Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Oustalet's, male, roughly 8 months old. He's lived here since December 2013.
Handling - Only when necessary. When moving plants out of his cage, when moving him outside for some sun, etc.
Feeding - Mostly crickets (10 or so) and superworms (5-8) daily. Very rarely mealworms and a couple of waxworms per month. Gut-loaded with vegetables.
Supplements - Calcium w/o D3 daily, Calcium w/ D3 every couple of weeks, same with multivitamins.
Watering - Misting, 4-5 times daily for a few minutes. Enough to keep the humidity up for a little while, but also enough to let the cage dry out. I used to see him drinking more when he was younger, always from the water that would collect on the screen cage. I see him doing so less often now, but I'm also home less.
Fecal Description - He hasn't been tested for parasites, but his droppings are normal in color. Always white urate.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, he's still on his 18x18x36 size while I'm building him a new cage. He's quickly outgrown it!
Lighting - Zoo Med Mini Deep Dome Lamp & 100wt Zoo Med Powersun Bulb. I believe the UVB lamp is also Zoo Med, the bulb is a Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0, if I remember correctly.
Temperature - Around 92 at the top, 75 or so at the bottom.
Humidity - It varies throughout the day, simply depending on how long its been since I've misted. It jumps way up when I mist, around 80, then drops down to around 50 or so by the time the next mist is ready.
Plants - Yes, one schefflera and one croton. Both are safe.
Placement - In my room, not really a high traffic area. I'm in here a lot of the time, but he doesn't seem to mind. The top is probably 6 feet off of the ground.
Location - Currently the St. Louis area.
Current Problem - I was out spending memorial day weekend with some friends over the weekend, and when I came back on Sunday, I found him hanging by his tail in his normal sleeping spot. He wasn't limp, he had his front feet sort of drawn close to his body, trying to make himself look small like chameleons usually do when they sleep.
I figured he was probably fairly hungry (he hadn't eaten on Sunday, I was just getting home at around 5:00 p.m.), so I gently moved him onto the branch he was hanging from. He noticed the food I had placed below and ate it. He then proceeded to move back up the branch, and once again decided to hang upside down from his tail. I've never seen him do this, and he slept like this throughout the entire night.
Today, I woke up to find him back at his hangout spot under the heat lamp. However, he's been acting rather lethargic, just laying there, not up and about like he usually is. He's usually standing on all fours, or occasionally hanging from the branch sideways to absorb more heat. But as you can see from the picture I attached, he's sort of just left his two back feet hanging there.
My first guess is that he's perhaps just worn out. He's had two sheds in fairly quick succession, the first a little over a week ago, and the second starting Thursday night. I expected him to be well finished by the time I returned home on Sunday, but he's still got bits and pieces attached, and two of his legs are still mostly covered. He never takes this long to shed, he's usually done by the second day, but this is now the fifth day that he's been shedding. I've been helping him out today a bit, hand misting him every once and a while, but he's not even trying at this point.
My second guess is that perhaps he is not a she, and she is working on her first clutch of infertile eggs? When I first got him, I was told he was a male, and from early pictures, a few forum members agreed with that sentiment. However, Oustalet's are tricky, since they don't have the same telling features that other chameleons do. On top of that, his crest has remained fairly small for a male, and as he's gotten older, he's started showing a lot of red when he's stressed. Should I get him (her?) a laying bin, just in case?
He's still active enough to head down and grab food, or snag crickets that he spots. It just seems that whenever he's not eating, he's incredibly tired.
Any suggestions?
Your Chameleon - Oustalet's, male, roughly 8 months old. He's lived here since December 2013.
Handling - Only when necessary. When moving plants out of his cage, when moving him outside for some sun, etc.
Feeding - Mostly crickets (10 or so) and superworms (5-8) daily. Very rarely mealworms and a couple of waxworms per month. Gut-loaded with vegetables.
Supplements - Calcium w/o D3 daily, Calcium w/ D3 every couple of weeks, same with multivitamins.
Watering - Misting, 4-5 times daily for a few minutes. Enough to keep the humidity up for a little while, but also enough to let the cage dry out. I used to see him drinking more when he was younger, always from the water that would collect on the screen cage. I see him doing so less often now, but I'm also home less.
Fecal Description - He hasn't been tested for parasites, but his droppings are normal in color. Always white urate.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, he's still on his 18x18x36 size while I'm building him a new cage. He's quickly outgrown it!
Lighting - Zoo Med Mini Deep Dome Lamp & 100wt Zoo Med Powersun Bulb. I believe the UVB lamp is also Zoo Med, the bulb is a Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0, if I remember correctly.
Temperature - Around 92 at the top, 75 or so at the bottom.
Humidity - It varies throughout the day, simply depending on how long its been since I've misted. It jumps way up when I mist, around 80, then drops down to around 50 or so by the time the next mist is ready.
Plants - Yes, one schefflera and one croton. Both are safe.
Placement - In my room, not really a high traffic area. I'm in here a lot of the time, but he doesn't seem to mind. The top is probably 6 feet off of the ground.
Location - Currently the St. Louis area.
Current Problem - I was out spending memorial day weekend with some friends over the weekend, and when I came back on Sunday, I found him hanging by his tail in his normal sleeping spot. He wasn't limp, he had his front feet sort of drawn close to his body, trying to make himself look small like chameleons usually do when they sleep.
I figured he was probably fairly hungry (he hadn't eaten on Sunday, I was just getting home at around 5:00 p.m.), so I gently moved him onto the branch he was hanging from. He noticed the food I had placed below and ate it. He then proceeded to move back up the branch, and once again decided to hang upside down from his tail. I've never seen him do this, and he slept like this throughout the entire night.
Today, I woke up to find him back at his hangout spot under the heat lamp. However, he's been acting rather lethargic, just laying there, not up and about like he usually is. He's usually standing on all fours, or occasionally hanging from the branch sideways to absorb more heat. But as you can see from the picture I attached, he's sort of just left his two back feet hanging there.
My first guess is that he's perhaps just worn out. He's had two sheds in fairly quick succession, the first a little over a week ago, and the second starting Thursday night. I expected him to be well finished by the time I returned home on Sunday, but he's still got bits and pieces attached, and two of his legs are still mostly covered. He never takes this long to shed, he's usually done by the second day, but this is now the fifth day that he's been shedding. I've been helping him out today a bit, hand misting him every once and a while, but he's not even trying at this point.
My second guess is that perhaps he is not a she, and she is working on her first clutch of infertile eggs? When I first got him, I was told he was a male, and from early pictures, a few forum members agreed with that sentiment. However, Oustalet's are tricky, since they don't have the same telling features that other chameleons do. On top of that, his crest has remained fairly small for a male, and as he's gotten older, he's started showing a lot of red when he's stressed. Should I get him (her?) a laying bin, just in case?
He's still active enough to head down and grab food, or snag crickets that he spots. It just seems that whenever he's not eating, he's incredibly tired.
Any suggestions?
