jessdavishi
New Member
Hi everyone!
My husband and I have had chameleons all of our lives. We currently have a 2 year old veiled chameleon (along with a bearded dragon, uromastyx, and two pacman frogs) so we are both very familiar with reptile care. A local pet shop had someone drop off very young Jackson’s chameleons, only a few weeks old, and asked us if we would be able to take one since we are very educated with reptiles.
When we got this Jackson’s chameleon, he was only about a month old. We have not had a chameleon this young, but know that they are very sensitive and require diligent care.
Recently, this poor guy has been a bit lethargic and keeping his eyes closed throughout the day. We are becoming worried about him!
His enclosure details:
-all screen enclosure
-10.0 UVB long fluorescent bulb
-50 Watt basking and another 10.0 UVB in a dome
-plenty of fake plants
Care details:
-fed fruit flies and bean beetles, occasionally pinhead crickets when our local pet shop has them available
-dusted with calcium every 2-3 feedings
-fed twice a day
-misted regularly to maintain proper humidity levels
-maintains proper temperatures (high 80°F and low of 72° at night) read with a infrared temperature gun
-poops are brown and white with a tinge of orange...possibly hinting at dehydration, we tried to fix this with a water dropper with no changes
I have read that him closing his eyes could be a result of the lighting being too strong. There seems to be times where he tries to open his eyes but is “squinting”. We put him outside today in natural sunlight because I read that might help.
Pictures attached:
Eyes open is from a few weeks ago.
Eyes closed is from today.
What could be the problem here?
Thank you in advance!
My husband and I have had chameleons all of our lives. We currently have a 2 year old veiled chameleon (along with a bearded dragon, uromastyx, and two pacman frogs) so we are both very familiar with reptile care. A local pet shop had someone drop off very young Jackson’s chameleons, only a few weeks old, and asked us if we would be able to take one since we are very educated with reptiles.
When we got this Jackson’s chameleon, he was only about a month old. We have not had a chameleon this young, but know that they are very sensitive and require diligent care.
Recently, this poor guy has been a bit lethargic and keeping his eyes closed throughout the day. We are becoming worried about him!
His enclosure details:
-all screen enclosure
-10.0 UVB long fluorescent bulb
-50 Watt basking and another 10.0 UVB in a dome
-plenty of fake plants
Care details:
-fed fruit flies and bean beetles, occasionally pinhead crickets when our local pet shop has them available
-dusted with calcium every 2-3 feedings
-fed twice a day
-misted regularly to maintain proper humidity levels
-maintains proper temperatures (high 80°F and low of 72° at night) read with a infrared temperature gun
-poops are brown and white with a tinge of orange...possibly hinting at dehydration, we tried to fix this with a water dropper with no changes
I have read that him closing his eyes could be a result of the lighting being too strong. There seems to be times where he tries to open his eyes but is “squinting”. We put him outside today in natural sunlight because I read that might help.
Pictures attached:
Eyes open is from a few weeks ago.
Eyes closed is from today.
What could be the problem here?
Thank you in advance!
