Please help my little Gus (I think somethings wrong)

[Adk1992]

Gus is my male Veiled Chameleon. I've had him since May. Bought his off a boy on Craigslist who seemed to be completly uninterested in him and he probably didn't recieve the best of care. He's young, my friend, who's successfully cared for her Panther for two years, thinks hes around 6-7 months old now. The boy I bought him from told me a year. He is my first chameleon.
The conditions: After I bought him, I changed his U.V bulb and started dusting his crickets with Reptivite Calcium powder two to three feeding each week. Feeding 8-12 crickets a day, sometimes he eats more or less. The boy had him in an Exo-Terra terrarium. I recently moved him into a nice Reptarium cage which has deminsions of 30'L x 16.5'W x 48'H. He has two sturdy fake plants inside his cage that takes up lots of space and some climbing vines. Looks jungle like. I'm using a Repti Sun 5.0 U.V coil bulb, as well as a 75 watt Exo-terra bulb. He has a fogger that I run only occasionly and a dripper I run a few times a day.
My problem: Ever since I moved him into his new larger cage, he seems kind of letargic and keeps his eyes closed but will open them if I touch him. He hisses on occasion and acts grumpy( but he's always done that). Earlier, he had one eye open, one eye closed.
I just moved him into this cage this morning and he just started acting like this. My question is, is this something stress-related? Is it serious? And is it time for a vet? Or am I only overreacting and this will calm down as he gets used to this new cage? Please help me, as I love Gus and I wish to give him the best possible care!

 

[froggielog]

Here fill this out and we will start from there Pictures are very helpful!



Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever 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 - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[Adk1992]

Chameleon- Male Veiled, around 6 to 7 months old. Been in my care for around 3 months.
Handling- I handle maybe once everyday to every other day, only to feed because he seemed to have trouble hunting his own crickets. So I started feeding in a Kritter Keeper.
Feeding- Crickets, about 8-12 a day. Usually feed morning to mid day. I use Zilla cricket food and drink for gut loading.
Supplements- Zoo med reptivite and JurissiPet calcium. Usually one or the other two to three times a week.
Watering- Dripper and fogger. Hand mist on occasion maybe once a day to every other day since I have a fogger. No I don't see him drink.
Fecal Describtion-Mainly brown and white with little specks of orange.
History- Got him from a boy on Craigslist. He didn't seem to be very informational and Gus was little and scrawny. Boy had him living in an Exo Terra Terrarium. I moved him into a diffrent cage. He is larger now that he has lived with me.

Cage Info:
Cage- Screen Reptarium Cage 30'Lx16.5'Wx48'H
Lighting- Repti Sun 5.0 U.V coil bulb and an Exo-terra 75 wt daylight basking bulb. Gets around 10-12 hours of light a day.
Temperature- Cage floor- 75-76 F. Basking spot- 89- 90 F. Overnight temp- 73 F. Measuring with Zilla digital thermoniters.
Humidity- Between 50 and 60. I occasional mist, have a fogger and a dripper. Exo- terra hygrometer.
Plants- Only artificial plants.
Placement-Located in a spare bedroom. No drafts and only ferrets occupy the same room but only when in their cage. I do not let them play out of their cage inside that room.
Location- Ohio

Problem- Seems lathargic, closes eyes often (during the day) and sometimes only closes one eye. Somedays he doesn't want to eat.
Sorry, I can't supply pictures at the moment.

 

[laurie]

Ok a few ideas, it will help if he has a couple large real plants. Good options are ficus tree, umbrella tree, or pothos. Those will help him with humidity and will make him feel more at home. He must be enjoying the large cage, even without live plants, it sounds great.
What kind of calcium do you have? You need 2 types one with d3 and one without d3. The plain (no d3) should be used at regular feedings, the d3 once every other week alternated with the reptivite. All dusting needs to be very light, never should it look like white food. You should feed him early in the day so he has plenty of time to digest.

His crickets need a better diet, what they eat is really what your cham eats. For now just feed them greens like collard, or mustard. Other good choices are sweet potato, zucchini, carrots, and fruit. more on this after things have settled down. It would help if you could give him more food choices. Other feeders are meal worms, roaches, butter worms, wax worms. If you have a location where you are sure it is pesticide free you could catch some wild bugs. Grasshoppers & mantis are good.

I would try to mist him at least twice a day with warm - not hot- water to get him to drink more. The orange in his urate shows he is somewhat dehydrated.

Instead of feeding him outside his home I would put his food in a cup for him. Make sure you secure the cup where he will have easy assess to it, he needs the cup just slightly below him.

That is all I can think of right now.

 

[ataraxia]

It think it was coincidence that this happened when you moved him. Id say this was going to happen with or without the move personally :/'

How far is the uvb bulb from the basking spot? Is the bulb only 3 months? Did h3 have past uvb?

Orange is the urates suggest the animal is not getting enough hydro. Going off your description of care. I would do like lauire stated and start mistings. Personally the best regimen is 3-5 minutes, 3 times a day.

I would personally cut out the d3 supplement completely until this issue gets cured.

1; LOts of water
2; Outside natural sunlight if your weather permits.

 

[Psychobunny]

Just to ad my 2 cents, 75w for basking sounds like too much. Is it one of those reflector type spot lamps?
If so, those get way too hot. I only have a 25w bulb in my 48'' high cage and
my cham is getting basking temps in the mid 80's

You will need to use a good thermometer with a probe on a long cord.
Take several temp readings with the probe in the normal basking spot and
use the average temp.

You will find that if you take that 75w light and stick your hand under it about 8'' away, it will get uncomfortible in a minute or so, then will start to burn you.

 

[Adk1992]

My friend has given my an unbrella tree that I need to pick up today. It was purchased from Lowes, so I'm going to wash it off and completely transplant it into some Ecoearth/ play sand mixture to avoid pesticides and the like. Do you think that is nessicary?
What types of non-D3 calcium do you guys recommend? I'm unsure of what a good brand is. The local pet places around here only have D3 added.
About the food- I've tried meal worms and wax worms but he shows no interest in those. I was thinking of trying Durbia roaches. Any comment on those?
As for the cup, would a large fish bowl work?

The UV bulb is about 6 to 8 inches away from his usual basking place. The new bulb is about 3 months old and he did have a bulb before that, that the boy who I bought him from gave me but I believed it needed to be changed and bought him a new one.

Pyschobunny- It is a reflector type and where can I purchase one of these nifty thermos you speak of?

 

[carol5208]

you dont want to use anything that is clear for feeding purposes as far as the cup goes. You chameleon will see the prey and may shoot his tongue at the outside of the cup not realizig the food is inside and he could injure his tongue. Use a container that is not see through or opaque(where you can barely see through) I don't use a temp gauge with a probe but I use a digital temp/humidity gauge that I got at home depot for $10. It works well.