dark, mad colours, bright, back to dark

ok my veiled is very strange. when he is just sitting in his cage he is a dark colour. then you can pick him up and he gets that normal lit up colour. then in like 30 seconds he calms down and is bright green and yellow. then you put him in his cage and right back to his dark colour. why?

you can look at my profile for pictures.

JustinIgor said:

ok my veiled is very strange. when he is just sitting in his cage he is a dark colour. then you can pick him up and he gets that normal lit up colour. then in like 30 seconds he calms down and is bright green and yellow. then you put him in his cage and right back to his dark colour. why?

Click to expand...

When he is in his cage does he go back to his lighting and bask, turns dark?

If so he is turing dark to capture light rays to heat his body up.. The Darkness absorbe heat better then bright colors.. When they get hot they will change back to their brighter colors.

Also Victoria turns brown/dark green with dark teal color spots when she hunts her food down. But when she moves back to her basking spot she turns very dark then turns around and heads to her lazy spot on her vine and get bright colors.

Chameleons (cold blooded) when active (exploring, hunting) starts to cool their body off. Their blood begins to flow faster making them cool off so once back in their cage they can feel the lighting rays and turn dark to absorb them. Humans when standing in cold can run a few laps and their body will begin to feel warm even hot.

he is dark all the time unless he is sleeping or i just take him out of his cage

seems like he hates the cage that you setup for him.
Can you take a picture of the enclosure, maybe there is something wrong with it?
We can help noticing things that you need to change.

how old is ur cham ?

What is the Basking and cooler area temps in your enclosure?

My basking is 98.6 degrees while her enviorment area is 86.7 and the lower area of her enclosure is basiclly room tempature around 76 to 80 degrees.

alan23 said:

how old is ur cham ?

Click to expand...

Roughly 4 months old.

was asking justin trion bt i know urs too now lmao

TRI0N said:

What is the Basking and cooler area temps in your enclosure?

My basking is 98.6 degrees while her enviorment area is 86.7 and the lower area of her enclosure is basiclly room tempature around 76 to 80 degrees.

Click to expand...

Trion just as a suggestion 98.6 is hot!..
does your cham gape during basking?
i kept my basking spot around 87 to occasional 90 and the lower area around 75 you might want to lower the basking spot temp a bit.

Saw the pics of your enclosure in your gallery. What I see is a 1 sided Screen door I believe while the rest is white board. I would give the left side of that either a whole cutout and place scren or some windows covered with screen.

I might be the feeling of being enclosed by the obvious boundries. Letting your chame see more of whats around him "may" help but the size of your enclosure looks nice and roomy.

Somone else will need to recommend if a Vapor Bulb may help this setup with UV ray penetration. Since I'm about to build a huge enslosure myself I have yet to understand the proper use of Vapor Bulbs based on cage sizes.

sorry i had to run up to wal mart real quick to get shotgun shells. he is in a 50x20x22 with a schefflera and vines. fills the cage up nice, since i got him he has been this way. except when he was young and all green. the whole thing is screen.

dodolah said:

Trion just as a suggestion 98.6 is hot!..
does your cham gape during basking?
i kept my basking spot around 87 to occasional 90 and the lower area around 75 you might want to lower the basking spot temp a bit.

Click to expand...

No, I have seen alot of recommended basking temps here on the forums by senior members and on ZooMed Care sheets that recommend 99 for the basking spot. She does not gape much at all and not even on a daily bases.

my temp is about 96 in basking the temp goes all the way to 74 at bottom

Your cage looks really dark too. Maybe you should get a flourescent light and run it down the side of the cage to give it some light. Maybe he will see more colors and blend in better

no not at all it was night time during the picture. it is all aluminum screen very very brite