Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have many questions that have more than likely been answered in past threads but I am new here and don't feel like going through every post.
I bought my first cham, a baby female veiled chameleon last week(2 months old) and is 2 inches from nose to the end of the body(not tail). I keep it in a reptile 20 gallon cage, 2 sided mesh, 2 sided glass.
It has a basking light I leave on 24/7 and UV light on top that I turn off at night. I spray the cage with bottled water a few times per day, creating drips on the top. I put the cage in my house in Colorado on the second floor overlooking a park.
Should I close the blinds so she doesn't get stressed from seeing people walking the park?

Should I dust crickets and waxworms only before I feed her?
I put the waxworms in oatmeal with carrots, is this enough?

I retrieved small sticks and rocks/w/dried green moss on it from the mountains and put it in her cage. Will these sticks and rock covered moss carry fungus or bacteria on them, giving it to Chamie?

I know chameleons change color with emotions and temperature, but is this color info about right?-
Brown is when they're camoflauging, usually on a branch
Dark green is their relaxed, normal color
Bright green is when they're really excited or really relaxed
Mutli-colored w/spots means they're stressed

Also, sometimes I tend to talk to her or make little noises and on a few occasions she opened her mouth and chirped at me, making a small high-pitched noise. She wasn't hissing either. Anyone heard of this? What's it doing?

She should not get stressed by seeing people walk by from a second story. if she does. . . then close the blinds.
She needs another source of water! unless you stand their and hand mist her for 20 min. straight. use a tuperware bowl at the bottom of the cage and at least a 20 oz. bottle. poke a SMALL pin hole in it and let it drip over leaves. dont stop spraying though, she needs that for humidity.
Also make sure you are not feeding her waxworms daily. they are not good for her as a daily food sorce. YES dust the crickets right before you give them to her. make sure your dust does NOT have Vitiman A,E, or K in it.

Your colors are a bit off
Brown is Really stressed. veileds dont camo into wood. they camo into leaves
Light green is relaxed and happy
Dark green could be a bit stressed, or a little colder.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
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1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
0.1 Tamatave Panther

I do have an "Habba Mist" auto mister but I had to cover the mesh sides with saran wrap because the small crickets escape through the holes. When Chammie gets bigger I'll use big crickets and the misting part. When I use the auto dripper on the "Habba Mist" it seems to just drip to the bottom and flood the cage, and I read somewhere that the bottom of the cage should be mostly dry. Maybe because of mold but I do use newspaper so I guess it would be ok if the bottom is wet. I just got a humidty guage and I think it has to be around 75% in the cage.
I have gut load now and have Rep-Cal dust.

But does anyone have a chameleon that squeeks or chirps at their owner? My guy seems friendly most of the times, she'll crawl to my face when I talk to her and she ate crickets in front of me the second day I got her.

I have a male veiled chameleon. He is about 3 years old.
I have never heard him "chirp" or vocalize in any way.
He will "huff" occasionally, when he's in his cage by himself...almost like he's clearing his throat.
He hisses at us when we upset him, or when something stresses him out (like a silkworm).
I think I would keep a close eye on your girl, to make sure she isn't coming down with a respiratory infection. What you're hearing could very well be a wheeze.
I could be wrong...but I dont' recall anyone ever mentioning veileds vocalizing.

About the floor of the cage flooding: Prior to Zoe moving into his screen enclosure, he was in an aquarium/tererrium thing...I have a little dripper that I use...and to keep the bottom of the cage from flooding, I would put a wide bottomed (to prevent tipping) plastic bowl in the bottom of the cage to collect the water. Making sure of course that the bowl is capable of holding the entire contents of the dripper.
I stacked sponges up in the bowl to collect the water, and more importantly to prevent Zoe from falling in, becoming trapped and drowning.
Just make sure to empty the bowl REGULARLY (that drowning thing again), and to wash the sponges out thoroughly to prevent a build up of bacteria.

Hope this helps a little...
and good luck to both of you!
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Kim

ok heres my opinion for some of your quesations if anyone thinks I am wrong pl;ease correct me. first off for the park I wouldn'y worry about it too much as far as people but this makes me wonder, is her cage near a window? youy saaid you are in colo and that could get cold in the winter.

Now as far as waxworms I would always gutload them VERY well or dust them for they are very low in nutritional value. I have alink at the bottom as far as cicket dusting for a panther but I would assume it wouild work fine for a veiled.

NOw for the moss and sticks they will probably be okay and won't harm your cham but I would just stay on the safeside.

also, I was wondering were in colorado do you live? I Live in colorado too in lakewood just outside denver on kipling and jewel are you anywere near here?
hope this helps

JK
I hope this link to the panther dusting sched works

Hey, my cage is right next to the window. I just got the waxworms and I think they are still too big for Chammie. I know if she eats them thought that they are high in fat and to only feed her waxworms once per week.
I know exactly where that is. I live in Littleon, C-470 & Bowles, right near Dakota Ridge next to the bottom of the foothills.

Chameleons cant hear like people or dogs or cats. They have no ears. they can however feel vibrations from certian pitches. I've herd mine make strange squeeking noises a few times, but I have no clue why.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
0.1 Tamatave Panther

One more thing that I have not seen people mention...the basking lamp needs to go out at night too. They need a temperature drop at night and complete lights out...like it would be if they were in the wild. You can set them both up on the same timer so that they automatically turn on and off at 12 hour intervals.

Hope this helps.
Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

I do live in Colorado though where it's getting pretty cold at night now. I think chameleons need a 10-15 degree temp. reduction at night so I'll use a thermometer to see if it goes down that much w/the heat lamp at night. Thanks everyone, keep the posts coming if you can.

When I read about the light being on 24/7 I assumed that it was a red heat light, rather than a white light.
On very cool nights (I live in Canada. Canada = some very cold nights!) I will leave Zoe's red heat lamp on...but other than that, it's lights out...total darkness.

As far as the sticks go...I have sticks in with Zoe that I collected outside, but I made sure they were bug free, and also free of loose bits.
I would be concerned about the moss drying out, and flaking off the branches...and into Chammies eye, if she rubs her face on them, or it just falling off on it's own for that matter.
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Kim