Jacksons Chameleon problem

Your Chameleon - Jacksons, 3-4 months, it has been in my friends care for probably 3 months.The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - They don't handle him all that often, maybe 1 every two weeks ro so
Feeding - They feed him medium crickets, thats just about it. Everyday-every other day? They told me he will eat like 4-5, they eat once a day and leave crickets throughout I think. They gut load with oranges and other ingredients like veggies, nothing bad that i know of.
Supplements - They use reptical with d3 and regular calcium and I am pretty sure they use a multi vitamin twice a month. What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use?-They have a Habba Mister in the cage that goes off periodically throughout the day, don't know how long or how often. How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?-He has healthy urate from what I can see
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.-They looked normal and had good urate with all of them. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?-No
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.-He seems very tiny for his age, honestly I don't think from head to the tip of his tail is any more than 5 inches, my female veiled around the same age is twice the size, and the female that is with him)they share the enclosure) is twice his size(which I think is some of the problem)

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) 40 gallon long with a screen topWhat are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?They have a twelve hour cycle like most of us do, they do use a night light but from what they told both chameleons sleep fine. They have a repti-glo 5.0 and a regular 75 watt bulb in the cage.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?I couldn't tell you to be honest.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?Last time I had spoke to them the humidity is within the 80% maybe a little lower
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?No they have all fake
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?The living room in their apartment which sees at times a lot of traffic but it has never seemed to both him at all, they have enough foliage where they can hide
Location - Where are you geographically located?Wisconsin

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
They asked me what I think about him not eating the past few days, I threw some suggestions at them saying that he may be on a possible hunger strike. He hasn't had any variety so far since they have got him. But he has not been tested for parasites and she told me he was black before we went to work earlier tonight so then I thought the larger jacksons female may be stressing him out because of the size difference but they have always been great the countless times I have been per to her house (best friend) they are very shy normally but don't bite but hiss occasionally. Thank you for looking guys!

The massive wall of txt that I would usually reply with is not practical on my phone. I have recently messed up my wifi hot spot and am without pc access for a few days. I will try to respond tomorrow. Imo, there are several issues with the husbandry listed on the help form. A young xanth like that can go weeks without food.probably do it more good than harm. Imo, it would be prudent to withold any food and supps for a few days, just concetrate on hydration for a few days and give any imbalaces a chance to even out/be processed. Until you have had some responces/input from exp montane members. Jmo

Okay, well the problem is it isn't my chameleon, but I wanted to come on here for them and figure this out to make sure he is alright.

Do I understand that they are keeping two Jackson's together in the same cage? If so, I would separate them and have a visual barrier between them for starters.

Yeah they are, they haven't had problems with them, but I told them a few times it can end badly, but as their best friend I can't really do anything...I did offer to take the little guy off their hands if by any chance they would want to do that. But honestly, I have suggested that they get a reptibreeze at least to help with their air flow and give them more space and I told them they should really, really,really,really take advantage of this forum because I am in love with this site lol only fuels my addiction

Keeping two Jackson's in a 40 gallon fish tank will not end well. IMO

As a 'best friend' it is within your power to change the quality of lives that these chameleons have! A good friend will not mind constructive criticism. Jacksons are more difficult to care for as babies than Panthers and Veileds, and they really should be kept in a cage of their own, with their own space, light, water and food so there is no competition and dominance issues. Both chameleons will be far happier in the long run - they don't need or want company of their own kind.

Miss Lily said:

As a 'best friend' it is within your power to change the quality of lives that these chameleons have! A good friend will not mind constructive criticism. Jacksons are more difficult to care for as babies than Panthers and Veileds, and they really should be kept in a cage of their own, with their own space, light, water and food so there is no competition and dominance issues. Both chameleons will be far happier in the long run - they don't need or want company of their own kind.

Click to expand...

And I totally agree, I have said things and made points about having a different enclosure I just think they are set on doing it their way. They have 35 animals in their house so lol Idk what else I can do to emphasize they need to change it without sounding rude. I can't make them do it they have to but i don't know.

I hate when people take on so many animals and then do not provide them with the proper care. I know they think they are doing the animals a favor by giving them a home, but it is kinda like the hoarders taking in the animals off the street when they would be better on the street. Not saying your friends are hoarders but just making of an exmaple of having too many animals. I would just keep trying to make them realize that keeping the two of them together especially in that small of an environment, is going to end up in the death of one of their chameleons. You are trying your best to inform them of the consequences and if they don't listen, then unfortunately they will have to learn from their ignorance.

They do take very good care of their animals but I think the problem comes from them, along with a ton of other people, not knowing and taking the effort to know as much as they can about how complicated these guys are and I just think with all of their other reptiles and stuff they just got caught up in other things, but I constantly urge them to join the forum and check this out because it is so useful for raising your chams that its priceless really. But yeah I really tell them about the consequence of them being together but my buddy tells me they do great together and they have no problems. But I think I did convince them to get a massive reptibreeze at least for them along with some live plants.

ISA my Veiled said:

They do take very good care of their animals but I think the problem comes from them, along with a ton of other people, not knowing and taking the effort to know as much as they can about how complicated these guys are and I just think with all of their other reptiles and stuff they just got caught up in other things, but I constantly urge them to join the forum and check this out because it is so useful for raising your chams that its priceless really. But yeah I really tell them about the consequence of them being together but my buddy tells me they do great together and they have no problems. But I think I did convince them to get a massive reptibreeze at least for them along with some live plants.

Click to expand...

well the reptibreeze would be a good thing! Did you tell them how chameleons can often mask problems until they become very ill? Just because they are not tearing each others eyes out does not mean there is not a problem. Well, you have done your best to convince them and that is really all you can do.

carol5208 said:

well the reptibreeze would be a good thing! Did you tell them how chameleons can often mask problems until they become very ill? Just because they are not tearing each others eyes out does not mean there is not a problem. Well, you have done your best to convince them and that is really all you can do.

Click to expand...

Yeah I give them information all the time because I am obsessed with Chameleons in general now a days lol thats a lot of our discussion when I am over there but I have told them it leads to problems that aren't very noticeable. I did tell her that turning black is a very good sign of stress between the two but she took him out and put him in a separate tote for the day and put him back in because they thought him being out of his normal environment would stress him out a little more than necessary.