Health concerns

[breauxaustin]

So recently my male chameleon (ziggy) has been acting odd. At least in my opinion. He hasn't been eating as many worms/crickets, as he usually does and he's been spending a lot of time towards the bottom of the cage. The temperature during the day is 75-85 and at night in the 60's. He is very camera shy and I can never get a picture of him up close so I got some while he's sleeping. The white and black around his head really concerns me. Don't know if this is normal or not so any feedback would be great!

 

[Carlton]

So recently my male chameleon (ziggy) has been acting odd. At least in my opinion. He hasn't been eating as many worms/crickets, as he usually does and he's been spending a lot of time towards the bottom of the cage. The temperature during the day is 75-85 and at night in the 60's. He is very camera shy and I can never get a picture of him up close so I got some while he's sleeping. The white and black around his head really concerns me. Don't know if this is normal or not so any feedback would be great!

First response to you is unfortunately more questions! We don't have enough info to guess right now. There are too many possibilities.

The first thing I would ask is whether anything has changed in the room where his cage is located, or in the cage setup itself...cooler temps (winter), less light (shorter days even if the cage lights haven't shifted), changes in cage lighting, changes in the cage temp or humidity.

Next, is to ask for more details about your husbandry. There's a sticky message at the top of this forum titled "How to Ask for Help". Answer the questions in that message with as much detail as possible and post the answers to this thread.

We need to know what you feed your insects, how you dust and with what, what type of lighting you use, how old the bulbs are, etc.

BTW, I don't see much wrong with the coloration on his head. As veileds age the coloration on their head and casque can get paler than the rest of the body. The dark markings look normal.

 

[sgiac801]

He's beautiful! How long have you had him? If he's new I can understand why he'd be camera shy. Some chameleons just tend towards the nervous side anyway so maybe he just doesn't like being watched while he eats. Spending time at the bottom of the cage could be him exploring, or trying to stay out of sight from you.