Open Mouth, low humidity, and Q about feeding.

[seifer]

Cage info:
Type: glass/screen combo, I think its something like 24x24x48
lighting: basking light, sunlight from open window, and a uva/uvb light.
Temp/Humidity 85-100 degrees with only about 20% humidity. This is the problem i think. i live in Santa Cruz so its been getting anywhere from 85-100 degrees in the cage with a humidity of only around 20 (even with misting 2-4x a day). I'm not sure if the humidity/temp gauge is completely accurate but i know its lower than it should be. Any ideas of how to decrease the temp and increase the humidity? i think he likes being able to look out the window, so i don't really want to move his cage around.
Placement: 2nd story house right next to a window in my room.
located in santa cruz, CA

Chameleon info:
type: male veiled chameleon, about 1 1/2 years
Handling: long story behind this one – my sister purchased the animal, never took care of it so it ended up being my mothers responsibility. The chameleon became very aggressive and no one ever held it. My mother put it in an outside cage maybe once a week but this required her to grab it (with gloves) hissing and biting. I got home from college and decided to make him friendly so I started hand-feeding her mealworms and letting her climb around my room. Now she's pretty friendly but always tries to escape. Currently she's being handled 2-3x a week.
feeding: **QUESTION** I feed him crickets + calcium powder once every week or two, 4-7x giant mealworms daily from hand. Is this enough nutrients for him or should i be feeding him more things like superworms, spiders i find around the house, etc... any suggestions?
Supplements: Rep Cal calcium – no phosphorous or viatmin D3 – only with the crickets
watering:1-3x a day misting. every few days he'll come up and drink from the mister.
Fecal Description: They look solid and hard (I didn't actually touch it), one is completely white (on the log next to the light) and the other is completely black (on the bottom w/ bark). hasn't pooped for 2-4 days now, even with eating 10-15 crickets and 3-5 mealworms.
History: he's gone through a lot of stress... had thermal burns when i started taking care of him but they've healed pretty well.

 

[ChromaChameleons]

I think you need to review your supplementation regimen.

 

[pssh]

Too many meal worms, only a couple times a month at most. Switch up the food with silk worms and roaches instead. Use calcium every or almost every meal, calcium with d3 twice a month and vitamins once a month.
Just mist more often and add a dripper.
Try not to handle him too much, it usually stresses them.

 

[jannb]

Too hot! Lower the basking temp. to 89. Do you have a male and a female?

 

[seifer]

thanks for the help, i'll go get him some roaches today. maybe i'll get him an auto mister or something also. no its only a guy, we thought he was a girl for a while so i'm still in the habit of calling he a she.

 

[Jonas]

The cage is really small for a chamleon that size. You should alse get some daylight tubes just to brighten up his cage, its important for diurnal animals.

Humidity is somewhat relative, it will be lower when temps are higher.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Less heat, more humidity.
Fewer mealworms, if any, and silkworms, roaches, moths, butterworms etc. instead
consider adding a calcium with D3 supplement twice a month, and a vitmain supplement as well.
What do you feed the crickets etc?