elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
Its me again!!
I am hoping to get some feedback on what I need to improve/change for my juvenile Jackson's. The last few days I keep finding him on the top of his enclosure screen right by the lights. I know this isn't good for him. I keep getting him down by either using a stick for him to climb on and put him somewhere safe or using my hand to gently move him to a safe space in his enclosure. Picture included (FYI I turned the lights off immediately after taking it). See my husbandry information below:
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - The last few days he is climbing on the top of his enclosure and sitting close to or directly under the plant light or the UVB light. I am not sure if he is too cold, if he likes the colors, if there is not enough coverage in his enclosure and he is trying to get away or what. Looking for feedback on what I can do better for my little guy! Thanks all!
I am hoping to get some feedback on what I need to improve/change for my juvenile Jackson's. The last few days I keep finding him on the top of his enclosure screen right by the lights. I know this isn't good for him. I keep getting him down by either using a stick for him to climb on and put him somewhere safe or using my hand to gently move him to a safe space in his enclosure. Picture included (FYI I turned the lights off immediately after taking it). See my husbandry information below:
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Male Jackson's Xantholophus, birth date Feb 16th, 2023 - approximately 5 months old. He has been in my care since July 12th, 2023
- Handling - Only once to get him from his shipping box into his enclosure and now if I have to get him off the top of his enclosure due to him being close to the lights I either use a stick to get him down or I use my hand to slowly guide him off the ceiling by either gently touching the back of his tail or he will move with my hand nearby.
- Feeding - Crickets, silkworms, and dubia, bsfl and bsf daily as many as he will eat. Saturday super worms and wax worms, silkworms and crickets, as many as he will eat. Daily dusted with calcium and bee pollen. The first Saturday of each month I use Repashy LoD.
- Supplements - Daily - calcium with bee pollen. The first Saturday of each month I use Repashy LoD
- Watering - Fog machine on 1 hour sessions from 1 am to 6 am. I hand mist nightly at 10 pm and again at 7 am, one hour before his lights turn on. I use a dripper every other day in the afternoons, unless I see him rush to water, then I will add a dripper daily until I no longer see that behavior
- Fecal Description - Poop is dark brown, firm but moist. Urate is quite small and with each poop is getting a little more white each time. He has not been tested for parasites, unless I see any concern for illness, I plan on taking him to my vet around October when he is bigger to get his first wellness check and start testing for parasites. Picture of his poop from July 17th, so I could continue to compare urates.
- History - I got him from Frank Payne. He has been active and seemly very healthy. I have seen him eat a handful of times, to get him to start eating was a struggle due to him being used to free range feeding and eating crickets only. Since I noticed the issue from speaking with Frank on what he is used to I free ranged approximately 8 bsf daily (4 at a time) and 3 silk worms. If feeders fell on the bottom they were immediately discarded. I also set up 3 separate feeder stations, 2 are the bird feeder cups and 1 was a homemade feeder run. He responded quickly to the feeder run and today I saw him eating out of one of the bird feeder cups. He has pooped every other day since I got him.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - 2x2x4 foot ReptiBreeze, I use plastic sheets on 3 sides to create a hybrid enclosure. The front screen has the season window film on it. The bottom service panel and the top is open for the chimney effect.
- Lighting - Arcadia T5HO 6%. The heat lamp I am not sure but it produces lower temps, which I believe he needs due to him being a montane species. The third light is a plant light I purchased at Walmart. Lights are on a 12 hour schedule, 8 am to 8 pm. The heat lamp is on until 6 pm, however his temps are monitored closely and if I notice temps going too high I will turn it off.
- Temperature - Temp range right now 79 at highest branch w/o the heat lamp on, bottom branch in enclosure is 74 degrees. His basking temp is currently 82, it was lower but he was under the basking branch longer than he should be so I moved it closer for a little higher temp. He has an AC unit in his room that I put on at night. The room starts cooling down naturally/with the house AC on from 8 pm to about 10 pm, temps between then are in the low low 70s. At 10 pm I mist his enclosure and then turn on his ac where his enclosure temps will then measure around 65-62 degrees. I'd love to get it lower but it may not be possible right now in the hot Utah weather. Temps are measured by both a 3 sensor hydrometer in the enclosure to give me the temp and humidity gradients int he enclosure AND I also have a temp gun. His basking branch has a probe thermometer.
- Humidity - Humidity levels during the day are low 60s to 50s. At night I can get them up to the mid 80s to low 90s. I measure the humidity with the 3 sensor hydrometer in his enclosure
- Plants - All live plants, wax plant, prayer plant, pothos, hibiscus, bird nest fern thing, philodendron, another prayer plant and a ZZ plant in the back
- Placement - Enclosure is located in an unfinished bedroom we have in our basement (eventually we will turn this into my reptile room but for now its ugly). He is in there on his own, apart from going in the room to check on him this room literally gets zero traffic. Enclosure is on top of a metal garage shelf I purchased at Home Depot, the top of his enclosure is so tall that I have to use a chair to reach the lights. No fans, there is an air vent but I am able to turn off the vent from my laundry room and it does not have any airflow to it at all (I have checked this multiple times while the house AC was running).
- Location - Utah
Current Problem - The last few days he is climbing on the top of his enclosure and sitting close to or directly under the plant light or the UVB light. I am not sure if he is too cold, if he likes the colors, if there is not enough coverage in his enclosure and he is trying to get away or what. Looking for feedback on what I can do better for my little guy! Thanks all!
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