Chameleon sleeping during the day

[AllieB]

I have a 1 year old male panther Cham who I caught napping today at 1pm. Recently I’ve caught him crawling on the bottom of his cage, but I thought it was just him exploring. Now I’m wonder if these occurrences could be linked. His lights are on from 8am-8pm, and this has never happened before. He has a 100watt basking bulb and a linear reptisun T4 output 5UVB light. Both lights were replaced last month. He has a 24x24x48 screen cage with live and fake plants, so it has lots of foliage. His humidity is typically around 60 percent and his basking area is around 88-90 degrees and 70 at the bottom. I feed him Dubias and crickets that I gutload with cucumbers, apples, and blueberries. I dust them twice a month with Repticalcium with D3 and Repticalcium without D3 every feeding. He has a mist king with is on 5 times a day for a 1 and 1/2 minutes. He also has a dripping system that runs all day. He pooped yesterday and it looked normal and had a white urate. I did handle him earlier yesterday and I’m not sure if he could be napping because of stress. I keep handing to a minimum and he’s in my room where I don’t allow my other pets and there isn’t a lot of foot traffic. I’m just really concerned because I’ve read that napping during the day isn’t a good sign.

 

[SourGrape4u]

From your description it seems like everything sounds good, has he napped anymore and was that the only time?

 

[AllieB]

From your description it seems like everything sounds good, has he napped anymore and was that the only time?

This is the first time I've seen him napping during the day, but I'm not sure if he has napped before and I just haven't seen.

 

[MissSkittles]

Can you post pics of your cham and entire enclosure?

 

[AllieB]

Can you post pics of your cham and entire enclosure?

 

[SourGrape4u]

You have a 100 watt that close? You might want to take a temp with something else. Might be a lot hotter than i think.

 

[AllieB]

You have a 100 watt that close? You might want to take a temp with something else. Might be a lot hotter than i think.

I used a temp gauge and it came back registering the basking spot at 98... Much different than the infrared thermometer was registering. Is that too hot for him and if so should I get a 75 watt?

 

[salty dog]

98 is too hot!! 88 is optimal

 

[MissSkittles]

Nothing is jumping out at me, except he needs to have a multivitamin twice a month. You say your uvb is a T4...do you mean a T5, T8 or is it really a T4? I don’t know enough about lighting to know if a T4 is adequate. I can’t even find if uvb bulbs are made for T4. You could improve your gutloading...add fresh organic dandelion, mustard or turnip greens, various squash, bell pepper and/or add a commercial product like bug burger. Not sure that any of these things would cause daytime napping though. May be something going on not related to husbandry...an internal issue or parasites. Perhaps more experienced keepers will have better input than me.

 

[AllieB]

Nothing is jumping out at me, except he needs to have a multivitamin twice a month. You say your uvb is a T4...do you mean a T5, T8 or is it really a T4? I don’t know enough about lighting to know if a T4 is adequate. I can’t even find if uvb bulbs are made for T4. You could improve your gutloading...add fresh organic dandelion, mustard or turnip greens, various squash, bell pepper and/or add a commercial product like bug burger. Not sure that any of these things would cause daytime napping though. May be something going on not related to husbandry...an internal issue or parasites. Perhaps more experienced keepers will have better input than me.

Whoops, I meant to say T5. I’ll run to the store today and definitely get some more stuff to gutload the insects with. I’ll keep a close eye on him and if anything else weird happens or I see him napping again, I’ll take him to the vet. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[MissSkittles]

Whoops, I meant to say T5. I’ll run to the store today and definitely get some more stuff to gutload the insects with. I’ll keep a close eye on him and if anything else weird happens or I see him napping again, I’ll take him to the vet. Thank you so much for your help!

Sounds like a solid plan.

 

[SourGrape4u]

I used a temp gauge and it came back registering the basking spot at 98... Much different than the infrared thermometer was registering. Is that too hot for him and if so should I get a 75 watt?

Yes try a 75 watt bulb that 100 is too hot

 

[NashansCamos]

agreed. my chams are on 75 watt about 8 inches away

 

[AllieB]

Yes try a 75 watt bulb that 100 is too hot

I'll go and grab a 75 watt from my local pet store! Thank you for the help!

 

[SourGrape4u]

I'll go and grab a 75 watt from my local pet store! Thank you for the help!

Don't waste money on that just get a incandescent bulb from Lowe's or home Depot or even Dollar general they are cheaper and work the same just make sure they are incandescent and not LED