Pascal is becoming progressively less active

[ddamuth]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and have only recently acquired my cham (male jacksons ~8months). I brought him home nearly a month ago, and at first he was relatively active but over the past week and a half or so he's shifted toward mainly sitting under the UVB lamp and sleeping. I've only seen him drink once, and that was three weeks ago and I haven't seen him eat recently either, but he has crickets in his tank so Im not as stressed about that. Any advice as to why he may be loathing around? His ambient temps are ~74-78F and his basking area (which he is never in) is ~84F and I try and keep the humidity as high as possible, its usually ranges between 35-55 throughout the day. I am investing in a mistking soon so hopefully that will help keep humidity up. He has a dripper as well. If you'd like pictures of him, I believe there are some on my profile.

Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it!

 

[Ninkylou]

I'm sure the experts are going to want more information so they can help you. Follow this link and complete the form. Pictures are also really great for them to see hydration status and things.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[ddamuth]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Jacksons, roughly 8 months old. I've had him around 3 weeks
Handling - Around every other day. But I don't hold on to him and whatnot, I have extra vines above my desk so I let him crawl around while I get work done
Feeding - I've been feeding him a mix of crickets and mealies. They are both always available (mealies in a dish in the corner and crickets just throughout the tank). I feed vitabug crickets, so I don't gut load too much, but I just supply the crickets with apple and potato slices
Supplements - I have reptivite Ca w/ D3 and flukers Ca w/o D3. I add 3 newly dusted crickets every other day (once with D3 every week and a half)
Watering - I mist several times daily with a bottle for roughly 10 minutes and also have a dripper (He is currently drinking now)
Fecal Description - The poop looks normal color. Typical dark brown with white urates. He hasnt been tested for parasites
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen enclosure (24Lx24Hx10D) for the time being, i am in the process of building a larger enclosure that will also be higher off the ground as well
Lighting - I have an ExoTerra UVB100 and a Zilla 50W day light, both cycling from 7am-6:30pm
Temperature - Ambient temps are between 73-77ish and basking is at 83 (F). Night drops down to about 63F (measured with classic thermometers as well as the thermometer gauges in the tank)
Humidity - typically stays within the range of 35-55, which I know is relatively low. I am investing in a mistking soon to eliminate this issue. Currently I have been misting several times daily and also have several live plants in soil.
Plants - One of the larger plants is a begonia (when he is active, he loves this) the other smaller ones that are throughout the tank I dont remember the name of them but I've been using them in all of my tropical tanks
Placement - The cage is near the entrance to my room, the top is roughly 5ft from the floor. The area doesn't seem to be a problem for him, as when he feels my door open, he comes to the door to the cage because he knows I take him out
Location - Virginia

Current Problem - Becoming progressively less active

 

[ddamuth]

Here is a picture of the enclosure and pascal. (Camera sucks so they are not very clear) The enclosure has more foliage than what is shown here, this was the initial setup, and I have added more around the top for him to hide around in

 

[fluxlizard]

I don't see anything jumping out at me.

A couple of suggestions though-

Don't offer mealworms constantly- use them 1x per week or so and offer them on their own, not alongside the crickets. Sometimes lizards will get favorites and ignore non-favorites. You don't want your chameleon choosing mealworms each feeding and holding back on crickets, you want things more the other way around with crickets being the staple and mealworms for a little variety. If I could bet- I'd bet things are the other way around now- 3 crickets isn't much every 2 days for a jacksons, and free roaming crickets often dissappear out of site in the cage (under the plant pot, into cracks and potting soil and dark places the cham will not see them), so likely he's getting lots more meal worms than crickets.

Give both insects good stuff to eat- don't count on vitacrickets or whatever holding their value for very long after they come home. They will hold some in their tissues, but gut contents will not remain and should be replaced by more than apples.

 

[fluxlizard]

From the photo now- That is a female by the way, not a male.

What part of the state are you in (North south east sw?)

 

[ddamuth]

I only put mealies in the dish every so often. and the crickets do freely wander around, but they commonly stay up near him due to the lights, so he always has some within eyeshot. Also, they pet store tried telling me he was a female too, but he has his horns starting to come in now (all three). Unless there is a subspecies that has three horned females? Because I haven't seen and spurs but I'm also new to chams so I'm not entirely sure

 

[ddamuth]

Oh, and I am in the northern part of the state. So once it starts warming up I will put him directly in front of a window as well but my windows are kinda drafty and I don't want him getting cold.

 

[ddamuth]

Here is some more pictures of him that I just took. He is drinking right now, and a lot, which I never see him do so maybe thats just what he needed.

Also, another question, what is a good method of keeping the humidity up in open air tanks? I've always kept all of my other reptiles in glass tanks so I'm finding it rather tricky

 

[fluxlizard]

Some subspecies do have females with horns, but this is xantholophus. She has little nubs- that is normal. She's not a male- a male would have full on horns by that size.

Humidity- if it were me I'd just run a humidifier in the room.

Some people wrap their screen cages in plastic (shower curtains for example) to limit ventilation and increase humidity.

Sorry I'm not more help- hopefully someone else will come along. I will say that sleeping during the day is never a good thing.

it could be that the UVB bulb isn't the best- I don't have experience with that brand. Chams will self regulate and bask under the bulb when they need more d3. If she's doing a lot of it- maybe the bulb is the problem? Totally a guess on my part. But that and a fecal from a vet would be the first suspects for me given the information you provided.

 

[fluxlizard]

One last thought too are the vitabugs- I don't know anything about those either, but when i have seen animals that want to sleep in the past, usually it is because of inadequate supplementation for those animals that I have worked with. Vitabugs could be imbalanced for chameleons I have no idea.

Sorry again not more help on this one. Good luck to you.

 

[MsRulh]

If it is a female, don't they lay eggs regardless of being around a male? I'm not as familiar with Jacksons nor females, but maybe thats why she's being less active? Needs to put those eggs somewhre? Just taking a guess here tho

 

[Mijah139]

female jacksons give birth to live young

 

[MsRulh]

Really?! That's wild man! Thanks

 

[ddamuth]

Thanks again for the advice. I actually just added another hanging plant in the front of the enclosure and moved the dripper to above that and he/she has been taking laps around the enclosure and stopping repeatedly at the plant to drink. The dripper before was above a fake ivy plant with the cloth-like leaves and now its dripping down onto a plastic leaved plant so I think he/she just didn't like drinking off the cloth leaves. But hopefully by the end of the month I will have the new enclosure finished and ready for the switch so there is more height to the tank as well. Hopefully this activity level keeps up now

 

[ddamuth]

update

I bought pascal an 18x18x36 reptibreeze and set that up for her, the mistking is on the way as well as more vines and soon getting sturdier live plants that will hold her weight. She is back to herself, always moving around and going nuts when i come downstairs (I always open up her enclosure and let her climb out to over my desk where she has extra vines). Once I get the misting system set up and ensure the humidity levels are maintaining fine I am contemplating getting her a male but I need to look into it more.

Any advice on the male idea? Do jacksons typically do better in a pair or trio?

 

[Kath44]

They do better on their own. If housed together, the male will always want to mate, stressing your girl out too much.
Kath.

 

[carol5208]

Can you elaborate more on your uvb light? I am not familiar with a UVB 100. What exactly is that? Sometimes incorrect lighting can cause a chameleon to close its eyes if the light is too strong, kinda like us looking straight into the sun. That one light looks super bright in your one pic

 

[ddamuth]

What about keeping females together? Would they do fine in a pair or trio?

And the UVB100 is just a 26Watt bulb, it looks so bright in the pic because my camera on my phone has been screwed up. Its not terribly bright. However, I am switching to a linear UVB bulb so it will cover my cham and my cresteds tanks.

 

[ddamuth]

Also, for just the 18x18x36 reptibreeze and a 18x18x24 exoterra terrarium, I am deciding between mistking systems. . . would the lowest starter kit be fine or should i get the 'ultimate value' kit? i've never had a misting system set up so I'm just trying to get a second opinion. (eventually I will probably set up another reptibreeze tank with it (12x24x24).