Montium chameleon sick???Help PLEASE

[gogochameleon]

Your Chameleon - Montium Chameleon, male, Adult. 3 Months owned
Handling -Every other day
Feeding - Crickets regulary by cup or let loose in cage and sometime a house fly or moth. 3-4 crickets a day and a fly which he loves prob once every week or two. Gut loading wit bread, celery, lettuce.
Supplements - Flukers cricket quencher calcium fortified.
Watering - Spray bottle and i mist 5 times a day? I see him drink off leaves and straight from the bottle
Fecal Description - Brown,white and some yellow, firm?
History -He is a Montium Chameleon from cameroon. Had Hank for about 3 months now, when i got him the pet store said he was straight from the wild and a adult.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass at first then recently moved to a screen cage that is 48h x30w x15d.
Lighting - Zoomed ballast with a 60 watt daytime bulb, and zoomed 5.0.
Temperature- Usual high is about 73 and low at night is like 64-65.
Humidity - Humidity is usually around 75-80 but as low as 60 and as high as 90. Misting and plant keep humidity up, also live in washington state.
Placement - Cage is located in bedroom, no fans or heaters near, low traffic. top of my cage sits at about 6 foot from floor and bottom of cage to floor is 2 feet.
Location - Located in washington state!

Hello and thanks, my chameleon has been acting wierd and very moody lately. He eats and drinks every day still and doesnt mind being held or hand fed. Lately he is moody, he will be green and blue with no brown or red and very happy then in two seconds he will change and look terrible and just sit there in his cage all poopy looking for hours. I have never seen him this dark then just spring back to happy so quick. He will do this throughout the day for about a week now. He hasnt been in the screen tank to long but he should love it. I also thought i seen him rubbing his horns on sticks about the same week he started being moody. Mating time??? Please ask any question and any idea whats going on. THANK YOU

 

[lisa h]

I don't want to give advice about something I don't know about, so I'll only say what I'm sure of. First, you need to get rid of the night bulb, as chameleons don't need them. Also, how recently did you move him to his screen cage? They do take a while to get used to changes.
Other than that, sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck, and I hope it's nothing serious.

 

[Cainschams]

I don't want to give advice about something I don't know about, so I'll only say what I'm sure of. First, you need to get rid of the night bulb, as chameleons don't need them. Also, how recently did you move him to his screen cage? They do take a while to get used to changes.
Other than that, sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck, and I hope it's nothing serious.

Same here

I agree with ditching the night light. If it is getting too cold you can use a ceramic heater. Here is an article by someone who has extensive experience with many species of chameleons.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060221133030/www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chmontium.html

I would say the partly yellow urate is from not enough humidity reading how much you mist.

Your gutloading regimen can also use some work. Dark leafy greens, squash, bell pepper, alfalfa, apples, oranges etc are some good things to use. Lettuce, celery and bread is not sufficient enough and you can find better options than those. A search will reveal some other things to gutload with and also looking up Sandrachameleons blog on it will help.

I am all for feeding WC insects but I do stay away from WC flies especially ones in the house. Its mostly or all trash ones from the house are eating and crawling on. A very cheap and great source for flies is mantisplace.com. The blue bottle flies are bigger than the house flies. These are so easy to keep around. They have gutloads for the flies and tutorials on the site.

 

[Elizadolots]

Wild Caught can have parasites and other "WC" issues...you might want to schedule a vet visit and fecal exam just to a) rule out a problem and b) establish a baseline.

Is your basking temp 73 degrees? That's probably a bit on the cool side, though, better too cool than too hot. I think I'd try for 77-80.

Have you made any changes to the room? Something that might seem inconsequential to you? I'm wondering if a big red bean bag chair was brought in, or a poster put on the wall...something like that?

 

[gogochameleon]

ok ditching night light. And feeding crickets with orange and getting some dark leafy stuff. I was told by the pet store to keep on the nightlight all the time. Been reading through forums on this site and it has helped alot. new member. thanks. still trying to figure out why hes so grumpy this week. Only been in the cage for a week now so maybe adjusting still. He just doesnt look well so trying to get input. I dont know anyone that owns another chameleon either so that dont help. thank you

 

[gogochameleon]

Wild Caught can have parasites and other "WC" issues...you might want to schedule a vet visit and fecal exam just to a) rule out a problem and b) establish a baseline.

Is your basking temp 73 degrees? That's probably a bit on the cool side, though, better too cool than too hot. I think I'd try for 77-80.

Have you made any changes to the room? Something that might seem inconsequential to you? I'm wondering if a big red bean bag chair was brought in, or a poster put on the wall...something like that?

ACTUALLY i did just put up a big red fishing poster about a week befor he started acting wierd and as i read your post i took it down, i should have thought of that one befor i put that up. And as for the heat i sometimes see him with his mouth open just sitting there and i think that is a sign of to much heat. Heat lamp is gone now so it might lower. The basking spot is closer to 85. thanks

 

[laurie]

You have been given good advice, but one thing only I would come up with. If he is rubbing his horns maybe it is as easy as he is getting ready to shed. When was the last time you saw him shed?

 

[gogochameleon]

Wild Caught can have parasites and other "WC" issues...you might want to schedule a vet visit and fecal exam just to a) rule out a problem and b) establish a baseline.

Is your basking temp 73 degrees? That's probably a bit on the cool side, though, better too cool than too hot. I think I'd try for 77-80.

Have you made any changes to the room? Something that might seem inconsequential to you? I'm wondering if a big red bean bag chair was brought in, or a poster put on the wall...something like that?

ACTUALLY i did just put up a big red fishing poster about a week befor he started acting wierd and as i read your post i took it down, i should have thought of that one!!! And as for the heat i sometimes see him with his mouth open just sitting there and i think that is a sign of to much heat. Heat lamp is gone now so it might lower. The basking spot is closer to 85. thanks

 

[Elizadolots]

Yeah...take the red poster down. In the wild, things that eat them are red. They don't like that color.

85 is actually hot for a basking temp for that animal. As I said, I'd go for something in the 77-80 range. You might want to raise the light up a bit. I have a Fischer's but they have a very similar environmental need.

 

[kinyonga]

What red things eat them??

 

[lisa h]

You have been given good advice, but one thing only I would come up with. If he is rubbing his horns maybe it is as easy as he is getting ready to shed. When was the last time you saw him shed?

I was just thinking that, as my Werner's is just starting a shed and she's been pacing and "not acting usual". Hard to explain, but I just know she's acting different.

To the OP, that's really a tough one, but you've gotten some good suggestions so far.

 

[Itwas]

What red things eat them??

ginger kids aaaarrrggghhhh

 

[Elizadolots]

What red things eat them??

Birds? That would be my guess. Red is always spoken of as a stress inducing color.