Newby needs some advice, Help!

[lojack13]

OK, let me first start off by saying this site has been a tremendous help to me. I am a first time owner of a Senegal Chameleon. I purchased her at the local pet store ....I know, I know, please don't stone me to death. I believe I have her on a good eating schedule and sleep schedule. It is her water that is freaking me out. I have a dripper in her enclosure. The first time I sat her in her new home she went right over and licked out of it. But since then my fiance purchased a fake orchid and placed it in the cage. My chameleon is in love with this thing and spends what appears to be nearly the whole day and night basking in this thing. So goes the problem. I am in and out of the house several times a day and she is always in that flower. I am afraid she is not coming down to drink at all. Now I mist the enclosure at least 3 times if not more a day but I tried misting her directly and she flips out. She runs away and I had her take a spill of a branch the other day because she was trying to get away from the water. It is warm water by the way, not cold. Should I take the flower out? Move the dripped closer? Or am I just being a spaz? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[BeBoSON]

Hey, welcome to the forum.

Look at her poop, next time she drops one. There is two parts to it. The first part is the feces, the second part is urinate. If the urinate is white you have nothing to worry about. She is hydrated.

 

[camimom]

Many of us go months without seeing our chams drink.
As long as the poos look good, like BeBoSon said, no worries!

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

Welcome to the forums, few people do have Senegal Chameleons, is yours wild caught or captive bred? Captives are pretty rare. I've only seen five to sixish people on the forums with Senegals, I plan to breed Karma (so hopefully the number of Senegals on these forums will raise! ).

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

She may also be flipping out because of the temperature of the water too. Do you use cold or warm water? Karma will usually enjoy it when I use warm water. I put it in the mister hot, test it on my skin (he's like my baby! ) then use the finest mist my mister has.

 

[lojack13]

OK Awesome! Yeah her urnate is white so all good there. I'm going to try and experiment with the temperature of her water. Maybe it is a tad to cold she is basking in about 85 degree temps.
Honestly I don't know whether she was captive bred or wild caught but I would definitely lean toward wild caught. Your right, Karma, nearly no one breeds Senegals, it's a shame too. Not that I have been around many chams period, but she is extremely tame. She eats right from a bowl in my hand and seems to actually like being out of her cage. She likes to climb up my arm and perch on my shoulder and chill out there. LOL. I try not to handle her too much, I'm told this stresses them out but she always seems to turn a bright green when I get her out and hold her.
So as far as her staying up that flower all the time? Does anyone think that's odd? Or do Chams just like to choose one spot becuase of a sense of security? I just want to make sure it's normal and she's not being inactive / lethargic.

 

[camimom]

OK Awesome! Yeah her urnate is white so all good there. I'm going to try and experiment with the temperature of her water. Maybe it is a tad to cold she is basking in about 85 degree temps.
Honestly I don't know whether she was captive bred or wild caught but I would definitely lean toward wild caught. Your right, Karma, nearly no one breeds Senegals, it's a shame too. Not that I have been around many chams period, but she is extremely tame. She eats right from a bowl in my hand and seems to actually like being out of her cage. She likes to climb up my arm and perch on my shoulder and chill out there. LOL. I try not to handle her too much, I'm told this stresses them out but she always seems to turn a bright green when I get her out and hold her.
So as far as her staying up that flower all the time? Does anyone think that's odd? Or do Chams just like to choose one spot becuase of a sense of security? I just want to make sure it's normal and she's not being inactive / lethargic.

my boys just sit and chill most of the time. especially my hoe.
my veield, sometimes cruises, hes fr, so he cruises everywhere in the cham room.
and sometimes, he just chills in one spot.

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

If there was a vote on the most docile chameleon, I would definately put Senegal. Karma will let anyone hold him, he turns bright green when anyone holds him and will willingly walk on anyone's hand.

 

[lojack13]

Cool! Thanks for the advice everyone! LOL! I actually just caught her drinking a few minutes ago from her dripper. Makes me feel waaaay better.
Karma, since you have a Senegal, I was just curious how much you feed him per day? I'm feeding my Cham ( her name is Phoebe ) about 1-2 times a day and she eats a total of like 5 max crickets a day. Does that sound like a good number? I have been reading people saying 10+ crickets but most of them have larger species.

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

5 is good for a female since females get bigger than males. Karma eats 3-4 a day.

 

[lojack13]

Awesome. I'm right on track then. Thanks!

 

[TyggyToo]

Am I the only one dying to see a pic of a cham lazing in an orchid???

PIX PLS

 

[lojack13]

LOL! Yeah it's pretty cool watching her lounge on there. I'll try and get a pic up tonight.

 

[lojack13]

Sorry it took so long to get a pic up.