Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just recently my veiled cham's behaviour has changed quite a bit. He went from being calm when i reached slowly to get him out of his cage to moving very very fast to avoide my hand from even touching him. Also befor when i had him out of the cage he never tried to get away from me and he would just sit on my hand for hours and his colouration was always the same....now when i take him out he won't stay on my hand, all he want's to do is get away and he get's a bit darker then usual, any idea what would cause this behaviour change?

Also another thing that ive noticed is that he has a weird blue patch on him, does anyone know what this means? Yet another thing that has changed recently is that he will no longer eat crickets.

I mist him 3 times a day and there is a water dish with an air stone at the bottom of his cage. When i feed him he eats everything but the crickets? And last but not least he hasn't shed at all in the last month or so.

I know that i have asked ALOT of questions but if anyone can help that would be great.

HOw old is he? It couldj ust be cham adolescence... the fact that he is still eating (other than crix) is good, i think. My cham will only eat crix if she's STARVING or if she hasn't had one for a few months.
-----
~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

He's about 2 years old give or take a month. What concerns me is that he's always a dark green, he's not all black or very very dark colours. When he's sleeping he's very vibrent colour like bright bright green and almoste yellow stripes. I powder the worms that i give him about once a week, and i usually give him 2 superworms, 8 or 9 meal worms and 2 to 4 wax worms a day. I keep trying crickets but he just wont eat them.

His grip is very very strong and he's moving around alot. The one thing i find really weird is that ive had him for almost a year and he's never eats any fruit or greens. I put everything from carrot shavings to lettuce in a dish for him and he won't eat them. Also ive never seen him drink, but he must be drinking. I mist him and the cage 3 times a day, i also put 2 ice cubes on the top of the cage a day. He's getting plenty of UVB and i have just a plain lightbulb in there for his basking lamp( i'll be getting a red basking bulbe soon). The reason behind the plain light bulb is that the red bulbe burnt out the other day and i havent been able to get a new one yet.

Anyway, keep the feedback comming please.

P.S if anyone knows how to post a pic, please let me know how so i can post a pic of him and his cage.

Just keep that normal house bulb as long as it's the proper wattage. If you have a reflector lamp, then a normal bulb is the exact same thing. Don't use a light at night! Chams need a nightly temp drop (no lower than 60, however, for veileds.)
Everyone here uses normal bulbs (as far as i know, and if they arent, they should be using them! They don't shatter and theyre a hundred times cheaper.)

That's an awful lot of worms you're feeding him. Supers, mealies and waxies are all very high in fat and aren't easy to gutload.
Please try silkworms, they have a good reptutation for picky eaters and they're MUCH healthier!

You can post a pic from another site using HTML, or you can upload one onto this site (go to photo gallery, login and upload photos). I would skip the ice cubes... he'll likely not drink really cold water, chams tend to like hot/warm water. If he's hydrated he's likely getting enough from the misting. If you are worried about it or his urates start to turn more orange than white you can get a dripper for on top of his cage and fill it every day.
I don't have a veiled but i remember reading a few posts about people having problems with fruits and veggies... Hopefully htey will post more for you. Plain bulbs are fine. you don't need heat at night, unless your house gets below 55*F. They actually like a night time drop, it helps their metabolism. I'd skip the wax worms. They are like donuts to humans, he'll eat them but isn't getting anything out of them. If you can get sikworms, see if he'll eat these. They are as good of a staple if not better than crix. If all he'll eat is the mealies, well join the club, mine panther does the same thing! Not great, but what can ya do?
If he is just dark green while basking i'd say he's just trying to absorb more heat. you can raise th basking area to about 110* but makesure he can't get any closer to hotter spots b/c chams will sit under heat and burn without feeling it. Not good you can imagine... If he's dark all the time i'd try draping something over the cage, like i mentioned before.
Good luck!!
-----
~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

Ok well i had him out a second ago and i held him over a portabe heater for a minute and his colour got much much brighter while he was over the heat. I have this portabel heater in my room and the room is much warmer then the rest of the house, i turn it down every night like recomended. I dont see how he could be to cold as i have a 50 or 60 watt normal house bulbe in a reflector lamp he can bask under and a heater in my room.

Ill look to see if i can find somewhere that sell's silkworms localy, but if i can't is it ok that he's eating only worms for the time beeing?

my panter only eats worms. It's not reccommended but it's all she'll eat. Just make sure you give them good gutload for substrate and try and give thme moisture from veggies, and they'll be not too bad for him. Also, try and keep him as well hydrated as you can, they can be a little more difficult to digest than crix and also have less mositure in them.
-----
~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)