Could it be too hot

Gchoylman

New Member
So my baby male veiled chameleon is climbing around the bottom and I've seen him actually on the floor clawing to get out of the cage. I already have a vet appointment scheduled but I wanted to hear some expert opinion, because maybe it's too hot in there. So his cage is 12 inch by 12 inch by 18 inch and his infared basking bulb is 50 watt and his UVB bulb is 13 watt. Is part of the reason why he's not feeling well because I need a less intense basking bulb? Any advice would be helpful, thank you.
 
Well what does your basking tmep measure at>
How much foliage is in the cage?

How young is your cham?
 
cage info

I have a lot of leaves in there and the branches aren't too high but my gauge says 90 degrees. but he has plenty of space besides the basking spot so could that be why he's all the way at the bottom. Besides the fact that he could be sick, which i'm praying hes not? and I'm not exactly sure of his age but he's a couple months.
 
Can you post photos of him please?

How are you measuring your temps?

It could be he is too hot, or he could be trying to get more space.
 
I have a lot of leaves in there and the branches aren't too high but my gauge says 90 degrees. but he has plenty of space besides the basking spot so could that be why he's all the way at the bottom. Besides the fact that he could be sick, which i'm praying hes not? and I'm not exactly sure of his age but he's a couple months.

For any baby Cham 90 is way to hot, it should be more like 80-83, poor guy is trying to escape the heat
 
Pictures of cage and Him

So here is a pic of his cage. I know it shouldn't be glass but the people at the pet store are idiots so I'm just going to stick with it until he grows. I also turned the basking off just to try to cool the cage down a little. But I do have a guage that measures the temp and humidity. I also put a pic in there that is the reason why i am taking him to the vet. He has a little lump on the his mouth do you by chance know what it is?
 

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Ok Tanner you don't have to make it seem like i'm trying to kill him. I'm doing my best to keep him happy and healthy i've only had him a couple of weeks. The pet store obviously misdirected me because they told me to get this cage and that bulb. THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING should I get a lesser watt basking bulb!
 
Ok Tanner you don't have to make it seem like i'm trying to kill him. I'm doing my best to keep him happy and healthy i've only had him a couple of weeks. The pet store obviously misdirected me because they told me to get this cage and that bulb. THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING should I get a lesser watt basking bulb!

That's not at all what I was trying to say, I was saying he is trying you escape from the heat just like it sounds. I didn't say holy **** you're going to cook him to death! You asked for help, I gave it, I sure wasn't trying to attack you. I'll let someone else tell you how wrong your set up is so you don't think I'm out to get you.
 
Are you using the petco Velcro gauge? if so, it could be reading wrong.

Use a digitial thermometer and see what the temps say.

As for the glass, yea its not recommend but it will be ok for now, so long as you keep temps down. it is harder to do so in a glass cage.

too hot can make them live towards the bottom of the cage.

the pic is too small for me to see the bump on his mouth though.
 
Thats a pretty small cage for a cham that is over 6" long. As other stated, you want it 70-75 in the cool end, and 80-85 in the hot end. When she is an adult you might have the basking spot at 90. Id just turn off the light.

My free rangers will start hiding under beds and in closets when the room temp gets over 85 in the summer.
 
Sorry i didn't realize they uploaded so small here is a bigger one?
 

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The bump could be an infection or it could be a birth defect.

as for the wattage, its something you have to play with. try different watt bulbs, let them run for a few hours, and see what your temps are.
 
I would invest in a good temp gauge and also a temp gun. You want to get an exact reading at the basking spot to know what the temp is there.

Temperature is a huge deal with chams.

As for basking bulbs, most people just use a standard household bulb. You will have to play around with different bulb wattages to get the right temperature.

Here is a link to the Veiled caresheet which has lots of great information on it like what temps they should be at.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
 
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