you going to use crix then perhaps it's a good idea to use a cup as crix can hidaway but as the main staple of diet i use is Locusts this is not a problem as those insects are very lively and heads to the top of viv. I also do not always stick to the food size guide as I try to give a variation of the types and size of foods he has.

The guy who I am buying my panther from suggets i use a small exo terra viv but using such a small enclosure sists uncomfortably with me so I have yet to decide the best way forward.

 

[dodolah]

I have always free ranged feed my Yemen and he has always manged to find his food as there is never any food remaining. If you going to use crix then perhaps it's a good idea to use a cup as crix can hidaway but as the main staple of diet i use is Locusts this is not a problem as those insects are very lively and heads to the top of viv. I also do not always stick to the food size guide as I try to give a variation of the types and size of foods he has.

The guy who I am buying my panther from suggets i use a small exo terra viv but using such a small enclosure sists uncomfortably with me so I have yet to decide the best way forward.

again, as i say these are merely suggestions that i get from other experienced keepers that has kept many chameleons successfully.
It is indubitably not law abiding. But, there is certainly a good reason behind all that suggestions.

Take things into consideration on what best for your chameleon and, base on that, do whatever you need for the longevity of your pet.

If you decided to feed your chameleon with over-sized feeder insects (excluding soft bodied insects i.e: silkworm) as experiments, it is certainly up to you. But, just don't be surprised if your chameleon get impacted as a result of that.

You can certainly try putting your chameleon in a small glass enclosure and find out yourself the reason why we told you to steer away from that kind of cage.

Everybody here has slightly different methods in caring for their chameleons.
There is no the "only" way.. but there is a "preferred" way. Many experienced people here based their care suggestions on trial and errors in hope that many will have no need to undergo the "errors."

Off course, in the future, the more we find out about chameleons, the more we will be able to "fine tune" our care technique.
Take everything into consideration.. trust me, there is a method behind all this madness.


I think this thread has stray a bit too far from the original intention.
So, to answer your Q, Cwil.
Adding more foliages will perhaps help a bit to make him relaxed.

Cheers

 

[stucoady]

I agree with what you say, I have read many different views and I can see a different approach from this forum to UK forums (personlly I prefer this forum) e.g. movement to keeping more than one cham together?

When I say different size food, I don't mean using too a large insect, I mean I use appropriate size food (XL Locusts) with the occassional smaller size locusts as different sizes give more excitment? I also use beetle grubs as one off treats and they are quite large but a fav for my cham.

The majority of the US people who contribute on this site seem to use flex vivs and although i would like to use one I am concerned how effective this would be for the uk climate. I successfully raised my yemen in the largest size exo terra viv which was perfect for keeping humidity levels etc as it had pleanty of ventalation but i want to try something different with my panther considering the cost of him lol

 

[bucky]

I dont know about you guys...but when a cricket escapes from inside the cup feeder and falls to the ground,i have found they rarely come up

 

[stucoady]

Thats why i find Locusts better than locusts to feed although I understand they are hard to get hold off in the States.

 

[Kat77]

off course, these are all suggestions to better monitor and give your chameleon the best care. Many of the suggestions aren't exactly a rule that you have to follow or else.

But, it is puzzling to me on how people argue putting the baby in the large cage and free roaming the insects using "the nature" card.
I do agree on free roaming as a better simulation to hunt.

But, with that, a small cage is better for baby chameleon until he's big enough to hunt in the big world. Because the insects are almost always more accessible in the small cage than otherwise.
It is easier to know for sure that your chameleon is eating most of the "rationed" food that you gave for him for the day.

That is also why people suggest that if you are going to use the big cage, you should cup feed. It's all so that you can maintain the nutrition intake of your cham and knowing the fact that your chameleon is eating fine.

It has nothing to do with doubting the chameleon's ability to hunt.

If we want to talk about natural, then why supplementing? Heck, why the cage at all? I am sure in the wild, chameleon doesn't born inside an aluminum screen and have access to sprinkled insects.

Why stick with the feeder size rule? in the wild, many chameleons eat insect bigger than the width of their head.

Because, we want to minimize the chance of impaction.

You guys do realize that in the wild chameleon often die sooner than in captivity?

This is exactly 100% what I was trying to say! Perfecto

 

[stucoady]

I guess what i am trying to say is that the "preferred" way on this forum differs to other forums you read?

That's what makes it so confussing

 

[spatulars]

lol and what I am saying is that extra space and hunting for food are not causes of stress

 

[stucoady]

lol and what I am saying is that extra space and hunting for food are not causes of stress

It would be stress if we were talking about extreamly large space but the majority of us keep chams in relative small enclusures (4ft viv is not that big if you think about it) yet in such viv's it is still easy to observe if food has been eating or not.

 

[cwilfinger]

You say you know the breeder... Have you seen the sire of your cham?

Well, to answer your question... no. The breeder has only brought that babies to the reptile swamp. They were an all green when they were very small. This time around when I finally did purchased him, some of them were green and some were brown like him. Having a brown cham does not bother me, I just do not want him stressed out if I can help it.

Since I have moved him, he has calmed down his colors. He is still brown but a lighter brown with a pale green stripes and horizontal yellow stripes. To me he seems happier.

I do plan on getting a ficus tree for the enclosure, and more vines and fake plants as well. Right now there is a spider plant at the bottom with sticks sticking up from it with a vine at the top of the cage and a silk plant/vine up at the top as well.

As far as his eating goes, I have crickets roaming free in his cage and he is constantly hunting. About half of the crickets climb up the cage walls when I dump them in and about a quarter will climb the sticks that are placed on the floor and the last quarter will roam the floor. I have seen him climb to the floor to eat the ones on the floor and I have also seen him go after the ones on the sticks and walls. He is eating very well. I will agree with some of you, when you have free roaming insects in the viv, It is hard to tell how much they are actually eating.

 

[stucoady]

I think that i made a mistake at the beginning as i feed mainly locusts which means he will now not eat crix's. Even by feeding the crix by a cup he shows no interest but if i put a locust in he goes strait for it?

It's easy to tell if he has eating all his food as Locusts stand out easily and do not hide up unlike crix.

 

[cwilfinger]

Ok, Quick update. I put a ficus tree into the cage and vola! He's green!
He's been green most of the day. YEAH!

 

[SoCaliSon]

He looks nice and happy to me... He is going to color up nicely!

 

[JoshCrane1]

my little stud in my avatar is coloring up nicely now that he's 5mo old. but, he supposed to be a sunburst/turquiose cross and im not seeing any yellow bars yet, i hope they come along soon cuz all im seeing is turq.

 

[dodolah]

my little stud in my avatar is coloring up nicely now that he's 5mo old. but, he supposed to be a sunburst/turquiose cross and im not seeing any yellow bars yet, i hope they come along soon cuz all im seeing is turq.

wait a bit longer for the yellow to come out.