i dont know if its a problem or not

[rkhhenry]

* Your Chameleon - flapneck ( chamaeleo dilepis )
* Handling - Not very often
* Feeding - crickets gutloaded with flukers orange cubes.
* Supplements - i dust them with flukers cal/wd3 twice a month and herptivite multivitamins w beta carotene every other day
* Watering - 3 times a day with distilled water in a sprayer. and he does drink. but hates to be sprayed directly
* Fecal Description - his droppings are white and black/brown. there are no herp vets arround here ive searched and searched
* History - he is active and is always on the move except when he is sun bathing


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 18x18x36 lll reptile screen cage
* Lighting - repti-sun cfl 5.0 for 12hrs and a sunglo 100w tight beam bulb for 12 hrs. i have a black light for night heat
* Temperature -i have a thermostat in the middle of the cage and i check the rest of the cage with a lazer temp probe weekly. it staws about 75 t0 80 in the middle where he spends most of his time. the bottom of the cage stays arround 72. his basking spot of choice is 94
* Humidity - the humidity levels are all over the place i havent mastered this yet it ranges from 55 to 70%. i need to put a live plant and see if it helps. unless someone has a better suggestion
* Plants - no live just plastic and
* Placement - he is on a wall in the middle of my living room no vents of fans but there is high traffic but it doesent seem to bother him at all.his cage is elavated two feet off the floor with a stand so the top is at 5 feet
* Location - Cincinnati, Ohio


Current Problem - he hasent been eating as well.i just bought this cage his old cage was a exoterra repterrium it was glass and i didnt like it. i dunno there may be nothing wrong with him. i did read somthing about a hunger strike during winter months. but i keep his lights on a 12 hr timer to remedy that so i thought. oh well i just love my lil guy and want the best for him. if anyone has any exp with flapnecks id love your imput

 

[jesse57]

first the gut loading , you need it give the cricket's potatoes and other great food for your cham. also you do not need a night heat bulb, chameleon's need colder temp at night

 

[jesse57]

WOW 100watt is way to much tone it down to 75MAX

 

[rkhhenry]

i had a 75w and the basking spot was only 80.

 

[ladizzlee]

80 degrees is fine.

 

[carol5208]

I am not 100% sure of the supplementation of a flapneck but I know that a multivitamin every other day is WAY too much. I know you should be using regular calcium probably at most feedings and the d3 twice a month is good. Gutload your crickets well with fresh fruits and vegetables and let your cham get some of his vitamins and nutrients through your feeders.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's some information you might find helpful......
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/

 

[Echoezra]

I have a flapneck too, and I've read everything I can find on them. Not too much that's specific, but one common thing is that several sources do point to being extra careful not to oversupplement them. So that means taking what you'd normally supplement for a veiled or panther and going EXTRA light. Normally they say calcium with NO D3 on a regular basis, then calcium WITH D3 only twice a month, and herptivite multivitamin only once or twice a month. This is for veileds or panthers, so with a flapneck you should be going even lighter than this. Your supplement schedule is pretty way off, so that could be causing problems already.

Also, you said reptisun cfl - that means the compact spiral bulb, right? Those are not recommended for chameleons due to an issue with them causing eye problems. Best to replace that with a linear tube kind as soon as possible.

Flapnecks are one of the hardest to acclimate, if it's a wild caught, which a lot of them are, so you kind of have to be extra extra careful to be doing everything especially right. And sometimes that still won't be enough.
You don't really mention specifics about it or how long you've had it or anything.
If it is wildcaught, did you have a fecal test done? Could be a parasite thing catching up with him?

Of course, it could be he's just sick of crickets, if that's all you've been feeding. Definately start gutloading better, with fresh calcium-rich vegetables, and try mixing in some other variety of bugs (not mealworms)

I love these guys. Good luck.

 

[Echoezra]

Also, just re-read your first post again, and yes I would highly recommend live plants, actually several, give him lots of cover and lots of leaves to drink from. Live will hold the moisture better and longer for humidity and drinking.
Also for misting, make sure your water is nice and warm in the mister, and spray it up, so it will gently fall back down on him. That's the only way my guy will take a misting actually on him. If it's room temp water, no way, if I spray sideways at the plant he's on, no way. If it's warm and up then down, he's okay with it.
I'm not entirely sure about the temperatures, seems too warm to me, the basking spot seems pretty hot at 94. Mine is only about 84 and my guy doesn't even use it, just hangs out in the mid-70's plants most of the time.
One more thing - no black light. No night heat necessary unless it gets crazy cold like below 60 or something. And if it does, you want to go with a ceramic heat emitter, something like that, not a bulb, no matter what the colour. Black light - your silkworms'll be glowing like it's a dance club or something, lol, he'll be up all night humming Blue Monday.

 

[Stanly]

first the gut loading , you need it give the cricket's potatoes and other great food for your cham. also you do not need a night heat bulb, chameleon's need colder temp at night

yes gut loading is need but from what I've read regular potatoes are not that good for gut loading. Sweet potatoes however are (I've read crickets like them slightly boiled/cooked). Sandrachameleon (I think that's the user name, she's a dev on this site) has some great blogs about gut loading (dry and wet, types of veggies etc) you should look into them.