Climbing on screen ceiling

[Dexter’s Mom]

Hi guys,
Does anyone else have issues with their cham climbing upside down from the screened ceiling. My guy does it sometimes when I walk in the room or when I’m messing in his cage. As soon as he does it I walk away because clearly he’s having an issue with me. He’s fallen a few times now as well He scares me when he does it. I tried to put some branches higher up in hopes that he would just go to those instead, but he’s still doing it. Is he just trying to get higher? Today when I was adding branches he climbed onto my arm, came out of his cage and climbed up to the top of my head. I wasn’t even trying to handle him.

 

[janjan20]

Looks like it may be time to upgrade to a larger enclosure And what are your current temps and humidity?

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Looks like it may be time to upgrade to a larger enclosure And what are your current temps and humidity?

I figured, you just confirmed my suspicions. I’ve been planning it, but I’m trying to figure out where it will go, how I want to do it ie. build my own, buy a dragon strand etc. Currently basking is 86, ambient is 67 and humidY is 42%. Nighttime temps are about 63 and humidity is about 80-90%.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I figured, you just confirmed my suspicions. I’ve been planning it, but I’m trying to figure out where it will go, how I want to do it ie. build my own, buy a dragon strand etc. Currently basking is 86, ambient is 67 and humidY is 42%. Nighttime temps are about 63 and humidity is about 80-90%.

Well you need to figure it out because that’s what’s doing this behavior.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Your just a big moving tree to them, higher is always better to them.

falls are likely just him having to support his entire body weight upside down on a screen, happens.

but it’s also possible the falls are MBD related or heis just growing up and his hormones are driving him to patrol his territory and find a mate.

mom putting my money on mate. It’s in your best interest to complete the help form.

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Well you need to figure it out because that’s what’s doing this behavior.

Obviously

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Chameleon Info:
* Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, about 6-7 months, I’ve had him for 3 months.
* Handling -Maybe once a week if that. Mostly for cleaning purposes.
* Feeding - About 10-15 crickets everyday, along with a mixture of either Dubai’s, hornworms, or super worms (currently super worms) These are rotated based on what I have. Crickets are gut-loaded with a rotation of sweet potato, apples, carrots, blackberries, dandelion greens, oranges, cilantro, bell peppers and zoo med cricket care cricket feed. He is also a plant eater so I give him daily greens (cilantro and dandelion greens are his favorites)
* Supplements - Rep Cal phos free no D3 calcium everyday. Rep Cal Phos free with D3 every other week, Rep Cal Herptivite every other week.
* Watering - I hand mist about 4 times a day for about 2 minutes. I use a little dripper that runs about 10 minutes, twice a day. I use tap water. I have never seen him drink.
* Fecal Description - Feces are dark brown, wet but solid, Urates are almost pure white, occasionally tiny bit of yellow. He poops twice a day at almost the same time everyday and pretty much in the same spot. Neve been tested for parasites.
* History - Nothing I can think of other than this is my first Cham.

Cage Info:
* Cage Type - Glass Exo Terra, screen top, 18x18x24. Will be working on moving him to a larger one.
* Lighting - 12 hours on, 12 hours off. Reptisun T5 HO 5.0 UVB, 75 Watt basking bulb
* Temperature - Basking spot is about 85-87, ambient 65-70, night time temps 60-65. I have 2 digital thermometer hydrometers in cage. One by basking one in opposite bottom corner. I also use a laser temp gun.
* Humidity - Humidity during day on top of viv is 30-40, bottom is 60-70. Spikes up briefly after misting. I use 2 hydrometers to measure this.
* Plants - he has Pothos, ficus, and an umbrella tree. He takes bites of all of them pretty regularly.
* Placement - Where is your cage located? Near a window on a dresser. About 5 feet from the ground. Fairly Low traffic area. He’s in an extra bedroom that I go in and out of, but no one else does. No other pets.
* Location - Where are you geographically located? Cleveland, Ohio USA

Current Problem - climbing on screen ceiling of cage.

 

[janjan20]

Everything looks pretty good as far as your husbandry goes. He just needs a bigger enclosure.

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Everything looks pretty good as far as your husbandry goes. He just needs a bigger enclosure.

Thanks! I truly appreciate you for taking the time to look over that.

 

[Beman]

Yeah he is just desperate for more room. This is going to be one of those things now that he is maturing that gets much worse if he does not have the space he needs. Due to his age he is going to start patrolling his area much more. They will get frustrated and can hurt themselves if they do not have adequate room to move around. Also at his age he is at risk for breaking nails on that top screen when he is trying to get out.

Only thing I see in your husbandry that I would personally change is the herbivite. This does not contain preformed vitamin A which is needed for proper eye health. I would switch to something like reptivite. Just make sure you get the formula without D3.

Also the T5 is this is single bulb fixture? If so I would raise the T5 up off the cage because at that top basking level he is getting an extremely high UVB level which is not good. With a single bulb fixture and a 5.0 zoo med or a 6% arcadia bulb your wanting a distance of 10-12 inches from the bottom of the fixture to the basking branch for the correct UVI level. This is one of those too much is just as bad as too little things.

 

[janjan20]

Thanks for the back up Becca xoxo

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Yeah he is just desperate for more room. This is going to be one of those things now that he is maturing that gets much worse if he does not have the space he needs. Due to his age he is going to start patrolling his area much more. They will get frustrated and can hurt themselves if they do not have adequate room to move around. Also at his age he is at risk for breaking nails on that top screen when he is trying to get out.

Only thing I see in your husbandry that I would personally change is the herbivite. This does not contain preformed vitamin A which is needed for proper eye health. I would switch to something like reptivite. Just make sure you get the formula without D3.

Also the T5 is this is single bulb fixture? If so I would raise the T5 up off the cage because at that top basking level he is getting an extremely high UVB level which is not good. With a single bulb fixture and a 5.0 zoo med or a 6% arcadia bulb your wanting a distance of 10-12 inches from the bottom of the fixture to the basking branch for the correct UVI level. This is one of those too much is just as bad as too little things.

Thank you. It’s definitely time for him to get into a bigger enclosure. I will address the supplement and T5 as well. Thank you.

 

[kinyonga]

Husbandry looks good except that I would move the cage away from the window a couple of feet because of where you live.

I have used the same supplements you use for years with veiled chameleons with no problem. I have never had to give any of my veileds any preformed vitamin A (and I haven't fed the insects anything that has preformed vitamin A in either) and they've never had any apparent issues from not having it. (I'm not so sure with some other species, if it's needEd or not though.)

 

[Dexter’s Mom]

Husbandry looks good except that I would move the cage away from the window a couple of feet because of where you live.

I have used the same supplements you use for years with veiled chameleons with no problem. I have never had to give any of my veileds any preformed vitamin A (and I haven't fed the insects anything that has preformed vitamin A in either) and they've never had any apparent issues from not having it. (I'm not so sure with some other species, if it's needEd or not though.)

Noted. Once I move him to a bigger cage it should be on a wall, not a window. I’ve been lucky, it’s been a surprisingly mild winter here. It was actually 66 degrees the other day!