Can an encloser be too big?

[SarahChamlove]

I bought both of my chameleons in january, when there were 8 weeks old. I had them live together for a while in a normal size cage for babies. Well, I recently (about a month ago) got my girl, Talula, a bigger cage because she grew so much faster the my male. But she seems less happy in this cage. she goes to her food bowl and then back up to the top. I know I need to get her more vines, but she is not as active as she use to be when they lived together.

Does is miss her brother? or is the cage to big for her?

 

[Spiderlash]

She probably just needs to get used to the new space. How big is her new enclosure? Might also be the temps if they're different than the smaller enclosure.

 

[Spiderlash]

You also don't want to keep these two together once they hit about 6 months old, otherwise the male will start to try to breed with the female. This will cause her alot of stress. She's probably much happier in her current secluded enclosure.

 

[Olimpia]

To answer your question, as a general rule my personal opinion is no, a cage can never be too big. With a few exceptions, chameleons are happier in lots of space with lots of plant cover and climbing pathways.

Like Spider suggested, it sounds like it might be a temp issue. If she's a little too cool she may need to be stuck basking more often to make up for it. Do you want to fill out the ask for help form and see if maybe we can figure out what may be going on? Pics would be great too if you have them.

 

[SarahChamlove]

it def can't be a temp thing because i recently found out my air conditioner stopped working and I live in arizona. I have been keeping the basketing light off for two days now and its still gets to 90 degrees on top and about 78-85 on bottom.

I think it because i have alot of empty space unlike before, where the plants i used were the same size as the cage pretty much. and i had to trim down her favorite plant because some of the leaves were dying.

here is her cage you can see her on top of the vine

and here is the most recent picture of her

 

[Syn]

I don't see a photo.

Sarah depending on the species of chameleon you are keeping (as well as age) that is a little too warm. Looks like from your avatar they are veileds, but for a female that is still warm regardless.

If you'd like, I can watch your chameleon(s) for you until you get your A/C fixed. I just don't have any spare lights.

 

[SarahChamlove]

I don't see a photo.

Sarah depending on the species of chameleon you are keeping (as well as age) that is a little too warm. Looks like from your avatar they are veileds, but for a female that is still warm regardless.

If you'd like, I can watch your chameleon(s) for you until you get your A/C fixed. I just don't have any spare lights.

Yeah, I have veileds.
I keep the basketing light off and I've been using a small van to keep air moving around. Right now, Its at 87 degrees.
She looks so unhappy to me. She is under her uvb light and has been there since i turned on the uvb light no today.


this is a picture of her today. For some reason, it is not allowing me to posted the pic of her cage, but I do have a pic of her cage in another thread that i posted called house geckos, under general discussion

 

[SarahChamlove]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/house-geckos-57778/index2.html

Hopefully this works. this was a thread i posted a couple days ago and you can see earl's terrarium and then talula's terrarium