Help!! What's going on??

mommamyre

New Member
Hello there,

I am a new cham owner - Graceful/gracilis, got him last week - and here's the problem, and then here's what his living conditions are:

His eyes are closed during the day a lot more and he is eating less. I also haven't seen him drinking in a while. (Hard to catch since I'm not staring at him all the time).

He is temporarily living in:
*10gal aquarium with a 10gal wire mesh 'tank' on top of the glass. (His reptarium has not arrived yet)
*I don't know how old he is - the petstore didn't know - I'm trying to find out. He is about 9-12" long with his tail included.
*He eats crickets dusted with calcium supplement
*I Spray his cage 3x a day with warm water
*I place icecubes on top of his cage to drip
*He has a heat lamp sitting on top of the cage and a nice area to perch for basking
*I am using a long UVB light all day and turn it off at night. I don't turn off the heat lamp at night because it gets so cold in here, I'm scared to turn it off.

Any help is greatly appreciated. He was walking around and exploring yesterday just fine - at the top of my bookcase. He just hung out then explored all around the couch and trunk area.

I am really worried about him, as my instincts are telling me that something is wrong. My cham care books haven't arrived yet from amazon either.

HELP!!!!
mm
 
Welcome to the forums.
Unfortunately you have attacked this new hobby/project in backward fashion.
Although it's too late now I will still say that research, reading, habitat set-up etc. should all happen weeks before an animal is actually aquired.
Here's what needs to happen (in my opinion):
A vet visit. Overall wellness check will hopefully reveal the problem. Eyes shut/sleeping during the day is a sign of some illness. Could be a number of things so the vet is absolutely necessary. Take a fecal sample with you.
Husbandry research. You need to make several adjustments to your husbandry starting with no light of any kind at night (they need a big temp drop in the evening) No icecubes (way too cold) you need to set up a drip and/or mist system. Very limited contact with this animal. They want to be left alone in their territory.
Let us know how the vet visit goes and again welcome. You will get the best and most helpful information here.

-Brad
 
You have not picked an easy chameleon to keep. Most graceful chameleons are less tolerant of human contact and of humans being around than veileds or panthers.

Are you sure its a male? Does it have a tarsal spur?

Do you have a substrate in the cage?

If its sleeping during the day, it is likely sick.

As Brad said....a chameleon shouldn't have a light at night.
 
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