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VEILED CHAMELEON CARE SHEET!

General Information

Veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) are also known as Yemen's chameleons, they originate from the mountainous areas of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They reach around 14-18 inches in length with females being smaller than males. The lifespan for females is upto 5 years and upto 8 years for males. This care sheet will guide you through their care requirements, covering all topics required for you to keep them successfully.

Housing

Veiled chameleons are tree dwellers which mean they are most suited for arboreal vivariums, they need alot of ventilation which make exo-terra's flexariums a great choice for housing. Wooden vivariums are not suitable for them unless they are modified to have mesh screens added to allow adequate air flow. Veiled chameleons are solitary animals, which means they do not enjoy each others company and thrive better living alone. The minimum size for housing an adult chameleon is 3 foot x 3 foot x 3 foot, allowing them plenty of space to move around in and thrive, but bigger is always better! As they are tree dwellers plenty of branches, vines, garden canes are needed to keep them happy and foliage is also important so your chameleon has somewhere they can hide and feel secure. You will need to set up a basking spot for your chameleon and provide UV lighting, these topics will be covered in detail further down.

Substrate

Unlike many reptiles that are kept in vivariums Veiled chameleons don't really need a substrate as they will spend no to little time on the ground of their housing. If they are kept in flexariums the tray liners that you can buy to fit them will stop any unwanted mess getting out of the enclosure and can be brushed/wiped out easily. Kitchen roll or newspaper can be placed on the bottom of the vivarium but as it will get wet alot when the enclosure is sprayed it can turn into mush. Otherwise a substrate such as moss, bark or soil can be used and are great to maintain humidity but your chameleon may ingest some of this substrate when feeding.

Heating

Veiled chameleons require a basking spot like many reptiles, this needs to be between 95*-105* the temperature in the rest of the enclosure should drop gradually to room temperature (in a arboreal enclosure this happens naturally), at night allowing the temperature to drop to normal room temperature is perfectly fine. To provide a basking temperature of 95*-105* you can use a clear spot lamp of about 60/100 watts, there is no need to buy specialist reptiles spot lamps as these are the same as regular household bulbs with a higher price tag. Make sure all lamps are controlled by a dimmer thermostat (bulbs) or a pulse proportional thermostat (ceramic heaters). You must not use heat mats to heat a veiled chameleons enclosure as they only sense heat from above and need the bright light given off by bulbs to thrive.

Lighting

UV light for your Veiled chameleons is something you must NOT cut corners on. A decent UV light is critical to the health and survival of your chameleon. The best two bulbs to use are the Exo-Terra Repti-Glow 10.0, or the Zoo Med Reptisun 10.00. Any other bulb will not give you enough UV output. You should use a bulb that covers the entire length of your enclosure, and it should be on for around 12 hours per day. You must also make sure your UV light is replaced every 8-10 months as after this time the amount of UV light given out is not high enough even thought the bulb will still light. Another option you have is to use one of the reptile mercury vapour bulbs, these will provide you with both heat and UV. The amount of UV these bulbs provide is much higher than the UV tubes listed above. One problem with these bulbs is that they are only suitable for larger enclosures due to: 1 - only being available in high wattages, 2 - they are not dimmable and 3 - you must have a distance of at least 12 inches between the bulb and your dragon (this distance may be different for each bulb, so follow your bulbs instructions.)

Food / Supplements

Veiled chameleons are generally not fussy eaters and will eat all of the common livefood insects, including: crickets, locusts, mealworms, waxworms (only give these as a treat as they are fatty) and roaches. You can use any of the above as a staple diet, other than waxworms. You should feed your chameleon as much as they will eat in around 10 minutes, after that any livefood that is uneaten should be removed as the insects can try to munch on your chameleon.

Veiled chameleons will rarely drink from a bowl, the best way to get them drinking is to spray the enclosure 2-3 times a day for a few minutes, this keeps the humidity at a good level and your chameleon will drink moving droplets of water as they fall.

Along with gutloading, correct supplementation is important, for this you need to dust your feeder insects with a calcium / vitamin powder before feeding them. How often you need to do this depends on the age of your chameleon. For babies, supplementing their food daily is essential, for adults, you can cut this down to just twice a week. An easy way to dust your insects is to put some dust in a bag, drop the insects in, shake the bag and then tip the insects into the vivarium.

Cleaning

You can spot clean your chameleons enclosure daily to prevent any build up of bacteria which may cause problems. If you do this you should be able to give your vivarium a full clean out every other week or so with no problems. For a full clean out you should remove and wipe down all the branches, plants, vines etc with a reptile safe disinfectant. Keeping your cage clean will help keep your animals happy and healthy.

Breeding / Sexing

Veiled chameleons are very simply to sex even at an early age, males have a little spurs on their back feet and females do not. Most female veiled chameleons show egg-blue colours on their sides when they reach sexual maturity. When you think your female is ready to breed you can place her in the males enclosure, if she turns dark/hisses/rocks back and forth this means she is not ready to mate and should be removed, if she stays bright she should be lefts until they have mated. The females colour will drastically change once mating has taken place, this is when you can remove the female and put her back into her own enclosure.

The female will need a bucket with around 10 inches of damp sand in for her to lay her eggs in, it take 30-40 days after breeding for her to lay her eggs, she will lay between 12 and 80 eggs in one clutch. You will know she has laid as she will look saggy around her belly. Now she has laid her eggs you need to transfer them to your incubator. During this time you must be very careful not to turn the eggs as you will drown them. Carefully place them in a small tub filled with damp, but not soaking wet vermiculite, with a few holes in the lid and place this is your incubator. It helps if you make small indents in the vermiculite with your finger before placing the eggs in so they cannot roll around. The eggs need to be incubated at 75*-80* and will take between 6-8 months (150-200 days) to hatch.

Hatchlings can be kept in groups of 6 or so in well ventilated enclosures on a similar but much smaller scale to an adult, with a warm end at 88*-95* on the warm end and 75*-80* at the cool end, sprayed regularly to keep humidity high.