My Sambava sleeping early

[ColorCham427]

Hey all, So my almost 6 month old male Sambava has been going to sleep a little earlier than usual. His daylights turn on at 8 am and nightlights turn on at 7:15 pm. But he seems to be falling asleep at 5:30-6:00 ish pm... He has only eaten 3 crix and 1 hornworm in the past 2 days....HELP



thanks!

 

[ChromaChameleons]

what is your supplementation regime...calcium,d3,vitamins, minerals???

 

[ChromaChameleons]

where are you getting your hornworms?? WC hornworms can be toxic if they are foraged from tomato plants

 

[Dave Weldon]

...and nightlights turn on at 7:15 pm...

Howdy,

Nightlights???? Unless you are getting below 65F, no nighttime heat source is necessary. A nighttime temperature drop is a good thing. It is quite possible to stress-out your critter with nightlighting .

 

[ColorCham427]

where are you getting your hornworms?? WC hornworms can be toxic if they are foraged from tomato plants

I buy from mulberryfarms.com Not just hornworms, but as well as silkworms and sometimes butterworms.

 

[jesseesperto]

I think those night lights are the problem..

 

[ColorCham427]

Rep-cal and Reptivite.. rep-cal - lightly dusted daily. Reptivite - Once every 2 weeks.

 

[ColorCham427]

My Breeder told me to use moonlight

 

[Electric]

is that one of those blue coated bulbs? if so I'd ditch that pretty quick, sure the chameleon's eyes are closed so he probably doesn't see it, maybe he's going to bed early so that he doesn't have to see that nightlight

 

[angus310]

I am fairly new to the game but I bought a deluxe combo light with 2 (up to) 75 watt bulbs and a fluorescent fixtures

I bought:

5.0 reptisun uv fl.
75 watt day light from zoo med (blueish but appears to human eye to be white light)
75 watt night light (red) which I turn off a little after the ac goes off before bed.

I would love your advice if these bulbs are good. (all temps are fine, day, basking, night) Thanks for the help!

 

[Tygerr]

The 5.0 Reptisun flourescent is a good bulb (see http://www.uvguide.co.uk).

Does the day light bulb look something like this:

If it does: those aren't the recommended bulbs to be used as basking lights. Instead, you could use a regular (and much cheaper) household spot light that looks like this:

I'm not sure if the blue light has any ill effects on the cham, but as I said, the spot globes are the ones that are normally recommended, and provided you don't buy reptile-branded ones, they are a lot cheaper.

The red night light is completely wrong, and you shouldn't be using it. Chams generally don't need any heat source at night when they are sleeping, and in fact they benefit from a 10F-15F degree drop in temps at night. Provided the temperatures in your house are not dipping below 60F at night, there is no reason to use heating at night for your chameleons.
The same goes for 'moonglow' or other glow lamps at night: chameleons need complete darkness to sleep in.

Finally, about the combo fixture that you mentioned: make sure it does not have any plastic or glass surrounding/shielding the UVB flourescent tube, as that will block the UVB off (even if the plastic or glass is clear), and your cham will not be able to absorb it.

 

[angus310]

the top bulbs are the ones that I have the basking lights won't work in the combos because they have the bulbs on the side not pointing down. My basking is pretty steady at 87. What is the concern over these bulbs? I am open to whatever it takes to make this guy as healthy as possible.

the UV has no obstructions other than the top of the cage.

the red night heating bulb is only used once the ac goes off until I get a room temp of 72. The ac is pumping and gets it to like 68, figured that was too far of a drop that quick.

 

[Tygerr]

the top bulbs are the ones that I have the basking lights won't work in the combos because they have the bulbs on the side not pointing down. My basking is pretty steady at 87. What is the concern over these bulbs? I am open to whatever it takes to make this guy as healthy as possible.

I'm not sure that there is any concern over the blue bulbs. I've never used them: my only objection against them is that the chameleons don't seem to need them, yet Zoo Med et al are only too happy to sell them to us at really expensive prices.

The ac is pumping and gets it to like 68, figured that was too far of a drop that quick.

Fair enough. Sounds like a lot of hassle though, and more bulbs to replace.

The only other downside to the combo-lights is that it makes it more difficult for the cham to regulate their UV exposure. With separate UV and basking lights, they can be arranged so that the cham can choose to bask and absorb UV, or bask and not absorb UV, or absorb UV and not bask... With a combo fixture, it doesn't really have that choice.

 

[angus310]

The only other downside to the combo-lights is that it makes it more difficult for the cham to regulate their UV exposure. With separate UV and basking lights, they can be arranged so that the cham can choose to bask and absorb UV, or bask and not absorb UV, or absorb UV and not bask... With a combo fixture, it doesn't really have that choice.

I never knew thta was a choice that would be beneficial to them. sorry still learning. Thanks for all the help and please feel free to say anything.

 

[Tygerr]

sorry still learning.

No problem... we're all still learning really. And it's great that you're making the effort to learn about keeping them properly.

I never knew thta was a choice that would be beneficial to them.

In the wild, they are almost free to decide every aspect of their 'husbandry'. In captivity, we limit their choices a lot. So it is important to try to allow them to manage their own health as far as possible. That's why we give them temperature ranges, and not one continuous temperature. It's also why we provide them with as wide a variety of feeder insects as possible, and also gutload those insects with a large range of nutrients: in the wild they would be exposed to so many more insects than we can provide them with, and those insects are in turn exposed to a much larger variety of micronutrients. We have to give them a diet that makes up for that lack of choice in their feeder insects.
The practice of giving a chameleon a choice in its environment is generally covered by providing "gradients" or micro-climates within the enclosure (you can read more about it here: http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2002/nov2002/gradients/gradients.html). The UV gradient is just another one of those: there should be spots where the chameleon can gain exposure to UV, and spots where it can be shaded from UV. This way the cham can regulate its exposure, and thus its vitamin D3 levels.

Thanks for all the help and please feel free to say anything.

I like to dress up in woman's clothes on weekends.... Oh! Wait! You mean say anything about chameleons... Couldn't resist...