New male Jackson owner let me know how I'm doing!

[Alekazzaam]

Hello all,
I am new to lizard husbandry and would like to get your opinions and advice on my set up and some traits I've noticed in my cham. To start off I should mention I've probably had him for about 6 weeks. He has:
Reptibreeze screen mesh cage 16"x16"x30"
75 watt heat lamp
15 watt-t8-BP tropical 25 uva uvb sun bulb
Zoomed little dropper
6foot skinny bendy branch
6foot thick bendy branch
2 hanging leaf plants
substrate is paper towel

I feed him crickets. I feed the crickets slices of carrot and I pick fresh dandelion leaves.
for supplements :
Zoomed repti calcium without d3 5/7days
rep-cal herptivite with beta carotene multivitamin 2-3 /7days
Tetra fauna reptocal calcium with d3 2-3/7days
He gets misted 3/day with bottled water. Also I rarely handle him probably only 5 or 6 times in the six weeks. (Does that count as rarely?).

Some traits I've noticed lately is that if I get my head too close he will open his mouth all the way and dry gag. I've noticed this 3 times since I've owned him, all pretty evenly spaced out in occurence. He will also climb to the bottom of his cage then turn around and go right back up. A couple of times he will switch sides of the cage by walking along the bottom. Another trait I'm concerned with , but very rarely happens, is he will seem unbalanced when walking on the top side of leafs or the bendy sticks.
I have checked out mbd but I don't see any bending in his arms at all. (Although I'm sure that isn't noticeable right away)

So guys let me know how I'm doing! I'm very open to suggestions as I want to have a healthy cham.

Thanks !
-Alekazzaam and Koh

 

[Alekazzaam]

I forgot to mention that he has shed once only a few days ago!

 

[chamfriend1]

from what you've described in your caring "routine" sounds like you're doing a pretty good job...
just a few tweaks if you're ok with that...
enclosure may be a bit small... Jackson's love space... the bigger the better with those guys... most recommend a 24x24x36/48 for an adult Jackson's...
as far as the misting.. sounds good as long as his humidity is staying up and he's getting plenty to drink... if you have access to a timered misting system they are better as far as the amount of water they can put out and the length of time they can spray... for example... mine is set to mist every 3-4 hours for 2 min each.. as im sure you know chams drink from drippings off branches and leaves..so the more "drips" that can be created the better...
the foliage is a bit sparse for him as well... they love lots of climbing branches and greenery to hide in... if you're having issues keeping his humidity up (between 25% and 60% is where mine ranges and it seems to do them fine) live plants will help out a lot in that arena...
feeding... calcium w/o D3 - every feeding... with D3 - about 1x week or so..no more than that... as far as "other" supplements - no more than 1x month.. as long as you have a good gut load then the feedings give him a good amount of his nutritional needs..so only supplement about once a month.. also varying his diet helps against him going on a eating strike..which they have been known to do if they get bored eating the same ol thing every day...
and as long as his movements you mentioned... could be the size of his enclosure is limiting the "space" he wants so he basically paces around... the good thing is he's staying active.. I would only be truly worried if you see him just laying around (especially with his eyes closed) during the day time... walking across the bottom is nothing to be concerned with as long as its kept clean.. mine does it from time to time.. seems to be his way of a short cut from one side to the other... the opened mouth dry gag may not be that.. if he only does it when you get (in his opinion) too close... he's most likely just hissing at you as a warning.. and if that's the case it will happen less and less as time goes on and he gets used to you.. if it happens other times than that...you may want to get him checked for a respiratory issue.. unfortunately that can be a major concern with these guys.. as far as the "seems unbalanced" look as he walks across the leaves.. could be he's just getting his footing.. not something I would concern myself with at this point...
and the lighting sounds ok.. be careful with the UVB you purchase to make sure its strong enough... I use a desert UVB in mine (10) as a stand alone lamp.. reasons are mainly.. my enclosure is 48" deep, I have lots and lots of branches and leaves so the full value of the lamp doesn't reach very far.. and I use a UVB stand alone because I replace them about every 6 months.. even though its putting out light doesn't mean its still giving off UVB... and those multi purpose bulbs don't seem to give me the UVB output I need...
any additional questions please don't hesitate to ask... and there are lots of people on here that have a lot more experience than I and they can give additional advice as well... but thus far sounds like you're being an attentive and caring parent to what can be a very challenging friend... keep up the good work....

 

[leedragon]

you need to upgrade your gutloading and try to add some more insects in his diet, and some more plats for him to clim on, if there is a place with non branches for him to clim on is a dead space for him. check sandrachameleons blogs on gutloading

https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/sandrachameleon/

dont over use carrots it gives them gout.

what are your temperatures?

check this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbUaOQ0aA&list=PL4HFX9PBYVY2eIWT0v3ZgYSk-r76SEujI