Disorientation

SilverWolf

Member
Hello there. I wanted to make this post and ask a question since I cannot find information on this anywhere else, and cannot find any posts quite like what I am going to describe. Earlier last night I made a post regarding my 4 month old (5 months in about a week) jackson chameleon, Tricky. He seems fine now, is on a stick and I found a new white urate so I'm pretty relieved. I am going to paste what the story I posted on the other thread here, so that you can understand exactly what happened. Please let me know what you think of this, because this was so bizarre and spontaneous. I honestly have no idea what caused this.



"I came home from the store with my family. I noticed, Tricky (my chameleon's name) was still in the same spot as before. He was just sleeping on the floor, where he went before I left. So he didn't fall there, he went there himself. Anyway he has never really done that before, the lowest he goes is to like sleep on the pot rim. Occasionally he'll wake up and move to just an inch or so to get more comfortable. But this time he was on the ground, so I was just somewhat concerned, as cute as it was to see him all curled up like that. He seemed comfortable. Still, I decided to make a post, asking the question. Ultimately, I wasn't too concerned with it though. Today he had ate, five crickets (four dusted with calcium) and drank well, straight from my spray bottle too. He also ate from the cup while it was in my hand (usually he eats from my fingers, just not on his vitamin days, when the crickets are dusted). The crickets were perfect size for him. I see plenty of fecal matter in the cage a the bottom so obviously there's no impactions. So today was ultimately a good day for him. But when I got home, I was checking the forums, and heard a sort of crackling noise. Or rather than crackling, more like something moving in the leaves. I went to check but he was fine. I thought it was a cricket moving. It was actually probably my Xbox making the noise (although it was off). I looked at other posts with my issue of having the chameleon sleep at the bottom, and most people said it was probably due to temperatures. I noticed the temperature was kind of warm for night time, even with the window open. I try to keep it in the 60s (fahrenheit) at night time. It seemed the window opened, this time anyway, didn't really help much so I put a fan blowing at the enclosure. But I made sure that the air wasn't directly hitting him, just the enclosure.

Then back to the forums. BUt this is where it all started. I heard noises in the enclosure. The lights were off other than my laptop. I stopped and listened, and there it was again. A loose cricket? no, the cricket isn't big enough or strong enough to make such noises, it sounded just like, Tricky running around. Then it sounded like he fell and was running around. I quickly turned on the light, to see what was going on. He wasn't there! I checked and he was running, desperately trying to climb up the corners of the cage but kept sliding off, falling. Running, ramming his horns (unintentionally, I"m sure) into the sides of the cage. his coloration was nothing like I've seen. Well it was similar to stress colors, but had no spots and was a pale, greenish yellow color, like old paper. And brown, as well. He did this a whole lot. He was crawling UNDER the paper towels! I opened the bottom part of the enclosure, to see if I could help, but he made it out on his own. I quickly messaged my friend on Skype, quickly asking him to pray (it was the only thing I could do so quickly), but then I quickly went back to check. I couldn't find him in the cage. I listened, and noticed where the sound was coming from. The small creak I left opened, was just enough for him to fall out! I set my hand which he walked on, but fell off again. I picked him up again and set him in the leaves (fake leaves) hoping he'd be secure, but he just fell off again. Where he landed, is where he is now. He just sat there with this eyes open, and his colors went back to his sleeping colors. I was so nervous and that is when I made the post.

I left the room, left the window open, turned off the lights…I went back to check a few times to find his eyes closed. I was hoping and that he was just sleeping. I went to go look at him, and when staring at him long enough, with the lights on, he'd move his eyes, and when making a sudden movement, he'd make a NORMAL and HEALTHY reaction from what I know of him. I use the terms normal and healthy as this is what is typical of him. Just kind of lift his hand up, and act like he's going to walk away. But then I quickly left and turned the lights off. So it appears he's sleeping now.

This was such a worrisome experience, as I looked up a similar post with an older jackson chameleon, but only, the ending result was fatal. Everything else other than the last part of the post was the case with, Tricky, and you can understand why I was crying. Now I've gained my composure, and I did everything I could. Right now he does seem fine, but I'm going to go check on him again in a moment."

And there's the story. It was like he was blind or completely out of it. My first thought was "is he sleep walking!?" Anyway, thankfully he seems fine now. Your thoughts?
 
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
First off you can fill this out for us the tiniest thing can cause problems sometimes.

I'm thinking after I read this that perhaps something woke him up in the middle of the night and frightened him. You mentioned it was quite warm perhaps that was another factor it could have possibly given him enough energy to freak out and run around but not enough for his body to function properly hence loosing his grip and falling.
 
Not sure I understand your post, but sounds like your cham was disturbed while sleeping and freaked out. That is what they would do, they would panic.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Jackson Chameleon, male, 4 months. Been in my care since April 8th.
Handling - Not often. Only when he walks on it willingly to reach food, or in emergencies like described earlier.
Feeding - Small to medium crickets now, still mostly small. 4 - 6 a day. Looking into blue bottle flies, and increasing both size and amount of crickets.
Supplements - Exoterra. Calcium, powdered on crickets twice a week. Multivitamin, powder on crickets once a month.
Watering - I mist VERY often to ensure the humidity is always around 70-80%, and I mist every time I see the humidity reach 50%. I try to mist to the point where there are drops of water dripping from the sticks and leaves. I have seen him drinking off of the leaves, and he drinks from my spray bottle.
Fecal Description - Brown fecal matter, no undigested bug parts, and urates are white.
History - Came from a breeder in Texas, btpets.com. The breeder seems to know what he is doing and has shipped hundreds of Chameleons before. Some people here seem to have gotten their Jackson Chameleons from him.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zoomed screen cage, 18x18x36.
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0, Zoomed 60w Daylight Blue bulb. Both are on 10-12 hours during day, off all night.
Temperature - Temperature at basking spot around 85 degrees fahrenheit. Restof the cage around 75 or so in fahrenheit, and the temperature drops to about 64 - 68 degrees fahrenheit at night time. Measured with thermometer from Petco.
Humidity - 60 - 80 Percent. Misting with spray bottle very often. Measured with humidity gauger from Petco.
Plants - Live Croton, codiaem hybrid. Lots of foliage, but there is a lot more near the bottom now.
Placement - Cage about 58 inches off ground, on a sort of dresser (more of cubby holes though) and next to some gaming consoles and a television, that do not seem to affect the temperature. Also next to a window, but blinds generally closed.
Location - California.

Current Problem - I've already described the problem in previous post, don't want to again. Here is a picture of him. He is about to shed in this picture. Today is the second time he's shedding (just starting now) since I've had him.
 

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