Where did we go wrong? Feedback please

[iOrangeChicken]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon -baby male veiled chameleon approximately a month and a half old
Handling - took him out to try to get him to eat every or every other day
Feeding -trying to feed him pinhead crickets every day gutloaded from the pet store
Supplements - Rep-cal calcium with D3 three times a week and herptivite once a month
Watering - a little dripper on all day dripping onto many leaves and misting about 4 times a day for a minute or 2. We saw him drink a couple times and hanging out around the dripper
Fecal Description - there were droppings and the urate was a little yellow sometimes
History - When we got him, he wouldn't keep his right eye open all the time and wouldn't eat the first few days then very little and eventually nothing at all.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - We have a total screen enclosure which is 18x18x36in
Lighting - We have a zoo med power sun 100 watt bulb which we would leave on for 12-13 hours a day
Temperature - We have a zoo med high range reptile thermometer that has a sticky back side to attach to cage. In the basking spot, it's about 90 degrees with the light on and without light, never dropped below 70.
Humidity - We use a hygrometer and kept the humidity between 50-70 by misting.
Plants - We have fake vines and leaves bought from the pet store as well as a live ficus bought from LLLReptile
Placement - The cage is on top of a desk
Location - We live in Southern California

Current Problem - Our chameleon died and we were wondering what we did wrong. We researched it constantly and have not beenable to find out what we did wrong. Any suggestions would really be helpful. We think our baby was already sick when we bought him.

 

[Slicknick09]

I just bought a panther chameleon about a week and a half ago. It has been an interesting week and a half. I took mine to the vet because I thought something was wrong. Turns out he has parasites which I think was induced by the stress of brining him to a new home. This is my first chameleon and I completely under estimated how difficult the task can be. If I look at mine the wrong way he stresses, displays his darker colors and hides. Its extremely stressful trying to guess what bothering them and how to remedy their stress. When you bring them home, from what I understand, there should be no handling the animal at all and according to your description I don't see that you were using a UVB bulb. This is important because the UVB provides synthesis of D3 and the UVA part provides natural eating habbits. This is my setup for my panther cham.
-zoomed UVB 5.0 bulb.
-zoomed blue bulb 150 watt.
-3 schefflera umbrella trees.
-Home made drips system.
-Humiddity at a constant 70 and goes up after misting. I have a shower curtain around three sides of the cage to keep the humididty up.
-Pet screen so he doesn't get his nails and toes caught.

 

[Slicknick09]

the blue bulb is for heat.

 

[iOrangeChicken]

The 100W Zoo Med bulb we have is for heat and UVB so it wasn't a lack of UVB

 

[Lathelia]

Hi,
Sorry for your loss. I believe you didn't had much chance with such a small baby. Chameleons shouldn't be sell under 3 months old, especially to someone unexperienced. You need an UVB light, as was written above, also he should be getting calcium without D3 every feeding, multivitamin and calcium with D3, both twice a month. 100w is quite high for such a little baby, most don't use a heating bulb at that age or use sth like 25W, depending on temperature you get.

 

[iOrangeChicken]

This is our bulb we use. It provides the necessary light, heat, and UVB: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752615&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

 

[Lovereps]

Welcome to the forum.
I'm so sorry that your cham died.
It is good that you've found this forum, since it is a great place for more accurate info.

It does sound like your cham may have had an infection when you bought him, since he wanted to keep one eye closed.

There are some things that should be done differently for a cham to be healthy.
It's a shame that petstores often don't know how to care for chams and some will give very bad care instructions.

Chams that young need to be fed more often than once a day.
A baby cham who doesn't want to eat several times daily may be ill or need changes to his environment.

This Veiled chameleon caresheet was made by the forum moderators, who have a good amount of experience with chams:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon -baby male veiled chameleon approximately a month and a half old
Handling - took him out to try to get him to eat every or every other day

Don't know why he would need to be taken out to feed him.
Most chams don't like to be handled and some will not eat after being disturbed.

Feeding -trying to feed him pinhead crickets every day gutloaded from the pet store

If you mean that the pet store gutloaded the crickets, I doubt that it was with anything nutritious.
We recommend gutloading a variety of feeders with various fresh veggies and fruits, so they give your cham the most possible nutrition.
It helps to make up for the fact that they will be eating a much narrower range of insects than they would in their natural environment.
Here is some good info on that:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

Supplements - Rep-cal calcium with D3 three times a week and herptivite once a month

Calcium without D3 and without any phosphorus should be lightly dusted onto feeders daily
2x a month use calcium with D3 instead and
2x a month use a multivitamin instead
Too much of D3 or multivitamins causes health problems

Watering - a little dripper on all day dripping onto many leaves and misting about 4 times a day for a minute or 2. We saw him drink a couple times and hanging out around the dripper

That's pretty good

Fecal Description - there were droppings and the urate was a little yellow sometimes

Yellow or orange urates indicate dehydration. One cause of which is too high temperatures.

History - When we got him, he wouldn't keep his right eye open all the time and wouldn't eat the first few days then very little and eventually nothing at all.

Not eating for a few days while they settle in is typical. Not keeping an eye open is not normal and can be indicative of an infection or environmental issue.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - We have a total screen enclosure which is 18x18x36in

That's good.

Lighting - We have a zoo med power sun 100 watt bulb which we would leave on for 12-13 hours a day

A cham that young typically does not even need a heat light. A UVB light is needed for all chams.
The problem with a heat light/UVB light is that it is very difficult to get both the desired temperature and proper UVB levels--one can be too much with the other being too little--or both too little/too much.
A regular household lightbulb is sufficient for a basking bulb and a separate UVB bulb like the Reptisun 5.0 is good for UVB.

Temperature - We have a zoo med high range reptile thermometer that has a sticky back side to attach to cage. In the basking spot, it's about 90 degrees with the light on and without light, never dropped below 70.

It was most likely way too hot in the cage--especially for a young chameleon.
They do well having a nighttime temperature drop, as well.

Humidity - We use a hygrometer and kept the humidity between 50-70 by misting.

Plants - We have fake vines and leaves bought from the pet store as well as a live ficus bought from LLLReptile

That's fine.

Placement - The cage is on top of a desk

That's good, too

Location - We live in Southern California

Ah, what a great climate--I'm jealous.

Current Problem - Our chameleon died and we were wondering what we did wrong. We researched it constantly and have not beenable to find out what we did wrong. Any suggestions would really be helpful. We think our baby was already sick when we bought him.

Without a necropsy, the cause of your cham's death is basically educated guesses.
It is possible that he was already sick or was kept far too hot as mentioned above. There also could have been something internally wrong that he was born with.
Please read the comments I've made to find out what things would be better done differently.
FWIW, LLL Reptile sells chams if you're looking to try again.

 

[iOrangeChicken]

Thank you! The bulb we have came with a complete baby chameleon package so we figured it would be fine. We added some distance between the bulb and the cage to reduce the basking a little and still retain UVB coverage. That link you provided was REALLY helpful with how much to feed and what vitamins are necessary. Thanks again!

 

[Lovereps]

Glad to be able to help.
I hope that your next chameleon thrives with your new cham care knowledge.
The second link has some more details on gutloading, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, bad care advice is not nearly as rare as it should be.

 

[Ulrich]

Sorry for your loss. A lot of times they can die without us doing anything wrong. In particular if we have them for a short time. They have the tendency to camoflage their sickness. Yours was very young and it is not really recommended for novices to start with such a young Chameleon.

Overall you did a good job but there are a few issues with your husbandry. For a baby, I think your enclosure is a bit too big. Usually we tend to start smaller as we can control temperature gradients better and it is easier for the Chameleon to find food. Your basking spot temperature is a bit too high. Usually 80-85 for babies. Every feeding you should use calcium without d3. Every two weeks with d3. D3 over supplementation can cause serious health problems.

Finally you stated you took him out to feed? Can you be more specific? I tend to let them in the cage to feed. They might be too shy to feed I front of you or get distracted by the movement around.

Don't give up on Chameleons. They require a steep learning curve which we all had to go through. They are so specialized, that the rigor in husbandry which is always recommended here should be strictly followed. Only if you are more experienced, you might start to experiment a bit with your settings.