Chameleon not moving

pepesocute81

pepesocute81

New Member
My chameleon has been with me for 6 months and he is one year old. Recently he has decided to sit in his sleeping spot in the corner for 2 hours after wake up, then going to the same spot for two hours before his lights turn off. Today, he has sat in that exact same spot for the whole day! I’ve misted him the same amount as always and he’s never been dehydrated, he has had the same enclosure and I haven’t been holding him. I have a hybrid enclosure so I don’t believe it is a respiratory issue, and he is still overweight and dieting and hasn’t loss weight so I don’t think it’s a parasite.

What do you guys think?
 
My chameleon is a one and a half year male veiled chameleon and I had him for a year. I haven’t held him since June. I’ve been feeding him 20 crickets every other week to diet him because he seems overweight, I give worms occasionally. I give him his calcium, he doesn’t look like he has mbd. I mist him and give him a dripper occasionally. His bowel movements have slowed down slightly for the winter. He has a cage with two walls of mesh and two walls of PBC (Hybrid). His UV light is a 5.0 and his basking lamp is 50 watts. There is an air vent not too far from his terrarium. I noticed him moving less and going into the corner since the temps dropped from 70 in my house to 60.

Sorry he’s asleep rn I’ll send pics tmw
 
The first picture shows the spot he is stuck in, anymore questions please ask.
 

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I can see plainly just by the cage set up one major issue. He can not get close enough to the UVB to be able to actually get what he needs. the branches are way too far away from the lighting. We need specifics to give you an exact distance needed.

Copy and paste the form below into your reply and then add your answer after each question. This is the only way members give you exact feedback.


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 to 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 - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
I agree with @Beman, you need to adjust the branches in his enclosure to make sure he is getting proper UVB, without it he will get sick. We are happy to help you get the proper adjustments for your beautiful guy.
 
He is using a 5.0 UVB light, the fixture isn’t a bulb it is a bar light. I have an extra branch, I can hang it up to get him a little closer to the light. How close is too close?
 
Please post some photos of your chameleon where I can see him better. He’s partly hidden by the leaves in the photo you posted already.
 
pepesocute81 said:
He is using a 5.0 UVB light, the fixture isn’t a bulb it is a bar light. I have an extra branch, I can hang it up to get him a little closer to the light. How close is too close?
Click to expand...
Can you tell us if your using the T8 or the T5HO fixture? There is a really big difference between these two and they both take the 5.0 bulbs.
With the T8 and the 5.0 bulb you would have to have a branch 6 inches below the screen to put him in the correct UVI exposure level where he would rise off the branch. With a T5HO and the 5.0 bulb you would have to have the branch 8-9 inches below the screen to put him in the same correct 3 UVI level.

Looks like you have a 2x2x4foot cage and your branches are roughly mid cage which means he is not getting any usable UVB lighting. Even though you can see the light the UVB reduces drastically the farther you get away from the actual bulb. This can lead to immune system being compromised, MBD, sleeping during the day, lack of appetite and more. Essentially their bodies start slowly shutting down.


Start reading everything in this husbandry program. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
I put this branch up for him and he finally moved just for the heat, now I’m worried about him getting uvb because it is too cold and he only wants to sit here to stay warm. I’m going to upgrade him to a 75 watt light bulb so he could start climbing down more so he’s positioned around 6 inches from uvb.
 

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pepesocute81 said:
I put this branch up for him and he finally moved just for the heat, now I’m worried about him getting uvb because it is too cold and he only wants to sit here to stay warm. I’m going to upgrade him to a 75 watt light bulb so he could start climbing down more so he’s positioned around 6 inches from uvb.
Click to expand...
You have to lift that heat fixture up off the top of the cage... Do not increase the bulb wattage. Right now he is at risk of a thermal burn increasing it will make it worse. No matter what wattage you use he is going to try to get as high as possible. And right now with only having that one vine he can not access the UVB you have because it is positioned over the middle of the cage and not where that vine is. He needs many more branches in there. They are arboreal animals so they want to be as high as possible.

Go buy some vinyl lattice and cut the pieces to fit the back and two sides slide them into the cage. use zip ties to hook them to each other in the corner of the cage. This will work as a trellis for you to hook vines too. If your going to do fake vines buy the flukers brand of vines. Remove all of the bark in the bottom of the cage it is an impaction risk.
@MissSkittles can you post pics of your lattice you did?

Set up of a cage for a chameleon should look like the images in this album. https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/albums/my-enclosures.6672/


This is a plant list. Buy the veiled tested plants only.

plants 2024.png
 
Here it is. It is easiest to do when the enclosure is not yet put together. After I cut my lattice pieces to size, I sanded any sharp edges. Drilled tiny holes where I needed to attach. Then, using thin wire attached to the frame and made sure to anchor to at least a couple of screws to prevent it from sliding down. I did have to add a few extra small screws for this, but not a big deal. It looks much nicer than I thought it would and is sturdy enough to hold not just a lot of various size branches, but some plants as well.
*just fyi - my enclosures are all double sized and bioactive.
IMG_5615.jpeg IMG_5616.jpeg IMG_5883.jpeg
 
even at his highest spot he is still not moving and i am starting to think it is not a heat problem because he is bright all day
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male 1 year old, had him for 6
  • Handling: Haven’t handled him since June
  • Feeding - 20 dusted crickets a week, 3 worms on Sundays multivitamin every other week.
  • Supplements - Just dusted calcium no d3 I give a d3 multivitamin every other week.
  • Watering - Mist every 12 hours for a minute with a dripper on weekends.
  • Fecal Description - Hasn’t pooped in 2 weeks
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Hybrid Cage
  • Lighting - 50 watt basking light
  • Temperature - Cage floor is 70 basking spot 75- 80
  • Humidity - 40-50 percent
  • Plants - No real plants
  • Location - LA
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male 1 year old, had him for 6
  • Handling: Haven’t handled him since June
  • Feeding - 20 dusted crickets a week, 3 worms on Sundays multivitamin every other week.
  • Supplements - Just dusted calcium no d3 I give a d3 multivitamin every other week.
  • Watering - Mist every 12 hours for a minute with a dripper on weekends.
  • Fecal Description - Hasn’t pooped in 2 weeks
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Hybrid Cage
  • Lighting -
  • 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?
 
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