Not eating & showing aggression please help

ICu35

New Member
PLEASE HELP!

Chameleon Info:
Chameleon - veiled, male, (named Rococo:D) bought from pet store 2 months ago currently 5 to 7 months old from my best guess
Handling - When we clean And also maybe once every 3 days or so if he is willing to cooperate
Feeding- we Are feeding 12 to 15 medium sized crickets spread out in 3 meals a day we also gave him a wax worm recently which he loved.
Supplements - we give him a multi-vitamin 2x a month repti-Cal with D3 2x a month and just started with a light dusting of calcium w/o D3 with every meal.
Watering - we have a little driper going day long and also mist anywhere between 4 and 6 times a day to keep humidity above the 55% range
Fecal Description - Haven't seen one since we have moved him to larger cage but as of 4 days ago his urine was white and he seemed to be deification normally.
History - his old enclosure which we moved him out of 4 days ago was an exotera 18x18x24 i believe with lots of fake plants a vines for him to hang on too. we also bought him from a pet store that had him in a tiny glass display which was 5"wide by 12 deep by 8 high and they claimed to only feed him 4 medium crickets a day a they never misted they just had a driper:mad:.
Cage Info
Cage Type - repti-breeze 24"x24"x48" (new cage only been inside for 4 days)
Lighting - he has repti-glo 5.0 CFL will be replacing with 5.0 reptisun linear in a couple days when it arrives from LLLreptiles he also has a 100 watt sun glo lamp for his basking spot and a 65 what ceramic heat to maintain his night temp. light go on by timer light on at 7:30am off by 7:45
Temperature - Basking spot is abot 94F to 96F Ambient cage tempt 77F to 85F mattering where in cage very bottom of cage is 72F night time tempt doesn't drop below 70F
Humidity isn't really an issue with the live plant he has in there now, it stay at around 50% to 65% misting with spray bottle at least 3x daily and dripper
Plants - A large Schefflera arboricola bought from Lowes and washed well to rid it of any possible toxins and smooth stones placed on soil to prevent ingestion of soil. he Also has lots off vines bought from the local pet store as well as plastic vegetation.
Placement - in bedroom on a 2 foot tall table, eye level, moderate foot traffic in area we try to give him as much peace a quite as possible
Location - Central Michigan, cold a dry this time of year

Current Problem -
He's not eating besides for the silk worm I've been giving him every other day. He also been very dark colors and moving very little. I tried to hand feed him a cricket this morning but he gaped at me and hissed for the first time. I'm very worried because I can tell he sees crickets in his enclosure but he just refuses to eat. He used to eat them as quick as he saw them I also used to handle him maybe one a week but recently stopped because I'm concerned it is detrimental to his health. Could this all be a result of his recent move to his new cage 4 days ago? does he not like it in there did i do the wrong thing in moving him to a larger screen enclosure vs his smaller glass exotera one If anyone has advise I would really appreciate it!
Pictures:
http://img39.imageshack.us/i/img0409n.jpg/ Rococo:)
http://img109.imageshack.us/i/img0415xt.jpg/ new cage setup
http://img198.imageshack.us/i/img0418go.jpg/ Rococo in new cage
 
I suspect he's just staging a hunger strike. He wants those silkworms! However, the new cage is probably part of the issue. It can take them a week or more to adjust.

He's big enough that going a few days without food is not going to be a problem. If it were me, I'd withhold all food for 2 days then introduce a small number of crickets.

Let us know how he's doing!
 
Actually i was mistaken when i said silkworm, the worms i feed him where wax worms which i know are very high in fat and not good to use in large quantity, that does make sense that hes on some sort of hungery strike the second we put a wax worm in his enclosure he eats it right away, but the crickets he just doesn't seem interested in anymore after hes had a taste of the fatty wax worms. Or maybe he doesn't like the taste of the crickets with the new calcium supplement on them i believe it is Flukers brand calcium without D3

Is everything else about his enclosure setup sound good? should i change something any and all opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated
 
I'm not one to overly critique a set up...I think that there are a wide variety of set ups which will work...I suspect that 100watt bulb is too hot. I think a basking temp of 85-90 degrees is more "in the norm".

I think you should let the night time temps drop more. From what I've read, veileds can handle 50 degrees at night. Not that you need to let it get that cold, but they do benefit from a colder night. I would suggest you aim for 60 degrees as a night time temp.

Of course, if you live in an area where it is 70 degrees at night I'd need to think more.
 
i would also say that's a high basking temp at 96 degrees. the temperature drop at night and a lower basking temp sound like a good idea. and let he get settled into his new cage he just sounds stressed about his new cage and bothered by you (no offense) so just give him some alone time.

plus he is also probably tired of crickets because he only eats two things it sounds like. so give him some roaches, or hornworms, or supers for a change up

anyways goodluck hope for the best with your chammy
 
Thanks for all the great input
We have tried to put a 75 watt basking light in instead of the 100watt and the ambient temps seem to drop like a rock in the new screen enclosure. we live in Michigan and it can get pretty cold in our apartment. But we have elevated the 100watt bulb to slightly lower the basking temp

I also realize he is probably getting bored with crickets,
We have no local access to anything other than crickets which he seems bored of,
wax worms which i am scared will be unhealthy for him in large quantity's(fatty liver disease).
meal worms which im scared have too hard an exoskeleton and might cause impaction in large quantities.
We also have supper's in our Area but they seem massive for his size and pretty mean.
Are my fears of these other feeders merited or am i just being overly protective??
 
You just moved him into a new cage, its probably unsettled, allow it time to adjust.
All seems well, it wont starve itself to death while theres food on offer, a week wont hurt it. Re foods in general, variety is the spice of life, all things in moderation, dont get too worked up about a given feeder, just mix it up. You can buy smaller supers, and meal worms and supers are not an impaction concern if you dont overdo them, and feed freshly moulted ones (pale) when you do. :)
 
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