Female Veiled on the floor?

[J-Man]

Hi,

Some of you might know I have a young femal veiled and she seems extremely happy and well fed, well watered everything. But maybe once every 3 or 4 days or so I catch her on the ground, very dark. Like I said she's young so she's not gravid. She's on a staple of crix but has access to mealies which she occasionally eats.. could this be it?

[Pookie]

what kind of lighting do you have? And do you gut load your crickets or dust them w/ calcium?

[bborysow]

Something is probably stressing her. Here is a list of possible stressors to consider:
- other animals within view.
- not enough foilage to hide in.
- mirrors.
- to much human / animal traffic in the room she is in.
- can not get high up, in relation to the room she is in.
- basking spot not hot enough.
- insufficient air flow.
- handling.

Any of these things will cause a cham undue stress.

[Pookie]

But if they're not getting enough calcium and the right lighting then they can also develope metabolic bone disease. This happened to my young male a few months ago. I noticed him looking weak and roaming around at the bottom of the enclosure.

[J-Man]

I dust everything I feed her... crix, mealies and waxes. I gutload the crix with sweet potato, carrots, lettuce, calcium fortified cricket quencher... I think that's it. I have a uv lamp... with uvb and uva... I think it's 5.0 or something I forget. I have a heat lamp in there with the appropriate heat (about 90 f). There's a normal amount foliage... maybe I should up that a bit. She's in a 65 gal. reptarium on top of a maybe 2 1/2 foot dresser... so I think she's high enough but maybe not. It's in my room on the 3rd floor so not too much traffic going through there (just me maybe 5 times a day) Other animals in view... it's possible she can see a leopard geck or two... also I have cats but they don't seem to bother her or go upstairs(though they used to). Air flow is fine seeing as how the enclosure is all mesh. And I definitely don't handle her too much... it's very seldom. And no mirrors in her view. I think I may be dusting the bugs too much.... Though she is a g rowing girl (something around 2 - 3 months old) and I heard at that age you should dust every feeding and then when she gets older to cut back to 2 times a week. Any criticism is more than welcome.

[Trace]

J-MAN!!!!! :D

How ya doing? Nice to see you posting in the chameleon forum again!

Anyways, your set-up/husbandry/dusting schedule (etc etc) sounds more than fine to me. Considering this is an odd occurence with your female, it really doesn't cause me that much concern. Every now and again I find my guys on the floor of their cages looking black and distressed and I pick them up, inspect them for any traumas or whatever, find none, then put them back on a higher stick and they get happy again. I don't know why they go down there, but they do. Chameleons aren't the brightest bulbs in the box, if you know what I mean.

I don't think there is anything too wrong with your female, obviously watch for signs of trauma, bruising, swelling of limbs, bleeding, anorexia, lethargy, pale colours that kind of thing. If you see any of these signs, a vet trip is in order. If she is digging at the bottom of her enclosure, you've got yourself a gravid female and they can start producing eggs as early as 6 months of age, sometimes earlier. Maybe she climbs down there looking for food and can't figure out how to get back up? Maybe the cats are in her room and you don't realize it?

I don't know if any of my above musings has helped you at all, but hopefully some of it has. Keep us posted.

Cheers!

Trace

[bborysow]

Also good to begin offering veggies in her diet. In case something is missing. They enjoy a wide variety of fruits and veggies.

[katev17]

My little guy goes down to the bottom and looks over the piece of wood on his door and peers at me... it's become less of a concern and more of an entertainment value :p It's cute now :)

Kate

Also good to begin offering veggies in her diet. In case something is missing. They enjoy a wide variety of fruits and veggies.

Definitely! Mine eats dandelion leaves, blueberries and raspberries on occassion!

[J-Man]

Yes Trace, your knowledge is ALWAYS helpful... if not at the very least only to calm me down and to make me think rationally :)

I'll definitely look for those signs. And yes, I also pick her up and inspect her a bit and put her back on a higer branch... as soon as I pick her up she starts to get brighter green so it seems as though she accidentily falls down or something. Also when I find her down there she's usually on her way back up. So it's probably not a big deal.

Thanks for all the replies and I'll start offering veggies... but how do you guys do it? in a dish?

[bborysow]

For leafy veggies, clip them somewhere at the top of the cage and she will nibble. For looser fruits or berries, I keep a small food dish wired into the trees near the top of the cage. I also found they would hand feed for red berries, one of their faves.