Chameleon sleeping during the day.

[emilyack]

I have a male Veiled Chameleon that I got about a week ago from Petco. Normally I don't get animals or really anything from that store, but I was in there and fell in love with this little guy. The people there really don't know much about care as far as chameleons go. I've been doing a lot of research on Chameleons, because I really didn't know much about them before getting him. And I've never owned another reptile before him.
Things have been going really good, he's eating and he drank in front of my today (which eased my fears about him not drinking). I have new supplements coming in for him tomorrow because the Calcium powder I got at Petco has D3 in it, which I've since read a lot about.
Anyway, my one concern (and I know it's a big one) is that my little guy has been sleeping during the day. I first noticed his lethargy yesterday, he had his eyes partly closed and didn't look right at all, and was completely laying down on top of the line to his water mister. Last night he seemed to be pretty awake during what are normally his sleeping hours. And now today he is currently asleep on my shoulder. I took him out to see how he was doing because he was laying on that water line again, and he crawled onto my shoulder and fell asleep.
Aside from his strange sleeping behavior, he seems to be completely fine. He's eating, drinking, and he was moving around his cage last night and earlier today. The people at the store told me he is somewhere between 4-7 months old. And someone told me he should be due for a shed soon, but he hasn't showed any signs of it happening, that I know of.
I also have two cats, but keep them locked out of my room when I am not around, so he doesn't get stressed out too much. I'm just really worried about him and want him to get better, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Carlton]

You may have to assume that he didn't get great care at the shop, so he could be showing signs of nutritional deficiencies now. Please describe what type of lighting you use (brands), what you feed your insects, what you will be dusting with, the temp range and humidity in the cage. We can help make sure he gets back on the right track. At the top of this forum look for a sticky message titled "How to ask for help", and answer the questions as much as you can. They are designed to help us figure out what might be wrong.

 

[leedragon]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[emilyack]

Thanks for your help! I ended up just bringing him to the vet to have him checked out anyway. She said that if everything else with him is normal, she's okay with him napping during the day. She did give him an anti parasitic just in case he happened to have some. (It isnt dangerous to give them even if there are no parasites) He also shed soon after this, and hasn't been sleeping as much since. He is still laying on that water line for most of the day. I think I may just need to add more perches for him to be on in his cage, especially ones up high. He just wants to be away from the ground, and probably left alone too. So I haven't been handling him as much because I want to give him his space. I'm currently not home, but I'll check the light's brands later if I still have the packaging. I use one heat bulb, one night time heat bulb that is red, and a UVB strip light. I feed the crickets carrots mostly, but I'm willing to try other things as well. I give Pascal a calcium supplement without D3 about every day (repticalcium), a calcium supplement with D3 once every two weeks (reptivite), and a multivitamin every two weeks (herptivite). The humidity is between 50-70 usually. I have an automatic mister that goes off every two hours, for about thirty or so seconds, but even with that, the humidity still is around 50ish. The bottom of the tank is usually at about 80 degrees, so the top must be around 85 or so.

 

[BMO]

Everything about your husbandry seems good except the red heat bulb. Chameleons need a slight temperature drop at night. And the night bulb could be keeping him awake at night which in turn could be contributing to him sleeping during the day.

 

[emilyack]

My room is fairly chilly, so I'm kind of nervous to have no heat lamp on at all. The vet said the temp shouldn't go below 70 degrees at night. What would you recommend?

 

[BMO]

If your room doesn't dip below 50 degrees then you are fine. I would only worry if it got cooler than that. Their natural habitat regularly reaches 50's and even 40's at night. So if you are in the 60's, you are sitting pretty.

Here is a link that provides the highs and low's for the habitat's that veiled are from. http://www.martinsreptiles.co.uk/ukchams/calyptratus_habitat.htm

 

[emilyack]

I found a ceramic heating element that will screw into the lighting system I have, and it says it doesn't have the light on it. Would that still raise the temperature too high? My room gets really cool and I'm just worried it's going to be too much on him, especially if I have fans going in the summer.

 

[BMO]

You don't need a nighttime heat source.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

I second what BMO has to say. If YOU can live in your room comfortably enough, your cham will be just fine, especially at night.