Cham seems to be doing a weird body motion…only done it today

We’ve caught my juvenile male veiled chameleon doing a weird motion. He keeps sucking in his throat and puffing it back out just a little bit, and clenching his stomach back and forth. Haven’t been able to get a video. Not sure what he’s doing or if I should be concerned? Thought it looked like he was gagging or something but when I did research on it I couldn’t really find anything besides someone saying they will hang upside down when gagging/choking. He seems perfectly fine but then randomly throughout the day today he’s done it. We mist his tank and will have water dripping off leaves for him to drink. We don’t give him any water ever with a syringe. And his bugs are smaller than the width of his skull, so we’re good there, I believe.
 
We’ve caught my juvenile male veiled chameleon doing a weird motion. He keeps sucking in his throat and puffing it back out just a little bit, and clenching his stomach back and forth. Haven’t been able to get a video. Not sure what he’s doing or if I should be concerned? Thought it looked like he was gagging or something but when I did research on it I couldn’t really find anything besides someone saying they will hang upside down when gagging/choking. He seems perfectly fine but then randomly throughout the day today he’s done it. We mist his tank and will have water dripping off leaves for him to drink. We don’t give him any water ever with a syringe. And his bugs are smaller than the width of his skull, so we’re good there, I believe.
When you say tank do you mean like a glass tank? Fish tank?


Is he doing it under the basking fixture?
 
Domyou mean sucking his stomach in and then sticking it out?
Photos of the chameleon and the cage including the lights down to the bottom would help.
Yes! I’ll post a few pictures. His cage is very plain and insufficient of plants right now but is currently in the process of getting live plants, and we are working on getting him the correct uvb light. He has a coiled 5.0 right now.
 

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Definitely get the right UVB light ASAP. Can you get him outside for some real sunlight in the meantime?
Your cage definitely needs some more greenery ASAP too.

He looks ok to me. Is he still shutting one eye?

It would be a lot easier to follow what's going on if you just kept everything in one thread about the same chameleon. It's so hard having to read all your other posts so I can get a real idea of what's going on.
 
Definitely get the right UVB light ASAP. Can you get him outside for some real sunlight in the meantime?
Your cage definitely needs some more greenery ASAP too.

He looks ok to me. Is he still shutting one eye?

It would be a lot easier to follow what's going on if you just kept everything in one thread about the same chameleon. It's so hard having to read all your other posts so I can get a real idea of what's going on.
Yes he is still doing it. He just does it on and off throughout the day. And okay about the thread, sorry bout that! Just feel like a maze haha.
 
Definitely get the right UVB light ASAP. Can you get him outside for some real sunlight in the meantime?
Your cage definitely needs some more greenery ASAP too.

He looks ok to me. Is he still shutting one eye?

It would be a lot easier to follow what's going on if you just kept everything in one thread about the same chameleon. It's so hard having to read all your other posts so I can get a real idea of what's going on.
I have another question. My cham keeps eating my mattress. Which is very weird because my mattress is yellow with holes and doesn’t look anything like a bug or plant he would eat?? I’m so new to chams.
 
Yes! I’ll post a few pictures. His cage is very plain and insufficient of plants right now but is currently in the process of getting live plants, and we are working on getting him the correct uvb light. He has a coiled 5.0 right now.
So you know the probe that is on that gauge? It needs to be wrapped around the branch and then use a little zip tie to gently secure the probe below the heat where he sits on the branch. If it is 85 at the branch then where he sits even higher is probably sitting about 87. So it would mean it is too hot. Looking for 80 at the branch for this baby. And you need to adjust down the branch he uses for the heat. Easiest to do this with the flexible vine that comes with the kit because you can keep the side on the UVB higher then flex down the heat side a few inches to get baby farther away. So the side under the UVB needs to be a measured 4 inches down. THen where he rises up he will be at the 3 inch mark where the UVI level is correct. He is larger so we have to account for his size vs a young baby.
 
So you know the probe that is on that gauge? It needs to be wrapped around the branch and then use a little zip tie to gently secure the probe below the heat where he sits on the branch. If it is 85 at the branch then where he sits even higher is probably sitting about 87. So it would mean it is too hot. Looking for 80 at the branch for this baby. And you need to adjust down the branch he uses for the heat. Easiest to do this with the flexible vine that comes with the kit because you can keep the side on the UVB higher then flex down the heat side a few inches to get baby farther away. So the side under the UVB needs to be a measured 4 inches down. THen where he rises up he will be at the 3 inch mark where the UVI level is correct. He is larger so we have to account for his size vs a young baby.
Alrighty, thank u! And thanks to everyone who’s been helping me out on this journey 😊😊🙏🙏
 
Definitely get the right UVB light ASAP. Can you get him outside for some real sunlight in the meantime?
Your cage definitely needs some more greenery ASAP too.

He looks ok to me. Is he still shutting one eye?

It would be a lot easier to follow what's going on if you just kept everything in one thread about the same chameleon. It's so hard having to read all your other posts so I can get a real idea of what's going on.
How many times a day should I take him outside for sun and how long?
 
Once is enough...for at least half an hour I would think. Make sure he can get into the shade if he wants to and has access to water if he's out for very long.
 
My Cham keeps tryna crawl up the screen of his cage and I’m scared he’s gonna break a nail. Is there anything I can do to stop him from doing that?
 
They pretty much do it till older. If still does it might want to look at cage and see what you can do to make better. If they don't have enough branches and room they tend to do it more. All of mine have done it till about 7 months old. They all still have all there nails. I have a total of 5 cham but only 4 are mine other my daughters
 
I really don't think so. I see where hybrid enclosures could stop this. I have plenty of limbs for him to climb mine does this too but only at the top where it's 9 inches of open space
 
They pretty much do it till older. If still does it might want to look at cage and see what you can do to make better. If they don't have enough branches and room they tend to do it more. All of mine have done it till about 7 months old. They all still have all there nails. I have a total of 5 cham but only 4 are mine other my daughters
Gotcha, thank you!
 
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