Pygmy Chameleon-Not doing great

Amorris22

New Member
Hello! I recently got two pygmy chameleons(brookesia stumpffi) the other day, and I am having issues with my male. I have them both in a biopod terra, scaped with live plants ABG substrate among other things. The female is doing great! Climbing around and very light colored and responsive. My male on the other hand is starting to worry me. He stays on the bottom of the tank, is very dark, with sunken inn eyes and is pretty non responsive to seeing me through the tank ( I haven't been handling since I don't want to stress them out). I have the tank optimized for pygmy chameleons with temps around 76, humidity around 75-85 (sprayed 3 times a day, letting drops accumulate for drinking), and LED full spectrum lights on for 12 hours a day, been feeding dubia roaches in a bowl and I am going to grab small crickets to try and entice him today. When I picked them up from the show on saturday they looked healthy, and I mistakenly forgot to ask if they are CB but I believe they are probably WC, judging from usual sourcing of pygmies. I am just wondering if anybody has any experience or if there is something I can do to help this little guy out?
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Brookesia stumpffi, male, I have had him since Saturday.
  • Handling - Only once so far to move into the enclosure
  • Feeding - I have only put in dubia roaches so far, I will be putting crickets in today to try and get him to eat
  • Supplements - I dust with
  • Watering - 30s twice a day, with spot spraying to get near the chameleons. I have not seen him drinking yet, except for the day I got him
  • Fecal Description - He has not been tested, and I have yet to see droppings. The tank is pretty big and they are pretty small
  • History - Pretty sure he is WC but he was doing very well at the show in an enclosure with multiple other pygmies.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Glass biopod terra 24x15x14
  • Lighting - Biopod UVB set to 12 hours a day
  • Temperature - Substrate is 72 and ambient is 76, night drops to about 70
  • Humidity - Humidity is at 90 right now, but I just sprayed the range is 75-85, measured by the biopod
  • Plants -Live ficus benjamina, and another plant from the show, i do not remember the name but it is safe for them I verifiied
  • Placement - Coffee table, 2.5 feet of the ground, low traffic considering it is just me working from home most of the day
  • Location - Scranton, PA

Pictures of him and the setup:
https://imgur.com/a/uoElVLR
 
I don't have experience with pygmies, but I understand a little of their general care. The sunken in eyes would tell me that he is dehydrated and possibly sick from something. Especially if WC. I would get some isopods and other tiny feeders in there for them to have available. Sorry I can't offer anything else.
 
I agree with the dehydration. I don't know too much about pygmies, but I do believe they need some more watering, more than 1 minute per day. Probably at more intervals, as well. But I could be wrong. That's just what I would do if my cham started to experience sunken eyes, just because it's a sign of the dehydration.
 
Thank you. I have the tank automatically misting 1 min a day but I have been spot spraying near/on him multiple times as most everything I read said sunken eyes=dehydration but he does not at all seem interested or like he is even trying to drink? FL Chams pygmy guide was saying water twice a day, 3 times at most so I was following that. I can definitely up the time but then I feel like it may get almost too wet in there as one minute soaks the substrate and leaves water on all of the plants. I have springtails and isopods in the tank, he just hasn't eaten anything from what I could tell. Is there anything specific other than extra spraying I should do to help with dehydration?
 
It could be parasites as well. Can you see a vet?
I have not yet, hoping to get time to go to one this weekend when I'm not working. Is there antibiotics they can give me if it is? I haven't seen him pass any stool but I have been trying to collect a sample for both of them for their initial check up.
 
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