HELP me HELP Drogon!

[nessavee]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled male 9 months
• Handling - He'll come out to me about once a week
• Feeding - 6-8 crickets every other day, he loves greens everyday (dandelion leaves or romaine lettuce)
• Supplements - I use ReptiVite w/D3 and ReptiCalcium. Dust them about once or twice a week
• Watering - I have been using the dripper and I hand mist. I mist about 5 times a day for about 5 minutes a day.
• Fecal Description - Dark brown with white, normal
• History - I've had him since July of 2017. He's had no major problems. Everything has been tested and is normal.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - I have an aluminum cage 16″ x 16″ x 30″ - currently looking for a bigger one
• Lighting - I am using Daylight Blue Reptile Bulb 60 watt, and ReptiSun 5.0 Mini Compact Fluorescent 13 watt. I do have the window open so he sees outside and sunlight will come through. Still a little too cold outside so we keep it closed when its rainy and cloudy out.
• Temperature - Temps run from 75-85 F with basking of 85 F. Lowest overnight temp is 60F. I have a humidity and temp gauge.
• Humidity - Humidity has been 65-75%
• Plants - I had to remove his live plant, noticed a white mold growing on the soil (from being constantly moist)
• Placement - He is in our dining room next to a major window. We are out of his site (we don't use our dining room) he is about 5-6 ft off the ground.
• Location - Seattle, Wa

Current Problem - We have noticed that he has been falling asleep way to early. We typically leave his lights on from 7am-7pm. It has been staying light out later now, sun will set about 730ish. But we noticed he will be positioned or sleeping already by 4 or 5. We are concerned something is not right. He also has been keeping on eye closed constant. I looked and it is not swollen or see anything "stuck" in his eye. He just had a compete shed about three days ago. We need some input if sleeping this early is okay?

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

How well has he been drinking?

 

[hollows]

Mine was doing this a while ago, and it turned out some light was effectively making its way into his room through the blinds, about an hour before his wake up time.
Any chance the sun has been peeking in on him before his lights turn on?

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

my chameleon will go into his position to sleep 2-3 hours before the lights go off. Not a big deal most of the time. However, if hes is sleeping before the lights go out that might be a problem. Usually a sign or lack of energy for whatever reason.

 

[Syreptyon]

There are a number of things that could be going on, but the first changes I would make are to his lights. To begin, you will want to replace the blue daylight bulb with a regular household incandescent of the same wattage. Chameleons can see blue and it is definitely recommended you do not use any colored lights because it is unnatural and can bother their eyes. Imagine if our sun was blue - it recolors the world. I would also recommend throwing out your compact fluorescent and replacing it with a linear model. The compacts are no good and this is a well established fact. Not only can they bother a chameleon's eyes, but they are also terrible at distributing UVB light for you cham to actually reap the benefits.

Next I'll comment on the cage size. For his age, it is tiny and (as it sounds like you already know) it needs to be upgraded ASAP. Your supplement schedule could use tweaking too. You should be dusting with 3 types of supplements as follows: every day with phosphorous-free calcium powder without D3, twice a month with phosphorous-free calcium WITH vitamin D3, and twice a month with a multivitamin.

Sometimes chameleons will hunker down early and it means nothing. But sometimes it is a sign of an ailment, so you'll just want to be sure to keep an eye on him. It's the one closed eye that I find to be the bigger concern. Beautiful guy, though!

 

[JacksJill]

Supplements - I use ReptiVite w/D3 and ReptiCalcium. Dust them about once or twice a week

Your supplement schedule could use an adjustment. Might not be related but could help him overall.
"Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks."
Also if your UVB bulb is over 6 mos old it's time to replace it.
As said above going to his sleep spot early can be normal but a closed eye and sleeping early are not. Check his basking and ambient temperatures if they are low that can make them sleepy. Check to see if he isn't getting light at night or early am that is changing his sleep schedule. This might be a good time to give him a shower or misting that will let him clean that eye. If the problem persists think bout having the vet look at it.

 

[nessavee]

How well has he been drinking?

He drinks quite often. Every time we mist and seen him go to his dripper a few times a day as well.

 

[nessavee]

Mine was doing this a while ago, and it turned out some light was effectively making its way into his room through the blinds, about an hour before his wake up time.
Any chance the sun has been peeking in on him before his lights turn on?

We don't get any sunlight until about 730, that why we turn on his lights about 7ish.

 

[nessavee]

There are a number of things that could be going on, but the first changes I would make are to his lights. To begin, you will want to replace the blue daylight bulb with a regular household incandescent of the same wattage. Chameleons can see blue and it is definitely recommended you do not use any colored lights because it is unnatural and can bother their eyes. Imagine if our sun was blue - it recolors the world. I would also recommend throwing out your compact fluorescent and replacing it with a linear model. The compacts are no good and this is a well established fact. Not only can they bother a chameleon's eyes, but they are also terrible at distributing UVB light for you cham to actually reap the benefits.

Next I'll comment on the cage size. For his age, it is tiny and (as it sounds like you already know) it needs to be upgraded ASAP. Your supplement schedule could use tweaking too. You should be dusting with 3 types of supplements as follows: every day with phosphorous-free calcium powder without D3, twice a month with phosphorous-free calcium WITH vitamin D3, and twice a month with a multivitamin.

Sometimes chameleons will hunker down early and it means nothing. But sometimes it is a sign of an ailment, so you'll just want to be sure to keep an eye on him. It's the one closed eye that I find to be the bigger concern. Beautiful guy, though!

I didn't even think about the blue light. I will definitely change that out. And yes, I am aware of the size. I'm currently looking for new set up for him.

I will change his vitamins also, great input! I really appreciate it!

 

[nessavee]

Your supplement schedule could use an adjustment. Might not be related but could help him overall.
"Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks."
Also if your UVB bulb is over 6 mos old it's time to replace it.
As said above going to his sleep spot early can be normal but a closed eye and sleeping early are not. Check his basking and ambient temperatures if they are low that can make them sleepy. Check to see if he isn't getting light at night or early am that is changing his sleep schedule. This might be a good time to give him a shower or misting that will let him clean that eye. If the problem persists think bout having the vet look at it.

Great! Thank you so much for your input. I will work on some the changes ASAP

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Great info has been posted already, but can you provide at least one closeup of his eye? I may be seeing things, but it would not hurt.

 

[nessavee]

Great info has been posted already, but can you provide at least one closeup of his eye? I may be seeing things, but it would not hurt.

 

[Bmjo]

Stuck shed. My cham Had the same problem and his eye look the exact same.

 

[nessavee]

Does it look okay?

 

[nessavee]

Great info has been posted already, but can you provide at least one closeup of his eye? I may be seeing things, but it would not hurt.

Does it look okay?

 

[CJ's Exotics]

It looks kind of odd.