Shaking while walking?

ariez189

Established Member
So I noticed today when I got home that when I went into the room Leon is in, he was very shaky while walking off his branch. He has not displayed this behavior before. He is my first chameleon so I just want to make sure all is well.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male veiled. I've had him 2 weeks tomorrow- previous owner said she thought he was about 10 months old.
Handling - None. Just to move him initially into his cage.
Feeding - about 10 crickets a day. They are gut loaded with sweet potato, carrots, and kale.
Supplements - Without D3 everyday and reptivite on the 1st and 15th so I've only given it to him once so far.
Watering - I have a monsoon solo mister that goes off for every hour for 30 seconds since I am not home during the day.
Fecal Description - Normal dropping with white urates
History - Got from lady 2 weeks ago. He was apparently kept with another chameleon and used for breeding.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Homemade 24" x 24" x 48"
Lighting - Basking bulb: 75W. This was the only bulb that could get his basking temperature at 85 degrees. UVB: T5 HO 5.0. They come on at 7:30 AM and off at 7:30 PM.
Temperature - Between 80 and 85 for basking. Lower part is between 70 and 75. Temperatures dropped to low or mid 70s at night.
Humidity - Between 40-65%. Goes up to about 70 at night. I have a humidifier that runs at night from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am.
Plants - 1 hibiscus, 1 bromeliad, 1 corn plant and 1 pothos. I washed each plant with soap and water and used organic soil before introducing them.
Placement - In my home office partially in front of window but does not get direct sunlight. He is not underneath any vents.
Location - Central Florida

Current Problem: When I entered the room today he crouched behind the vine and very shakily walked into his plant to hide. His hiding is normal, but I have not seen the shaking motion before. I will try to get a video if I can, but he's still nervous around me. I have a dog and cat, but my door is closed during the day so no human or animal traffic during the day.
 

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So I noticed today when I got home that when I went into the room Leon is in, he was very shaky while walking off his branch. He has not displayed this behavior before. He is my first chameleon so I just want to make sure all is well.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male veiled. I've had him 2 weeks tomorrow- previous owner said she thought he was about 10 months old.
Handling - None. Just to move him initially into his cage.
Feeding - about 10 crickets a day. They are gut loaded with sweet potato, carrots, and kale.
Supplements - Without D3 everyday and reptivite on the 1st and 15th so I've only given it to him once so far.
Watering - I have a monsoon solo mister that goes off for every hour for 30 seconds since I am not home during the day.
Fecal Description - Normal dropping with white urates
History - Got from lady 2 weeks ago. He was apparently kept with another chameleon and used for breeding.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Homemade 24" x 24" x 48"
Lighting - Basking bulb: 75W. This was the only bulb that could get his basking temperature at 85 degrees. UVB: T5 HO 5.0
Temperature - 85 for basking. Top of the cage was always around 75-80. Lower was 70. Temperatures dropped to 68 at night.
Humidity - Between 40-65% depending on how often I misted. Goes up to about 70 at night.
Plants - 1 hibiscus, 1 bromeliad, 1 corn plant and 1 pothos. I washed each plant with soap and water and used organic soil before introducing them.
Placement - In my home office partially in front of window but does not get direct sunlight. He is not underneath any vents.
Location - Central Florida

Current Problem: When I entered the room today he crouched behind the vine and very shakily walked into his plant to hide. His hiding is normal, but I have not seen the shaking motion before. I will try to get a video if I can, but he's still nervous around me. I have a dog and cat, but my door is closed during the day so no human or animal traffic during the day.
Is the movement like this?

 
Glancing at your husbandry, you’ll need to add calcium with D3 twice a month, giving once every other week. Your misting should be for at least 2 minutes 3-4 times a day.
 
Glancing at your husbandry, you’ll need to add calcium with D3 twice a month, giving once every other week. Your misting should be for at least 2 minutes 3-4 times a day.
I believe their reptivite has D3 in it. If I am remembering the OP correctly with prior posts.
 
Does he only do it while you're staring at him?

This is the first time I've noticed the motion. But sometimes he will just sit on his vine if I'm sitting. He just doesn't seem to like when I move around. He is is hiding at the current moment, but I will keep an eye to see if he does it again.
 
One of the things that chams like to do if you are staring at him is that they like to go sideways on whatever they are perched on. It's like they think they are hiding from you and you can't see them if they go sideways. Him rocking back and forth "may" be him trying to position himself on what he's perched on so he won't fall. Just an observation from watching my own Chams.
 
One of the things that chams like to do if you are staring at him is that they like to go sideways on whatever they are perched on. It's like they think they are hiding from you and you can't see them if they go sideways. Him rocking back and forth "may" be him trying to position himself on what he's perched on so he won't fall. Just an observation from watching my own Chams.


Yes, he has definitely done that before. Maybe he was thinking about it, but decided to go straight?
 
I will also be adding a Pothos plant to the top for more cover and more branches for him to move around on this weekend. I have branches from an eastern cottonwood tree that a neighbor cut down. Are those safe to use?
 
He was doing that with his feet, but it was more of a side to side motion.
Whenever my chams are on flat surfaces they walk like that. He also couldve seen the dog or cat we once took our chams to the woods and a dog walker passed us and our chams got very scared the puffed up and sort of rocked on my hand.
 
This is normal. He is trying to slowly move thinking you can not see him. Adding a big pothos to the top opposite side from the heat lamp towards the front of the cage would make him feel a bit more secure.

Ok, thank you! I just wanted to make sure. I love him like crazy and want to make sure he's ok even though I'm still big and scary to him :)
 
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