New to this. Need help with Pygmy!!

[tianniccari]

Hey guys I am new to the site and new to the chameleon world. I bought two Pygmy leaf chams at the PetExpo over the weekend (1.1.) I currently have them in a 5.5 gallon tank with fake plants and vines and sticks all bought from PetSmart. I have a ceramic heater, as well as a red infrared light. I originally had the fake frog moss in the bottom of the tank but crickets were burrowing into it so it had to go. I picked up the green fuzzy mat for the bottom. Last night when I went into the room I noticed the temp was 77 and humidity around 25% so I immediately shut off the heater and misted the tank down. Due to having fake plants they do not hold moisture at all. While swapping out the bedding for the mat I noticed two things. My males right eye was closed and he was very pale. Yellowish/light brown. I immediately got worried and thought maybe he was overheating due to the room being 77 degrees with such a low humidity. I sprayed the heck out of a Tupperware container with a paper towel and put him in it to clean out the tank. I noticed his eye bulged up real big and he started rubbing it on the wet paper towel. I read that could simply just be him flushing the eye out but wanted to be sure. I also added a cool mist humidifier to keep the tank humid (around 70%.) Any help would be appreciated on both the color being very pale and his eye not opening. I should have added he and the female both are 3 crickets a piece the day before. She seems 100% full color, walking all around, and he just sits under the heater and doesn't move to frequent and has little color to him.

Thank you,
Tianniccari

 

[MelissaB]

I would get rid of the heat lamp and the heat emitter. Room temps, as long as they don't get too cold are fine. I use used cfl reptisun 5.0 uvb bulbs and LED bulbs for the plants.
I think your tank is too small for 2 pygmies. I've read that you should have at least 5gal per pygmy. Also, I think it will be a lot easier to keep the humidity up if you plant your tank, and set it up with a bioactive substrate.
The easiest way to do that is to get some hydroton (clay balls used in hydroponics) put a 2 inch layer on the bottom, then cover it with fiberglass screen or landscape barrier cloth, then a layer of soil mix over the barrier, topped off with leaf litter. Plant your plants directly into the dirt, and add springtails and isopods to help keep it clean. I use this method with my pygmies and uroplatus sikorae geckos, and it works great. You just have to be careful with how much water you introduce, you don't want soggy soil.

 

[tianniccari]

The heat lamp has been off during the day today and only goes on at night as it drops to about 65 degrees at night. The humidiity is holding steady around 65-70%. I think as you said I may have to set up a different tank for them to have more room. The most concerning part is the female is completely fine and seems to have zero issues but the male is pale. Occasionally his stripe on the side would be darker but would fade and come back, etc. She has no discoloration at all though. Thank you for the advice though! I'm hoping when I get home from work today everything is still alright with the little guy!

 

[MelissaB]

65 at night is fine without a heat source. Actually a lot of species need a drop in temp at night. Hope your male is doing better today.
Here is a link to CF's care sheet for pygmies, there's a lot of really good info on it.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/pygmy/

 

[tianniccari]

Just got a picture from my fiancée. He has returned to normal color and is using both eyes!! Although SHE has now changed colors. We had the cool mist humidifier on him almost all night so I think that helped. maybe we will do the same with her.

 

[MelissaB]

Good, I'm glad to hear he's doing better.
Not sure about the humidifier at night, I've never used one, so I'm not familiar with them. On mine, I have an misting system set up to go off 2x's a day. But, mine are in a basement room, so it's not as dry or as warm as the rest of the house. Before I set up the mister, I just hand misted them, and that was all I needed.