Why is she on the floor?

[NewbieChameleonMummy]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 and half months old. Bought her and male at the weekend
Handling - Every day
Feeding - Crickets and rocket so far. We have locusts too. Had about 6-10 crix between them 2 days ago a couple of leaves yesterday. Crix have had rocket and carrot with calcium dusting
Supplements - Exo Terra Calcium +D3 powder supplement
Watering - Waterfall misted twice, seen them both lick artificial leaves
Fecal Description - White
History - n/a

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass viv with mesh top 60 x 50 x 60cm
Lighting - Spotlamp and uv strip light. On at around 7.30, off at 10pm
Temperature - 75-90 in basking spot. Thermometer in tank
Humidity - Unknown, seems quite moist?
Plants - None yet!
Placement - Corner of room next to sofa, not hight traffic and relaxed, by window for daylight. About 40cm from floor
Location - nr Windsor, England

Current Problem - Female (Bonnie) hanging around in the same spot on the floor, read they don't normally do this? Don't think she has eggs - no protuding tummy and too young (?). New owners and a bit concerned about her

The male (Clyde - I know, 'his' choice! ) is acting normal - well as normal as we know so far xx

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Are they being housed together? If so she could be getting bullied by the male for the prime basking spot and is hanging out low in the cage because he has taken the top half as his territory. Being new owners I'd def suggest keeping them in seperate enclosures both physically and visually. You dont have the expereience to know when the cham is exhibiting stress related behaviors.

 

[mbondy]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 and half months old. Bought her and male at the weekend
Handling - Every day At this age, try to limit handling her unless absolutely necessary. Let her settle into her environment so keep the handling minimal unless she jumps into your hands, it can happen
Feeding - Crickets and rocket so far. We have locusts too. Had about 6-10 crix between them 2 days ago a couple of leaves yesterday. Crix have had rocket and carrot with calcium dusting Get some good fruits and veggies into your gutload, she can be eating anywhere from 10-20 crickets, what size are you feeding her?
Supplements - Exo Terra Calcium +D3 powder supplement Not too familiar with Exo Terra but you should have a regular calcium with no D3 or Phosphorous which you should use daily, Calcium with D3 twice a month, and a multivitamin about 1-2 times a month
Watering - Waterfall misted twice, seen them both lick artificial leaves Do you have a waterfall then? I'd get rid of that, it's a breeding ground for some nasty buggers and fungus
Fecal Description - White Good!
History - n/a

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass viv with mesh top 60 x 50 x 60cm
Lighting - Spotlamp and uv strip light. On at around 7.30, off at 10pm Can you explain your lighting? You mean a regular basking light? What wattage? Most people use just a regular housebulb. And what sort of UVB? You should typically have lights on 12 hours a day
Temperature - 75-90 in basking spot. Thermometer in tank Pretty darn hot in there, your basking temp should be 85 at the highest, preferably a little lower. Ambient temps should start from about 70-72 and go up from there
Humidity - Unknown, seems quite moist? It'd be helpful to know, but at least she's well hydrated
Plants - None yet!
Placement - Corner of room next to sofa, not hight traffic and relaxed, by window for daylight. About 40cm from floor
Location - nr Windsor, England

Current Problem - Female (Bonnie) hanging around in the same spot on the floor, read they don't normally do this? Don't think she has eggs - no protuding tummy and too young (?). New owners and a bit concerned about her

The male (Clyde - I know, 'his' choice! ) is acting normal - well as normal as we know so far xx

Please note what I had in bold above. What type of lights are you using? It's completely possible that she is hanging low in her cage as the temps are too high.

 

[camimom]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 and half months old. Bought her and male at the weekend
Handling - Every day Why everyday? this can stress them out
Feeding - Crickets and rocket so far. We have locusts too. Had about 6-10 crix between them 2 days ago a couple of leaves yesterday. Crix have had rocket and carrot with calcium dusting What is rocket?
Supplements - Exo Terra Calcium +D3 powder supplement Depending on the brands you are using, chams are supposed to get plain calcium without d3 and phosphorus every feeding, and calcium with d3 and a multivitamin 2 x a month for each.
Watering - Waterfall misted twice, seen them both lick artificial leaves Why do you have waterfall? these are breeding grounds for bacteria, NTm chams dont normally drink standing water. they like dripping water
Fecal Description - White
History - n/a

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass viv with mesh top 60 x 50 x 60cm Are they in the same viv? if so, seperate them.
Lighting - Spotlamp and uv strip light. On at around 7.30, off at 10pm
Temperature - 75-90 in basking spot. Thermometer in tank SPot lamp? what do you mean, weneed to know the wattage and brand of both basking and uvb bulbs. is the uv strip light from a fish tank, if so, its not the right type for chams. Most people use a 60 watt house bulb for baskingand a 5.0 reptiglo or reptisun for uvb
Humidity - Unknown, seems quite moist? get a humidity thermoeter
Plants - None yet! Live plants like pothos and scheffelara are great for keeping humidity up, ntm some chams enjoy munching on them
Placement - Corner of room next to sofa, not hight traffic and relaxed, by window for daylight. About 40cm from floor
Location - nr Windsor, England

Current Problem - Female (Bonnie) hanging around in the same spot on the floor, read they don't normally do this? Don't think she has eggs - no protuding tummy and too young (?). New owners and a bit concerned about her YOur basking spot may be too hot, veileds like temps no more than 85, which can push it for some. ALso, may not have enough hiding spots, which can stress them out.

The male (Clyde - I know, 'his' choice! ) is acting normal - well as normal as we know so far xx

good luck. make some changes and see how it goes.
If the lights are bothering your cham, they will go hide or shut their eyes.

 

[NewbieChameleonMummy]

Thanx. We were told they'd be fine as different sex - is that not the case? Until today they both seemed ok, generally taking up different sides of the tank. She's a lot brighter than he is with red outline to her crest (if that's what it's called?) and he's a lot more muted. When I get a chance will take pictures if that helps?

 

[karmajaye]

I had my cham do the same thing recently. I had moved for a few weeks in with my grandmother and her enclosure was in a rather high traffic area with a large dog that bothered her very much. She stuck pretty close to the ground in the corners and actually tried to hide herself inthe substrate. As soon as I was able to move back home and she was back in her comfort zone she started acting normally again. I think it's probably a stress problem.

Also a good friend of mine had 2 veileds in the same enclosure and the female became very violent towards the male which resulted in his death. Veiled Chams don't do very well together and are more solitary then say a pygmy cham. I would probably get a seperate enclosure or maybe a divider between them.

 

[mbondy]

Thanx. We were told they'd be fine as different sex - is that not the case? Until today they both seemed ok, generally taking up different sides of the tank. She's a lot brighter than he is with red outline to her crest (if that's what it's called?) and he's a lot more muted. When I get a chance will take pictures if that helps?

Oh you should definitely split them up, that could also be a problem. I'd separate them immediately and cool down your temps

Congrats on your little babies

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Veileds are extremely territorial. Id set up two seperate vivs. And get rid of the waterfall asap. Useless and a pita to keep it clean and the chams wont use it for a water source. It will become a toilet spot quickly.

I didnt see you supplements but you need plain calcium, calcium w d3, and a multi vitamin dust.
Dust most days with plain cal, use the calcium w d/3 2x a month, Use the multi vita dust 1 or 2x a month depending on brand and how much vit a is in it.

Mist both cages 3x a day. Make sure the whole cage is sprayd down. And get real plants asap. Ficus or schefflerra or Hibiscus all work well.

 

[NewbieChameleonMummy]

Thanx guys for all your help - we're getting a bit confused. Had a leopard gecko before and bearded dragon, and thought we'd done our homework - but there's so much conflicting info. ie we were told to handle them a lot so they get used to us?

- The basking spot lamp is Exo terra 75w 'sun glo' daylight spot - it's about 10cm from top of the tank - so about 20cm from top branch. Should we get a lower bulb, or move it higher?
-The UV is a Arcadia D3 reptile lamp 6% UVB.
-Lots of places for them to hide out among artifical plants - only little atm, looking to get real plants soon
-Waterfall is moving water, which we were sold with them as they wont drink standing water? Saw 'him' drinking about 5mins ago
-Rocket is like what i think you call ruccola, salady-type leaves?

Q - totally doubting what we've been told now - how often should we feed them?

Ref splitting them - can you suggest a suitable divider?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

That sun glow is overkill for a tank that size just get a normal household incandescent bulb 60watt should be sufficient. You may even be able to get by with a 40 watt during the summer months. Get a decent digital hygrometer/thrmometer with a probe that can be placed under the basking branch. We buy them in the large hardware stores cheap. Usually about 10-12 bucks max. That will give you accurate temps and also humidity levels. You want your humidity around 50% most of the time. It will spike upwards after misting sessions then drop back down as the cage dries.

 

[mbondy]

Thanx guys for all your help - we're getting a bit confused. Had a leopard gecko before and bearded dragon, and thought we'd done our homework - but there's so much conflicting info. ie we were told to handle them a lot so they get used to us?

- The basking spot lamp is Exo terra 75w 'sun glo' daylight spot - it's about 10cm from top of the tank - so about 20cm from top branch. Should we get a lower bulb, or move it higher?
-The UV is a Arcadia D3 reptile lamp 6% UVB.
-Lots of places for them to hide out among artifical plants - only little atm, looking to get real plants soon
-Waterfall is moving water, which we were sold with them as they wont drink standing water? Saw 'him' drinking about 5mins ago
-Rocket is like what i think you call ruccola, salady-type leaves?

Q - totally doubting what we've been told now - how often should we feed them?

Ref splitting them - can you suggest a suitable divider?

It's really difficult finding people who know what they are talking about, there are some great people at shows and awesome breeders and there are unknowledgeable people that sell you things you don't need. What's important is you are on the forums and asking for help

Real plants are definitely a good idea, the main problem with a waterfall is the fact it becomes a toilet for your chams and is a huge pain to clean. I'd personally get ride of it and just mist more.

You should feed both daily at this age, usually 15-20 size appropriate crickets. As they get older you'll want to cut back the females food and lower the temps to minimize egg laying, some cut back at 7 months or so. You can cut back males anywhere from 12-18 months, so feeding every other day or so. JannB has a great blog for keeping veileds.

Here's a link for keeping Veileds.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

And for females.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

 

[karmajaye]

I probably wouldn't handle them too much, even though you were told to handle them alot. Especially since you just got them and they will have to get used to their surroundings. It will most likely just add to stress, unfortunately. As for the divider, I would try a mesh divider and perhaps lace it with some plastic (or real) plants. This way they won't really have to see each other and stress over territory. Think of it kind of like male betta fish. I hope this helps a little.

 

[camimom]

Thanx guys for all your help - we're getting a bit confused. Had a leopard gecko before and bearded dragon, and thought we'd done our homework - but there's so much conflicting info. ie we were told to handle them a lot so they get used to us?
handling cna stres them out. yes you should handle sometimes to get them used to you, but not everyday.

- The basking spot lamp is Exo terra 75w 'sun glo' daylight spot - it's about 10cm from top of the tank - so about 20cm from top branch. Should we get a lower bulb, or move it higher? That may be too high. as others suggested, change the bulbs to what others said.
-The UV is a Arcadia D3 reptile lamp 6% UVB.
-Lots of places for them to hide out among artifical plants - only little atm, looking to get real plants soon
-Waterfall is moving water, which we were sold with them as they wont drink standing water? Saw 'him' drinking about 5mins ago There is a difference between moving water, and dripping water. chams dont normally drink moving water. dripping water yes. it can breed bacteria, your cham, can call in, etc.
-Rocket is like what i think you call ruccola, salady-type leaves? To gutload your crickets or other feeders, feed them carrots, oranges, potatoes, apples, dandilion leaves, bee pollen, mustard greens, etc. not sure on the rocket stuff. (also, if you watnt to feed your cham stuff other than insects, strawberries, and mustard greens are good.a slo they will munch on the live plants, fyi, so that can help too.

Q - totally doubting what we've been told now - how often should we feed them? Everday. they should eat pinhead crickets, and tiny worms, like wax worms or reptiworms, but small, and i mean small small. Dubia roaches are good daily feeders too. esp when chams go on hunger strikes.

Ref splitting them - can you suggest a suitable divider?

Lets see your set up first. HOnestly, you should just get two seperate cages for them, and make sure they cant see each other. NTM since you have male and female, they will eventually breed, and unless you can handle 20-100 babies, you dont want that to happen. NTM if the female breeds to young, it can kill her.