I’m afraid that any time a chameleon has its eyes closed during the day is not a good sign and means something serious is wrong with its health. We’d be more than happy to help figure out what and correct it so that your beautiful young one has a long healthy and happy life. If you could start with providing some pics of your entire enclosure, including lights…also pics of the supplements you are using and how often for each.
Hi and welcome.
). My girls basking light is only on for 30 minutes for example. Baby's ambient temps in her enclosure should be 78 degrees at the top of her enclosure to 72 degrees near the bottom. Attach that probe thermometer on her basking branch so that you know what the temp is. At night you want a temp drop of at least 68 degrees, if you can go colder then great! You'll need something to read the other temps and humidity levels in the enclosure. I really like the Govee brand for a temp/humidity reader, its accurate and hooks to your phone. This one might do well for you here. I have this one here which connects via bluetooth and wifi so I know my girl's temps at all times.
I don’t know if you’ve yet found Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube and other platforms, but she has excellent information on correct care and has partnered with Pangea Reptile to create a fantastic chameleon kit at a reasonable price. https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...tarter-chameleon-kit-by-neptune-the-chameleon There is a basic kit and an advanced one that I believe contains a Mist King system and fogger. Another excellent source of current and correct information is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ which has a comprehensive husbandry program that I highly recommend you read.
We must have been typing at the same timeHi again. Unfortunately, there’s really very little to the Zoo Med chameleon kit that is adequate and useful and too often we see the sad results of people being misled by it and all of the misinformation out there on chameleon care.
Back to your little cutie thought takes us to the problems with the chameleon kit. One of the biggest problems is the uvb light is not adequate and provides no uvb any farther than 2-3” below. The screw in uvb bulbs just don’t work for our needs. The standard is a linear T5HO with either ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%. It needs to be long enough to span the width of your enclosure, or at least 24” long. Another problem with the kit (although not a serious one for young chameleons) is it is much too small for an adult chameleon and will need to be upgraded to at least a 2x2x4’ enclosure.
Then we need to talk about supplements. You should be lightly dusting every feeding with calcium without D3. I believe this is what you have and it’s perfect. Then for one feeding every other week you need to be dusting with either Repashy Calcium Plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. Both of these are combination multivitamins and D3 and the easiest way to provide both of these needed supplements. It’s very important to make sure that your feeders are the correct size. Anything larger than the space between the eyes is too big. It’s better to get smaller feeders than risk ones too big. Your little girl looks a bit thin and I suspect she hasn’t been eating as much as she should be. She does look to be maybe around 3 months old so she should be eating at least around 20 feeders daily. Since she’s thin, let her eat as much as she can in a 15-20 minute period. You could even feed her twice a day for maybe a week or so until she perks up and fills out a little.
From your thermometer reading of 69.9, that is too cool for her. She needs a basking temp of 78-80, but no higher.
Do keep an eye on your humidity too. Ideal daytime range is between 30-50%.
Although it may seem not as important, having more branches and vines will help reduce her stress and help her recover better. It is a challenge to attach things to screen, but there are ways. For when you get the larger enclosure, I suggest Dragon Ledges. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ For now though, you can attach sticks vertically to the corners of the frame and then attach horizontal sticks to create a scaffold type support which you can attach more branches and vines to. Another way is to use garden trellis, also attached to the frame. I have done both and have a couple of pics to demonstrate. She will also need only safe live plants. Veileds and especially the ladies love eating their plants. It only takes one nibble of a fake leaf to cause a bowel obstruction.
Lastly (for now) I would strongly advise to get a fecal check for parasites.
I would think that once you get the correct uvb, temps, supplements and feeding amounts your little one should improve. It is a challenge with little ones though, but we are here to help.
