Please give me any ideas you have

Jaxonii

New Member
I have been having some trouble with my jackson's recently here is the form filled out.




Your Chameleon - Male Jackson's Chameleon, 6 months old, in my care for 3 weeks
Handling - about once a week for cage cleaning
Feeding - Crickets gutloaded with tomatoes, apples, strawberries, collard greens, and oranges. As well as cricket crack dry gutload. Wax worms. I try to get him to eat two wax worms and two crickets per day.
Supplements - Herptivite once a week, non-d3 calcium once a week, d3 calcium once every two weeks)
Watering - Mist twice a day once in the morning once in the afternoon, drip 30 minutes a day. There is a drainage system on the bottom which empties into a bucket
Fecal Description - brown fecal matter, used to be regularly before he stopped eating. Regular white urate.

History - Nothing out of the ordinary, bought him from PetCo, CBB

Cage Info:
Cage Type - All screen enclosure 18x18x36.

Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 UVB and basking lamp that keeps a basking spot at 82 degrees or so. These are on from 7 am to 7 pm

Temperature - Basking spot never goes over 85, rest of the cage is in the 70's.

Humidity - 50-80 percent humidity constantly
Plants - I have three live plants, two umbrella trees (one very large), and a china doll plant (medium)
Placement - The cage is indoors not near any vents or high traffic areas.
Location - Santa Rosa, California

Current Problem - My chameleon was doing fine the first couple weeks, but now he is uninterested in food, inactive, and just basks all day. He still drinks regularly but he wont eat a single wax worm or cricket. People have told me to stop using wax worms so I won't buy any more. I am going to try silkworms next, but I am very surprised he won't eat crickets. He has been very inactive lately, and only basks all day. Any ideas? I have heard this happens before shedding, could he just be about to shed? Thanks,

-Nick
 
Try a new feeder to spice things up a some. Buy or order some blue bottle files, often good for kick starting an appetite. Might be able to catch a few wild ones as long as they are pesticide free. Other wild bugs like small, plain colored moths are good also. I find that when my Jackson's goes on a hunger strike he will often start eating after he eats something. Also Phoenix worms. Look like a wax worm but more healthy option. Best of luck.
 
Sorry I didn't answer your PM. I forgot:eek:

Your care looks pretty good. Nix the Wax worms and try BB flies as said above. I would use oranges, Cricket Crack and mixed greens for gut loading for now. Also back off on your supplimenting. Maybe use Calcium w/o D3 once a week until he starts eating. If you can get him out in the sun it should really help.

Can you post a picture of your setup?
 
I would cut out the d3 supplementing as long as your lights are in working order..Just plain calcium every feeding. I would even cut back the herptivite to once a month or so.

Too much d3 in the system is not a good thing for any species of chameleon. Jacksons are just more sensitive to the stuff than most..

1. Keep your guy hydrated. Mist him at least three times a day for 2-5 minutes. Make sure the cage is drying out between sessions. Not only for appetite reasons in general but this i also to help flush his system if he has indeed been over supplemented.
2. Indoors: Implement a ultra sonic cool mist humidifer Or a reptifogger to the cage.
3. If your weather permits..Get him outside as much as possible. I just checked your weather through google and it looks like your having awesome jacksons weather.
4. Try some flies or silk worms to perk his appetite.
 
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