On the ground during day

[SilverWolf]

I have a 5 month old jackson chameleon. Last night I found him sleeping on the floor, which already is odd behaviour. But now, with the lights on and the sun shining through the window at nearly 3:00 PM, he is jut on the ground, barely moving. His eyes are open and alert, but he won't move around too much. This is concerning.

There is a lot of foliage at the bottom but no need to stay ton the ground. THere is also a lot of foliage at the top too, so I don't see why he'd need to go to the bottom for cover.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Jackson Chameleon, male, 5 months. Been in my care since April 8th.
Handling - Only to take him to the fake plant and back, or outside for natural sunlight. I only do this when he walks on there himself, whether luring him on my hand with a cricket or him just walking there on his own. And sometimes, I will have him on a stick rather than my hand.
Feeding - Crickets primarily. 4 - 6 a day, although yesterday he only ate one. I have plenty for him now. But I haven't fed him yet, due to him just staying on the floor there. The crickets are fed a gut load cube that I made by blending apples, butternut squash, turnip greens, carrots and green peppers. I switch out the cubes every two days.
Supplements - Exoterra. Calcium, powdered on crickets twice a week. Multivitamin, powder on crickets once a month.
Watering - I mist VERY often to ensure the humidity is always around 70%, and I have seen him drinking off of the leaves, and he drinks straight form my spray bottle as well. Sometimes when I am away, I leave a dripper and I have seen him drink from that too.
Fecal Description - I haven't seen any fecal matter today, but I will double check. Regardless when I see his fecal matter, it is just like a dark bean. His urates are white.
History - Came from a breeder in Texas, btpets.com. The breeder seems to know what he is doing and has shipped hundreds of Chameleons before. Some people here seem to have gotten their Jackson Chameleons from him.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zoomed screen cage, 18x18x36 inches.
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0, Zoomed 60w Daylight Blue bulb. Both are on 10-12 hours during day, off all night.
Temperature - Temperature at basking spot around 82-85 degrees fahrenheit. Rest of the cage around 75 or so in fahrenheit, and the temperature drops to about 65 degrees fahrenheit at night time. Measured with thermometer from Petco and a digital thermometer for my room.
Humidity - 60 - 70 Percent. Misting with spray bottle very often. Measured with humidity gauger from Petco.
Plants - Pothos
Placement - Cage about 58 inches off ground, on a sort of dresser (more of cubby holes though) and next to some gaming consoles and a television, that do not affect the temperature. Also next to a window, blinds open rather often, but usually not while I'm in the room.
Location - California.

Current Problem - Slept on the ground last night, and is still there, not moving much. His eyes are moving, and he did walk a bit, but for the most part it as if he's sleeping, other than his eyes open and moving.


EDIT: I am watching him crawl back up now…he looks perfectly healthy, no signs of an illnesses such as Metabolic bone disease. I'll keep a close eye on him today to make sure there is no more of such behaviour. Still, this was an odd event. Any ideas?

 

[Bush baby]

Hey, sorry to hear Tricky still isn't doing well even after you re-furnished his cage.

As i mentioned in the other thread, this may be an early sign of MBD, and i'm saying this from experiencing similar symptoms many year back from one of my Veiled chams who started sleeping on the floor. Calcium deficiency can manifest itself in things like odd behavior, loss of appetite,etc because with low calcium levels in his body his muscles, ability to shoot his tongue and mood are all effected by it.

Again, i hope he's just 'weird' and sleeping on the floor is just one of his quirks, but to be on the safe side i would start supplementing with calcium at every feeding (as was mentioned in the other thread it's extremely hard to over dose on calcium because it's water soluble) and take him outside asap and as much as possible; the bulbs we provide can't compare to the raw power of the sun.

Also, a vet visit is alway an option.

 

[SilverWolf]

I hope he is just weird too. Are you sure dusting with calcium (Exo Terra Calcium Powder Supplement) is okay? I'll start dusting every day with calcium as of tomorrow but the calcium I provide also has the following:

Moisture(max)…12.0%
Calcium (min)…35.0%
Calcium (max)…37.00%
Salt (min)….0.06%
Salt (max)…0.07%
Potassium (min)….0.04%
Magnesium(min)…0.03%
Sulfur (min)…0.04%
Iron (min)…240 ppm
Zinc (min)….9pm
Manganese(min) 5 ppm
Copper (min)…2 ppm

All of this, as of the "Guaranteed Analysis (North America)"

 

[Bush baby]

Looks like that stuff isn't pure calcium. The stuff i dust with is Repti-Calcium.

 

[SilverWolf]

Alright should I make the switch to repti-calcium then?

 

[Bush baby]

I'm not familiar with that Exo Terra Calcium Powder Supplement myself; maybe someone else can weigh in but since i've always used Repti-Calcium w/o D3 and have never had an issue using it with every feeding with Jackson's, you may want to give it a try.

In other words, i'm not sure if the brand you're using is safe to use as frequently as you're suggesting.

 

[Psychobunny]

Are the night temps in your house higher then normal, maybe because it's summer?
My jax climbs down to the lowest branch of his cage, only a few inches from the floor, in the summer. He will bask for a little while, then go to the lower branches, and finally, the lowest branch.
He does that late afternoon, and stays there through the night.

In the winter, he stays near the top of the cage.

It's a temp thing, and jax like cooler temps in the late afternoon and evening.

It's like 72F in the house at night in the summer, and in the 60's in the winter.

Do you have any branches near the bottom that he can perch on instead of sitting on the floor?

I didnt have any perches or branches near the floor until I realized that he liked to go down there in the summer.
So I got one of those large twisty vines and attached it with wire ties about 10'' from the floor for him to perch on.

 

[SilverWolf]

Are the night temps in your house higher then normal, maybe because it's summer?
My jax climbs down to the lowest branch of his cage, only a few inches from the floor, in the summer. He will bask for a little while, then go to the lower branches, and finally, the lowest branch.
He does that late afternoon, and stays there through the night.

In the winter, he stays near the top of the cage.

It's a temp thing, and jax like cooler temps in the late afternoon and evening.

It's like 72F in the house at night in the summer, and in the 60's in the winter.

Do you have any branches near the bottom that he can perch on instead of sitting on the floor?

I didnt have any perches or branches near the floor until I realized that he liked to go down there in the summer.
So I got one of those large twisty vines and attached it with wire ties about 10'' from the floor for him to perch on.

The temperatures at night are around 65 degrees fahrenheit but as it is summer it is possible the temperatures were a bit higher during the day and even night. I'll double check, but I think they are fine. Or if they aren't, it won't be hard to fix as it will be minor I think. Last night, he actually slept on a branch just a few inches off of the ground. So that is better. He was right under leaf too. Just like you described, he went there around 6:40 PM and stayed there until morning. I'll double check the temperatures and everything, but he is walking around fine, no signs of RI, MBD or anything else. He seems quite healthy to me.