Adult Chameleon Sleeping during the day...

Spaniorita16

New Member
Hello! My panther chameleon is about 10 months old and he suddenly started sleeping early in the day/not opening his eyes for a long time in the morning. He’s in a 30x16x16 screen cage. Pics of his enclosure attached. He’s misted 4-5 times a day for about 20 seconds. No drip system, no fogger. I use InkBird to measure temps and humidity and he stays around 60-70%. His temps drop to around 65 at night and during the day his radiant is 70ish and his basking 80. I use a zoo med uvb bulb pic attached and a 75 w basking bulb.
He eats 8-10 dusted crickets a day but I just found out my husband only dusts them with the regular calcium powder every other day and not every day. D3 once every two weeks. He also gets dubia roaches so on those days he eats less crickets. All are gutloaded prior to feeding.
His poop and urate are black and white with some yellow.
He is located by the window that has blinds closed and we are located by the beach in CA.
Is he perhaps too cold? Dehydrated? Vet?
 

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As you know, sleeping during the day is definitely a cause for concern, and could be due to a number of issues.
  • Is he positioning his body in any particular way or turning certain colors when he closes his eyes?
  • Does he have a lot of mucus in his mouth?
  • Is his cage in a "high traffic" area in the house?
  • Are you using a multivitamin in addition to the calcium?
 
As you know, sleeping during the day is definitely a cause for concern, and could be due to a number of issues.
  • Is he positioning his body in any particular way or turning certain colors when he closes his eyes?
  • Does he have a lot of mucus in his mouth?
  • Is his cage in a "high traffic" area in the house?
  • Are you using a multivitamin in addition to the calcium?
Hi! He is not turning any particular way, but typically when he sleeps he curls up and he has been more stretched out when his eyes are closed during the day. This has only been happening since yesterday. His colors are bright and colorful, but not as light as they would be when he goes in to a deep sleep. He has no mucus around his mouth. His cage is in the corner of the living room, not high traffic but not in a room alone. I do not have a multivitamin I was looking today and wasn’t sure which one was good
 
Can you post a picture of your supplements?
When last did you replace the UVB bulb?
His enclosure is too small for him. He needs to be upgraded to a 2x2x4. Misting for 20 seconds really is not long enough.
At his age he should only be getting 5 feeders every other day. Then at 12 months old you reduce down to 3 feeders every other day.
 
Here’s his supplements. I have not changed his UVB bulb for 6 months. His humidity stays between 60-70% is that not humid enough?

He seems to want to eat a lot more than that... he’s eating 7-10 medium crickets a day or 5 crickets and two Dubias. He shouldn’t eat all he wants?
 

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Here’s his supplements. I have not changed his UVB bulb for 6 months. His humidity stays between 60-70% is that not humid enough?

He seems to want to eat a lot more than that... he’s eating 7-10 medium crickets a day or 5 crickets and two Dubias. He shouldn’t eat all he wants?
So you are missing an important supplement. You need a multivitamin. I would buy reptivite with D3 and stop using the calcium with d3. The schedule would be calcium without D3 at all feedings and then 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th you give the reptivite with D3. This one is your multivitamin and calcium with D3. The feeders have to have a light dusting of the supplements. This balances the calcium to phosphorous ratio of the feeder.

And no you do not give them all they want... They stop growing. And then they start developing fat pockets around their organs. An obese cham has a shortened life because the organs become compromised and not able to work the way they are supposed to.

I would go ahead and get a new T5 5.0 UVB bulb for your fixture in case it is the bulb going bad. These typically need to be replaced every 6 months.

The daytime humidity is actually a bit high. You want 50-60% not higher.

Here are some additional resources for you. https://chameleonacademy.com/panther-chameleon-care/
And a husbandry program that I highly recommend https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

The closing of the eyes can be related to incorrect supplementation and lack of the multivitamin as well as the UVB bulb if it has gone bad.
 
So you are missing an important supplement. You need a multivitamin. I would buy reptivite with D3 and stop using the calcium with d3. The schedule would be calcium without D3 at all feedings and then 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th you give the reptivite with D3. This one is your multivitamin and calcium with D3. The feeders have to have a light dusting of the supplements. This balances the calcium to phosphorous ratio of the feeder.

And no you do not give them all they want... They stop growing. And then they start developing fat pockets around their organs. An obese cham has a shortened life because the organs become compromised and not able to work the way they are supposed to.

I would go ahead and get a new T5 5.0 UVB bulb for your fixture in case it is the bulb going bad. These typically need to be replaced every 6 months.

The daytime humidity is actually a bit high. You want 50-60% not higher.

Here are some additional resources for you. https://chameleonacademy.com/panther-chameleon-care/
And a husbandry program that I highly recommend https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

The closing of the eyes can be related to incorrect supplementation and lack of the multivitamin as well as the UVB bulb if it has gone bad.
Got it, thank you very much for taking the time to help me. I will adjust these husbandry issues and hopefully he will feel better!
 
Good luck. Let us know if you have any questions.
Do his joints look weird to you? I just noticed he’s been leaving his left back leg in the air, not hanging just suspended next to him.
 

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Do his joints look weird to you? I just noticed he’s been leaving his left back leg in the air, not hanging just suspended next to him.
No, I am not seeing any recognizable sign of mbd... But this does not mean he does not have something going on internally. Not having the correct supplementation does impact them and how their bodies function. But also they really need size appropriate branches to grip. All live plants are also more beneficial for them.
That husbandry link will really help you. It will walk you through proper enclosure set up as well.
 
I’ll be going to the store right now and getting larger vines and such, he does have two live plants and these fake vines above. Idk what to think of this he’s sleeping like this... laying his body on the vine instead of gripping it with his feet. I keep looking and he will hold on with his front feet and rest the back, and idk his back ankles maybe look swollen.
 

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I’ll be going to the store right now and getting larger vines and such, he does have two live plants and these fake vines above. Idk what to think of this he’s sleeping like this... laying his body on the vine instead of gripping it with his feet. I keep looking and he will hold on with his front feet and rest the back, and idk his back ankles maybe look swollen.

So first, I should point out that I am not a vet nor am I a chameleon expert. But based on these photos and your description, unfortunately, swollen ankles/ resting on a branch like that could be signs of gout, which can occur from kidney insufficiency/failure. The two most common causes of this are dehydration and/or supplementation or diet issues.

This is something that has to be evaluated/diagnosed and treated by an experienced chameleon vet.

@kinyonga do his ankles look swollen to you?
 
I’ll be going to the store right now and getting larger vines and such, he does have two live plants and these fake vines above. Idk what to think of this he’s sleeping like this... laying his body on the vine instead of gripping it with his feet. I keep looking and he will hold on with his front feet and rest the back, and idk his back ankles maybe look swollen.
Good this will help because from what I can see there are no places in the top half that he can really grip comfortably. You need to get the correct supplements and then I would swap out the UVB for a new one. See if these things perk him up.
If not next step is vet... Blood work and xray... It could be as simple as what I mentioned. It could be something more extreme.
 
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