Questions about shedding

Hi! My boy shed last month around the 7-15th, so I'm sure hes due to shed soon but its taking awhile and im worried. His chest shed by itself the other day and nothing else, hes been scratching his face and not eating (1 bug every other day max), gave him a shower yesterday but still nothing. Attaching pics of him, around his horns is white and like i mentioned his chest shed alone the other day. Please let me know how i can help him. Im worried hes either stunted rn or something worse is going on. Hes drinking water, just not eating, ive tried crickets, dubias and hornworms. Thanks
 

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Hey there have you had your husbandry reviewed? You actually do not want to put them in the shower. They are dry shedders so this does not help. As chams mature they will shed in sections rather than a full body shed like when they are babies.

How are you feeding him and are you feeding bugs that are the correct size?
 
Hey there have you had your husbandry reviewed? You actually do not want to put them in the shower. They are dry shedders so this does not help. As chams mature they will shed in sections rather than a full body shed like when they are babies.

How are you feeding him and are you feeding bugs that are the correct size?
No my husbandry hasnt been reviewed. Didnt know that! How do i help him then? I did read that about section shedding, but i didnt think he was at that age yet. Im unsure how old he is honestly so I've been estimating 7months-1 year old. When i give crickets i dust and then let some loose so he can hunt them and then some in a cup, i have a cup against high up on the wall where i put dubias and worms sometimes, other times i put worms loose and he gets them. Lately he hasnt been going for the any, he ate one dubia yesterday morning and the day before that one large cricket. I believe they're all the right size, i give a mix of medium and large crickets, sometimes the place only has large, and small dubias. The waxworms are always tiny and i dont give hornworms that are obviously too big
 
So if you want to copy and paste the form below into your response and then fill it out with detail we can help you more. Include pics of your supplement labels and a picture of the entire cage lighting down to the bottom so we can see if anything stands out.


Chameleon Info:
  • 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.
 
Your guy is gorgeous! I also have a male jacksons Xanthalophus. Please fill out the help form so we can get you some help with your questions on shedding and any other issues that might come up.
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Jackson Chameleon, I believe Xanthalophus, male and im guessing about 7-9 months. I've had him since the end of November.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I dont handle him often. He's been getting stuck at the bottom of his enclosure (working on adding sticks below to help with this), and ive had to help him up. but besides that I only take him out when I put him in the shower. that's like once a month if anything twice max
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He is fed crickets, wax worms, hornworms and dubia roaches. I try and do a mix when I feed him, so ~4 crickets, 3 wax worms and dubia's in the cup as another option for him. Initially I was feeding him every day but he's slowed down on eating A LOT recently.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I use repti-calcium w d3 and without and repashy calcium plus. I use the one without d3 2x a week, calcium plus once a week and d3 once a month.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have a dripper coming from the top of the enclosure, that's constantly going. I mist his enclosure by hand 2-3 times daily for about 20-30 seconds or until everything is wet. I do see him drinking, he likes to drink down the stem of the plants and off leaves.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Recently his pee has had some orange and I haven't been able to find two poops. No he's never been tested for parasites
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. When I first got him he was mid shed, we had some complications which resulted to me taking him to the vet. They told me that He had a second layer of shed stuck under the top one and that he was a little dehydrated.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen cage, 16x16x30
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I use a 6% 12 inch UV horizontal bulb, comes on at 7am and goes off at 7:30. I also have a heat dome bulb above his Basking spot that I turn on for about two hours myself. I never leave this one when im not home because I dont want it to get too hot.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? His tank ranges from 70-90 (I know 90 isn't good because that's really hot, im only including it because some days when the heat light is on longer than I wanted it gets hot). Im unsure about his lowest overnight temp. But I have two thermostats, one closer to the basking area and the other on the opposite side.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I use a humidity/therm gage to measure. during the day its usually around 40-55%, at night im not 100% Sure because I haven't checked in awhile. I mist by hand, have a dripper always going and live plants.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes live and fake. I have a rubber plant and pathos, a few fake vining plants for extra coverage
  • 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? The cage is on my dresser right by both may main room door and bathroom door, honestly I am beginning to think its too high traffic of an area.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? North Carolina

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Gonna try and explain the best I can. He stopped eating around the 4th and on the 6th he shed his chest only. I already was assuming he was about to shed a few days before because he stopped eating, but then only his chest shed, so confused about that. I gave him a shower the next day thinking the humidity would help but sadly no. He has white/yellow skin around all horns, I caught him scratching his skin like a dog and big yawns to loosen his skin. but still nothing? :( He's only been eating one bug in front of me but I keep leaving some in for options, but they are usually untouched. Now the last few days he's been gaping, no popping/hissing that ive heard, a few spit strings but no bubbles of anything excessive, and randomly getting scared? ill walk in and he will be slightly turned on his side, puffed up and gaping looking up, I dont think its me scaring him because he's already in the position. I did get a new light that has this curve reflector on it, for my usb bulbs, and im wondering if he's seeing his reflection? He's still active, walking around, drinking water and eyes moving. The only times he's closed his eyes is when my hands are in or im looking at him (ive been so anxious all ive been doing is monitoring him). Im really confused and concerned. I did recently move his area around recently, my dogs and cat do walk by his space sometimes. I know this is a lot. I already am planning a vet trip Thursday after getting paid, please let me know what y'all think.
 
Your guy is gorgeous! I also have a male jacksons Xanthalophus. Please fill out the help form so we can get you some help with your questions on shedding and any other issues that might come up.
Does your guy show signs of shedding around his horns in the beginning? do they ever get yellow at the base?
 
My guy just gets white around the base of his horns before he actually sheds his head and face. I don’t remember them being yellow around the base. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about unless he fails to shed there. Just remember, they are dry shedders so don’t spray them with water or soak them or anything like that because it makes the skin stick worse.
 
My guy just gets white around the base of his horns before he actually sheds his head and face. I don’t remember them being yellow around the base. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about unless he fails to shed there. Just remember, they are dry shedders so don’t spray them with water or soak them or anything like that because it makes the skin stick worse.
Okay noted. Is misting normally okay to continue?
 
Well I just read your form and there are some changes you need to make for your guy so he can live a long and happy life with you. Number one starting now stop showering him. It’s not needed and is probably his problem with getting his shed started right now. He needs a larger cage as soon as you can get it for him. his cage being too smal, is probably why he keeps going to the bottom. He’s trying to find a way out. He needs at least a 24x24x48 inch cage. Reptibreeze makes one this size and it’s about the cheapest you’ll find. Check petco.com as well as other online pet supply for the best price. I personally like DIYcages. It’s a company that makes a cage similar to the reptibreeze but it’s a little sturdier. They are very comparable in price to the reptibreeze.https://www.diycages.com/ this is the link to them. Your going to need a 22 inch uvb bulb, the Arcadia 6% is great as well as a 24 inch t5ho light receptaxle for it to go in. I’ll continue in my next post.
 
For your heat bulb, all you need is a 60-75 watt incandescent or halogen household bulb in a dome light fixture. I live in Maine and all I use is a 60 watt bulb. Make sure you don’t get a LED light bulb because they dont put out heat. now your temp at basking should be no higher than 78-80. Jackson’s are a montane species so they don’t require high temps and they don’t like them. It can stress them too much. I only leave my heat lamp on from 7 am til 3 pm. Now the rest of the way down his cage should be in the 70s. His night time temps should be 55-65 degrees. They need a big drop in temps at night because that’s what it’s like where they come from. I use an air conditioner in my window at night to achieve this in the summer. More in the next post
 
Humidity- his humidity in the day time sounds good since it’s in the 40-50 range. At night he needs 80-100% range. This can be accomplished by purchasing an inexpensive clear plastic shower curtain and wrapping it around the sides and back of his cage leaving the front open. You can even cover the front door with plastic if you need to. Just don’t cover the service door beneath it. The service door being uncovered and the top screen being uncovered creates the chimney effect so it draws the air up and out the top so there’s airflow and the air won’t get stagnant in his cage. I highly recommend getting a Mistking or something similar to automate your misting so you don’t have to hand mist him. You can continue to hand mist him if you want. Mist him good about a half hour before lights out and a half hour before lights on. During the night in order to keep humidity high I use a petspioneer misting system. They run around 65.00 and really work well. You fill it with water and set a timer and it turns on and fogs the cage at night. I use some pvc pipe to take the fog up the side of the cage then put an elbow in there and use a small piece of pipe to take it across the top of the cage to where you want it to cascade down over your sleeping chameleon. This is a great way to hydrate them because they breath it in. The pvc pipe in not expensive and works really well. More in the next post
 
Sounds like he’s getting a great variety of bugs, just make sure you’re gutloading them so they are nutritious for your Cham when he eats them. There’s an attatchment I will try to add here.well it’s below in a picture along with a picture of safe plants to use in your enclosure. now for supplements, Im not familiar with Repashy calcium plus. I am familiar with repticalcium. You need to use the plain repticalcium WITHOUT D3 every time you feed him but go very lightly. You don’t want a powdered donut look on your insects, just lightly dusty. Then you need to use the repticalcium WITH D3 once a month. You also need a vitamin supplement in there with a source of preformed vitamin A in it. I use reptivite and that already has the D3 in it as well as the preformed A in it So you wouldn’t need the repticalcium WITH D3. As for the plants, jacksons like to hide in thick foliage. Thats where they feel safe and happy. I like to use small trees in my cage such as ficus benjamina, money tree, and umbrella tree Along with other plants like pothos, etc. I included the safe plants list below.
 

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As for the shedding problem you’re having, Im not a vet, but I think it might resolve itself once you’re not showering him. Just give it a little time. I am not telling you not to take him to the vet because that’s up to you but if you do take him, take a fresh poop sample for a fecal test so they can see if he has any parasites. I do believe you have a Jackson’s Xanthalophus like mine. They grow to be the largest in the Jackson’s family. Your guy is beautiful and I hope to see more pictures of him in the future. If you have more questions don’t hesitate to ask. There more great info at chameleonacademy.com Bill Strand is a great authority on the care and housing of different kinds of chameleons and especially Jackson’s! https://chameleonacademy.com/ there’s the link.
 
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As for the shedding problem you’re having, Im not a vet, but I think it might resolve itself once you’re not showering him. Just give it a little time. I am not telling you not to take him to the vet because that’s up to you but if you do take him, take a fresh poop sample for a fecal test so they can see if he has any parasites. I do believe you have a Jackson’s Xanthalophus like mine. They grow to be the largest in the Jackson’s family. Your guy is beautiful and I hope to see more pictures of him in the future. If you have more questions don’t hesitate to ask. There more great info at chameleonacademy.com Bill Strand is a great authority on the care and housing of different kinds of chameleons and especially Jackson’s! https://chameleonacademy.com/ there’s the link.
I read through all of that and cant thank you enough! I just got a new 24x24x38 enclosure and will get him moved over asap. I cant afford a mist system rn but will add it on my list of things to buy for sure. I want him to live long and happy
 
If you mist him heavily a half hour before lights out and a half hour after lights on, that should be alright. The fogger is more important in my opinion, so you can get humidity up at night. A fogger is cheaper than a mistking. I’ll see if I can link what I got. Well I can’t find it on eBay to link it but I bought mine on Amazon. Just search it and youll find it. It’s called Pets pioneer reptile fogger. Other people here use other brands and I saw a lot of them on eBay so find one you can afford and make sure you can program the running time. You dont want it on all night, just 3-5 hours in the early morning like 1am to 5 am or something like that.
 
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If you mist him heavily a half hour before lights out and a half hour after lights on, that should be alright. The fogger is more important in my opinion, so you can get humidity up at night. A fogger is cheaper than a mistking. I’ll see if I can link what I got. Well I can’t find it on eBay to link it but I bought mine on Amazon. Just search it and youll find it. It’s called Pets pioneer reptile fogger. Other people here use other brands and I saw a lot of them on eBay so find one you can afford and make sure you can program the running time. You dont want it on all night, just 3-5 hours in the early morning like 1am to 5 am or something like that.
I do have a fogger, ill use that. Thanks!
 
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