The veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus) is the most commonly bred and available species of chameleon. The popularity of the veiled chameleon is due their hardiness, and their beautiful colors. Unfortunately, veiled chameleons are often purchased from reptile shows or pet shows without the correct information on their proper care in captivity. While it is the responsibility of the seller to provide information on captive care, most pet shows do not know enough to provide the correct information to the buyer, which is why I created this site to help inform future buyers about the proper care of these chameleons.

Veiled chameleons are native to Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia, and reside in a variety of different habitats, which allows this species to be tolerant of higher temperatures and lower humidity levels, all of which contribute to its hardiness.

Chameleons are generally "high maintenance" reptiles, and although veileds are considered the easiest to care for, they still require careful attention. There are several aspects to veiled chameleon husbandry, such as the purchase of a healthy chameleon, and providing appropriate captive care, all of which will be covered in the various sections of the site.

This is a very common question, "Can I keep other reptiles in with my chameleon?"

The answer is always a big NO. The chameleon is very territorial, and would not like any other critters in his or her enclosure. The other reptile could also cause stress on the chameleon, and could cause it to stop eating.

Some keepers have experimented with housing geckos in their enclosure, some with success, but most, if not all, have reported stress.

Choosing a Enclosure
The first thing you should buy when considering purchasing a veiled chameleon is the enclosure. Depending on the age of your chameleon, you will need a cage large or small enough to accommodate him.

You can either buy a pre-built enclosure or build one yourself, usually the cost is about the same so it's just depends on what type of enclosure you would enjoy.

Veiled chameleons are an arboreal species, and as such, they prefer vertical space to horizontal space. Adult veiled chameleons should be housed in enclosures with minimum dimensions of 24X24X36, but a larger enclosure is always preferable

Newly hatched chameleons are very small, and should be kept in enclosures small enough for the owner to keep a close eye on the health and activity of the reptile. A one to three month veiled chameleon can be housed in a standard 10 gallon glass aquarium, and this is the only exception to keeping chameleons in these type of enclosures, any older and they must be housed in a screened enclosure.

Juvenile chameleons can be housed in these large screen enclosure, but will often have trouble finding food in such a large enclosure, so most chameleon owners will just block off half of the enclosure.

Setting-Up the Enclosure
Once you purchase an enclosure, it's time to furnish it properly. Veiled chameleons are highly adapted to their arboreal lifestyle, and require climbing and basking branches. Branches should be slightly larger in diameter than the chameleons grip, this allows the animal to walk and perch comfortably. For baby chameleons, it can often be hard to find small enough branches, but most pet stores now sell bio-vines that vary in size for any age chameleon. Place these branches and vines inside the enclosure in a unique fashion to form little "chameleon highways". Try not to crowd the cage with too many branches and vines, but make sure the chameleon has enough branches for sleeping spots, basking spots, and eating perches. As the chameleon grows, gradually increase the diameter of the branches until the animal has reached it's full size.

Branches large enough for adult veiled chameleons can be gathered or purchased, but make sure to properly disinfect any wild branches. Connecting branches together can be a chore, but there is a simple fix that can relieve this problem. You can use zip-ties, but often it is to hard to cut the excess ribbon short enough to not scratch the chameleon, so finding something softer is better for the chameleon. You can use soft string to tie the branches to the screen and this is often one of the easiest fixes.

For the bottom of the enclosure, do NOT use any substrate (wood chips, sand, etc) because the chameleon can often ingest the substrate and can cause many health problems. Just use butchers paper or paper towels at the bottom, this makes for easy clean up. Make sure to replace the paper weekly and not to allow water to gather at the bottom.

Choosing Plants
Unlike other chameleons, Veiled chameleons are known for also consuming vegetable matter in their diet. One of the best and most visibly appealing ways to provide vegetation is to have a live plant in the enclosure. The most commonly used plants are Ficus, Potohos, and Schefflera. These can be purchased at most plant stores, and even places like Walmart and Home Depot. Try to get a good size plant for the center of the enclosure, this will provide "hiding places" for your chameleon which they love. Once you purchase a plant, you should re-pot the plant in sterilized plain soil, and also try to wash the roots with warm water to remove any pesticides and incests.

It is very important to provide veiled chameleons with water on a regular basis. Veiled chameleons will not drink from a standing dish of water. The best way to provide chameleons with drinking water is to have a dripper, which can be store bought or made at home. The easiest and cheapest dripper is a cup with a small hole in the bottom. Fill the cup with luke warm water, and place it on top of the enclosure so it drips into the enclosure, try to set it to it drips on to a leaf and cascades down the plants. Veiled chameleons will drink the water right off the leaf. Some companies sell drippers with a flow control, and usually run around $10 but making one yourself works just as well. Be careful with drip systems though, as they can make water gather at the bottom if you do not have proper drainage.

A great alternative to a dripper is misting. Just take a small spray bottle and set it to shoot a thing mist out, and spray down the enclosure with warm water, this raises the relative humidity and provides drinking water for the chameleon.

The relative humidity in the enclosure should be kept around 50-60% most of the time, and this can easily be accomplished by misting 2-3 times throughout the day. Make sure the enclosure is dry before bedtime though, you do not want a cold wet cage at night.

A combination of misting and a dripper usually works best for most chameleons.

Heating
Veiled chameleons like hot basking spots to sit and soak up the heat. It is not uncommon to see veileds basking even when ambient temperatures are 80-90 degrees. Since veileds love to bask, providing a heating lamp to create a basking spot of 90-105 degrees at one end of the enclosure is important. The ambient temperature should be around 75 during the night, and should rise to around 80-85 over the course of the day. Veiled chameleons who are not provided with a basking spot will develop respiratory and digestion problems over time. The best way to provide the appropriate heating is to use a clamp/shop light and a heat bulb. You do not need to purchase the expensive heat bulbs from pet shops, you can just use a floodlight style bulb, and just test different wattages to find the appropriate basking temperature. Standard household bulbs can also be used, but often do not provide enough heat.

Do not guess on temperatures inside the enclosure, as they are very important to the chameleons health. Purchase thermometers from a pet store and place them in various locations across the cage to measure the basking and ambient temperatures. You should also purchase humidity guages to measure the humidity inside the enclosure. Veiled prefer dryer enclosures, but do need to be misted multiple times throughout the day, but this will be covered in more detail in the "Feeding & Watering" section of this website.

Reptiles, being ectothermic, do not manufacture their own body heat, so in order to raise or lower their body temperature, reptiles will move to a colder or warmer area, such as a shaded branch. You need to provide the chameleon with a range of temperatures so that the chameleon can thermoredulate as they would in the wild.

Placing the basking spot at one end of the enclosure allows the chameleon to thermoregulate, you will see him move throughout the day. Always place the basking light at the highest point in the cage to mimic what occurs in nature. Once the heating requirements are met, it's time to provide the lighting requirements.

Lighting
There is some controversy regarding correct lighting for chameleons. Chameleons need full-spectrum lighting that emits energy in the UVB wavelengths. When chameleons are exposed to UVB, they create vitamin D3 under their skin, which is important for proper digestion and calcium absorption, and without appropriate amounts of D3, the chameleon will suffer from a calcium deficiency, and can cause many health related issue. They will suffer from metabolic bone disease within a month if the proper lighting is not provided.

The best way to provide full-spectrum lighting with UVB in a captive situation is to have a fluorescent light fixture running the length of the enclosure. Most chameleon owners highly recommend the Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 bulb, and compared to lights sold at pet stores this light is often found much cheaper on the internet. Many mail-order and online stores will sell these lights for a fraction of the cost you would find in a pet store. Make sure to place the lights outside the enclosure on the top, this ensures the safety of the chameleon.

Run the lights for 10-12 hours a day, this can easily be done by using a common household timer. At night, do not use any heating or lighting, and if you have the chameleon in a high-traffic area, try to place a sheet or curtain up in front of the enclosure.

Veiled chameleons are mostly incest eating reptiles, but as stated before they also enjoy vegetation in their diet. Providing feeder incests with the correct balance of calcium to phosphorus is very important to the health of the chameleon. If the chameleon is not provided with a balanced diet, they will develop a range of deficiencies such as metabolic bone disease.

Domestic crickets are the staple of the veiled chameleon captive diet, however since crickets do not have enough calcium and phosphorous, you must "gut-load" the crickets before feeding. Gut-loading involves feeding the feeder insects a good, high calcium diet before they are fed to your chameleon. Common gut-loads are collard greens, oranges, mustard greens, and carrots. Make a small plate of mixed veggies and place it in the container you keep your crickets in, this keeps the crickets full so they do not eat each other, and also provides a balanced diet to your chameleon.

Although gut-loading improves the nutritional content of feeder insects tremendously, it is also important to ensure that the chameleon is getting enough calcium. Calcium supplementation is an easy way to provide for this necessity. You can purchase the calcium supplement at most pet stores, but make sure to purchase both calcium with D3 and calcium without D3, and switch between the supplements weekly. Also pick up a multivitamin supplement as well.

Dust the crickets with a pinch of supplement before feeding them to your chameleon. The easiest way to do this is place them in a feeder tube or plastic bag and shake them up with the supplements to cover the crickets in a thin layer of "dust" from the supplements.

The feeder insects should be coated with calcium supplement every day for young veiled chameleons, and every other day for adult veiled chameleons. Remember to switch between the Calcium with and without the D3 each week.

Young veileds must be fed every day, twice a day if possible. The best starter food source for young veileds is small crickets, as young veileds tend to regurgitate other insects such as mealworms. Adult veileds will eat every other day. The easiest way to feed your chameleon and track how much he is eating is to use a plastic cup, the cheap "party cups" work great. Just throw some crickets in the cup and use tape or string to attach the cup to the side of the enclosure where your chameleon can see the cup. You can let the crickets just free-range in the enclosure but often times they find ways to escape or bother the chameleon, so the cup method seems to work best for many owners.