much darker colors in new cage

[ICu35]

Please help!

Chameleon Info:
Chameleon - veiled, male, (named Rococo) bought from pet store 2 months ago currently 5 to 7 months old from my best guess
Handling - When we clean And also maybe once every 3 days or so if he is willing to cooperate
Feeding- we Are feeding several super worms, horn worms as staples (he used to eat crickets but no longer wants to touch them), and the occasional butter worm and wax worm and meal worm.
Supplements - we give him a multi-vitamin 2x a month repti-Cal with D3 2x a month and a light dusting of calcium w/o D3 with every meal.
Watering - we have a little driper going day long and also mist anywhere between 4 and 6 times a day to keep humidity above the 55% range
Fecal Description - Urine is white and fecal mater looks normal dark brown little logs.
History - his old enclosure which we moved him out of 17 days ago was an exotera 18x18x24 i believe with lots of fake plants a vines for him to hang on too. we also bought him from a pet store that had him in a tiny glass display which was 5"wide by 12 deep by 8 high and they claimed to only feed him 4 medium crickets a day a they never misted they just had a driper.
Cage Info
Cage Type - Repti-breeze 24"x24"x48" (new cage only been inside for 17 days)
Lighting - he has 5.0 reptisun linear, he also has a 100 watt sun glo lamp for his basking spot and a 65 watt bulb for extra light and to maintain ambient temp, lights go on by timer light on at 7:30am off by 7:45
Temperature - Basking spot is about 92F to 94F Ambient cage tempt 74F to 84F mattering where in cage very bottom of cage is 72F night time tempt doesn't drop below 70F
Humidity - isn't really an issue with the live plant he has in there now, it stay at around 50% to 65% misting with spray bottle at least 3x daily and dripper
Plants - A large Schefflera arboricola bought from Lowes and washed well to rid it of any possible toxins and smooth stones placed on soil to prevent ingestion of soil. he Also has lots off vines bought from the local pet store as well as plastic vegetation.
Placement - in bedroom on a 2 foot tall table, eye level, moderate foot traffic in area we try to give him as much peace a quite as possible
Location - Central Michigan, cold a dry this time of year

Current Problem - He has been a very dark colored since we moved him to his new repti-breeze cage. Even when he isn't basking he is this darker color. he used to always be a very light shade of green, now he is only that color at night when he is sleeping. is this normal are we doing something wrong any advice would be appreciated

Before in old cage:
http://img39.imageshack.us/i/img0409n.jpg/
His new cage setup:
http://img109.imageshack.us/f/img0415xt.jpg//
His new colors
http://img850.imageshack.us/i/img0428.jpg/
http://img851.imageshack.us/i/img0433.jpg/
http://img84.imageshack.us/i/img0438x.jpg/

 

[ataraxia]

1)it takes time to acclimate. needs to feel secure.
2)same temps as before?
3)same lights?
4)same distance from highest pirching to uvb and basking?
5)make sure he can feel secure basking for heat or uvb. provide cover around it.

i like the new cage!! you dont need the substrate at the bottom. if you dont have reptile safe (fake) vines/plants.. i suggest you removing those also.

 

[nicholas]

He will come around, he is most likely just stressed from the change of scenery (Chams are stressed very easily by this). Simple case of the infamous "Stressed Out Cameleon"

 

[Hugh Wahl]

Yeah I agree with ataranixa he will need time to acclimate assuming the lights haven't changed ( temps and distance ). How long has he been in the cage. I just got a new chameleon last week ironically and he is just now starting to color up after about
Eight days.

 

[ICu35]

2)same temps as before? actually i believe its a little cooler in there i only got my infrared thermometer recently and before was using a crappy exotera analogue thermometer so exact temps of last enclosure are sorta hard to know it was glass though so i imagine it was warmer.

3)same lights? Almost, same basking light, but he has a new 18inch 5.0 reptisun linear tube and before he had a CL repti-glo 5.0

4)same distance from highest pirching to uvb and basking? no its a much larger cage before it was like 7inches now its closer to 11iches

5)make sure he can feel secure basking for heat or uvb. provide cover around it. he has a lot of foliage in there from his new Schefflera arboricola

All temps in info are from the new enclosure setup.

He has been in his new cage for 17days

The plant is a Schefflera arboricola from lowes (which is safe for chameleons he isn't a large plant eater ether) and the vines and small pants at bottom of cage are all fake reptile safe bought from pet store

 

[ataraxia]

2)same temps as before? actually i believe its a little cooler in there i only got my infrared thermometer recently and before was using a crappy exotera analogue thermometer so exact temps of last enclosure are sorta hard to know it was glass though so i imagine it was warmer.

3)same lights? Almost, same basking light, but he has a new 18inch 5.0 reptisun linear tube and before he had a CL repti-glo 5.0

4)same distance from highest pirching to uvb and basking? no its a much larger cage before it was like 7inches now its closer to 11iches

5)make sure he can feel secure basking for heat or uvb. provide cover around it. he has a lot of foliage in there from his new Schefflera arboricola

All temps in info are from the new enclosure setup.

He has been in his new cage for 17days

The plant is a Schefflera arboricola from lowes (which is safe for chameleons he isn't a large plant eater ether) and the vines and small pants at bottom of cage are all fake reptile safe bought from pet store

everything is completely different for this guy. new cage, lights, plants. some take longer than others to acclimate. he looks like he is getting ready to shed IMO.

 

[jojackson]

4)same distance from highest pirching to uvb and basking? no its a much larger cage before it was like 7inches now its closer to 11iches

Bingo! Recheck those temps.

 

[ICu35]

The temperatures that i stated (Basking spot is about 92F to 94F Ambient cage tempt 74F to 84F mattering where in cage very bottom of cage is 72F night time tempt doesn't drop below 70F) are from the new cage setup with the highest perch 11inchs away from basking bulb. I have checked the temperature gradient several times in the new cage and these temperatures are pretty consistent. I'm using a infrared thermometer for basking temps and a digital thermometer for ambient temps

 

[jojackson]

How long and how often is he basking? Whats he doing while hes basking? aka does he flatten himself out, side exposed to the heat?
You might trim back the ficus from the basking perch a little.
Need to know more about his activity/behaviour while he cant see you observing him.
raising the cage up higher wont hurt either.
exactly what kind of traffic are you talking about? animals, people?

 

[ICu35]

Hes is basking for about 3 to 4 hours a day he doesn't get very flat just sits under it normally. Also his perch is fairly unobstructed by the Schefflera it isn't blocking out any light that i can see.

His activity has been fairly normal not sluggish at all and hes has been exploring large amounts of the new enclosure, include short periods of time all the way at the bottom of the cage. he has been eating relatively normally, we used to mainly feed 3/4inch crickets 12 to 14 a day but he went on a hunger strike recently a now only eats worms, his staples being supers and horns with butter and wax occasionally.

The traffic in the room is moderate just mostly my girlfriend and shes 5 foot nothing, soo to him he must feel like hes high enough away from her (its her bedroom) and no other animals, most of the day hes alone and recently when we have been home we have tried to give him as much peace and quite as we can to help him get comfortable with the new cage

 

[jojackson]

Maybe hes just particularly peevish? It would be interesting if you could set up a camera
and record him while hes all alone, see what he behaves like, what color he is.
Everything seems to be cham friendly, so id have to suggest maybe its nothing much to worry about.
Chams are highly visual creature in terms of communication, differing moods etc aswell as environmental factors. Likely hell settle in time and more often be brighter, but be aware that brighter colors are not the norm anyway.
While sleeping it chromatic functions are at rest so its brighter (often refered to here as pajama colors) likewise in the sun and under stimuli colors will be brighter and reflect those changes.
You rarely see photos of chameleons that arnt showing bright color, this is because an excited /stimulated cham makes for nicer more colorful photo.

not so exciting

How about now hes really annoyed?