Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I am very new to the Cham Forums but have been on other forums here for quite a while - but hello. I have been looking into getting a cham for over a year now and finally picked one up about 3 weeks ago. I have a few questions. If you guys could help that would be great.

How fast should I expect him to grow? It is a male and was about a month old when purchased the breeder said. He had a male he said was 4 months old and he was huge (body size 4-5 inches) compared to my little guy. Just curious because my little guy has fattened up quite a bit since coming home but hasn't grown a ton.

I do not actually see him drink. Should I be worried? He does not have the signs of dehydration, like sunken eyes, but it worried me a bit. I mist the cage 2-3 times a day and have a little homemade "drip" system that runs during the day when I am at work.

Otherwise, I currently have him in a 10 gal (I have a large screen cage for him when he gets just a bit bigger but he is so small now - like 1" body length w/o tail). I have a benjamini (sp?) ficus that he loves and a few fake plants just for additional cover. I have a zoomed 5.0 bulb for uvb and a basking spot of about 90F. No substrate. A feeding dish that keeps more food items in there. I dust everyday with Herpcare cricket dust (used by the breeder) and every other day with flukers calcium supp. I have seen him eat (mostly the first few days) but he has become more shy lately. But he eats in excess of 20-30 1wk old crickets/fruit flys a day. He is very active and is always cruising the cage. He is a nice bright green color.

I might be missing things here. But any other suggestions would be appreciated. I want to do this right. Thanks
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Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
2.2.0 Carrot-tailed Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
...and a saltwater tank!

Hello!

Growth depends on what and how much you feed it as well as temperature that the chameleon is kept at. They can have spurts of growth and then grow slower at times too. Growing more slowly isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes when they are grown too quickly, they can end up with bone problems.

Many chameleons won't drink in front of you. As long as you are providing enough water through misting, etc. and he isn't showing any signs of dehydration, he's probably drinking.

Your question has been answered, just popped in to say congratulations on your new chameleon friend and Glad your here with us!

Remember to post pics often , LOL

Enjoy the forum
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Hey i just got about a male who was the same age about 5-6 months ago. He has close to tripled in size. My personal favorite for watering is just putting ice on top of the cage and letting it melt. I also put a dish in there, people say they won't drink out of it but thats what my last veiled actually preferred. The one i got now though just sort of aims to take a crap in it, so it's sort of pissing me off.