Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I just bought a baby vieled chameleon today at the San Diego I.R.B.A. Expo. My first reptile ever. First of all, he is to friggin' cute. I bought an entire setup, 16x16x29 screen cage, Weeping Ficus with no pesticides added, UV light, water dripper, spray bottle, supplements, vitamins, and basking light. All this for $130 which is not bad, is it? I also bought 2 week old crickets to feed my new baby. I just set him up in my room next to a window. All he is doing is sitting on the shaded lower level of the ficus tree. I figured he needed to be feed so I got about 10-15 crickets and powdered them. Then I put them inside his cage and let them lose. I thought that he was hungry and he would be eager to eat. But he is just sitting there doing nothing.

This cage is pretty big for a 8-10 week old vieled chameleon, so the breeder instructed me to put about 20 crickets in there at a time. While researching chameleons before my purchase I read that too many crickets in the cage will kill my chameleon. I asked the breeder about this and he replied that althought this is possible, it is very unlikely and he has never had a problem with crickets attacking his chameleons. He also said that he feed all his chameleons this way and that they are almost "trained" into this feeding habit. I started to worry so I got a cricket with a pair of tweezers and put it right up to my chameleon's face. He didn't want it.

So what should I do? Am I doing something wrong? Is this feeding method popular or even logical? I mean, how is a cricket going to climb the ficus tree to hurt my baby vieled? How should I go about feeding my him? Should I be as worried as I am now? Or is this just typical behavior of a baby chameleon in a brand new environment and habitat? I swear, the last thing I want is my chameleon to be terrorized by crickets.

What else should I feed it? I know that vieled cham's are omnivorous. I also heard that they go crazy for strawberries. I don't know, so any suggestions would help.

Also, is putting a waterfall a good idea for a chameleon's cage? It looks neat and seems smart to have running water in there. I guess you can make it fog also, to add humidity to the habitat.

Basically, I don't have any experience with reptiles, especially chameleons. But don't think that I rushed into this decision. I basically know the information about it but I would rather hear from other vieled chameleon enthusiasts. So any recommendations and instructions would be very helpful. Thanks for helping me!

Also, how do I know that my chameleon is actually eating the crickets and that they are not just escaping it's cage? How long should I leave the lights on for? 12-14 hour cycles like all the other website say? Thanks.

Not to worry, this can be typical of new chameleon going to his new home. You're cage could be too large, all you really needed for starts was a 10 gallon tank with a screen lid, with a UVA bulb on for at least 8 hrs. a day....50watt so it wont get too hot. If you want to use your cage, leave the light on for at least 10 hrs. a day, if you're worried about him eating, put 5-6 crickets in a cup, like a dixie cup, power them lightly, hang it inside the cage close to a limb so he can reach it with his tongue. Don't worry, he'll go to it. As for the water, you can use a waterfall, you have to make sure you clean it alot because it builds up slime & turns dirty, you're really better off to use a water drip system with a cup w/ a pinhole in it, let it drip onto some leaves & into another cup to catch the water. Good luck & don't stress

So this cup feeding systems...is there a way for the chameleon to get to the cup while the crickets stay in the cup? I heard about popping off the jumping leg of the crickets but that is almost impossible with 2 week old crickets. And how many times a day should I do this? With how many crickets? Also, I've been doing some research on misting systems. Is the best and most popular the ZooMed brand? I would like to hear some suggestions and experiences. Also, how does one set this up? Inside my screen cage or outside my screen cage? This drip system that I have set up on the top of my cage is kind of, ummm, messy. The water doesn't like to drop through the screen. A lot of it collects on the top of the scren until the puddle is to heavy. Then it rains on my little chameleon habitat. How long should I let the water drip for? I guess a misting system would do that all for my automatically. Also I figured that I would need some way to know the temperature of the basking spot, non-basking spots, and humidity level of the habitat. I found a thermometer/hydrometer that does all 3 digitally. How does that sound? Or is analog more accurate? Lastly, I am planning on chaulking or sealing the open sliver of gaps between the spaces in my cage. It is brand new but the baby crickets seem to be getting loose. What kind of sealant is the best and non-toxic for my chameleon and crickets? Does anyone have any experience with this? Also, how do I keep spider mites and other pests away from my habitat? Thanks.

I woke up today and immediately directed my eyes towards the spot my chameleon picked last night to sleep. He was gone and in his place was a long piece of poop on the leaf. This piece of poop was as long as his body, minus the head and tail. Although it seems disgusting, I was really happy to see this. That meant that my chameleon really wasn't hungry when I tried to feed it, I guess. Meet a chameleon owner that stresses more than his chameleon. Haha.

I will tell you what I have and it works really well. I took a shoe string and I made a small hole in a small little plastick bowl. Then I cut the string in about a 10 inch piece and I stuck it through the hole, let it hang down close to a branch so the chameleon can get to it. Then I have a bowl on the inside to catch the water as it drips off the end of the string it works really well. You dont have any mess and you dump it out once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I do mine twice a day.The mist system sounds good but once again you have to catch all that water. Good for out side but not inside. at least not for me. I like to spend a lot of hands on with my chameleons thats how you will figure out what will work and what wont and what they like as well. I got some that like to be sprayed and some that dont like it at all.You want to try the cheap way first then if you really get into it you get the better stuff. scott

Also you will have to poke a hole through the screen and when you put the bowl on it nothing can get out.

Where to start..... So far, you sound about right with getting the full setup. The cage size is good, but you'll need a bigger one in 4 or 5 months. 2x2x3 or 2x2x4 work well for big veileds. First things first, clear out the cage and seal the inside corners of the frame of the cage with some kinda non-toxic caulking or silicon. Look closely at the cage and you'll see what I mean. The crickets will dissapear into those holes and get into the frame of the cage. That's the first thing I do with a new cage. Try to shoot some water through it first cause there's probably already crickets in there. Crickets up to about 4 or 5 weeks old can fit into the frames, so in your situation, you need to seal up those corners, and make sure you don't miss any or that'll be where the crickets are dissapearing to.

It's perfectly normal for the chameleon to wait a day or two before eating. He's settling in, and the less you disturb him, the sooner he'll start eating. Putting anything in his face is going to do the opposite of getting him to eat. Let him do his thing. When he's ready to eat (tomorrow or the next day), if there's cricekts available, he'll know what to do. The crickets won't typically do much damage to the chameleon unless they are hungry themselves, or are left in there for days with no food or drink. Best thing to do is to get a minimum amount of crickets in there and make sure he's eating them. It's true to add plenty to the cage so he can find food, but keep it realistic. If you know he can see crickets, you don't need to add more than that. It's never a bad idea to have a small piece of carrot on the bottom in case the crickets need to munch on something.

You can feed the veiled lots of other stuff. Things he will probably like are houseflies (commercial, not ones you caught), Hydei fruit flies, and small silkworms. Sometimes baby chameleons won't really notice silkworms since they don't wiggle around so much. As the chameleon gets older, he'll be interested in many other bugs, but crickets are a pretty good staple for now. Always try to keep a good variety of food in there, and that gets easier as he gets older. The non-insect foods mine seem to eat most are pieces of romaine or red leaf lettuce, and raspberries. They'll try lotsa stuff. But don't get too tied up on that right now, sometimes they don't really go for it til they're older.

Waterfall is a bad idea. Unless you wanna clean it basically everyday, and sterilize it, avoid it. Anything and everything will die and brew in there and cause nothing but problems. Even if you have a clean running waterfall, I would be suprised if he ever went down and drank from it. Foggers aren't a bad idea, but save the fogger and the waterfall money and buy a simple mist system. It'll save you alot of time on maintenance and make sure he's got consistent and constant watering.

Chameleons are kinda a bad reptile to jump into reptiles on, but now that you're there, just keep doing research. Veileds are probably your best bet with starting on chameleons, so you're ok with that. I'm not gonna start recommending websites, but there's plenty out there, good and bad. Read them all, and average the info out. Ha ha.... That may be a bad idea. Nevermind.... If you have any other questions, let me know or ask agian here, there's plenty of help to go around.

Almost forgot to ask, who'd you get him from?
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I totally forgot to bring my receipt from my friend's house in San Diego. I remeber that the people who sold me my vieled were an Asian couple, most likely Japanese from the looks of it. I myself am Korean, so I can tell Asians apart. They also work out of Loma Linda if that helps. They seemed reputable because they had to many great looking chameleons. I will try to post up pictures of my chameleon to show you guys. I also noticed these spots on the side of the belly of my vieled chameleon. He is completely light green, except for two spots on his sides, one on each side. They are colored orange and I can see the "cracks" in between his scales. Also, the lining of his lips are sort of an orange-ish color. Althogh they do not look painful, I am still concerned. I am not sure if this is a burn or just his coloration. Also, what kind of UVB light is acceptable for my cham? I have a 7% UVB light from ESU Reptile. Also I was wondering about the light/day situation for my cham. At what time should I turn out the lights for him, and what time should I turn them back on? I can NEVER find good information regarding this. Well, I should never say never. I leave my cham's cage right in front of my second story room's smaller window. Should I leave the window open for more UVB? Do I turn off both lights completely or just the basking lamp? Or do I leave on the basking lamp and turn off the UVB? Also, is ficus really such a horrible plant to have with my cham? I hear that the sap from the ficus is irritable for my cham.

I think the reason why my vieled chameleon wasn't eating was because it was tired from the 2 hour ride home. He immediately found a place on the lower shaded half of his tree and stayed there. I noticed that I couldn't see the black dots of his eyes, so I assumed he was alseep. Then I see my cham yawning! I first thought he ate a cricket, but he was too far away from the crickets to be eating them. I saw this guy yawning and smacking his mouth like a human would after a yawn, minus the smacking sound.

Also, my biggest concern is this. I want my chameleon to like me. I do not want an aggressive or shy chameleon that hates me. What do you suggest about handling these creatures? How often and how should I handle it? Are there any success stories about raising a chameleon that actually likes to be handled and played with? If so, how did you do it?

Thanks for the suggestions and let me know what you guys think about my cham after I set up his pictures.

one good way to monitor how much your chameleon eats it to try cup feeding. basically you hang a small deli cup filled a a number of crickets next to your chameleons favorite basking spot.

It sounds like you bought you chameleon from amazing blue reptiles but am not sure because I don't know where they run their business out of and was un aware that they sold veilds

I am no expert but i'll tell you what i did as far as handeling and someone can correct me if what i am mentioning are bad examples of husbandry techniques. Basically i never picked my chameleon up for the first two months of having it and only opened his cage to feed him and clean his cage. After two months I began attempts at handfeeding which failed at first but soon he got a liking to it and I only hand fed him so i could monitor his diet. After about a month of this I took him out of his cage onto a separate ficus tree and fed him there. Eventually he would get excited when i opened the cage door and would come to me. The funny thing about this is that he only responds to me and i would say he likes to be held but i still try to keep it at a minimum. It just makes photography much easier.

Every chameleon has its own personality so it all really depends.
I've heard that some chameleons won't even eat when someone is present in the room they are situated in

Amazing blue reptiles IS the place that I bought my chameleon at! Now I distinctly remember the banner on thier booth. Was that a good decision on my part?

yes, they are very reputable breeders

As far as lighting time goes, during the summer you can have your lights on anywhere from 10-12 hours. I would cut back in the winter a bit though to roughly 8-10 hours a day. Go ahead and set it up on a timer that runs along with your daylight schedule and you should be fine. The timers are the best way to go so it makes a set schedule, and you dont forget to turn off the light one night and have a very cranky veiled in the morning *whoops*

The orange coloring is just his natural coloring, nothing to worry about.

The light you have sounds good for UVB, just make sure that he has somewhere shady to escape the heat from the window/ basking light you have. Is

And as for handling I would suggest letting him settle in for a bit first, but after a month or so try hand feeding him sometimes to get him used to you. If he is used to your hand he will be a bit easier to handle, and this will help make cleaning his cage and taking him to the vet (should he ever need it) much easier.

Good luck with your new baby!

Erin

when i had ants make a nest in the pot of my ficus tree i actually found out that they infested the aluminum frames of my 24 x 24 x48 cage. so after taking the cage out side and with a hose flushed it out a bunch of times with little luck.. So i decided to get some - Expanding Insallation Foam - (Liquid Polyurathane) and it worked great. the crickets dont even touch it... Wear gloves though, i made that mistake..
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"Master Shake" CARE & SETUP INFORMATION
4 Month Old Ambanja Panther Chameleon < Male >

Ocala Florida

--24 x 24 x 48 -- All screen Enclosure
--Pesticide-Free 3' Potted Ficus Tree.
--RepCal with D-3 Twice a Week
--Mineral Twice a Week
--16" UVB 5.0 Bulb (Waiting on a 10.0)
--100 Watt Basking Bulb
--Mr. Moisture Stystem - 3 Times a Day with Distilled Water
--Digital Timer On Lights 8:00AM - 8:00PM
--Digital Thermometer/Humidity Indicator
--55%-65% Humidity
--78*-87* Room Temp.
--95* Basking Temp.
--Eating 3/4" Crickets and Large Houseflys
--Gets to go out in his outdoor enclosure often to enjoy some Florida sun =)

XxKRYMZxX @aol.com - Im always willing to chat about Chameleons

Amazing Blue Reptiles is a very good breeder, very reputable with nice animals. I've gotten some of my best panthers from them, and have been happy with all of them. They kinda just keep the veileds on the downlow, and not many people know they even sell them. I don't care about the picture being pasted off the site LOL.... Thanks for the good comments though. Good luck with your little guy. Oh yeah, the caulking I use is just some from a hardware store, it won't matter a whole lot, once it dries, it's not gonna be eaten anyways. I don't remember the brand, I just know what it looks like. Here's a picture of one of the panthers I got from ABR.

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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I got one of their super healthy males yesterday and after one feeding last night he looked 1.5 times bigger today! Wierd. He is very acclimated and happy. I guesse you don't live in the SD area but we use small crickets and he takes em down. Today we went back and got a female but from another booth, amazing blue wasn't selling the last of theirs unfortunately.

I just got done reading the caresheet and talked to ABR today and I'll share some stuff we've learned in the last few days:

1) Elevated 100w "sun glow" bulb works perfect. Push button to turn it off at night. No heating is needed at night (at the moment). Keep it above 60* I'd guesse.

2) Branches or roots across the cage. My girl went outside and stripped some and boiled them in water. The veilds love em. We tried to make the most asthetically pleasing cage and accidentally made a very good cage. The branches double as basking spots and a good hunting spot.

3) Set your drip very slowly. Still dealing with this one. Too fast and your plant will be very soggy on the bottom/flooded. Too fast is anything faster than 1 drip every minute I'd say right now, though I may think every 5 minutes down the road with more expierence.

I'll take some pictures and post up tomorrow night. It's our first chameleon also (now our first two).

i've actually read in many places that the drip has to be pretty fast for a cham to notice it as moving water. i think i read that it should be around 1 drip per second. i was recommended to have a large bowl (covered with mesh) at the bottom of the cage to collect the water.