Sleeping all day?

[ThisNewCham]

My cham is pretty much sleeping all day...he usually wakes up somewhere around 9am, but it's 11:50 and he's still sleeping.

He is easy to wake up at this point, my misting woke him up, and when I put his crickets into the cage he woke up as well.

What should I do?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

provide some husbandry details.

-Brad

 

[ThisNewCham]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I made it...100 gallon
Lighting - 100W Sun Glo Neodynium Basking Spot Lamp, UV a+b, they are left on for about 12 hours a day (10:30am-10:30pm), night is a 75W Night Glo Neodymium Moonlight Lamp
Temperature - Basking spot is 32C (89.6f), rest of the cage is 22C (71F)
Humidity - Humidity ranges between 40-50, usually stays 45-50
Plants - Ficus, and some fake plants
Location - My bedroom, not too hightraffic at all

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon -Veiled, male, about a year old
Feeding - Crickets, 4 in the morning, 4 in the evening
Supplements - Crickets get lightly dusted with calcium dust
Watering - Misting 3-4 times daily, 5 mins each (until leaves are dripping), drip system (2 times daily for 30 minutes), have not seen him drink
Fecal Description - Solid black, mushy looking white end, with a bit of orange
History - nope.
Current Problem - t'is being discussed

 

[ThisNewCham]

He's awake now! But what would cause him to stay sleeping longer?

 

[arkist]

Can you give a better description of the enclosure? what is it made of and what are its dimensions?

The night light you are using, is it to keep temps up?

More details on your supplementing please.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

After he is awake does he stay awake (eyes open) for the rest of the day, or does he go back to sleep?

-Brad

 

[spearsre]

Dehydration???

I had a sick Panther and he did the same thing. Veterinarian said it was moderate dehydration. I would watch him drink to make sure he is getting fluids. My Veiled cham drinks from a tube attached to a dripper and he drinks at least once a day for about 15 minutes. Just an opinion. Good luck.

 

[ThisNewCham]

I don't use the night light anymore.

He stays awake once he is awake.

I supplement with Jurassi-Cal...

 

[arkist]

It is my understanding that reptiles are very sensitive to light so I believe that having a night lamp is a bad thing. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Does your calcium have D3? Are you using any other supplementing? What time does he usually go to bed?

 

[Electric]

well for some reason exo terra.com is down, but as far as I can remember, the sun glo neodymium bulbs are simply 'daylight' coloured basking bulbs, and do not give off any uvb. The only basking type bulbs from exo terra that do produce uvb are the solar glo's which I think are mercury vapour and are equivalent to the powersuns by zoomed. So this may be just a typo on your part, or there is a possibility that your cham is receiving 0 uvb...?


The other thing that jumped out at me is when you said you keep the cage lights on until 10h30pm. You mention the cage is in your bedroom, which I can only assume has at least one window in it. If this is the case, it seems like you would really be throwing off his natural sleep/wake schedule which could explain the sleeping during the day. If there is a window in there, his natural reaction will be to get in position for bed once he sees the daylight in the room is fading and night is approaching.

I would try to more or less have your lights follow the same schedule as the sun, and if you need to be in your room with the room lights on after his are off, just throw an old blanket or something over top of his cage to not keep him awake.

 

[arkist]

The other thing that jumped out at me is when you said you keep the cage lights on until 10h30pm.

Thanks for pointing this out Electric, I completely missed it.

This seems really late to me. I would take Electric's advice and have your lighting schedule match the natural sunlight as much as possible.

 

[redlupin]

My chams used to sleep off and on through out the day, but as soon as I started to make a time schedule for the lights (7am-8pm) they are asleep all through the night and wide awake during the day. Definitely change the time you turn the lights off it will make a huge difference.

 

[ThisNewCham]

I will definately start to follow the sun more closely.

He does has a UVA, UVB tube light as well.