Confused about Behavior...Please help

[lilmousie]

I am new to owning a Chameleon, but have been following all the steps and set up my guys terrarium just as it should be. I have multiple different heat lamps for the different types of light that it needs and all that. He's been doing awesome and a good eater. But this morning i found him near the bottom of his enclosure with his tail in his water dish. This isn't normal for him; he's usually posted up on a higher branch etc. Please let me know if this is normal behavior or if i have a right to be worried. Thank you.

 

[camimom]

what is your basking temp at?
how are you measuring your basking temp?
remove that water dish now! chams dont recognize sitting water as something they can drink.

are you only feeding him those worms?

 

[lilmousie]

what is your basking temp at?
how are you measuring your basking temp?
remove that water dish now! chams dont recognize sitting water as something they can drink.

are you only feeding him those worms?

I don't have just standing water, it's to catch the excess from his water dripper...he also has a streaming waterfall, too.

His basking temp is between 75 and 78 degrees. i have 2 different thermometers in his tank and use the average between the 2 to make sure one they temp is accurate.

and no, he gets about 15 to 20 small crickets a day and has meal worms always in a dish for him should he choose to eat those.

 

[camimom]

I don't have just standing water, it's to catch the excess from his water dripper...he also has a streaming waterfall, too.

His basking temp is between 75 and 78 degrees. i have 2 different thermometers in his tank and use the average between the 2 to make sure one they temp is accurate.

and no, he gets about 15 to 20 small crickets a day and has meal worms always in a dish for him should he choose to eat those.

oy. ok.

please remove the water fall. they wont drink streaming water either.
they need either dripping water, or water that is poooled on plant leaves. like from misting.

his basking temp is way to low. it should be at least 80-85 degrees.

 

[camimom]

Can you fill this out please?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

what cage is he in?

you say tank, like a fish tank?

 

[Elizadolots]

Hi, welcome to the forums. Typically we don't recommend waterfalls as they require daily cleaning (chameleons just seem to want to poop in them). I would suggest you put a nylon net or other sort of cover over your catch bowl just to make sure your chameleon cannot fall into the bowl and drown.

 

[lilmousie]

ok, so i'll take out the waterfall and stick to the misting and dripper. and no, not a fish tank, he's in a front opening glass terarium.

so hopefully that will make him happier.

 

[Olimpia]

Hey, welcome! He looks like a cutie.

I also suspect that your basking temps are a little low, so he may not be feeling his most active. Like others have said, bring it up to the low-mid 80's*F and he should perk up more.

 

[lilmousie]

Hey, welcome! He looks like a cutie.

I also suspect that your basking temps are a little low, so he may not be feeling his most active. Like others have said, bring it up to the low-mid 80's*F and he should perk up more.

Thank you....he's a totally hottie...love him and i'll make sure to up the heat bulbs to get the temp up a little more. thank you again so much.

 

[Elizadolots]

I have a question. You say you have multiple lights. If you are using one of those at night, please shut it off. They do not need a light at night. It's okay if it gets down to 60 or even 55 degrees at night. If your house gets colder than that, you should look into a ceramic heat emitter that will give heat but no light (there are some that screw into a regular light socket).

 

[thePopeJP]

Do you have a UVB fluorescent tube or cfl? This is necessary, and not really considered a heat bulb, unless you have an all in 1... which aren't very typical.

Also, mealworms are considered very hard on their digestive systems, as they have such hard exoskeletons, and are often not even digested but just passed through or clog the pipes.

Do you dust your crickets with calcium? (every day w/out d3, twice a month w/ d3) Any supplements? I would really recomend that you fill out the "how to ask for help" form because I feel as if there are things we may be overlooking in your husbandry.

Just want to make sure your little guy stays healthy!

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!
You have a nice looking chameleon there!

Please fill out the questions in the thread "how to ask for help" at the top of the health forum so we can help you better.

 

[lilmousie]

Yes at night I only have his blue light on. Thank you so much again for all of your help. I worry about my little guy.

 

[camimom]

you shouldnt have any light on at night.
and you shouldnt be using a blue light at all.


you need to fill out the form please.

 

[camimom]

waht uvb bulb are you using?

please pleae fill out the form.

 

[lilmousie]

And I'm sorry I'm totally new to this. Where would I find the how to ask for help form thingie? thanks again!!!!!

 

[camimom]

And I'm sorry I'm totally new to this. Where would I find the how to ask for help form thingie? thanks again!!!!!

i posted it here in this thread.
go back to the first page and look at my first response.

 

[lilmousie]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon*- he's about 7 weeks old, have had him for 2 weeks and he's a boy...his name is Clyde*
Handling*- Barely handling him as of now to not stress him out*
Feeding*- feed him by putting about 10 mealworms in his cage a day and about 20/25 small crickets. I just dump the crickets in.*
Supplements*- Don't know the brand of supplement they coat the crickets at the pet store.*
Watering*- has dripper system and has waterfall. Have seen him drink from the dripper tube. Spray and myst the habitat twice daily.*
Fecal Description*- colors are white and black and some brown. Hard in appearance.*
History*- just got him from petco where he just finished a shedding cycle*
Cage Info:
Cage Type*- glass screen combo...front and top opening 28x14x10*
Lighting*- has 3 different light bulbs. His day bulb is a zilla day white light incandescent spot light 50 watt. I also use a zilla 50 watt ultra violet heat bulb. And At night I use an 'all living things' 50 watt infrared heat bulb.*
Temperature*- the temp right now say 87. I have 2 thermometers one says 88 the other says 85. So I'm kind of averaging it out. At night it goes down to about 70*
Humidity*- humidity levels are 52. I have a humidity gauge and keep the dripper going and spray twice ( sometimes more) to keep the humidity around 50
Plants*- no live plants have some twigs I cleaned and put in there to climb on but has lots of fake vines too.*
Placement*- cage is located on middle devide on hallway I live alone so I'm the only one passing by. Have 3 cats who don't pay any attention to him *
Location*- Phoenix, az

 

[Goldenarcher1328]

Welcome to the forums! Beautiful little chameleon you have there. I'm Dan. I'm on here every day so feel free to ask if you have anything you need! i'm always willing to help so just say the word!

I would check your basking temperatures first.
Also, check handling. Chameleons when handled too much will start hanging around in the bottom of the cage and turn dark colored if stressed. Handling is good but recognize and more importantly Respect them when they become stressed.

My first concern would be that you are using a light at night. Chameleons need darkness to sleep properly. Your night light could easily have driven him to the bottom of the cage to find darkness. My chameleon throws a fit when i don't turn off his light on time. He'll crawl under some sort of cover so no lighting hits his eyes and then put himself to bed.

Invest in a ceramic heater, it produces no lighting for night time heat.

Also i would invest in a small live ficus for the little darling to hang out on!

Uva/Uvb lighting is a must have!

Also i find it odd that a chameleon was sold at such a young age.... That is concerning. Yet you did say it was petco did you not? so that isn't surprising.

Make sure you are feeding a good ballance of feeders! Mealworms are like junkfood. Its like eating white bread, filling..? yes. Nutritional...? No.

Crickets and eventually ( much older) add things like roaches, phoenix worms, silk worms and a few other feeders.
I would recommend supplementing your crickets with Repashy's Calcium plus as it has worked greatly with all my reptiles, you dust with it every day, and the nutritional value is worked out so they get the monthly requirements through daily dusting. ( atleast this is how its been described to me and no one has corrected me yet haha)

Also, Your chameleon is a veiled chameleon, a species known to munch veggies. I feed my chameleon veggies every day. Stay away from spinach and fruits. my veils favorite snack is mustard greens! Silly chameleons.

 

[lilmousie]

Awesome. Thank you so much for the info Dan. And thank you to everyone for the info about the meal worms. At petco they said those were the best food. I will definitely get a ceramic heater tomorrow. And my light bulbs say they have the UVA rays. But I still have not found a bulb with the UVB rays. Any suggestions?