Help with Fischer chameleon

[Vincentuanluu]

• Your Chameleon - Ficsher chameleon, pet store said under a year old. Had him for 6 days. Don't know if male or female if anyone could help me figure that out and what type of Ficsher chameleon he is would be great.
• Handling - Since he's new, I'm only going handle him once a week and when I need to clean his cage or check his body for any problems.
• Feeding - I try feeding him mealworms and crickets both sizes. (Small and large for worms and crickets). Trying to get him to eat every morning when I mist and turn on the light. He only ate 2 crickets when I fed him with a tong. I leave 2-3 inside but they never get eaten so I try to hunt them down and take them out before I turn off light but sometime fail because they hide really good. I just brought him wax worms and butter worms so he has different selections. I gut load the crickets in their critter box. I'm making a feeding cup I saw off YouTube for the crickets so I can place it in my cage without worry about having to find them after. I place the worms in a tall container like shown in picture.
• Supplements - I'm using exo terra multi vitamins every week and calcium with D3 once a month. They came with a small spoon and I use either half spoon or full spoon depending how many crickets or worms. I just brought today repti calcium without D3 and plan using it every feeding sessions,
• Watering - i use a mist bottle from (all living things). I mist the whole bottle 4-5 times a day to keep humidity up. I'm getting the mist system from monsoon next week.
• Fecal Description - When I had him in a glass terrarium with mesh on one side and top, his poo was dark/ brown and pee was white. Haven't seen poop or pee in the repti breeze.
• History - not sure about his history but pet store said he's healthy and eats mealworms and crickets.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screened 18x18x48 I think.. It's a large size reptibreeze. I had him in a national geographic vertical terrarium 26gallon with one side has mesh and on top but I was worried he wouldn't get enough fresh air circulation so I upgraded him into reptibreeze after two days.
• Lighting - im using the compact exo terra light fixture as picture show a because forgot what the name of it really called. And a heat lamp for basking. I'm using reptile uvb 100 26W, repti basking spot bulb 150W zoo med, and 13W natural light exo terra.
• Temperature - the basking spot is 95-105, middle cage 70-76, bottom cage is 60-65 and at night whole cage is 60-65
• Humidity - Humitidy is 45-50% when I wake up, 70-90% when I mist a whole bottle. Every 3-4hours or whenever Humitidy hits 50%
• Plants - pothos, crotons, spider plant, and two other I forgot the name. One of them starts with letter D and some fake plants
• Placement - In the living/kitchen (open concept) in the corner where we watch tv and my kid plays. About a feet off the ground because the cage is on top of the table.
• Location - I'm from Canada, Vancouver

Current Problem - my concerns is he only ate total of 2 crickets since I got him and they were both fed from a tong when he was inside my glass terrarium but he haven't eat since I moved him to the reptibreeze cage 4 days ago. He always climbing on the sides of the cage and sometime have trouble hanging on it. He spend some time on the bottle of the cage during day and not using basking spot. He haven't hunt his own food when I leave crickets in there so I always have to try find them but fail sometime because they hide. Hoping someone can tell if he looks healthy and if something is wrong. He shedding around his face but not body and I mist him directly but from a far distance so he's not shock, sometime he just stands there for whole session but sometime he moves away from it. Also what should I do about bottom of my cage because when I mist or water plants, the floor is flooded and always have to wipe it dry. Is there a way to prevent it? I have the reptile soil and barks mixed together already but haven't used it because scared he might choke on it . Sometime when I wake up I see him hanging on side of cage sleeping.. Is that a problem ? I'm really worry something wrong with him and the closest vet is an hour drive for me because I live in Surrey and worry the long drive will really stress him out. Also can anyone help me sex my chameleon and what type of Fischer he is and estimate age he is?

Really worry about him not eating..

 

[Vincentuanluu]

 

[JGspecial]

(male) hell eat eventually, hes just adjusting. he looks pretty healthy to me, i have one as well. give him some time but keep offering him food and leave him be to eat while he doesnt have an audience.

 

[Carlton]

I would use a different feeder container. Many chams don't like hitting their tongues on container sides and this puts them off using cups. Especially as he's a newly arrived import (I think he's a mature adult male K. multituberculatum), I would make it as easy to watch and select prey as possible. The container may be confusing him. Try using a larger plastic container like a Critter Keeper or storage box. Put a few feeders in it with a little bit of gutload, and wedge the box in the foliage. He can get interested in the feeders moving around, and hopefully stimulate his appetite. He is super stressed right now, so he's preoccupied. The K. multis I kept were very active, very reactive to being watched, busy all over the cage. He may not bask all that much until the weather gets cooler.

Cut back the herp multivitamins and the vit D3 to once a month. Montane species are sensitive to overdosing. What he does need each feeding is plain calcium (no added vit D3).

As for the cage bottom, you just have to deal with the water...fischeri need humidity and misting, so its going to collect there. If you don't let that water sit so long that it gets stagnant or moldy you should be OK. Paper towels can help absorb it. I've also used recycled paper pulp cage bedding as a substrate for fischeri. Pack it down in the cage bottom and spot clean or replace grungy patches of it regularly.

 

[Andee]

I agree with Carlton, he might not know how to cup feed so feeding from a feeder container that small is probably confusing. He's probably stressed right now too. The worms you bought he might not recognize as prey either. Silkworms and hornworms might have more success.

 

[Vincentuanluu]

I would use a different feeder container. Many chams don't like hitting their tongues on container sides and this puts them off using cups. Especially as he's a newly arrived import (I think he's a mature adult male K. multituberculatum), I would make it as easy to watch and select prey as possible. The container may be confusing him. Try using a larger plastic container like a Critter Keeper or storage box. Put a few feeders in it with a little bit of gutload, and wedge the box in the foliage. He can get interested in the feeders moving around, and hopefully stimulate his appetite. He is super stressed right now, so he's preoccupied. The K. multis I kept were very active, very reactive to being watched, busy all over the cage. He may not bask all that much until the weather gets cooler.

Cut back the herp multivitamins and the vit D3 to once a month. Montane species are sensitive to overdosing. What he does need each feeding is plain calcium (no added vit D3).

As for the cage bottom, you just have to deal with the water...fischeri need humidity and misting, so its going to collect there. If you don't let that water sit so long that it gets stagnant or moldy you should be OK. Paper towels can help absorb it. I've also used recycled paper pulp cage bedding as a substrate for fischeri. Pack it down in the cage bottom and spot clean or replace grungy patches of it regularly.

Would using a Rubbermaid tall container and cut the middle out and put mesh inside work? Right now it's just a cup that pet store uses to sell betta fish. I put butter worms, mealworms, crickets and waxworms with calcium without D3 and I wedge it between the vines so it sit tight and crickets haven't been able to get out yet. I'm going buy the material today to built the feeding cup that people uses on YouTube for chameleon. Planning building two, one for crickets and other for worms.

 

[Carlton]

Again, something wider across that the cham can easily climb down to and shoot from the rim or a branch next to the rim. Don't put too many feeders in at once. All the movement can make it hard to select and pick out one to shoot at. I would suspect the worms still won't attract his attention all on their own. I think a better idea is to stick with the feeders he does recognize for now, and once he's eating reliably, start adding in other feeders. He'll be more settled by then and probably learned that the "container" is a source for food, so worth sampling new insects. Once he tries and decides he likes the new additions, you're set.