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I have noticed that my male veiled hasn't been the nice bright green he was when I first got him. He is a light brown with black spots. He has been like this all summer. He is about 6 months old. I wasn't sure if this had something to do with age or what. He baskes normally and isn't constantly under his light, which makes me think he is staying warm enough. Could he just not be happy? Or is it time to get him a bigger cage. He is in a 16.5-16.5-30 reptarium with a ficus and lots of vines. He has a 75 watt zoo med spot bulb, A repti-glo 5.0 flourcent bulb, and the humidity varys between 50 and 80% and the ambient temp is about 75 to 80 ish. He is acting normally (eating, drinking, shedding, pooping). Any one have any advice or any tips?

Thanks alot for the help.
Nez

My veiled went through an adolescent "brown phase" at about that age. He's lost his baby green but not yet gotten his adult hormonally triggered coloration. I do think its time for a bigger cage, but the coloration is probably not related to that. What happens if you show him his reflection in a mirror for a few minutes? Sometimes seeing a rival will give you a "preview" of his adult color range.

Hey thanks I will try the mirrior thing. Here is a pic i just took of him. He normall has the 3 green bars on his side and the rest of him is different shades of brown. He usually isn't that puffed up and brightly colored. He didn't like me taking pictures of him to much. I hope this is just a stage like carlton said, cause I think he is ugly with this brown color. Thanks for the help so far. Here is a new pic of him.

What are you talking about?? He's a beautiful veiled. I've never seen that variation of the colors before on a veiled. Anyway, my chams are still wee little babies, only a few months old....I've seen them look almost completely brown before. A cham's colors vary between each individual. What are you gonna do? Get rid of him because you think he looks "ugly"?
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www.geocities.com/crazy_queen
2.1 veiled chams (Obi and Yoda, Annie)
0.1 mini-rex rabbit (Lefty)
0.3 rats (dumbo/rex- Dory, dumbo - Sneezer, standard - Polly)

No I never said anything about getting rid of him. I was just stating that I think the green looks much better than the brown. And like I said in the post he doesn't always look like that. He was just mad because I was messing with his cage.

Nez

It may not be directly related to the problem, or it may just be adding to it. But that enclosure sounds a little to small. I suggest a larger one with two or more ficus plants for him to walkt in between on sturdy vines. Other then that its sounds good to me.

Check your Chameleon over to make sure he doesn't have any cuts, bruises or mouth infections that could be pissing him off and making this nasty dull colour.

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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

I also agree with the others, it’s probably a stage and yes my male veiled did the exact same thing. Keep an eye on things just to be on the safe side and a new cage is definitely in order (4x2x2 would be ideal).

-roo

Thanks for the help. What size of cages do you suggest and what kinds. Would I be better of building one or should I just get another reptarium? I like my reptarium but I wish it had a hinged door instead of the zipper, and I wish I could see him better through it.

Thanks for the help
Nez

Both the reptariums and the all screened aluminum cages have their pros and cons. I ended up building my own cage from wood and PVC coated hardware cloth. I already mentioned in the previous post the ideal cage size – keep in mind bigger is always better.

-roo