Good to hear that you were reading and watching for a long time before getting a chameleon!



Chameleons are not the easiest lizard to keep in captivity, as you've probably already figured out from your reading....but if you get the husbandry right, you should have your veiled with you for quite a few years.



You said "he" is just a baby....are you sure its a "he"? Males have tarsal spurs on their heels...females'heels just go straight down at the back. See this page...

http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html



If it is a female, then it would be wise to provide a container of sand in the cage in case she has to lay eggs. Veiled females can lay eggs even when they are not mated...and failure to provide a satisfactory place to lay them can lead to eggbinding and death.



You said..."He is just a baby, and sooo darling that I fawn over him for hours on end (which is generally me sitting a few feet away from the habitat and watching him move)"...I would let it have some peace so that it can settle in. If you want to watch it try to do it in such a way that it can't see you. If it sees you watching, that might be why you aren't seeing it actively hunt. You might be causing it stress.



Cage setup sounds fine regarding the comments you made ("the habitat is a fresh-air enclosure, about 4'T, 2'D, 3'W. A ficus tree, two pothos vines, and tons of "pathways" made of climbing branches and vines are inside". I hope you washed the plants well (both sides of the leaves) before putting them in the cage? Veileds are omnivores once they reach the age of about 5 or 6 months....so they can/might eat the leaves. They should be given some fruits and greens and veggies as part of their diet.



Misting twice a day is good, but it would be better if you also had a drip system. Hydration is important. More is always better (up to a point...the cage should be allowed to dry out for part of the day and overnight too).



You said..."I have a large UVA lamp shinin' down on the whole thing, and a basking spot lamp focused on a couple of paths off to the side"...do you really mean UVA? The chameleon needs UVB in order to use the calcium it gets. You didn't mention the temperature under the basking lamp....or the cage temperatures overall. The UVB should not be through glass or plastic and the light should be situated so that its 12 or so inches away from where the chameleon sits a good part of the time.



Are you gutloading the insects? Are you supplementing/dusting the insects in any way before you release them in the cage?



You said...."I am considering getting another smaller lamp to focus somewhere else. Would this be wise?"...besides providing a place for the chameleon to warm up, the other "purpose" of the basking lamp is to heat the cage. I place my basking lamp to one side above the lid of the cage which helps to provide a variation in temperatures throughout the cage. This way the chameleon can regulate its body temperature. There should be no lights on the cage at night. Its good for the chameleon to cool off at night.



Here are some sites that you may like to read (if you haven't already seen them on here)...

http://www.chameleonjournals.com/vet/

http://adcham.com/

http://www.chameleonnews.com/index.html



Good luck with your new chameleon!

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