It looks like the bottom is actually bioactive. If it is; the fans not really doing anything, you'd want the fan on the top of the screen pulling the air out...
Welcome to the forum! I like the little glass balls with the pothos, that's a neat idea!
I love that you had a call with Neptune and have been following Bill, great resources! To help us better help you with your husbandry, if you can copy and paste these questions with the answers, we can give you more through feedback.
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
- Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
- Location - Where are you geographically located?
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
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Please Note:
- The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
- Photos can be very helpful.
YOUR CHAMELEON: An ambilobe panther chameleon that we have had since he was 3.5 months old. He is now 5 months old and his name is Pasquale. He is my daughter’s, who is 13 and in love with him.
HANDLING: We handle him for a few minutes once a day, everyday. Sometimes we get him out in the morning before he has time to warm up and he will sit on our hands in the same position he sleeps in. When he starts doing the escalator walk on our hands, we put him back in his enclosure because we do not want to stress him out. He still is darker in his enclosure than he is in our hands. He turns the most beautiful colors when we take him out. At first we thought this was a good sign, but after our call with @neptunethechameleon, we realized it did not mean what we thought. We make a point to feed him from our hands while he is in his enclosure, and he readily eats from our hands when he is hungry, which is most of the time
FEEDING: Currently we are doing Dubia roaches, super worms, BSFL and crickets. I have ordered silk worms and am looking to expand further but having difficulty finding sources. We feed our bugs leafy greens, sweet potato, regular potato, oranges, bananas and strawberries. At this point we are feeding him as many bugs as he will eat in a day. He will usually eat 4-5 BSFL, 4 appropriately sized dubia roaches and two to three super worms. He is currently on a cricket strike.
SUPPLEMENTS: He is currently getting calcium without d3 at every feeding apart from twice a month when he gets a multivitamin. Zoomed repetitive for the multivitamin. Zoomed calcium without d3
WATERING: We started out in a small screened enclosure given to us by the breeder, who recommended running a cool mist humidifier at night. His poops were good and i never saw him drink—although I never dripped water onto leaves near him. After researching and then eventually talking to Neptune, we changed to a larger enclosure, and a mist king at night. After lights out, he gets a mist for 15 - 30 seconds, then at 1:30 and 4:30 am he gets two more 30 second mists. This was keeping humidity above 80 at night while temps hovered around 68 degrees F. Fans off. The problem with humidity in the enclosure at night came with change of seasons from summer to fall. We are in the SE US where our ambient room humidity is 72% during the day in the summer. That has dropped to 55% during the day in the fall, and lead to problems with keeping humidity up in the enclosure at night. Our room temp at night is always 68-69 degrees F or a few less. That is when i got a fogger—the wacool from amazon. I have it set to turn on if humidity dips below 70% at night. It has basically been running all night every night and some mornings he wakes up with drips of water on him. His poops have looked ok to me and I’ve included a picture in the original post—but I’m new so take that with a grain of salt. After watching a podcast with Bill Strand and Petr necas, i
Dripped water onto the leaves near him one morning and he gulped it up like he’d never seen water. This led me to believe he is not getting enough hydration at night, despite his poops looking normal, so I started running a cool mist humidifier outside his enclosure with it pointed to go through the screen at the bottom.
FECAL DESCRIPTION: White part that transitions to yellow-ish that makes up about 30 percent of the white, followed by a dark part. Overall it looks moist/not dry. I have pics in original post.
HISTORY: He still is pretty dark when in his enclosure but colors-up when we take him out.
CAGE INFO
Cage Type: (2) 2X2X4 Feet Zen habitat PVC enclosure with screen top and front bottom, so 4X2X4 feet total
Lighting: 24 inch T5HO Arcadia UVB, 100 Zoo med basking light, Fauna lux LED and Sol LED over 2 feet of the enclosure width, then plant LED over the other 2 feet of enclosure width. Editing to add—I have a solar meter 6.5 and one of his high branches reads 3.0 on the meter. I was wondering if the uvb actually needs to span the entire width of the enclosure. Currently it is only spanning half of it.
Temp: 80 F at the basking branch measured with temp gun—highest branch in enclosure. 72 to 69 degrees on bottom measured with digital thermometer. Temp 66-69 at night measured from top of enclosure.
Humidity: 70 percent at night—trying to increase. Measured with digital hygrometer from the top of the cage—it is not waterproof and any other location will get it wet. 35-55% during the day, mostly around 48-52%. During night i am currently using mist king and a fogger and recently added a cool mist humidifier. In the morning when lights come on i have two fans, one on the front bottom screen blowing in and one on the top screen sucking out. They are set on low, but come on with lights to help dry everything out.
Plants: All live plants—pothos, croton, umbrella tree, hibiscus, prayer plants, draecena and another pinkish plant that I’m blanking on the name
Placement: It is in my daughter’s room on milk crates, not a high traffic area. The top of the cage is above my head and I’m 5’6”. There is a fan in my daughter’s room that she runs in the summer, but it has been off since we have been having trouble with keeping humidity up at night.
Location: We are in the south eastern US where it is fall now. Summer humidity 72% indoors. Fall humidity indoors now around 55%
Current Problem: Hydration. Although i thought Pasquale was hydrated, he gulped water when i dripped it near him the other morning. My efforts to increase humidity at night have not seemed to help. His poop has always looked hydrated to me. I feel like I’m over hydrating the enclosure but not getting it to Pasquale. The fogger, while pointed toward the bottom of the enclosure does not seem to get fog to the bottom where he sleeps. I have been advised not to run the cool mist humidifier, which i can place at the bottom and the plume rises up through the enclosure.
Whew!! Any help appreciated. Pic of enclosure and poo in original post above. Thank you!!!!
