Help with a juevenile Jackson chameleon

[Reginadituto]

My son is the owner of a male 7 month old Jackson chameleon. We have had Trice for about 2 weeks. Because Trice's owner is 12, he gets handled a lot. I have shown my son a number of articles about chameleon care and I think the "leave Trice in his enclosure" message is starting to sink in. We are feeding him 5-7 crickets every morning and dusting with calcium and multi vitamins every other day. We are using Exo-terra calcium + D3 and Zoomed's Reptovite. Trice's stools have been dark brown. His enclosure is screen on all sides and 10 x 15 x 24. We have a live ficus and a branched piece of wood inside. It has a zoomed reptisun 5.0 UVB and a small aluminum dome light with a standard 40 w bulb for basking. We mist 2 - 3 times per day and have a drip system that runs most of the day. We live in Los Angeles which tends to be dry so we are good about frequent misting. I have seen him eating and drinking. Since Trice is new acquisition we haven't set up anything to measure humidity and temperature yet.


Our concern is that we keep finding Trice in the lower third of the cage- one day he was actually on the floor of the enclosure. I have gently moved him up to the upper part of the enclosure, but he seems lethargic and sleepy. Does anyone know why he keeps climbing down? We are trying to be good Cham owners so we want to make sure this isn't something serious. Thanks for your input

 

[leedragon]

My son is the owner of a male 7 month old Jackson chameleon. We have had Trice for about 2 weeks. Because Trice's owner is 12, he gets handled a lot. I have shown my son a number of articles about chameleon care and I think the "leave Trice in his enclosure" message is starting to sink in. We are feeding him 5-7 crickets every morning and dusting with calcium and multi vitamins every other day. We are using Exo-terra calcium + D3 and Zoomed's Reptovite. Trice's stools have been dark brown. His enclosure is screen on all sides and 10 x 15 x 24. We have a live ficus and a branched piece of wood inside. It has a zoomed reptisun 5.0 UVB and a small aluminum dome light with a standard 40 w bulb for basking. We mist 2 - 3 times per day and have a drip system that runs most of the day. We live in Los Angeles which tends to be dry so we are good about frequent misting. I have seen him eating and drinking. Since Trice is new acquisition we haven't set up anything to measure humidity and temperature yet.


Our concern is that we keep finding Trice in the lower third of the cage- one day he was actually on the floor of the enclosure. I have gently moved him up to the upper part of the enclosure, but he seems lethargic and sleepy. Does anyone know why he keeps climbing down? We are trying to be good Cham owners so we want to make sure this isn't something serious. Thanks for your input

what are the temps, D3 should be gived once a month, the same with vitamins, but plain calcin without phosfor should be gived everyfeeden or so, gutloadning is important, more tha supplements, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbUaOQ0aA&list=PL4HFX9PBYVY2eIWT0v3ZgYSk-r76SEujI

 

[kplatvoet]

IMO the most common mistakes with Jacksons are overheating and over supplementing - they are more sensitive to D than panthers and veiled -make sure your dusting with plain calcium - D only once a month if he's not getting any outside time -
You might try a humidifier - I run one with a tube out the top all winter long with mine as when the heat is on it's quite dry - I don't connect anything as I find it easier to clean out I just stick it in the top of the cool mist humidifier and run the tube to the top of the cage - I have it come on with the lights and turn off at night.
Jacksons also do like a good cool down at night - I try to get the temps in the low 60's at the highest at night - the cooler it is the more active she is the next day - I keep her basking light in a corner of the cage so that the rest of the cage stays cooler and try and give her choices when it comes to basking so she can pick her spot.