Chameleon at the bottom

[Chameleon-lover]

Hello that's me again. Now I am concerned about my 5 months old male panther chameleon health. This week he started climbing to the bottom of the enclosure. He's like pawing on glass but no all day maybe like 2 times a day. I mist the enclosure in the morning and evening. I give him 15 crickets a day(every day calcium and every 2 weeks multivitamins). I am using basking-bulb Zoomed 25W and UVB Arcadia 6% 39W. Dimensions of enclosure are 60x45x90cm. Also I am worried about his physique, I mean if he is underweight. I am using ficus, schefflera arboricola and Boston fern in his enclosure. He also haven't shed for month(I mean isn't he too small for his age)

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! There could be a number of things going on with him hanging out at the bottom of the enclosure. Let’s have you fill out the below husbandry review form and see how we can offer you some support.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem -

 

[Chameleon-lover]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - 5 months old male nosy be panther chameleon
• Handling - occasionally
• Feeding - I feed him with 10-15 crickets every day. Crickets are gut-loaded with salat and fruits.
• Supplements - Repti planet Calcium without D3 and reptiplanet multivitamins. I use calcium every day and multivitamins every 2 weeks.
• Watering - I mist him (hand misting), every morning and evening, yes I see him drinking
• Fecal Description - No he hasn't been tested for parasites. I don't really know how to describe the fecal (I will attach file)
• History-I was using compact bulbs but I replaced them by Arcadia 6% 39W. Last weeks he didn't want to eat (maybe gave him too big crickets but now he doesn't want to stop eat)

Cage Info:

• Cage type-I am using glass enclosure with screened top. Dimensions are 60x45x90cm.
• Lighting - I am using Arcadia 6% 39W and lighting schedule is 12 hours.
• Temperature - Basking temp is 31 celsius. At the centre of the enclosure temp is 24 celsius and at the bottom 22. Thermometer that I used isn't really reliable.
• Humidity - I mist him every morning and evening for 2 minutes.
• Plants - I am using ficus, schefflera arboricola, Boston fern.
• Placement - My cage is located at the frequent place next to the fridge.
• Location - Europe(Slovakia)

Current Problem - He is at the bottom pawing on the class like 2 times a day. Also I am worried about his physique (if he isn't too small for 5 months old panther Cham). He hasn't shed for month.

 

[elizaann2]

Thanks for all of the information and photos, see my response below in bold

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - 5 months old male nosy be panther chameleon. Remind me, how long has he been in your care?
• Handling - occasionally. Chameleons are very shy lizards and often are easily stressed by handling. I personally view my chameleons as pets similar to a fish, they are a really amazing animal to observe and enjoy that way, but you don't hold or handle them. The only time I handle my chams are when I am doing a physical check on them to ensure they are healthy, when I need to remove them from their enclosure to work on or fix something within their enclousre and when I am taking them to the vet.
• Feeding - I feed him with 10-15 crickets every day. Crickets are gut-loaded with salat and fruits. Great amount of feeders daily. You could also offer a variety of feeders for your boy as well, other great ones are grasshoppers, dubia roaches, bsfl, and bsf. What specific fruits and veggies are you using in your gut load? For your convenience, I will attach 2 documents with recommended feeders and what specific foods to use for your bugs gut load.
• Supplements - Repti planet Calcium without D3 and reptiplanet multivitamins. I use calcium every day and multivitamins every 2 weeks. Can you share photos of your supplements? I am not familiar with this brand.
• Watering - I mist him (hand misting), every morning and evening, yes I see him drinking. Ideally you do not want to see your chameleon drink, not all - but most chameleons are shy drinkers. Do you see him rush to drink? We typically monitor their hydration through their poop, solid but not firm poops with white or mostly white urates means your baby is hydrated. Have you heard anything about fogging at night? If your temps are 20 degrees C or lower you can safely fog. We have found that chameleons get their hydration in nature through the fog that comes through the forest in the late night/early morning.
• Fecal Description - No he hasn't been tested for parasites. I don't really know how to describe the fecal (I will attach file). Poops look ok to me. You'll want to clean them out of the enclosure each time he poops so his home stays nice and clean . I would also strongly recommend testing him for parasites. You can get this done through a vet.
• History-I was using compact bulbs but I replaced them by Arcadia 6% 39W. Last weeks he didn't want to eat (maybe gave him too big crickets but now he doesn't want to stop eat). Thats good it sounds like he has a healthy appetite

Cage Info:

• Cage type-I am using glass enclosure with screened top. Dimensions are 60x45x90cm. Great! With glass enclosures you will want to be careful with how warm it gets in your babies enclosure and watch the humidity levels as well. The size is ok, but he will soon need a larger enclosure, the recommended minimum size is 24 in x24 in x48 in.
• Lighting - I am using Arcadia 6% 39W and lighting schedule is 12 hours. Perfect
• Temperature - Basking temp is 31 celsius. At the centre of the enclosure temp is 24 celsius and at the bottom 22. Thermometer that I used isn't really reliable. 31 celsius is a tiny bit warm for baby, I'd keep it closer to 26. Ambient temps in the rest of the enclosure have perfect! Temps and humidity is very important to keep track of, if what you are using to measure this is not accurate I strongly suggest getting something reliable. I have a temp reader with a probe at my basking branch, one on a top branch of my enclosure to check the top ambient temp and humidity and one at the bottom to check temp and humidity. This is what I use as an example, if you are unable to get those where you live maybe you can find something similar.
• Humidity - I mist him every morning and evening for 2 minutes. Knowing your humidity levels is really important as I mentioned above, I am not sure with your glass enclosure if misting 2x a day is enough for your babies humidity levels.. It very well may be but getting something to read those levels will be important.
• Plants - I am using ficus, schefflera arboricola, Boston fern. Perfect! Should you choose to add more plants, I have attached a photo with a list of safe plants for you to check out.
• Placement - My cage is located at the frequent place next to the fridge. Is this a high traffic area in your home? Is your enclosure on anything like a table, book shelf or counter?
• Location - Europe(Slovakia).

Current Problem - He is at the bottom pawing on the class like 2 times a day. Also I am worried about his physique (if he isn't too small for 5 months old panther Cham). He hasn't shed for month.

To me, your beautiful boy looks quite healthy, I don't see any bones showing that shouldn't be. As they get older they will not shed as much, for example my Jackson's is currently 8 months old and he has shed 3 or 4 times since I have had him in June. I am personally more concerned with why your baby wants to get out of his enclosure and why he is hanging out at the bottom of the enclosure. My personal guess is he is either not feeling safe in his enclosure - not enough places to hide (not the case with your enclosure), the enclosure is placed in a high traffic area of the house and/or the enclosure isn't placed up high enough. As an example: my enclosures are placed in rooms that are hardly ever gone in at all (low traffic), they are placed on shelves and tables that are tall enough so the top of the branches in the enclosure go above my head when I approach the enclosures. To chameleons height equals safety. I would also question if your temperatures and humidity levels are correct for him and that may also be a reason for him to want to get out of his enclosure.

@MissSkittles - any insight on this beautiful panther?

 

[MissSkittles]

@MissSkittles - any insight on this beautiful panther?

Not much…you covered everything perfectly. He does need more space with a much larger enclosure. With smaller enclosures and especially glass, it’s more difficult to achieve decent gradients of temperature and humidity and he has very few to no options to avoid what he may find uncomfortable. I would definitely suggest raising your lights around 6-8 cm above the screen top. This will help reduce his temperatures, prevent potential burns and be a bit kinder than blasting him with so much light and uvb at such a close range.

 

[Chameleon-lover]

Thanks for all of the information and photos, see my response below in bold

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - 5 months old male nosy be panther chameleon. Remind me, how long has he been in your care?
• Handling - occasionally. Chameleons are very shy lizards and often are easily stressed by handling. I personally view my chameleons as pets similar to a fish, they are a really amazing animal to observe and enjoy that way, but you don't hold or handle them. The only time I handle my chams are when I am doing a physical check on them to ensure they are healthy, when I need to remove them from their enclosure to work on or fix something within their enclousre and when I am taking them to the vet.
• Feeding - I feed him with 10-15 crickets every day. Crickets are gut-loaded with salat and fruits. Great amount of feeders daily. You could also offer a variety of feeders for your boy as well, other great ones are grasshoppers, dubia roaches, bsfl, and bsf. What specific fruits and veggies are you using in your gut load? For your convenience, I will attach 2 documents with recommended feeders and what specific foods to use for your bugs gut load.
• Supplements - Repti planet Calcium without D3 and reptiplanet multivitamins. I use calcium every day and multivitamins every 2 weeks. Can you share photos of your supplements? I am not familiar with this brand.
• Watering - I mist him (hand misting), every morning and evening, yes I see him drinking. Ideally you do not want to see your chameleon drink, not all - but most chameleons are shy drinkers. Do you see him rush to drink? We typically monitor their hydration through their poop, solid but not firm poops with white or mostly white urates means your baby is hydrated. Have you heard anything about fogging at night? If your temps are 20 degrees C or lower you can safely fog. We have found that chameleons get their hydration in nature through the fog that comes through the forest in the late night/early morning.
• Fecal Description - No he hasn't been tested for parasites. I don't really know how to describe the fecal (I will attach file). Poops look ok to me. You'll want to clean them out of the enclosure each time he poops so his home stays nice and clean . I would also strongly recommend testing him for parasites. You can get this done through a vet.
• History-I was using compact bulbs but I replaced them by Arcadia 6% 39W. Last weeks he didn't want to eat (maybe gave him too big crickets but now he doesn't want to stop eat). Thats good it sounds like he has a healthy appetite

Cage Info:

• Cage type-I am using glass enclosure with screened top. Dimensions are 60x45x90cm. Great! With glass enclosures you will want to be careful with how warm it gets in your babies enclosure and watch the humidity levels as well. The size is ok, but he will soon need a larger enclosure, the recommended minimum size is 24 in x24 in x48 in.
• Lighting - I am using Arcadia 6% 39W and lighting schedule is 12 hours. Perfect
• Temperature - Basking temp is 31 celsius. At the centre of the enclosure temp is 24 celsius and at the bottom 22. Thermometer that I used isn't really reliable. 31 celsius is a tiny bit warm for baby, I'd keep it closer to 26. Ambient temps in the rest of the enclosure have perfect! Temps and humidity is very important to keep track of, if what you are using to measure this is not accurate I strongly suggest getting something reliable. I have a temp reader with a probe at my basking branch, one on a top branch of my enclosure to check the top ambient temp and humidity and one at the bottom to check temp and humidity. This is what I use as an example, if you are unable to get those where you live maybe you can find something similar.
• Humidity - I mist him every morning and evening for 2 minutes. Knowing your humidity levels is really important as I mentioned above, I am not sure with your glass enclosure if misting 2x a day is enough for your babies humidity levels.. It very well may be but getting something to read those levels will be important.
• Plants - I am using ficus, schefflera arboricola, Boston fern. Perfect! Should you choose to add more plants, I have attached a photo with a list of safe plants for you to check out.
• Placement - My cage is located at the frequent place next to the fridge. Is this a high traffic area in your home? Is your enclosure on anything like a table, book shelf or counter?
• Location - Europe(Slovakia).

Current Problem - He is at the bottom pawing on the class like 2 times a day. Also I am worried about his physique (if he isn't too small for 5 months old panther Cham). He hasn't shed for month.

To me, your beautiful boy looks quite healthy, I don't see any bones showing that shouldn't be. As they get older they will not shed as much, for example my Jackson's is currently 8 months old and he has shed 3 or 4 times since I have had him in June. I am personally more concerned with why your baby wants to get out of his enclosure and why he is hanging out at the bottom of the enclosure. My personal guess is he is either not feeling safe in his enclosure - not enough places to hide (not the case with your enclosure), the enclosure is placed in a high traffic area of the house and/or the enclosure isn't placed up high enough. As an example: my enclosures are placed in rooms that are hardly ever gone in at all (low traffic), they are placed on shelves and tables that are tall enough so the top of the branches in the enclosure go above my head when I approach the enclosures. To chameleons height equals safety. I would also question if your temperatures and humidity levels are correct for him and that may also be a reason for him to want to get out of his enclosure.

@MissSkittles - any insight on this beautiful panther?

Thank you so much I will buy reliable thermometer and hygrometer. Also I forgot to mention that sometimes when I mist the enclosure he is trying to climb (if that happens I usually put him on small Palma that I have) on me and when should buy him bigger enclosure?

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you so much I will buy reliable thermometer and hygrometer. Also I forgot to mention that sometimes when I mist the enclosure he is trying to climb (if that happens I usually put him on small Palma that I have) on me and when should buy him bigger enclosure?

Yes I would get him in a larger enclosure. The minimum recommended size is 24x24x48.

 

[Chameleon-lover]

Thank you but I would like to ask you that what are the symptoms of infected chameleon by parasites?

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you but I would like to ask you that what are the symptoms of infected chameleon by parasites?

There are lots of symptoms. That’s why we suggest getting them tested if they are acting out of their norm. It could be closed eyes, drinking a lot, not growing, eyes closed, runny poop, throwing up, lethargy….

 

[Chameleon-lover]

Today I had a call with vet he told me that it is normal behaviour for chameleon to go out of the enclosure(imagine being in your house all day). He told me that fecal test for parasites doesn't make sense. Maybe I am too much unnecessarily worried about him.

 

[Chameleon-lover]

There are lots of symptoms. That’s why we suggest getting them tested if they are acting out of their norm. It could be closed eyes, drinking a lot, not growing, eyes closed, runny poop, throwing up, lethargy….

Today I had a call with vet he told me that it is normal behaviour for chameleon to go out of the enclosure(imagine being in your house all day). He told me that fecal test for parasites doesn't make sense. Maybe I am too much unnecessarily worried about him.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

I'm currently in route to the vet. Follow your gut. If you feel there is something going on that requires a Vet visit, make a visit.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Fyi- fecals always make since. Can you see all parasites with the naked eye? A fecal is probably the least expensive service offered. My Cham had no symptoms but his fecal was positive for Giardia.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Also, if possible establish yourself with a general vet and a exotic vet. General Vet visits are less expensive. They can do wellness checks and fecal exams. The exotic vet can do bloodwork, xrays, and other specialty services. A fecal at the general vet is 35.00. At the exotic vet it's 60.00