Crickets stressing new cham???

[JoCarp]

So my new cham has been pretty dark lately and staying towards the bottom of his enclosure. I have been misting more because my humidity should be up higher and that seems to be helping some. I noticed that some crickets were still there from feeding over lunch and they are all at the top of his enclosure. I was thinking that some may have nipped at him while he was asleep or something so now he's trying to stay away from them if he's not hungry? I've removed the extra crickets but didn't know if anyone else had experienced anything like this. He did go to the bathroom for the first time (today is day 3 with me) and it was quite large (i assume) for his size. It was dark defection, with white urate and some clear liquid so I think he's doing ok other than being dark. It did smell quite horrific for what I thought it might smell like and how much was there so I don't know if he was maybe a little backed up (all I had to feed on day one was mealworms).

He could still be settling in too I guess since this is a new home for him.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I do have a call into Paradise Chameleons where I got him to speak with Bruce further but thought I would inquire here for some quick thoughts.

The links below show him (while he is showing lighter colors than right now) and his enclosure.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleon-came-today-142055/

Thanks!

 

[JoCarp]

I think I figured it out

So I think the issue was actually that my Arcadia 12 was too intense for him. I turned it off and he lightened up almost immediately. I think he was just trying to get some relief from that. His main cage will be a much bigger cage with a bigger gap from the light to to him once he gets big enough to live in that so I'll find a way to move the light up so he has more relief.

 

[Wowbango]

So my new cham has been pretty dark lately and staying towards the bottom of his enclosure. I have been misting more because my humidity should be up higher and that seems to be helping some. I noticed that some crickets were still there from feeding over lunch and they are all at the top of his enclosure. I was thinking that some may have nipped at him while he was asleep or something so now he's trying to stay away from them if he's not hungry? I've removed the extra crickets but didn't know if anyone else had experienced anything like this. He did go to the bathroom for the first time (today is day 3 with me) and it was quite large (i assume) for his size. It was dark defection, with white urate and some clear liquid so I think he's doing ok other than being dark. It did smell quite horrific for what I thought it might smell like and how much was there so I don't know if he was maybe a little backed up (all I had to feed on day one was mealworms).

He could still be settling in too I guess since this is a new home for him.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleon-came-today-142055/

Thanks!

My little guy has left a few crickets alone in his cage. I like to think that maybe he's bonded with them and spared their lives. Haha...but honestly I think my manzanita branches have holes/crevices where the crickets hide and then offer their delightful music at night...all night...ALL NIGHT!! But he still eats new ones when I put them in, so I don't think it's an issue of him not eating them. Maybe he's just too lazy to search for them? Does he ignore all of them all together? I've made sure that they aren't nipping at night so that's good. It took my guy 2 days for his first poop, which was large indeed and was nice and smelly. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it continues.

 

[JoCarp]

He has since eaten all the crickets that I was concerned were stressing him. We were gone for the fourth and when I got back he had eaten all the crickets I left for him, pooped twice and shed. He has some color coming through now and stays consistently lighter now. I also increased his misting frequency since it's so hard to keep the levels high but allow the cage to dry out too. I think with the increased misting, blocking some of the UVA and the shed he is doing much better. I can assure you, Merlin does not make friends with his crickets! haha

Make it a great day,
Jordan

 

[Wowbango]

He has since eaten all the crickets that I was concerned were stressing him. We were gone for the fourth and when I got back he had eaten all the crickets I left for him, pooped twice and shed. He has some color coming through now and stays consistently lighter now. I also increased his misting frequency since it's so hard to keep the levels high but allow the cage to dry out too. I think with the increased misting, blocking some of the UVA and the shed he is doing much better. I can assure you, Merlin does not make friends with his crickets! haha

Make it a great day,
Jordan

At first, I was trying to mist as little as possible to not allow water to accumulate at bottom. I was struggling to keep humidity up. Right now I'm just doing 4 times a day, which is pooling water at the bottom, but humidity is just right. I have to cleanup the water 1-2 times per day right now until I can get the drainage system setup. The extra misting will definitely help. Do you have a mister or do you manually mist?

 

[JoCarp]

At first, I was trying to mist as little as possible to not allow water to accumulate at bottom. I was struggling to keep humidity up. Right now I'm just doing 4 times a day, which is pooling water at the bottom, but humidity is just right. I have to cleanup the water 1-2 times per day right now until I can get the drainage system setup. The extra misting will definitely help. Do you have a mister or do you manually mist?

I have a bunch of very small holes drilled in the bottom tray of mine so I don't get much standing water. I have a Mistking system and I'm misting 5 times a day as of today. Before I was misting four times a day and his humidity would drop into the ~45% range.

 

[Wowbango]

I have a bunch of very small holes drilled in the bottom tray of mine so I don't get much standing water. I have a Mistking system and I'm misting 5 times a day as of today. Before I was misting four times a day and his humidity would drop into the ~45% range.

Hmm...do you have real or fake plants? I do 4 times a day, about 2 minutes each time, and my humidity ranges from 70-80%. How long are your mistings set for? Near a window or sunlight?

 

[JoCarp]

Hmm...do you have real or fake plants? I do 4 times a day, about 2 minutes each time, and my humidity ranges from 70-80%. How long are your mistings set for? Near a window or sunlight?

I have fake in the enclosure and a pothos and schefflera next to his enclosure. The pothos is way to big until he moves into his full armoire enclosure. I repotted and cleaned the schefflera but there is still some residue on the leaves. It kind of looks like hard water, but since it was there from Lowes I want to make sure I get all of the chemicals off before putting it into the cage. I have large river rocks under the soil for drainage and on top to keep from risking impaction. I am going to try to clean the rest of it off this evening so I can add that to his enclosure so it will hopefully increase the humidity.

Shouldn't the plants help some since they are literally right next to his enclosure?