Dark and Frustrated?

[missamanda]

My boyfriends male Panther Chameleon has been acting a little strange lately. He is a really dark colour, some parts are almost black. He is also digging at the bottom of the tank. Whenever one of us stick our hands in the tank he grabs on right away and wants out of the tank. When we take him out it is a fight to get him back in. I took him outside today and he sat on my hand and didn't move his colours sort of lightened up too... It seems like he is stressing out? I am not sure

Cage Info:
Cage Type: screen/glass 80" x 30" x 30" (WxDxH)
Lighting: Exo Terra Solar Glo Sun Simulating Lamp
Temperature: 85 - 70
Humidity: around 62
Plants: plastic and a pothos plant
Placement: In a low traffic area
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon: Panther Chameleon, 9 month old male.
we have had him for a month
Handling: daily
Feeding: crickets and silk worms
Supplements: not sure they at my boyfriends house but the calcium is in a blue container and vitamins pink?
Watering: waterfall, misting
Fecal Description: dark brown and white.

 

[toddmkeller]

Howdy,

That sounds like you might have a female, can you post a picture please? If so you need to get a laying bin in there ASAP!

We will talk about the waterfall and lighting later

See ya,

Todd

 

[missamanda]

YICKS I hope its not a female! I do have a female though she is in those pics too.

I know the waterfall is pointless they never drink out of it! They both have drippers but they usually just drink while being misted... lazy bums.
We had different bulbs before long ones because he is in a 90 gallon tank but they kept shorting out it was strange so the breeder said that that light was better...

 

[missamanda]

opps that didn't work

 

[Dunnigan]

The problem with the "all in one" bulbs (which is what you have? UV and Heat lamp, unless im wrong which i could be)

anyway, the problem with those bulbs is they need to be really far away(16 inches in some cases, depends on wattage) from the basking spot to provide UV light that is not to harsh. In this case the heat from the bulb, most of the time, has dissipated so much that it is not enough to be considered a basking spot.

The way it was described to me was being sprayed with a fire hose point blank vs 20 feet away.

 

[Syn]

What is it with breeders in Canada saying those lights are good? Blah. Hopefully it's a reputable breeder who's done their research.

Like always.. I will tell people who use these bulbs that it's better to be safe than sorry, and I would use the tube UVB light and a basking bulb separate instead of one of these any day, until they are proven 100% safe.

 

[missamanda]

Yeah its the "all in one" bulb. I was iffy about it too when we got it but the guy said it's what he uses... "and it works wonders"
I had a bearded dragon before and he had 2 tube UVB bulbs a basking bulb and some sort of night lamp and he was never sick and we had him for 9 years! (I know they are not close at all but I know what you mean about not trusting the "all in one" bulbs)
I am going to move the bulb up higher and see how that does. The fire hose thing makes sense kind of like a flash light the farther away you are the more you can see.

I will let you know how he looks tomorrow when his lights are on!