New! Please Help

[AxelsMum]

Hi

I am a new mum to a three horned deremensis chameleon named Axel. He was given to me by a friend who quickly had buyers remorse due to the challenging care Axel must be given. Unfortunately I do not know how old he is?

I have recently done ample amounts of research on the different species of Chameleons, and have noticed the information varies widely. I have only had him for about a week, and have seen some healthy as well as odd behavior. I would like to give Axel an excellent home and provide knowledgable care as soon as possible. I work very close to my home, so I able care for him whenever needed.

He seems to be eating about 4 medium crickets daily (dusted with calcium with VITD.3), I free range feed him. He is not interest in waxworms or mealworms at the moment, I am hoping this is because he is still getting acclimated to my house. He also doesn’t like to eat from or in front of me, which I know will take time. I would say he is pretty active around 4-7pm everyday. He is currently in a 17x17x20 enclosure, but I am working on getting him a new enclosure almost double the size by next week. In his cage I have 2 Schefflera plants, lots of added manzanita branches, and a little bit of coco for the time being. I can upload more photos of his new enclosure next week once I get everything set up.

I was wondering if I could start off by showing some recent photos of him just to make sure he is looking perfectly healthy and hydrated. I do spray his screened cage lightly about three times throughout the day (I wait in-between sprays for everything to look slightly dried to prevent molding or overwatering his habitat.) I leave his drip on usually 7am-7pm, as well as his basking lights (dome and UV 120V-100W).

I am new to the chameleon lifestyle, but readily available to provide anything necessary for Axel. These photos were taken 2 days ago, and the darker photos are from yesterday. I believe he has just started his shedding process today so I am going to bother him for photos until he’s done.
A few things that seem to be a little abnormal to me:

He seems to be playing in the dirt a little too much.
The top of his lower horn looks as if he broke the tip off. (it looks like dirt but its not)
I am assuming the shedding process has begun by the looks of his underbelly.


thanks so much for your time
please help

Amber

 

[MamatoElvis]

I don't have the same kind of chameleon so I could be wrong but 100 watt bulb in that tiny cage seems really high. I have a 40 watt in the summer in a 18x 18 x 36 inch cage. Also get rid of the dirt. Chameleons don't need any substrate. It can built up bacteria and cause impaction if injested. I'll let someone else better versed in this type of chameleon answer the rest of your questions.

 

[AxelsMum]

Okay i'll be sure to get rid of the dirt today.I am getting him a much larger cage next week, just waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Thanks for the quick response!

 

[leedragon]

what are the temperatures?
deremensis is a montain species as jacksons ans johnstons, they are sensitive to oversuplementation so D3 should be offerend 1 a month you should change to a D3 free and phosphor free clacium ( without D3 and without phosphor)

do you have Uvb?

do you gutload?

wtach this it should aply for deremensis too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTbUaOQ0aA&index=1&list=PL4HFX9PBYVY2eIWT0v3ZgYSk-r76SEujI

 

[Carlton]

Okay i'll be sure to get rid of the dirt today.I am getting him a much larger cage next week, just waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Thanks for the quick response!

Definitely cool him off. He may be lurking at the bottom of the cage because he's too hot and trying to hide from view. Mine were very sedentary and preferred staying hidden until a feeder came right up to them. Though not as active as some other species they don't like small spaces. Provide dense live foliage with lots of travel branches lower down in the cage. Substrates can help maintain humidity, but choose something with very small particles and keep the surface clean of feces and dead feeders. They will mold pretty fast depending on the room temps. I found that recycled paper pulp cage bedding actually worked fairly well. Even if they did pick some up on their tongues it would crumble into nothing. A piece of window screen on top will help keep free roaming feeders from disappearing. Mine didn't hunt that actively though, so feeders will get away from him and hide much of the time. You might want to put the feeders in a large plastic box instead(with a perch that lets him get to the edge to shoot. Also, give him some visual cover...they don't like to be watched when hunting either). Provide UV, but don't overdo it. A ReptiSun 5.0 should be fine...they don't seem to bask that much. You will want to provide very humid cycles and cooler temps at night. I kept mine in a large screen cage with plastic sheeting on the sides to slow down evaporation. An ultrasonic humidifier helped keep the cage cooler and moister without flooding it. And, the fan on the humidifier helped keep the air circulating so it didn't sit stagnant. Yes, keep the vitamin supplementation sparse. Plain Ca daily though. Mine didn't eat all that much (which drove me crazy), so plan on weighing him to monitor his weight rather than force him to eat more. Mine would NOT eat in front of me! I even tried to catch them eating by hiding in the closet...didn't work. They just sat and stared at the closet door

PS: He looks pretty good, almost certainly a recent wild import considering the little dark bruises/scabs. Watch his broken horn...I think dabbing some Polysporin (no pain reliever ingredients) on it would help prevent infection. If the horn swells or looks inflamed you should find a herp savvy vet. Hopefully it will heal OK.

Yes, deremensis are more work than some, but how much may depend on where you live...if it gets hot in summer or dry-cold in winter, you use AC or forced air heat in winter it will take more attention to keep his cage at the proper humidity level. If he was a mature adult I think his lips would be redder. In breeding condition it can look like lipstick. Their skin is very very sensitive to changing light level and seems to shift color all the time. The black spotting is stress coloration. For example, if he sits behind a leaf and then moves away, you may see a faint darker "shadow" on the skin where the leaf blocked the light!

 

[leedragon]

Definitely cool him off. He may be lurking at the bottom of the cage because he's too hot and trying to hide from view. Mine were very sedentary and preferred staying hidden until a feeder came right up to them. Though not as active as some other species they don't like small spaces. Provide dense live foliage with lots of travel branches lower down in the cage. Substrates can help maintain humidity, but choose something with very small particles and keep the surface clean of feces and dead feeders. They will mold pretty fast depending on the room temps. I found that recycled paper pulp cage bedding actually worked fairly well. Even if they did pick some up on their tongues it would crumble into nothing. A piece of window screen on top will help keep free roaming feeders from disappearing. Mine didn't hunt that actively though, so feeders will get away from him and hide much of the time. You might want to put the feeders in a large plastic box instead(with a perch that lets him get to the edge to shoot. Also, give him some visual cover...they don't like to be watched when hunting either). Provide UV, but don't overdo it. A ReptiSun 5.0 should be fine...they don't seem to bask that much. You will want to provide very humid cycles and cooler temps at night. I kept mine in a large screen cage with plastic sheeting on the sides to slow down evaporation. An ultrasonic humidifier helped keep the cage cooler and moister without flooding it. And, the fan on the humidifier helped keep the air circulating so it didn't sit stagnant. Yes, keep the vitamin supplementation sparse. Plain Ca daily though. Mine didn't eat all that much (which drove me crazy), so plan on weighing him to monitor his weight rather than force him to eat more. Mine would NOT eat in front of me! I even tried to catch them eating by hiding in the closet...didn't work. They just sat and stared at the closet door

HAHAHA for real? although it is something I would expect of a chameleon.

if I remeber correctly they need to a vinter period where you don´t feed them as much otherwishe they becmae fat and die young, isn´t it correct? I remember reading it here

 

[AxelsMum]

Thanks for the link! I got rid of the dirt and did some rearranging of his habitat so that he has a much cooler side incase the lighting was too intense. I do have UVB, and I am currently looking into how to gutload before feeding. Do you happen to have any good gutloading recipes? I do have a good few youtube videos iv'e been learning off of.

 

[AxelsMum]

A humidifier and larger habitat are on their way thankfully. I think he's about to shed, so I find him all the time at the bottom of the cage down by the planted pots, almost looks as if he is rubbing against them? I'm not sure if that would help him shed?

 

[Carlton]

HAHAHA for real? although it is something I would expect of a chameleon.

if I remeber correctly they need to a vinter period where you don´t feed them as much otherwishe they becmae fat and die young, isn´t it correct? I remember reading it here

I didn't do this, but that information may have come along after I kept mine. Mine didn't overeat anyway and I had the wc adult male for at least 3 years. The female was a small juvenile but I lost her to a respiratory infection.

 

[Carlton]

A humidifier and larger habitat are on their way thankfully. I think he's about to shed, so I find him all the time at the bottom of the cage down by the planted pots, almost looks as if he is rubbing against them? I'm not sure if that would help him shed?

Misting will help him shed. Mine seemed to like rubbing against wet foliage when shedding.

 

[leedragon]

I didn't do this, but that information may have come along after I kept mine. Mine didn't overeat anyway and I had the wc adult male for at least 3 years. The female was a small juvenile but I lost her to a respiratory infection.

I belive Eric Adrignola wrote this

 

[leedragon]

here I found it

https://www.chameleonforums.com/trioceros-22681/index2.html

 

[Warbornovo]

nice pictures

 

[Carlton]

here I found it

https://www.chameleonforums.com/trioceros-22681/index2.html

Ah, I remember reading this! Yes, Eric kept his much more recently than I did. But, at the time I had mine I lived at high altitude where cooler winter temps occurred in their room naturally. Probably why mine lived that long without knowing this. They definitely didn't eat much for months at a time, but I didn't force them either.

 

[leedragon]

Ah, I remember reading this! Yes, Eric kept his much more recently than I did. But, at the time I had mine I lived at high altitude where cooler winter temps occurred in their room naturally. Probably why mine lived that long without knowing this. They definitely didn't eat much for months at a time, but I didn't force them either.

yes, it may have being a lucky strike then you thin this should be done more monitorized for better result? for some reason I can´t help to think they shoud live longer, maybe I read it someone where but around 8-10 years?