Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I have a male Veiled Chameleon that is a couple months over a year old. He is only 12 inches long, but has good weight. Shouldn't he be bigger than a foot long by now? Male Veileds are suppose to get up to 24 inches, aren't they? He was sort of the runt of his clutch and had a "club foot" when her was a hatchling. His "club foot" seems fully funtion, but it has a couple of weird looking toes with short and crooked nails. Would this make him not grow normally? He eats well. Would a small cage make him not grow? I have him in a 3 by 1.5 by 1.5 mesh cage. I do have a REALLY big cage for him that he is not in yet. It is about 5 by 3.5 by 2. Is this too big for one chameleon? Would he grow better if he were in this cage? He seems to be on the bottom of his current cage quite often. Wheter he falls down there or not, I don't know. But if he does fall to the bottom of his current cage, if he fell in his new cage, would that kill him? Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance, Josh

>Hi,
> I have a male Veiled Chameleon that is a couple months over a year old. He >is only 12 inches long, but has good weight. Shouldn't he be bigger than a >foot long by now? Male Veileds are suppose to get up to 24 inches, aren't >they? He was sort of the runt of his clutch and had a "club foot" when her was >a hatchling. His "club foot" seems fully funtion, but it has a couple of weird >looking toes with short and crooked nails. Would this make him not grow >normally? He eats well. Would a small cage make him not grow? I have him in >a 3 by 1.5 by 1.5 mesh cage. I do have a REALLY big cage for him that he is >not in yet. It is about 5 by 3.5 by 2. Is this too big for one chameleon? Would >he grow better if he were in this cage? He seems to be on the bottom of his >current cage quite often. Wheter he falls down there or not, I don't know. But >if he does fall to the bottom of his current cage, if he fell in his new cage, >would that kill him? Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance, Josh

The only Chameleons that get up to 24 inches are Parson's & Oustalet's. Veileds don' get near that big. If I'm not misaken I think they average around 15-17" for males when full grown, if healthy.

A damaged foot would no affect growth, but may be a sign of growth problems.

No cage is "too big". The bigger the better.

Please list the details of your setup including temperatures/foliage/nutrition/hydration, etc. so we can help you more. Laying on the cage bottom is a sign of overheating. He probably didn't fall down there. Nature designed Chameleons to be expert climbers. He wouldn't have fallen unless he was very sick. And if he was very sick, and fell, then yes he could get hurt. If he happened to fall while healthy, probably not much would happen. But who knows.

Veileds can get up to 24". But that's on the extreme high end, and probably only likely with VERY healthy, well-raised older males.