Help! Chameleon looking/acting weird

[ChemeleonLady]

My Chameleon, Cameron, has been acting and looks strange today. Here are a few of my concerns:

1) Lately he has been making this hiss noise, similar to what he sounds like when he gets mad that my hand is in the cage, but without opening his mouth. And it is quieter. Almost like a chameleon sneeze or something.

2) Just now he was standing on his vine and his chest was all indented looking.


3) He frequently stands on the highest perch of his cage and has his mouth open. I read on here that this could be due too high of temperatures, but the hottest it gets in his cage (closest to the lamp) is 85 degrees. Also, when I pull him out of the cage he is always a bit cold.

4) At night he tends to become blackish.

He is in a screen cage. I frequently let him out, and he roams in chameleon safe and approved places.

This is the first chameleon I have ever had so I have no idea what I am doing. This site has helped so much!

Can anyone give me some insight as to what is going on with my Cameron? Anything helps!

 

[Lathis]

Hi CL, welcome to the forum and sorry you are having worries about your little boy. Can you fill this form out? The more information and more detail you can give us, the better we can help you.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

So he's making some unusual hissing type noises (or kind of like the chameleon angry huff)? Does he have any thick or stringy spit? Do you hear any noise when he breathes?

Can you take more photos of his, especially that side that looks odd?

Any chance there could be something scaring him? Ceiling fan, posters or pictures with animal faces, other pets, blowing curtains, etc?

 

[Onemorecast]

Filling out that little questionare will help a ton, btw is that bark on bottom of cage or some other loose substrate?

 

[ChemeleonLady]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Cameron is a Veiled Chameleon, he is a male, and approximately 9 months old.

How long has it been in your care? We have had him about a month, and bought him from Petco.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I only handle Cameron when he wants to come out of his cage. Recently he has been wanting to come out everyday.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? I feed him Crickets with a bit of calcium sprinkled on top. He also gets mealworms. I get both of these from Petco.
What amount? He usually gets about 5 crickets a day (if he eats them all then I add about 3 more to his cage), and 5 to 7 mealworms.
What is the schedule? I feed him in the morning.
How are you gut-loading your feeders? I have given the crickets sweet potatoes in the past, and Zilla Gut Load Cricket Drink with Calcium.

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I use Repti Calcium, about once a week. I also use a the Repti Safe water conditioner.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Cameron has one of those drippers (Little Dripper), which is constantly on. He also has a constantly flowing waterfall, which flows over leaves in the system. I have never seen him actually use the new waterfall thing, and I turn it off at night.
How often and how long to you mist? I mist 1-5 times a day. His humidity stays around 70.
Do you see your chameleon drinking? Yes I have seen him drink, and sometimes I put the dripper up to his face and he will drink from it then.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. The color of his poo is usually brown and smooth (sometimes clumpy), and usually has white at the end.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Since I have not had him that long, I am not sure if he has ever been tested for parasites.

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
I live in California, where the weather is usually pretty mild, and the humidity is fairly high.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Three sides of the cage are screen, and the front 3/4 panel is plastic. Below is the description of the cage package I bought....

This Zoo Med quality starter kit is for all Old World Chameleon species including: Veiled Chameleons, Panther Chameleons, Jackson Chameleons, Parson's Chameleons and many others. The kit includes: Reptibreeze 16"x16"x30", Naturalistic Vine, Cage Carpet, Naturalistic Plant, Repticalcium sample, Reptivite sample, Digital Thermometer, Tropical Lighting Kit w/ UVB, and Reptisafe sample.

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using?
I believe the UVB light is Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 Mini Compact Fluorescent Lamp, and I am not sure what his heat lamp brand is.
What is your daily lighting schedule? I usually turn on his lights at around 8, and turn them off around 8. I usually don't turn them off until he seems like he is settled in for the night.

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? The cage floor is about 77 degrees and his basking spot is about 85 degrees.
Lowest overnight temp? The lowest it ever gets in his cage at night is around 72 degrees.
How do you measure these temps? I have a thermometer in his cage.

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? The humidity hovers around 70.
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? It is naturally humid in California, I also mist his cage, and have the drip system on.
What do you use to measure humidity? A humidity gauge in his cage.

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? He has one live plant in his cage, which is a Dracaena fragrans. Before putting it in his cage I repotted the plant in organic soil, and washed the leaves of the plant.

Placement - Where is your cage located? The cage is located in the corner of my room. It is very quite there.
Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No, No, No.
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 5 feet.

Location - Where are you geographically located? I am located in Southern California.


Lathis:

So he's making some unusual hissing type noises (or kind of like the chameleon angry huff)? The noise that he is making is more of what I would equate to a chameleon sneeze. It sounds like a quiter hissing noise.

Can you take more photos of his, especially that side that looks odd? I have not seen him do that with his side again. It was only like that for about 5 minutes, but then went back to normal.

Does he have any thick or stringy spit? Not that I have seen.
Do you hear any noise when he breathes? No

Any chance there could be something scaring him? Ceiling fan, posters or pictures with animal faces, other pets, blowing curtains, etc? My room is fairly quiet. Maybe the little fountain in his cage? But it isn't that loud at all, more of a constant hum.

Onemorecast:
Is that bark on bottom of cage or some other loose substrate? The people at petco told us to put Coconut bark at the bottom of his cage. Should we be using something else??

 

[Benjlan]

Hi there,

You need to get rid of the bark, cage should be bare or carpet or paper towels,.

You should remove the fountain, can cause bacteria problems.

You need to read the care sheets about how to gut load and supplement.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Onemorecast]

Lose substrate do as above paper towel, nothing or a mat. Supplements should be given as follows calcium without d3 twice a month multivitamin twice a month (not at same time as d3 though) and calcium with no d3 at every feeding. Also the combo hood im is not optimal. Id grab a tube style uvb 5.0 or better. It spans more of the cage and the cham will receive more rays. Right now its a very narrow window for him to get uvb (which helps aid in uptake and usage of sups) hes basically only getting uvb when he basks, seeing as he isn't basking all the time a larger bulb that covers more area lightwise will be a better choice. The reason substrate isn't good is because insects will hide in it and in the shams attempt to catch them he can invest the material which can lead to a fatal impaction.