Chameleon sleeping during day

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

So, about a week ago, I got a new chameleon named Ringo. So, I noticed he was sleeping earlier in the day, but didn't think about since it was still early in the morning. Then later I handled him for the first time, and he closed his right eye, but left the left one open. Is this normal? He is 3 months old, and has only been here for a week.

 

[MissSkittles]

Doesn’t sound normal. If you could answer the following questions, someone can review your husbandry and get a better idea of what’s going on.

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.

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Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon, Male, 3 months.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have only handled in once for 10 minutes
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Mealworms. He has only ate one so far, so I give him 3 a day to see if he will eat. Carrot slices.
• 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? I use misting and dripping. I mist twice a day for about 5 minutes
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? None yet
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I got him from a local Petland

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen. I forgot the size, but it is the size with the minimum size for a baby chameleon.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zoo med dual lighting lamp (I don't use the UVB) and zoo med 5.0 linear T8 UVB
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking spot is 85⁰F and cage floor is 71⁰F.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 60%. Misting. Exoterra hydrometer (I think that's what it's called)
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No
• 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? In my room. No. Around 4 and a half foot.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? The Florida panhandle

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Sleeping during the day.

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

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[MissSkittles]

Putting my feedback in red.

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon, Male, 3 months. Are you sure he’s a he? Often pet stores are incorrect in gender. If male, he should have spurs (little nubs) sticking out from his back heels.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have only handled in once for 10 minutes
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Mealworms. He has only ate one so far, so I give him 3 a day to see if he will eat. Carrot slices. Mealworms aren’t a good feeder for chameleons. Attaching feeder and gutloading graphics to better guide you.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? You are going to need to lightly dust supplements on the feeders. At every feeding except one per week, use phosphorus free calcium without D3. The one weekly feeding, one week use calcium with D3 and the next week a multivitamin and just keep alternating the two.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I use misting and dripping. I mist twice a day for about 5 minutes
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? None yet It’s always a good idea to have a fecal check for parasites.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I got him from a local Petland

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen. I forgot the size, but it is the size with the minimum size for a baby chameleon. No idea but he will be needing a minimum of a 2x2x4’ (or equivalent) enclosure as he grows. Being in Florida, I suggest screen to keep the humidity down.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zoo med dual lighting lamp (I don't use the UVB) and zoo med 5.0 linear T8 UVB You need a T5HO with a 5.0 uvb (or 6% Arcadia) for best uvb output. It needs to be long enough to span the width of the enclosure. Might as well save a little and get the longer one you’ll need for his adult enclosure.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking spot is 85⁰F and cage floor is 71⁰F. Basking is too hot for a baby. You don’t want it to get above 80* at basking spot.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 60%. Misting. Exoterra hydrometer (I think that's what it's called) This is too high. You want humidity to stay between 30-50% during the day. At night when it’s cool it can get all the way to 100%. You could change your misting sessions to 3 times daily for about 2 minutes each time.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No Live plants are best, especially for veileds. They tend to nibble their plants and if he eats a fake leaf, he can get impacted. Pothos are a favorite to use as they’re deemed safe, grow fast, nice big leaves to hide in and have nice long vines that add extra cham highways. This is a great list for safe plants. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/ The whole site is full of info and I suggest checking it out.
• 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? In my room. No. Around 4 and a half foot. Chams feel safest when they are up higher and can literally look down on us.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? The Florida panhandle

Can you post some pics of your cham, his back feet and your enclosure from top to bottom?
Not really sure why he would have his eyes closed as you’ve only had him a week. It is a bad sign when chams sleep during daylight though. Young chameleons can be fragile and I’ve no idea what Petland’s husbandry is like. It could be a combination of factors. My instinct is saying it’s dietary...no supplements and nutrition-poor feeders. Have you noticed anything else...maybe like noises when he breathes, stringy saliva, has he pooped, etc? The sooner you make the corrections, the better for the little guy. @Beman what do you think? Am I missing something here?

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[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Thank you.

 

[Beman]

@MissSkittles no your feedback is on point. @Ringo_the_chameleon can you post pics of the entire enclosure lighting down please. I would also suggest not handling right now as well since he is already showing stress responses.
The T8 UVB can be used but must be used with a 10.0 UVB bulb and must have the basking branch 6 inches below it for the correct UVB level. Switching to a T5HO fixture with a 5.0 UVB bulb is optimal and then the basking branch would need to be dropped down to 9 inches below for the correct UVB level.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Here are some pictures I took a minute ago

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

@MissSkittles no your feedback is on point. @Ringo_the_chameleon can you post pics of the entire enclosure lighting down please. I would also suggest not handling right now as well since he is already showing stress responses.
The T8 UVB can be used but must be used with a 10.0 UVB bulb and must have the basking branch 6 inches below it for the correct UVB level. Switching to a T5HO fixture with a 5.0 UVB bulb is optimal and then the basking branch would need to be dropped down to 9 inches below for the correct UVB level.

Ok, I will get a new light, thank you.

 

[Beman]

Ok, I will get a new light, thank you.

If you post pics of the enclosure we can visually see if anything is standing out that would cause issues.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

I researched it some more, and from what I read, him sleeping while I handle him means that he is stressed and that he thinks I'm a predator.

 

[Beman]

I researched it some more, and from what I read, him sleeping while I handle him means that he is stressed and that he thinks I'm a predator.

Yes, exactly they should not be handled until they are larger and trust you. But closing the eyes during the day in the cage is a stress sign and or a health sign due to husbandry issues.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Yes, exactly they should not be handled until they are larger and trust you. But closing the eyes during the day in the cage is a stress sign and or a health sign due to husbandry issues.

He only did that once, and it was the first or second day I got him, about 10 minutes before I turned the light off. I don't know what his schedule in the store was.

 

[MissSkittles]

Here are some pictures I took a minute ago

Hard to tell from the pics, but I don’t see any spurs on the back feet. It’s possible you may have a female. If so, husbandry at this age is the same as for males, but as she gets a bit older (around 6 months), things will change a little bit and you’ll be needing to provide her with a lay bin. They lay infertile eggs even if not mated.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Hard to tell from the pics, but I don’t see any spurs on the back feet. It’s possible you may have a female. If so, husbandry at this age is the same as for males, but as she gets a bit older (around 6 months), things will change a little bit and you’ll be needing to provide her with a lay bin. They lay infertile eggs even if not mated.

Ill try and get some better pictures.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Hard to tell from the pics, but I don’t see any spurs on the back feet. It’s possible you may have a female. If so, husbandry at this age is the same as for males, but as she gets a bit older (around 6 months), things will change a little bit and you’ll be needing to provide her with a lay bin. They lay infertile eggs even if not mated.

I can't right now, he's hiding in the back corner and I can only see his head poking out

 

[MissSkittles]

Can or have you seen a spur on his back feet, like this?

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Can or have you seen a spur on his back feet, like this?
View attachment 275180

I haven't, but I haven't looked either. Do they have it as baby's?

 

[MissSkittles]

I haven't, but I haven't looked either. Do they have it as baby's?

Yes, they do. I believe it’s present from when they hatch.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Yes, they do. I believe it’s present from when they hatch.

Ok, thank you I'll look. The pet store said they were male.

 

[Ringo_the_chameleon]

Ok, thank you I'll look. The pet store said they were male.

I just looked and I didn't see anything, I can't take a picture though because he or she is at a weird angle. I can probably take one tonight before it goes to bed.