Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey I just got a baby veiled chameleon and have seen him do one color change. i was wondering what colors your guys veileds can do. When i put mine on a dark colored shirt he will immediately go from light green to dark green with dark spots which form vertical stripes. thats all i've seen him do yet though.

chameleons do not change colors based on their background, the only reason you chameleon is changing colors when you put him on you is because he is stressed..so he gets darker.

Veileds dont get to many colors...males will sometimes have a blue green look, yellows, oranges, and browns.

If they are stressed they will turn dark..sometimes almost black.(this is not a good sign)

if they are relaxed or shown a female they will turn as bright as they can.

If they are sunning they will get a dull brown color to them.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther
1.1 Ambilobe Panther

also, when they are really younge they will show less colours.

I'm almost positive that this color change is not due to stress. he only does it when his background is significantly darker than him. he doesn't change when he is on my hands or on a light colored shirt. he also does the rocking back and forth walk that chameleons do to mimic the wind and branches of a tree while he is doing it. Hasn't anyone else seen this?
he isn't turning black either its just a darker shade of green. while you are right that most of the time they change to show mood rather than for camoflauge, they can still to some degree change to match their surroundings. agian i'm not suggesting that this change is very drastic, its a very slight change.

as pointed out they have minimal change when they are young. it is upon sexual maturity that more colors are "used." Just a shade or two darker can mean stress in this little guy. I think the word "stress" has many meanings to many people. Sometimes it is just a change from one environment to the other - cage to your shirt

Keep in mind that his tank is nice and toasty and, even if the room is warm, once you remove him from his cage he will be cooler and darkening is a response to that as well.

I know you feed him by hand, which OK, but other than that I would minimize handling at such a young age. How is he doing? Did you get his setup all together? Sounded pretty good from your last post. Btw, you mentioned a wet gutload. Are you using the cricket gel sort of stuff that is "fortified"? To get this little guy off to a good start you would be best feeding the crickets fruits, veggies (no spinach as it binds calcium) and a quality dry gutload. they can get all the moisture they need from the food. Just change it every couple days so it doesn't mold. I don't think those viatamin sprays are really that effective.

As for dusting your crix I don't know what a baby scedule should be so you may want to start a new thread and post that question.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

hey lele thanks for the post. the gut load i have is the gelatinus one. its green and i think its called cricket bites. seems to be working well the crickets swarm all over it when its in there.
as for the darkening thing i'm still not sure what that is from. i'm still pretty sure its not a kind of stess, since he doesn't go darker when he is being handled on a light background. but at his young age i try to limit his handling time down to whatever is necessary for him to eat. i noticed this while he was inbetween crickets. he'll be on my hand and start crawling up my arm and if i have a dark shirt on once he hits the sleve thats when he changes. maybe he just hates dark colors??

as for the vitamin spray i use it sparingly. i believe more in a good gut load for him since he is so young. its a good quality spray though its got vitamin d and carotene and calcuim and all that good stuff. i think it sticks better then the dust also. well anyway as always thanks for any advice you can give

When the vitamin and calcium sprays first came out I tried them. Very poor results. I had a calcium deficiency show up in a cham within 6 months, and I was spraying the feeders with it directly. Not worth the money IMHO. It could be that spraying does not allow a uniform dose, or that all the ingredients just don't get applied. I wouldn't bother with them.