Please Help:(

[No Limit]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and relitivly new to Chameleons...

I just got a Sambava Panther Chameleon and he was doing great for the first 2 hours i had him. then he ate one cricket with the minerals on it and stuff, and all of a sudden he turned black? i thought at first it was because he was cold but idk any more, this started about 3 hours ago, and he seems fine, but his color is very dark. what is wrong with him

 

[Julirs]

He is probably just stressed from his new environment. Give him some time and space to adjust.
Welcome to the forum! If you would like to describe your setup as far as the following questions members will be happy to help you make any adjustments...
Cage Info:
Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? What is the size?
Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? How long do you keep the lights on during the day?
Temperature - What temperature range have you created? Basking spot temp? What is the temperature at night?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What kind of schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

 

[DrewNYC]

either he doesn't like you staring at him which you probably are or he is dark to collect any heat/light there is.
drew

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Don't panic...you chameleon has to adjust to everything. He was just shipped to you, but you know he is healthy if he has already eaten. Give him some water and just let him adapt. Post a pic if you want

-chris

 

[No Limit]

well he was just shipped today, and that was about 6 hours ago.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - is the free air cage, like a screen door. 20x20x36
Lighting - 5.0 UVB and 1 "daylight" bulb going to keep them on 12 hours a day (as recomended but you guys might sugest other wise)
Temperature - temp is around 78-80 F, not sure on the basking temp, only have one temp gauge,night temp will be around 73-78
Humidity - i have constant dripping water in one side of the corner, with this brick expandy mulch stuff on the bottom with moss
Plants - no live plants yet, just plastics (all non toxic)
Location - he is located as far away from my door as possible, in the back corner behind my bed, so only traffic there is, is me on my bed lol

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - sambava panther chameleon, sex male, age 4 months
Feeding - crickets right now, but going to give him a good varity so he can stay healthy, he's ate around 7 baby baby chrickets and 1 adult, not sure on schedual, some people say every day, some say every other, and some say minerals every feeding, other say 2 times a week. this green gell cube stuff for my feeders
Supplements - Reptivite for dusting
Watering - filtered water from a special 3rd sink thingy, yes, he loves the water
Fecal Description - he pooed once, was a dark color really slimy looking
History - none, brand new
Current Problem - color but i thought it might be the stresses from moving but he was ok for 2 hours then boom just changed

 

[No Limit]

photos of rampage

 

[lonomac]

He looks ok in the pics as far as i can tell. I would just leave him alone for a about a week other than feeding. Just curious, where did you get him?

 

[No Limit]

reptile depot, out in cali, he was over night shipped to AZ, not a far ride, but very stressful even for me so that could be it.

they shipped me like pretty much all the basics, food for the feeders, cage for the feeders, water dripper cage, minerals for Rampage, decerations and both lights.

should i post pics of the cage so i can get some imput on how to place everything?

 

[No Limit]

 

[Cainschams]

you should take that substrate out of the cage. If your cham eats it might not be good. I use paper towels in my screen cages.

 

[No Limit]

how do i keep the humidity up with out it? here in AZ we have about... -15% humidity at any given time (not actually) but it is very low and everywhere i look it says they need a good amount of humidity... should i keep the moss in there or take that out too?

 

[Cainschams]

Yes take it all out. It can make good breeding grounds for bacteria. I use paper towels. Live plants and misting help with huimidity as does a humidifier. You should search on here supplement schedules, feeding scheduels and the live plant section. You will find a lot of usefull info on here.

 

[Orin]

how do i keep the humidity up with out it? here in AZ we have about... -15% humidity at any given time (not actually) but it is very low and everywhere i look it says they need a good amount of humidity... should i keep the moss in there or take that out too?

Your chameleon will likely poop all over the moss so you may want to take that out right away and put it in a dart frog tank. The big problem with substrate is, if it has pieces of wood or other materials they may become lodged in the gut of your chameleon. Chameleons often catch and eat substrate when they miss the cricket. I keep an extremely thin layer of fine substrate just so I don't have to take a scraper to pry the poop off the glass.
If the humidity is extremely low, even soggy dirt isn't going to make much of a humidity difference at the top of a screen cage near the light.

 

[bucky]

Ya,other than the substrate you look like your doing great. Dont worry,hes prob just stressed or trying to get heat from the basking bulb by turning dark to get warmer. Do what the other ppl have said.

 

[Chamero]

Yes I agree... do as the others have said, but would also recommend moving your basking spot to one of the corners of the cage, preferably the corner where he receives both UV and heat at the same time, this way to create a better temperature gradient throughout the cage. With the bask in the middle, he cant really escape the heat if he wants to. Also maybe higher the vines closer to that heated corner so he can get a good bask if he chooses. He looks good though so no worries.

 

[CammieNLeno]

how do i keep the humidity up with out it? here in AZ we have about... -15% humidity at any given time (not actually) but it is very low and everywhere i look it says they need a good amount of humidity... should i keep the moss in there or take that out too?

Buy a humidifier

 

[Cainschams]

Hey no limit. I would listen to everyone who has posted this will help everything. Did you search through for supplement schedule. I noticed you are only dusting with reptivite. I use calcium sup. with d3 2 times a week and rotate it with calcium without d3. I also use reptivite 2 times a month and minerall 2 times a month for juveniles. After he reaches 1 year you should start supplementing less. This is done by actually feeding less and not changing the schedule except for minerall once a month and reptivite once a month. After your cham reaches a certain age he isnt growing as fast so doesnt need to eat as much. This is how I do it and everyone has different ways. Like I said search search search this forum and you will find how you want to do things. Oh and if your cham gets sunlight all the time he doesnt need calcium with d3 he produces that with the natural sun.

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!
Some people have told you some things already...I have a few comments/suggestions/questions too.

Your chameleons lips are slightly separated at the tip of his mouth...are they always like this?

Just curious...how does the temperature stay so warm at night?
Cage Info:
Cage Type - is the free air cage, like a screen door. 20x20x36
Lighting - 5.0 UVB and 1 "daylight" bulb going to keep them on 12 hours a day (as recomended but you guys might sugest other wise)
Temperature - temp is around 78-80 F, not sure on the basking temp, only have one temp gauge,night temp will be around 73-78
Humidity - i have constant dripping water in one side of the corner, with this brick expandy mulch stuff on the bottom with moss
Plants - no live plants yet, just plastics (all non toxic)
Location - he is located as far away from my door as possible, in the back corner behind my bed, so only traffic there is, is me on my bed lol

Regarding supplements...I dust the insects with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings. Insects that we use as feeders have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous generally so this helps to make up for it.

I dust with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A twice a month. The beta carotene (prOformed) can't build up in the system like preformed vitamin A can. However there is controversy as to whether all/any species of chameleon can convert the beta carotene...so some give their chameleons a little prEformed vitamin A once in a while. Excess prEformed vitamin A can build up in the system and prevent the D3 from doing its job...and lead to MBD. I believe that Reptivite does contain prEformed vitamin A.


If your chameleon only gets UVB from the tube lights then you may want to dust with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder twice a month. Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium in its diet. The best UVB comes from the sun and if your chameleon gets some sun most days then it won't need any D3 supplements. The UVB from the tube lights or the sun should not pass through glass or plastic. Excess D3 from supplements can build up in the system and cause problems...so don't over do it. When outside, the chameleon should be able to move out of the sun if it choses to...BTW.

Phosphorous, calcium, D3 and vitamin A are the main players in bone health and should be in balance. Look at your supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon when trying to attain a balance.

You said...the poop "was a dark color really slimy looking"...was there a brown part and a white part?

You can gutload your crickets with an assortment of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc.).

Here are some sites with good information...
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html

Good luck!

 

[Dankmeleon]

to keep your humidity up you will need alot more plants!!!! I would reccomend using a lot of plants even in a tropical climate, but in an arid climate, i'd use twice as many, and humidifiers. and last but not least the fluctuation of humidity will come from your regular heavy mistings , this will help everything in the cage stay at about 60 percent humidity until it dries out which it will do very quickly due to low ambient humidity , hope that helps

 

[No Limit]

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLYS!!!!!

(how is the temp so warm at night) my house doesn't have the best AC...)

(his poo was brown with very little white) (but his new poo is about equile little more brown than white)

so just using retive isn't the best thing to do, getting different kinds of vitamins and nutrience is the best thing to do?

just curious, can i get feeders from people on here, I think i saw someone selling them when i was just browsing but not quit sure at the moment? because all the shops i go to around here either sell crickets or meel worms, and i kinda want a little bit more of a varity than that.

I'm going to take the moss and substraight out in a sec, and use wet paper towels, what would be the best live plant to use? i was thinking a small ficus or this little bush thing that my dad has in his office, it is pretty spacy with what seems to be perfect climbing opertunities for Rampage i guess what im asing is what would be better a little bush thing or a tree (both relitivly small)

He isn't going to be out side very much so i have to give him clasium and all that




One thing, i went into a shop yesterday to get some food for him and the owner of the shop said i need to have a (UVB light on, a sunlight on, durring the day) AND a red light on him 24/7 is this correct?