Going dark, walking on ground, clawing at glass.

[carol5208]

1/4 is plenty big for him. He is very young. If you can, go to home depot or lowes or even Wal mart sells the cheap aluminum domes to screw your bulb into. Silkyslim is right, your light is really not being directed down into the cage with the bulb just being exposed like that.

 

[Leon911]

We are talking about the UVB light of course, right? I probably have a dome similar to the heat lamp somewhere in my shed

 

[Leon911]

Hey guys, can anyone help me out a little? He seams to be doing this more and more often...

He's going a very bizarre pattern with dark stripes and moving around the bottom and clawing at the glass. He also appears to be reaching for the top of the cage in an effort to get out. What am I doing wrong? Is there something the matter with the cage? The temperature or humidity perhaps? Do I need to clean the cage? Add more branches and plants?

I could really use some advice with this, I don;t like to see him unhappy.

 

[Infinite ink]

Try covering 3 of the four walls with paper towels or paper so he doesnt see his reflection.

 

[Leon911]

Yeah, I actually thought about that when I was watching him. I did it with paper on two of them and he actually seams a lot better. Although now the crickets are climbing up them!!

 

[Trace]

Baby chameleons are active so a lot of what you are describing does sound like normal behaviours to me. They don't necessarily sit still all day and when they are cruising around sometimes they wear the darker colours.

You could go to the dollar store and buy a few plastic plants or vines for cover. Make sure you wash them well first in hot soapy water before you add them to the cage.

Cover the outside of the cage with paper, that will stop the crickets from escaping.

 

[demon777]

no glass aquarims go to pet store and get mash terraniun ,glass freaks chams

 

[MichelleAndrea]

Hey guys, I just put some crickets in the cage and when I opened up the cage he started to puff himself up and the crest underneath his jaw got inflated until it extended beyond his lower jaw.

What does this mean? Is he really stressed out?

i read somewhere that thats how they like send a warning to predators. so he was probably just scared or felt vulnerable for a second.

 

[Leon911]

Hey guys, for the past 2 morning when I turned on his lights he did his old territorial display where he inflates the crest underneath his lower jaw. Both times he opens his mouth really big as if he was yawning. Is this normal behavior during the early morning hours?

 

[Trace]

Hey guys, for the past 2 morning when I turned on his lights he did his old territorial display where he inflates the crest underneath his lower jaw. Both times he opens his mouth really big as if he was yawning. Is this normal behavior during the early morning hours?

Sometimes accompanied with a twist, stretch and a slight shudder right? Completely normal. I've seen Veileds and Panthers do it more than the montanes but they all do it just after they warm up in the morning.

How is your little guy doing now? Calmer?

 

[Leon911]

Hey, everything is going pretty well, he looks pretty calm, wears lighter colors and looks to be gaining a bit of weight which is really good because it is nice to watch him grow.

There is one thing that I noticed today however... he seams to have either a swollen nostrile or some white debrie on his nose. I'm not really sure what it is. I tried to get pictures but it is so small that I can't really show it well. I tried to get it off him but I don't want to grip him or hurt him in any way. I'll see if its still on there tommorow morning. I'm a little worried. Is it possible that it is some excess calcium? I load the crickets pretty heavily with it.

 

[bradleymarky]

Hey, everything is going pretty well, he looks pretty calm, wears lighter colors and looks to be gaining a bit of weight which is really good because it is nice to watch him grow.

There is one thing that I noticed today however... he seams to have either a swollen nostrile or some white debrie on his nose. I'm not really sure what it is. I tried to get pictures but it is so small that I can't really show it well. I tried to get it off him but I don't want to grip him or hurt him in any way. I'll see if its still on there tommorow morning. I'm a little worried. Is it possible that it is some excess calcium? I load the crickets pretty heavily with it.

the white on his nose is calcium overload but it will get rid of it, maybe you are putting too much dust on your crickets try not to turn them into ghosts, you are making progress but i would read everything you can get your hands on and listen to the good advice you have been given.

i have my panther and veiled in glass fronted vivs and they have never been scared of their reflections so thats not entirely true, stop worrying so much

 

[summoner12]

Sometimes accompanied with a twist, stretch and a slight shudder right? Completely normal. I've seen Veileds and Panthers do it more than the montanes but they all do it just after they warm up in the morning.

I have seen all of my melleri do the shudder and stretch in the morning when warming up under their heat lamps. It's like a yawn/gape and then they lean forward turning their head a bit and will shudder. It's kinda funny to watch, reminds me of humans stretching and yawning in the morning.

 

[Leon911]

Ok, I admit I have been dusting them pretty hard. I will cut back on the calcium for a day or two and then use a lesser amount. Thanks for the advice it gave me quite a scare at first.

 

[Leon911]

Hey guys, my chameleon is eating and drinking well and is pretty active. He has also grown a bit which is great to see. I am still a bit concerned with the white spots though. They appear on his nostrils but only at certain times during the day. I have not been dusting any crickets for about a weak but he still has the white thing on his nose.

 

[Leon911]

Is it normal for chameleons to shed their skin? Because that could be what the white thing on him is.

 

[Silkyslim]

It is very normal for them to shed their skin. My 4month old female just shed on the 1st of the year. I anticipate another shed from her within the month.

When my year old male was first coming into my care, he shed 3 times in the span of 2 months.

Reptiles have been shedding their skin since day 1, it is what they do as sure as birds fly and fish breath water. They will know what to do and you generally can just leave them to it (which is good because they are usually cranky when they shed, mine are anyway) and enjoy the crazy scene. It should also happen pretty quickly, provide more humidity during this time to help the schluffing of the old layer.

When mine start their sheds, you can see the skin start to crack around the white areas. Maybe if you posted a good pic we could help

 

[nhblond]

Mine is about the same size as your new baby. I have been posting on the forum with questions as well. I found out I wasn't feeding enough crickets..... so I started offering a lot more. Well, he doesn't eat them all. And he gets too freaked out if I start rooting around in the tank to get the crickets so I just leave them (although I know I probably shouldn't). I would rather not rummage around in there and stress him completely out everyday trying to get the excess crickets out. As far as the white on the nostrils... mine has it too I think it's because I was overloading on the calcium, and I am trying to reduce the amount I dust with. Mine looks to be about the same size as yours. She is very shy, and when she sees me moving around in the room, she goes into hiding on her plant. When she explores on the bottom of the cage, she goes to her brown colors. I haven't been too concerned about it because as soon as she goes back to her plant, she goes back to light green.

 

[Leon911]

Yeah that's the exact same as with mine. So I guess it's normal behavior. Mine shed all his skin today and it was fun to watch him stretch and pick it off. He looked really funny, and now his skin is a lot lighter then what it used to be.
I'm still feeding him 1/4 inch crickets and he eats a lot (although not today probably because he was shedding) I watched him eat 6 back to back yesterday.

 

[Leon911]

Today I was at work all day and came home to find my chameleon climbing upside down on the screen mesh ceiling really close to the heat lamp. I got really scared when I saw this and made him climb down as to not hurt his claws. I was nervous because he could have been burned by the lamp or gotten his claws stuck.
Do you think the cage is too cool? He always seams interested in climbing up and is always trying to climb onto my arm when I clean his cage. He's also always looking at the ceiling like he is really interested in it.