New Jackson Chameleon owner, need help

[pigglett79]

We purchased a Jackson male from Petsmart almost 3 weeks ago. I am not sure of his age and when I asked the pet store they said 1 month which I do not think is accurate as he has developed horns. We built him a cage that is 18"x18"x36" made of wood and 1/4 inch hardware cloth. We have 2 live pothos plants, fake plants, drift wood and jungle vines. We have the little dripper which drips constantly on to the plants a 50 watt heat bulb as well as a UV lamp.
When we first got him we kept him in a glass terrarium for a few days while we built the cage. He was eating fine and seemed to be drinking as well. We have now noticed that he hangs out on the ceiling of the cage near the UV light and hasn't been eating for a couple days. We feed crickets, which seem to quickly find their way out of the screen and also try to cup feed with meal worms and wax worms. We are getting worried that he isn't eating and cant figure out what to do.
Any suggestions on what to do would be great or if you need more info and/or pictures.

Edit
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Jackson Male, unsure of age. In our care for almost 3 weeks.
Handling - We do not handle him except to move for cleaning the cage
Feeding - Feed with gut loaded cricket, meal worms and the occasional wax worm
Supplements - Calcium w D3 2x per month, multivitamin 2x per month, working on finding calcium without D3
Watering - Dripper constantly dripping on plants, dont see him drink often
Fecal Description - Havent seen droppings lately, before they were oval and brown.
History - only had him for 3 weeks.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - 18"x18"x36" wood frame with 1/4 inch hardware cloth on all sides
Lighting - All living things 50 watt infrared heat bulb, Zilla Tropical series 25 T8 fluorescent 15 watt bulb. On a timer from 7am to 7pm.
Temperature - digital thermometer on top ranges 80-85, floor temp with a generic petco thermometer usually 70-75 degrees
Humidity - 50-80% using a petco generic gauge. Eventually need to invest in a proper one.
Plants - 2 live Pothos and 2 fake plants with bendable branches and drift wood for climbing.
Placement - Located in the living room and top of cage is about 5 feet from room floor
Location - San Antonio, Texas


Current Problem - Chameleon is hanging out on ceiling near UV light and isn't eating.

 

[ZuggieTheCham]

Well i dont have a jackson but i do no that u should not be feeding him wax worms or mealworms all the time it is bad for them wax worm are like candy to a cham so only be a treat reali and mealworms are fatty and not easy for them to digest crickets are your best stable feeder but they can get picky about food so u need a good veriaty of food for them u should shop around online for feeders its cheaper and u can get all sorts and also there is a care sheet u can fill in about everything u do with him and it wil try and help you out the best it can and hopefully other members will see this and help you out

 

[pigglett79]

Do you of a good website that you can recommend?

 

[pigglett79]

Little update.

We recently installed a screen in front of the hardware cloth to prevent the crickets from getting out. We still use the feeder cup but he doesn't seem to eat out of it. He ate one cricket yesterday and 2 today. From what I understand he should be eating more then that due to him being a juvenile. The screening we bought does not say it blocks UV but we didn't install it on the ceiling as of yet because we thought that it might.

Our next step to stimulate his eating is that we took the suggestion of the small feeder store and found one online and order some roaches. Hopefully this will stimulate his appetite more. He seems to just sit at the top of his cage for most of the day. We try to leave him alone as much as possible since we figure he is still getting used to everything and when I get near the cage he starts to wave back and forth. I assume this is because he is stressed.

Since this is my first chameleon any suggestions would be helpful. His stress is stressing us out!

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Its a leaf walk you can't see mee! Variety is key and he probably just Bastille needs to adjust. Mine never ate for a couple days after getting her from petsmart. Yours will learn to eat out of the cup. Try some Phoenix worms too they love em and high in calcium compared to phosphorus. I order from Dave, smallpetfeeders.com not sure where all he ships to. He has plenty of feeders tho best of luck.

 

[pigglett79]

Its a leaf walk you can't see mee! Variety is key and he probably just Bastille needs to adjust. Mine never ate for a couple days after getting her from petsmart. Yours will learn to eat out of the cup. Try some Phoenix worms too they love em and high in calcium compared to phosphorus. I order from Dave, smallpetfeeders.com not sure where all he ships to. He has plenty of feeders tho best of luck.

Haha, that's what my girlfriend and I say when he does that.
"YYoouuuu can't ssseeeee meeee!!" Haha, funny you said that.
We actually also just ordered from smallpetfeeders.com. I two day shipped it because my girlfriend is stressing about Rex so much.
I also just snapped some pictures of him with my phone. He has a piece of skin that never fell off his head when he was shedding. Could this also be a problem? It has been there for about 4 days. Sorry for the poor quality of pictures.


EDIT: Forgot the picture of the skin on his head.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Its funny I think lol. Give him a good mist and it will help Peel the skin off, he looks good

 

[armyrec1]

Fruit flies are an excellent appetite stimulant when they are that young.

I don't think you need the heat bulb for him. Jackson's don't require the same heat as other chams. A regular light bulb is sufficient.

Do you have any other pets? With the top of the cage at 5 feet from the ground, he could be trying to get higher to get away from them or even you by hanging out at the top.

Could be just stress, so hang in there & keep an eye out for any other changes.

Congrats on the new baby.

 

[PitchFork]

Try all different sized crickets. It takes patience for sure. Had mine a few months, some days he doesn't seem so interested in food.

Now he won't eat juveniles, even though I think adults are still a bit big, he chomps em down, and that's all he wants are the big boys.

Meal worms seem to freak him out, so as of now all he wants is crickets.

also, he didn't eat for a few days after I got him.

At first he hated being sprayed, but now I have to spray him in the side of his head, he just sits there in his glory opening and closing his mouth with the water. Warm water does the trick. It may look like hes dying when you spray him... but unless he runs away hes loving it! (just the first few sprays he looks like he will die) a bit over exaggerated.

Also try putting a cricket on a branch near him, mine seems to go into predator mode then, starts doing his leaf shake + some cause he looks so excited.

Another way i feed him is by hemostats, takes a lot of patience, but once hes used to it, it gets quick.

Mines free range, so I can't just let them run loose anyways.

 

[pigglett79]

Thank you for all of the advice. He did finally eat 3 crickets today. Maybe he is getting more comfortable. We will continue to mist for the shedding and we should get our new food Friday to try out. I have inserted pics of the cage we built for you to see.
View attachment 56061View attachment 56062
View attachment 56063

Disregard the color samples on the walls we were sampling paint colors a couple weeks ago. Haha.

 

[pigglett79]

Judging by the pictures of my chameleon, how old would you say that he is? Going to be taking him to the vet tomorrow and have been researching this online and this might explain why he isn't eating as much as we thought he would.


Thanks!

 

[pigglett79]

Update after vet visit

So we took Rex to the vet today since he still isnt eating much and has some skin on his head that isnt shedding properly. We found a vet in our area that stated they are an exotic pet vet and when we called they stated that they do see chameleons. Well, the only positive part of the visit was that we got a fecal parasite test and it was negative. When the vet looked at Rex she first asked what type of chameleon he is. We just looked at her in confusion as he has three horns and it is clear if you know about chameleons what type he is. She then proceeded to go get her laptop and bring up a chameleon page to see what his needs are.

Other than the fecal test the visit was a complete waste of time. We are going to order a misting system to try to get him hydrated and just hope that he will start eating when he is ready. We clearly did not find a vet to help.

 

[chameleonkev]

I've had the same problem with my local vet, waste of time! Just keep him we hydrated with regular misting, a Cham can go a week without food pretty easily so I wouldn't worrie to much, mine do this every now and then but they snap out of it after a while, the only thing I can recommend is try a different feeder he may just be Bord of the same food

 

[pigglett79]

Rex still isn't eating much. I can get him to eat 1 or 2 crickets every other day. He looks healthy otherwise so we will continue to give a variety of feeders and let him eat if he wants to. Next week we will order the mist king to help with hydration. I just can't think of anything else to do.