Reptile & Amphibian Forums

k i have a male veiled chameleon and he is about 1 year old .. i have noticed that he dosent seem to be getting and bigger in the lst few months but maybe its just me because i see him everyday .. although he does seem a bit skinny comparted to pics i've seen, but he seems to be shedding ok .. he started out as a really good eater but now i noticed that he is not as interested in his food i feed him a varitey of bugs but now he will only eat about 2-3 a day.... i have him in a terrarium cage(cant remember exactly what there called) but it the new desings with the open doors at the front ... im think that maybe he is unhappy in his cage.. because of the cage size the temps usually get up to 90 when im at work and i have found him many of times at the bottom of his cage or digging in the corner:S is this maybe due to to hot temps? i am really concered as he is mine and my boyfriends baby..... any help would really be appriciated (sry for writing a novel long post)

You said..."i have a male veiled chameleon and he is about 1 year old .. i have noticed that he dosent seem to be getting and bigger in the lst few months but maybe its just me because i see him everyday .. although he does seem a bit skinny comparted to pics i've seen, but he seems to be shedding ok .. he started out as a really good eater but now i noticed that he is not as interested in his food i feed him a varitey of bugs but now he will only eat about 2-3 a day"...how big is he? At a year of age its normal for them to slow down a bit on the amount they eat. Its also normal this time of the year.

You said...'i have him in a terrarium cage(cant remember exactly what there called) but it the new desings with the open doors at the front ... im think that maybe he is unhappy in his cage.. because of the cage size the temps usually get up to 90 when im at work and i have found him many of times at the bottom of his cage or digging in the corner:S is this maybe due to to hot temps?...are you sure its a male?
http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html

Can you post a picture?

i cant post a picture because i dont have a digital camera or anything:S and thankyou for posting the site for the sexing but i checked him out as i started to have suspitions as to wether he was a female to to the digger but he is for sure a male:S his appitie just isnt there any more .... i switched the heating light i had for him for a smaller size so maybe the whole cage wouldnt heat up to such and extrem but i was wondering with the other light the thermometer would read 90 and that was on the opposite side to wear the light was? is this really just to hot ... but what could be causing his fasting...also to any one that it farmiliar to the cages im talking about again they have two swing pen doors in the front and are a new terrarium that was made with black trim i have the biggest size but could this be contributing to his apparnt small size ? becasue he just dosnt have enought room .... ne way ne advice i would love....
as well i am using calcium powder just i lightly dust on his fod daily because he isnt eating a lot i figured what he does eat it should have some form of calcium... as for my substrate i am using a mixture of moss bought from the pet store and brown mulch (cant remember exact name ) but it most common iv seen in set ups also from local pet store
thanks for any advice u can reccomennd

You said..."his appitie just isnt there any more"...is he pooping out about as much as he eats?

You asked..."is this really just to hot"...I keep my adult veileds' basking areas in the mid to upper 80's F this time of year. Babies I keep in the mid 80's. You said your chameleon is spending some time on the bottom of the cage...if its too hot this might be why.

You said..."to any one that it farmiliar to the cages im talking about again they have two swing pen doors in the front and are a new terrarium that was made with black trim i have the biggest size but could this be contributing to his apparnt small size ? becasue he just dosnt have enought room"...the cages that I think you mean would be about 2 feet by 2 feet by 18 inches...is that the ones? If so, that size should be okay. I have seen a veiled chameleon grow to full size in a 20 gallon aquarium (definitely don't agree with one being kept in that size though)...so the size of the cage shouldn't be the problem.

You said..."as well i am using calcium powder just i lightly dust on his fod daily because he isnt eating a lot i figured what he does eat it should have some form of calcium"... is the calcium phosphorous-free?

You said..."as for my substrate i am using a mixture of moss bought from the pet store and brown mulch (cant remember exact name ) but it most common iv seen in set ups also from local pet store"...I never use a substrate for arboreal chameleons. Too many of them can cause impaction. If your chameleon has eaten any of it and is not pooping then he could be impacted.

You didn't mention having a UVB light on your chameleon's cage or whether he gets exposure to direct sunlight. UVB light or sunlight should not pass through glass, BTW.

Do you gutload your insects? With what?
Do you dust with anything besides calcium?

Does he show any signs of MBD? Does he have good straight arms and legs? Does he walk with his body held up off the branches? Does he have a strong grip? Does he twitch or have tremors? Can he fully extend his tongue?

It's true that veileds will slow down their eating habbits once they start to get older however they dont usually lose their apetite as much as they shouldnt be fed as much. My male would still eat as much as he used to I just dont feed him as much so that he wont become overweight. What kind of bulb do you have on the animal, and is the cage open air or is he in a glass terrarium? I dont keep substrate in my veiled cages because of the fear that they may eat some of the substrate and it may become compounded in their intestine.