Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok well, we used the digital cham but for some reason the pics are still blurry. Anyway here are the pics I have so far. And Lele if you read this we did not decide for sure on his name yet. I like so many... But here he is... a tiny guy... maybe we should name him squirt.

wow - he IS a tiny little guy!! Very green! I can't remember if this was covered or not in earlier posts, but since he is SO very young you might want to keep him in a glass tank for awhile. It will help maintain humidity. Babies can become dehydrated more easily than older chams. If you do that you need to make sure the temps don't get too high. Just a thought.

Here is a good article on babies:
babies

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Yes he is really little. He is doing great though he is eating and drinking. I have been misting him 3-4 times daily, but I will read over the link you sent me and see what else I should do for him, since I do want to take the best care possible of him. He is really green, and seems very curious. I was really pleased though that he ate and drank almost immediately when he arrived. Thanks, I will let everyone know how he does!!!

Don't get too discouraged about his size and the fact of keeping him in a screen cage at such a young age.

I got my male veiled when he was 1 month old and kept him in a 36"x18"x18" screen cage until he was 9 months old. When he arrived he was sleeping and he ate and drank immediatley also. I fed him 1/8" dusted crickets in a bowl and it was so fun spying on him and watching him walk on the edge of the bowl and eat his food! I misted him probably 3 or 4 times a day also for that first month.

He turned out great! I named him Dexter.

Here is a pic of Dexter when he was 1 month old. As you can see, he was very small also About the size of an enter key on the keyboard.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

And here is how he turned out

He will be 1 year old on March 12.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

How long did you feed him in a dish?? What size bowl did you use.. I just want to make sure that he gets enough to eat. We are using pinheads now. Usually with my other reptiles I would just put the crickets in the cage... but can the pinheads chew on him?? I know bigger crickets can but usually with the larger reptiles they would finish them up before that ever became an issue. What was Dexter's growth rate and where did you get him. Thanks for the info.

Here's some pictures of Dexter's cage setup when he was a month old.

As you can see the dish I used was really small. My first order of crickets was 500 pinheads. Of course the pinheads grew a lot when I got to the last couple hundred, but Dex never had any problem with crickets, no matter how big he or they were. I would think it would have to be a huge cricket for your small cham to not be able to handle it..so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The general rule of thumb is no bigger than the width of their mouth, which is a good heuristic...but don't freak out about it and only offer him pinheads for the first few months of his life.

When Dexter was 5 months old...I found a HUGE grasshopper that was probably at least 3" long....Anyway Dexter kept trying to get it with his tongue but it kept jumping away...it was too strong for him. Finally I came back to his cage and saw the grasshopper on the ground with one leg missing and it looked like it had been beat up pretty badly. Just as I saw it Dexter shot his tongue and pulled it into his mouth, bending the grasshopper's body in half with his jaws. It was awesome and very entertaining, and I know Dex loved the excitment and taste.

Point of the story is...I think cham's can handle their food pretty easily after their first few months of life. Go with pinheads for the first month..but you can start getting bigger crickets sooner than you think.

The dish also worked well for dusting the crickets...I think the crix would also eat some of the extra dust in the bowl. The bowl was also kept warm because it was fairly close to the basking light...I think the heat and light made them inactive so I didn't have much of a problem of crickets jumping out of the bowl. But even if they did, it just gave Dexter more exercise and helped him develop his hunting abilities. For the most part, they stayed in the bowl and I knew he was getting enough food.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

Hey I just saw I didn't answer all of your questions haha.

I stopped cup feeding when I started using crickets that were big enough to get out easily. I think I actually started using a taller cup after a few months (3x taller than the ones in the picture). I would say I cupfed for probably 4 or 5 months. It is really up to you though. I woudl say definitely cup feed for the first 2 months..but after that you should be able to free range, you just have to make sure to monitor how much your cham is eating.

I got Dexter from Ray's Reptilia. It was sort of a special order, but the large picture on their homepage IS Dexter's sire. I keep wondering if Dexter will get more teal to him like his daddy.

I don't think pinheads would chew on your cham but bigger ones definitely would. If you are cup feeding this shouldn't be a problem...but you can always put some lettuce or a small piece of carrot somewhere in the cage. It shouldn't be a problem though as long as the majority of the crix are staying in the cup.

As far as his growth rate...I'll post some pictures I have of him.

In the first picture Dexter is 5 months old and in the second one he is 3 months old. In the 3 month old picture...he was pretty crabby and liked to hiss at me......but that only lasted for a month or two.

My friends and family that didn't get to witness his growth always was suprised how fast they grew.

When I got him and he was 1 month old he was probably 3" total length, and now he is close to 14" total length at almost 1 year old.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

Hey I just saw I didn't answer all of your questions haha.

I stopped cup feeding when I started using crickets that were big enough to get out easily. I think I actually started using a taller cup after a few months (3x taller than the ones in the picture). I would say I cupfed for probably 4 or 5 months. It is really up to you though. I woudl say definitely cup feed for the first 2 months..but after that you should be able to free range, you just have to make sure to monitor how much your cham is eating.

I got Dexter from Ray's Reptilia. It was sort of a special order, but the large picture on their homepage IS Dexter's sire. I keep wondering if Dexter will get more teal to him like his daddy.

I don't think pinheads would chew on your cham but bigger ones definitely would. If you are cup feeding this shouldn't be a problem...but you can always put some lettuce or a small piece of carrot somewhere in the cage. It shouldn't be a problem though as long as the majority of the crix are staying in the cup.

As far as his growth rate...I'll post some pictures I have of him.

In the first picture Dexter is 5 months old and in the second one he is 3 months old. In the 3 month old picture...he was pretty crabby and liked to hiss at me......but that only lasted for a month or two.

My friends and family that didn't get to witness his growth always was suprised how fast they grew.

When I got him and he was 1 month old he was probably 3" total length, and now he is close to 14" total length at almost 1 year old.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

Thank you for all the info. I appreciate it. I know a lot about lizards, and snakes, and geckos, but not about chams. So I want to get as much info as I can. And I have found that a lot of times first hand info is the best because a lot of the info websites don't touch on the cup feeding, and hissing phase you say he went through. It's nice to know also that he was so young like mine and is doing well.

What types of plants do you use?? If you already told me and I missed it, sorry!!

Cool pics, so tiny, but soooooooooo darn sweet looking
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I used Schefflera for the first 7 or so months of his life in his cage...and then I also had a ficus tree I would put him on infront of the sun from the window. Make sure not to open the window or anything like that ! We have all heard too many horror stories like that on these boards...And its really not fun to look for your cham outside in the dark, and you would never find one as small as 1 month.

Since he has been 7 or 8 months I have had him in a 4x2x2 with a ficus hybrid and a schefflera, both from Home Depot. They are really cheap there, about $10. Make sure to keep the tags on them and the receipt; they have a lifetime guarentee on their plants or something similar to that.

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

hi dcmander, thts a really cute guy. ive a question for u; uve mentioned tht he was hissing at u at 3 months....how did u manage to tame him ??

Hey thanks He's been a great pet and a great first reptile (I researched chameleons about 6 months before I got him)

He kinda grew out of his bad moods He will still hiss at me some days...but to get him out I basically keep him looking at my right hand that I put in front of him as I love my left to the back of him. I make him look at my front hand until I can touch his backside with my left...once I touch him he sees my back hand and will usually let me guide him forward (another words he kinda runs from my back hand) right onto my right hand. This is the best way to get him out in my experience, and he is usually pretty good about it.

But yah..once he hit 6 or 7 months of age he wasn't nearly as mean. I hand feed him a lot and try to get him out once every week or two. The main thing is to not scare him with any fast movements. Oh and never disturb him while he is sleeping. That is the maddest I've ever seen Dexter...when he was sleeping on the side of the screen cage and I woke him up and tried to get him out. Boy was he mad...he was flared up and pissed for about 30 minutes. =O

Good luck!

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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11.5 months

thanks a lot !will keep tht in mind. mines about 3 months old now and never seem to come near me no matter how lucrative a food i try to offer. but he eats like a pig when im out of his view.like wht u said, maybe he'll take some more time to know tht im not gonna eat him .lol.
oh btw, beautiful froggie too...