Pascal is our veiled chameleon. Tabitha adopted him in the summer of 2018 from a military family that was moving out of the country and who couldn’t take him with. Despite having the song “Karma Chameleon” playing in our minds over and over again when we go into the reptile room, he’s been a fun and unique addition to our reptile group.
Temperment
It’s interesting to watch Pascal move around. He moves in a very slow and deliberate manner and quickly strikes his prey with his long tongue. His personality is typical for a veiled chameleon. He’s very territorial and doesn’t like it when we go into his cage to feed him and he doesn’t like to be handled.
Humidity
One of the biggest challenges with raising veiled chameleons in our climate is getting their humidity level right. They need humidity, but at the same time, they can’t have too much because too much humidity can cause respiratory and skin problems. It’s important that chameleons completely dry in between having their habitat misted twice a day. Pascal came to us in a fully enclosed glass habitat. It had no drainage so there was water standing in the bottom tray. Tabitha quickly moved him into a reptile habitat that was better ventilated and he’s been thriving since. Tabitha doesn’t use anything on the bottom of his cage. Having no paper towels or wood shavings makes it easier to clean and it helps prevent moisture and mold from accumulating.
Heat and UVB Sources
Pascal has a heat lamp and a UVB lamp. We keep the lamps turned on for twelve hours every day to make sure he gets enough warmth and Vitamin D. Since the reptile room is in the basement, the nighttime temperatures stay around seventy degrees so Pascal does great having his lamps turned off at night.
Food
Since veiled chameleons are mainly insectivores, Tabitha feeds Pascal gut loaded crickets (crickets with stomachs full of food) that are dusted with reptile calcium and reptile vitamin. Tabitha offers him dubia roaches, hornworms, waxworms, and superworms, but the crickets are his favorite food. Although they are mainly insectivores, some veiled chameleons will eat dark leafy green vegetables and plants. Pascal doesn’t like salads so Tabitha just feeds him bugs.
Water
Just like bearded dragons, veiled chameleons can’t see water in their dish unless it’s moving. We have a small reptile drip system sitting on the top of Pascal’s cage that slowly drips water onto a leaf and into a bowl sitting on the bottom of the cage. We refill the water container twice a day. For a while after bringing Pascal home, we thought he was being territorial and aggressive because every time Tabitha would open his cage door to mist his enclosure, he would walk over to her and try to bite the spray bottle. Out of the blue, Tabitha realized what he was doing. He wasn’t just being aggressive, he was also trying to drink from the water bottle!
