Dark Brown colour

[adrianchr9]

Hey, today when I woke up and misted my chameleon's enclosure, he became really dark (dark brown with even darker stripes.)
I was wondering if this is something I should be concerned about or if its normal?

Also, what humidity should I maintain at night? During the day I've been told to keep the humidity somewhere between 65-80%

Thanks in advance

 

[Vince]

What kind of chameleon do you have? Im not an expert but dark colors normally mean its cold or not feeling well. Since it did this when you misted i would think its probably cold. My jackson will get dark at first when first start misting, then he will get real bright and enjoy it. It is like they have to get use to the water. Try using warm water (not hot/not cold).

 

[adrianchr9]

Thanks for your reply, mines a Panther Chameleon and right now he's light brown with darker stripes. But I was worried in the morning that it was too cold before I put the light on (it was around 70F, but I was told thats okay?)

Maybe I should buy one of those dark bulbs to leave on at night?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chase]

How long ago did you get it?

 

[Syn]

Thanks for your reply, mines a Panther Chameleon and right now he's light brown with darker stripes. But I was worried in the morning that it was too cold before I put the light on (it was around 70F, but I was told thats okay?)

Maybe I should buy one of those dark bulbs to leave on at night?

Thanks in advance.

You don't need a dark bulb - you'd want a ceramic heating fixture. What are the temps of the basking, ambient, and night temps?

 

[BocaJan]

Where are you from? It is important when giving you information to know where you are from because climates are so different.

 

[adrianchr9]

I got it 2 days ago, I'm from Ontario, Canada.
During the day the temperature in the enclosure goes from 75-85F, at night its 70-75F. He likes to stay on a branch under the bulb for basking, but there are lots of places he can hide under the shade in.

I mist the enclosure 3-4 times a day to try to maintain a humidity level of around 60-80%, is that fine? What kind of humidity is adequate for night?

Thanks

 

[Syn]

You need a 10 degree temperature drop at night for them to sleep. How much traffic is in the room? Did he just move in there? Any change of environment?

 

[adrianchr9]

Theres definitely a 10 degree drop in temperature at night,
theres quite a bit of traffic in the room, but nobody bothers him.
Yes, he did just move into the enclosure, and I added a branch yesterday.

Do you guys think its just him adjusting?

 

[Syn]

Chameleons turn brown when stressed. The move and the branch may be stressing him out.

 

[Lyneeso]

I posted a thread you should read. It's called "Brown Girl (questionaire) shedding?" Check it out I got some good responses. My lil veiled female turned brown for a couple days even slowed her eating to almost nothing. She really scared me for a few days, then she shed her skin started eating like a pig again and has turned back to her bright green color! Watch these next couple days for any sign of her shed comming on! The other possibilities are that she could just be stressed from the "newness" of it all. Your temps seem just fine to me. I wouldn't worry too much. It may be a good idea to give him/her a nice warm shower for about 20 min if you do see any indicators of shedding (flaky skin, usually starting on head and leg joints). Put her/him on a nice sturdy plant and place it in the shower. Point the shower head against the wall so there is just a nice warm mist coming down on the plant. I use my digital thermometer to set the water to about 88-90. She/he may freak out a lil bit at first but leave her/him alone and she will calm down. I know some panthers LOVE showers. It should definately assist in shedding, if that is indeed the case. How are urates? should be bright white. NO YELLOWISH COLOR. Yellowish urates indicate dehydration. Urate is the "other" white/yellow stuff that comes out with the poo. I wouldn't worry about the branch you put in there. Usually, more stuff to climb on/foliage to hide in brings a more secure feeling to your chameleon.
Good Luck!

 

[PardalisGirl]

Bump the heat up...

Hey there....this just caught my eye....The dark brown coloration can be a sign of stress and/or of low temperatures. Your cham is under stress since you just got him and he has not had time to adjust. I'm also going to suggest that you bump the heat at the top of the cage up. The bottom of the cage should not be lower than 70 degrees and I would put another basking light on top of the cage (raised above it so he can't get burned) to raise his high cage tempurature to 95 degrees.

Panther chams need warmer temperatures than Veileds do. Chams under stress or that are ill need much higher temperatures too. They rely on this heat to keep their metabolism up. I always keep my Panthers at 95 degrees at the upper area during the day with a light producing basking bulb. During this time of year a night heat bulb (red, black or ceramic) stays on all night. During the summer I turn them off. Your cham will regulate his temperature by moving in the cage to the proper level. I really don't think that 85 degrees at the top is warm enough during this transition/adjustment stage. He could easily get a respiratory infection. If you see him with his mouth gaping open you know the temperatures are too high. Well adjusted healthy adult Panthers may do fine with 85 degrees as a top basking temperature. But if they ever showed any sign of illness of improper food digestion the temperature should be increased. As I said, I always have 95 degrees available to my Panthers. They spend most of the morning and afternoon there and then move down later....Let us know how he does as he adjusts

 

[summoner12]

Keep the heat...

Hey there....this just caught my eye....The dark brown coloration can be a sign of stress and/or of low temperatures. Your cham is under stress since you just got him and he has not had time to adjust. I'm also going to suggest that you bump the heat at the top of the cage up. The bottom of the cage should not be lower than 70 degrees and I would put another basking light on top of the cage (raised above it so he can't get burned) to raise his high cage tempurature to 95 degrees.

Panther chams need warmer temperatures than Veileds do. Chams under stress or that are ill need much higher temperatures too. They rely on this heat to keep their metabolism up. I always keep my Panthers at 95 degrees at the upper area during the day with a light producing basking bulb. During this time of year a night heat bulb (red, black or ceramic) stays on all night. During the summer I turn them off. Your cham will regulate his temperature by moving in the cage to the proper level. I really don't think that 85 degrees at the top is warm enough during this transition/adjustment stage. He could easily get a respiratory infection. If you see him with his mouth gaping open you know the temperatures are too high. Well adjusted healthy adult Panthers may do fine with 85 degrees as a top basking temperature. But if they ever showed any sign of illness of improper food digestion the temperature should be increased. As I said, I always have 95 degrees available to my Panthers. They spend most of the morning and afternoon there and then move down later....Let us know how he does as he adjusts

85 ambient is plenty warm. I do not agree with a lot of what is said here...

Panthers like it cooler than veileds. They are about the same but a veiled can take more heat than a panther. Panthers are more sensitive. Their temp range is more narrow... they don't want to get much cooler than 60 but not a whole lot more heat than 90 basking. I would keep the ambient at the top around 80ish and his basking 95 maybe a little more. I keep my male Ambilobe around 78ish ambient right now with a 50w heat lamp sitting about one inch from the top of his cage. he can get right under it if he wants. He spends about 90% of his day moving around the care. He is almost never sitting still. in the AM he'll warm up under the lamp for a little bit then hes off to patrol his cage.

If you need to have a heat source at night do not use a light emitting lamp(black light, dark lamp, red lamps.....) you want a ceramic heater. If your getting down to the 70's at night you might even wanna make it a bit cooler for your cham. I would only use a heater if the room drops lower than 60*F.

The reason he was dark is maybe more to do with heat. a dark color gives his skin the ability to absorb heat better. Was he under the heat lamp? What is the wattage? how close is it? In the morning if you hand mist I would fill the bottle with HOT tap water. check that the mist isn't burning hot... then mist him. He'll like the warm water in the morning and most likely drink sooner.

Can you post a pic of your cage?

 

[PardalisGirl]

Hummmm?

I stand by what I said. I'm breeding Panthers and have 50 adults and several hundred juveniles and hatchlings. I also have at least 50 Veileds (adult and juvenile). Panthers are less tolerant to temperatures under 70 degrees than Veileds are. Do not let an adjusting or sick Panther get below 70 degrees at night. Frankly, I would not do it as a matter of routine at all. I also said the high top part of the cage (the basking area) should be about 95 degrees. Summner12, you also said that after saying that you disagreed with everything I have said.

The overall cage will range from 70 degrees at the very bottom to 95 degrees at the top. The middle will be somewhere in between, which is pretty much what you, Summoner12 talk about. As to a night heat source there is NOTHING wrong with black or red lights. My hundreds of chams sleep just fine with them. I use them exclusively because all my lighting is installed in hood style fixtures which can not use ceramic heat emitters. If you use a dome fixture the ceramic heat emitters are fine for that. As for the dark color....if it is heat related it is because he is not getting enough of it and is trying to aborb it. If he had enough heat he would be a normal color. If he was overheated he would have a fired up color. The dark color could also be because of the stress of a new home. This may be part of it but I think the temperature is also an issue.

 

[summoner12]

I stand by what I said. I'm breeding Panthers and have 50 adults and several hundred juveniles and hatchlings. I also have at least 50 Veileds (adult and juvenile). Panthers are less tolerant to temperatures under 70 degrees than Veileds are. Do not let an adjusting or sick Panther get below 70 degrees at night. Frankly, I would not do it as a matter of routine at all. I also said the high top part of the cage (the basking area) should be about 95 degrees. Summner12, you also said that after saying that you disagreed with everything I have said.

The overall cage will range from 70 degrees at the very bottom to 95 degrees at the top. The middle will be somewhere in between, which is pretty much what you, Summoner12 talk about. As to a night heat source there is NOTHING wrong with black or red lights. My hundreds of chams sleep just fine with them. I use them exclusively because all my lighting is installed in hood style fixtures which can not use ceramic heat emitters. If you use a dome fixture the ceramic heat emitters are fine for that. As for the dark color....if it is heat related it is because he is not getting enough of it and is trying to aborb it. If he had enough heat he would be a normal color. If he was overheated he would have a fired up color. The dark color could also be because of the stress of a new home. This may be part of it but I think the temperature is also an issue.

The basking spot is 95* tops... I said my ambient is 80*.

You can still use ceramic heaters in a hood. They work just the same as your 'black' lights....

Good luck with your chams...

 

[Vince]

Chameleons turn brown when stressed. The move and the branch may be stressing him out.

I agree with syn if you just moved you cham that is a good reason for it to be dark. Or as someone else said if it is about to shed. When i moved my jackson into his knew enclosure he was dark colored for at least a week or two.