Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I just got a 10 month old male veiled chameleon yesturday and i have some questions for someone to answer! Today he has been under his basking light and has been gaping his mouth wide open and i wanted to know if this is normal? Do chamelons yahn? Also i got one of those zoo med habba mist systems and i have it set to spray every hour for 15 seconds. Every time the misters come on i wait to see if he drinks the water off the 2 ficus trees in his enclosure but he never does? His eyes are very bulged out so i dont think he is dehydrated. Thanks to whoever replies!!!

It is normal, but it can be bad. This means you need to lower the temp down in the cage, because he is hot and yes chameleons yawn. I would hand mist him and put the mister on 1 hour intervals, plus you should give your chameleon a week or tw to get used to its enviroment. The bulgy eye thing means he is about to shed or there is something in his eye and he flushing his eye out with water.
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Ethan

Thanks for helping me i have one more question. Earlyer today i saw my veiled walk down near the bottom of the cage and shoot its tounge out about 5 times into the dirt that one of the ficus trees are planted in. I looked into the dirt and nothing was there. The dirt is like a fertilizer mix from the nursury. Is this act o.k.? Or is it unhealthy? Thanks.

Its recommended that you remove the fertalized soil and replace it with regular (unfertalized) potting soil. Fertalized soil can be deadly for your cham if ingested. I have a different strategy. I remove about 2 inches of the fertalized soil, and replace it with a layer of vermiculite.

There are probably a fair amount of little insects living in your soil. Something probably popped out of the soil, and your cham did what comes naturally.

Joe

The easiest way to prevent the cham from getting things from the soil - is to cover the soil.

You can do this with fiberglass screen; a paper plate; tin foil; or decorative marbles. Just use something he can't ingest. Do not use moss - bark - vermiculite - perlite - etc.

Hope this helps.
Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.

>>Thanks for helping me i have one more question. Earlyer today i saw my veiled walk down near the bottom of the cage and shoot its tounge out about 5 times into the dirt that one of the ficus trees are planted in. I looked into the dirt and nothing was there. The dirt is like a fertilizer mix from the nursury. Is this act o.k.? Or is it unhealthy? Thanks.

Chameleons will open their mouth to cool down. If you have a basking area (aroung 95 degrees) and a cool area (75 degrees) you shouldn't have any problems. Monitor the temperature of your two areas.

15 seconds every hour is good for keeping the humidity up, but your're gonna need a few "extended mistings" a day. I'm not sure about the capabilities of the Habba Mister, but try setting it to go on for 5 minutes an hour after the lights come on, and 5 minutes an hour before the lights go off.

With frequent mistings, frequent cage cleanings are necessary. You want to keep the enclosure clean. (I feel it is well worth it)

Joe

Congratulations on your new friend.

First of all - did you ask what kind of routine they were using? How often they were misting each day? Did they have a drip system too? What kind of basking lights did they use?

In case they had a less-than-desirable routine, it is not always wise to immediately change the chameleon's routine - especially to such a "wet" one. The temperature changes and humidity increase could give him an upper repiratory infection (URI) - a cold!

Veiled don't need to get misted every hour - guaranteed! We mist 3 times a day - with 2 sessions of the drip (1 cup of water that drips down on a leaf). This follows the misting.

With the live plants - this should be sufficient for humidity - unless you live in the desert and have hot dry winds.

Sitting under the basking light is a common thing for veiled males - the open mouth is a means of thermoregulating their temperature. Yes, they yawn - but it is different than gaping.

Be sure the temp where he sits does not exceed the temperature range for their basking area (no higher than 90F is really needed - some say 95). If the ambient temperature in the room is comfortably warm (75-80F) then a less hot basking area is needed. In the winter - if temps get down to 60 at night, then a warmer basking temp warms them up faster in the mornings We use a digital thermometer (Radio Shack) to measure this.

Be careful you don't over do...
Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.

>>Hi,
>>
>> I just got a 10 month old male veiled chameleon yesturday and i have some questions for someone to answer! Today he has been under his basking light and has been gaping his mouth wide open and i wanted to know if this is normal? Do chamelons yahn? Also i got one of those zoo med habba mist systems and i have it set to spray every hour for 15 seconds. Every time the misters come on i wait to see if he drinks the water off the 2 ficus trees in his enclosure but he never does? His eyes are very bulged out so i dont think he is dehydrated. Thanks to whoever replies!!!