Yes, I ordered him a bigger reptarium but it has yet to arrive. It was suppose to be here by today. I am giving it one last shot with seeing if he will calm down. I feel like I am doing something terribly wrong and he is stressed non stop. If a bigger cage is not the answer then I would like to give him to a seasoned keeper. I dont want to ship him and would really love to trade him for a baby but if not then I just want to find someone who can provide better for him. I am obviously doing something really wrong. I am out of ideas as to what to do. I will give him a couple weeks in his new cage and if it does not work then I would like to have someone lined up to take him and see if they can not provide better.
Well hopefully you dont have to get rid of him. We are 2 hours north of you (roughly) let me know what you wanna do. I should be home the beginning of december from my job if you trust us to take care of you little one.
I am going to give him a couple weeks in his new reptarium and if he continues with is stressed behavior and you have a set up bigger to accommodate him always on the move then it would probably be in his best interest. He is a complete butt head and trying to hold him is impossible. He has such awesome colors but you never get to see them because he stays a stressed out poopie brown. He stresses me more than anything. I have never had a problem with a cham like him.
how old is he? What size are you going to and what size do you have? We currently have a smaller set-up available but getting a bigger one is not a hard thing to do, It will be all of a 5 minute drive to the pet store.
Being a butt head is what our cham does best. He hates being held as well so maybe our 2 chams can be friends since they have so much in common already!
He is currently in a 38 gal and I ordered a 65 to see if that helps. http://www.reptilesupply.com/index.php?cName=Caging&cPath=32
The link above is where I order all my stuff from. I also ordered him a sunglo daylight halogen bulb. I am hoping the brighter light will make him happier. He seems to like it bright (well he is always hanging upside down by the lights) and with him he likes the top of his cage nice and hot (he likes his basking around 95) any cooler and he gets darker and darker. I also have put a cool mist humidifier on his cage to keep the cooler airflow going in at the same time. I have blocked one side with a towel and I wet that down for humidity and so he can not see out. I spray him three times a day and it takes a while. Each time I spray I go through over a half gallon of water.
I can post some pics of his set up if you like. I have put him in the shower the last two days because he seems like he is a little dehydrated. I don't know how because his humidity is good and he has constant drip. I leave him for the most part and just check on him every now and then. He has been getting progressively worse with his antsy- ness. I am hoping he just needs more room to roam since he is growing. He is right around 5-6 months old. He likes crix sometimes but has been on a food strike. I got in his silk worms and horn worms today and he ate maybe 3. He is to busy pacing in his cage to notice them or care. It is like he has somewhere to be and wont rest till he gets there.
He started a new aggression behavior today too.
Normally he jumps on his vine like a mad monkey or hisses and charges me with his mouth open. Today I was putting a silkworm on his vine and he tail slapped me three times. I did not even know chams did that till today.
When he slapped you did he say, "Who's yer daddy"?
When Ms. Creecher displays stressful behavior, usually darkened color and climbing the walls, I use what I call a "stress curtain".
This is a barrier between her view of the room and any stimulation that may be causing her to freak out.
I dunno, seems to help.
wow thats really odd. He is hugely territorial. which they normally are but thats crazy.
With reptiles in general there are a few reasons why they run around teh cage like what you are saying.
1) Too cold. The living conditions need to be warmed up. IN your case if the basking is a 95 prolly not what your issue is.
2) Too hot. They are looking for a cooler part of the cage to chill out and lose some heat. Being they are cold blooded their internal temps go off of what the outside temp is. They can Overheat just like humans.
3) Hungry. They will crawl around looking for food. You say yours is on a hunger strike but he ate worms? How many crix are you putting in at a time? sometimes they get bored with crix so you need to feed him alot more of other stuff but other times there just areant enough in his cage for him to care about them.
4) Thirsty. You say you have the drip but does your cham ever drink from it?
5) Humid. You say that you have the towel on one side, and you spray about half a gallon into his cage? My veiled I spray twice a day with a small bottle sprayer. I spray most of the bottle into his cage each time. The bottle is maybe a cup and a half worth of water so in total its maybe 3 cups of water. He is VERY hydrated and gets plenty. He may be looking for a dry spot. The veileds only need a 30-50% humidity. If you are soaking everything you may be way too humid for him. Go to petsmart or if you dont liek petsmart any other local pet store and get a humidity scale and leave it in his cage. Keep in mind Texas has close to 100% humidity all year round so the air already is super humid in your house.
I would buy 2 Thermometers. One for the basking area and one on the floor where it is cooler. and a humidifier and put it somewhere in the middle of his cage. He shoudl be right around 40% somewhere between 30-50% humid.
When you feed him crix put about between 8-12 in at a time and try to feed his one or 2 by hand. this may help in making him see teh crix and it may intice him some to eat it, and 2, make him so he sees your hand and recognizes it with food so hes not SO mean to you. Chams though have attitudes so get used to him hating you thats half the fun
His basking spot is at 95 but the bottom is at 72. I keep a cool mist humidifier on and a wet towel because other wise his humidity drops to 0 due to his higher basking area.
I have a temp probe and he has a good range of temps. He does have a digital temp/hygro in his cage at all times and when it has not been misted it stays at 35-40% and that is with humidifier and wet towel.
His cage has a live schefflera and tons of fake hanging plants and vines galore. Due to his cage having so much foliage it give a good range of temps. He gets misted three times a day and I have a gallon mister with ultra fine mist. I mist about 15 minutes each time and a little over a gallon goes through his cage each mist. I have been showering him because it seems he is dehydrated and how I have no clue. He has more than enough opportunities to drink. He WILL not eat, drink, poop or smile when anyone is looking. So if he is drinking I have no clue.
I put about 15 crix in his cage daily and in a couple days they are usually gathering at the top trying to eat there way through, he has been given wax, butter, super, horn, silk, and even roaches and there is enough food put in his cage daily to feed three of him. He just keeps on the move and will not slow down at the moment to feed. I saw him eat one wax worm out of the dirt a couple days ago. He also ate maybe two silkworms yesterday. In my book that is not enough. I squirted water with his calcium supplement in his mouth this morning when I was greeted with my morning hiss.
I know you suggested feeding by hand... um I want to keep it. This cham does not due normal cham anger he will lung with his mouth open. I throw food in and put worms on his vines as quick as possible. Standing there holding a worm in front of him is the last thing he wants.
I have tried everything in the book that I can think of.
He does have a digital temp/hygro in his cage at all times and when it has not been misted it stays at 35-40% and that is with humidifier and wet towel.
I just dont know what to do and I hope his cage gets here today. I am out of ideas and he is smarter than the average bear.lol
Oh and hating me is fine but him being stressed 24/7 is what I am worried about. I want him to be happy in his environment but I do not expect him to like me. He can even bite me everytime he sees me as long as when he is not being bugged he is comfortable.
With feeding, As long as he is eating even though you may thinnk its not enough, This is winter. HE can more likely tell that the temp outside your house is going down. Alot of reptiles quit eating during the winter. Or slow down severely atleast.
Do you have him near a mirror or any other chams? If he is about 6 months he is just now finding out that He is the king of his castle He may just have an EGO issue.
The way we knocked egos down is you bust him out and make fun of him infront of all his friends. That will bring him back down to earth!
Thats funny and I wish it would work
He has been a piss head since he was 2 inches long according to his previous owner who never touched him once because he would bite when he was teeny tiny. I have had a problem with him from day 1. This is not new behavior and he should have settled some by now this is just getting worse.
He is in a room with 2 other chams, 1 bearded dragon and 3 uromastyx but he cant see any of them.
the rest of my herps are angels compared to him. I thought about changing his name to Lucifer.
maybe try counceling? my mom made me go when I was younger because of my attitude and troublesome issues. It never worked... I just straightend up with age on my own.
I'm clueless. Maybe hes just a pissed off cham by nature. Lock him up in the "hole" til he straightens up like they do in prisons...??
lol- maybe my panther could council him. He is a pretty therapeutic cham
He is grateful for his food and misting and maybe he can talk some sense into him.
My poor one eyed panther would probably get the ass whoopin of his life if he ran into Tarzan.
This is T-Rex eating his breakfast
I love the last pic it looks like the silkie is pleading for his life..
you might be right about the not eating cause its colder outside because my panther held out for 2 days till the silkies and horns got here. SPOILED