sleeping during the day? bad?

[chriscalvert]

ive got a 7 month old male veiled who recently has been going to bed at 2-4 in the afternoon. lights are on/off at 8. also hes only been eating 1-2 crix a day, is this any reason for concern?

 

[Ace]

double post

 

[Ace]

yes, post pictures, but i feel a vet trip is in order

fill out the "ask for help form"

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

it could be many reasons why your cham is ill...and make sure to e as detiled possible when filling the form out

 

[chriscalvert]

* Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon. 6-7 months old i think. got him when he was really young
* Handling - Minimal handling when cleaning and on occassion
* Feeding - Moved to large crickets a few weeks ago. hes eating around 5 a day. also superworms and wax worms every other day. gutloading crickets with apples, dandelion greens, carrots, and flukers orange cube.
* Supplements - Repcal calcium w/o d3 everyday. Calcium w/3 and herptivite twice a month
* Watering - Misting 2-3 times daily for 1 minute. Little dripper ocassionally. I used to always see him drink but not recently. He hates misting. He typically hides
* Fecal Description - Brown with white urate. never been tested
* History - Switced cages and lighting about a month ago


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 24x24x48 LLL Screen cage.
* Lighting - reptisun 5.0 uvb linear 24", and a 40 watt house bulb for basking. lights on 12 hours a day on a timer. 8 am to 8 pm
* Temperature - temp range 65-84 degrees. basking is about 84. ive got a digital thermometer. usually about 69.5 during the day.
* Humidity - humidity 35%-60%. mist cage 2-3 times a day. little dripper and ice cubes as well.
* Plants - Dracaena and banana ficus.
* Placement - Cage is in my room next to a window overlooking my sideyard. Cage is about 5ft from the ceiling. stands about 5ft high
* Location - San Diego, ca

He has also been almost black all day, and dark or striped fully when basking.

 

[carol5208]

there does not appear to be anything in your husbandry that raises any red flags. Sometimes loss of appetitie and being lethargic can be a sign of an internal parasite. I would have a fecal done at your vet to rule that out. Also post a couple of pics if you can.

 

[chriscalvert]

Here is a pciture of him from about a week ago when i posted about him hanging out near the bottom of the enclosure.

 

[Elizadolots]

I wonder about the banana ficus. It has a handling warning for humans.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62921/

 

[ataraxia]

possibilities:

he could have stressed over seeing a bird or another animal in the window

your room get cold for any reason?

basking

suggestion: raise your basking temp to 90*

 

[chriscalvert]

yeah i guess he could have seen another animal, but i never see anything frequent out there. My room seems to stay around 65-70. yeah he seems much happier basking in 90 degree temps but ive heard and read several times to keep it around 80-84.

 

[ataraxia]

as far as your main concern..he is by the window. he will get up with the sun instead of your timing. he could be bored. everything else looks good with your husbandry. just keep and eye out.

 

[kinyonga]

Where do you live?
Is this the same chameleon that was sitting low in the cage a while ago?
Did he quit doing that??

 

[steviejcsc]

I would move away from the window! Could be a draft. Are you using uv? Or just the window?

 

[jojackson]

Agree with Atraxia, raise the basking temp to 90f

Conflict with photoperiod may be responsible for early roosting. Despite consistant hours (timer) other signals tell your animal its time to sleep. Dropping light levels outside the window, dropping ambient temps. What time is it getting dark outside?
How cold is it outside by the time he roosts? Unless the windows insulated, cold will penetrate, undetectable to you, but maybe not to cham by the window.
*Assuming your in the US -winter

 

[chriscalvert]

Yes, this is the same chameleon that was near the bottom of the cage that i posted about earlier. It typically starts to get darker around 5 or so, it has been cloudy lately and a little colder. Are the dark colors and indication that he is trying to absorb more heat and hes cold?

 

[jojackson]

Generally Calvin yes, though other factors may contribute. Is the lizard waking before 8am? light coming in the window will cue him.
Try moving him away from the window, or/and covering the window till the lights come on.
boost the heat to 90f and see how it goes after a week (will need time to adjust).
If your animal thinks (knows) its winter (early dropping light/temps), despite the artificial conditions, naturally it will sleep early and eat much less as it would in nature.
Sometimes it takes effort to trick them into your artificial season.

 

[chriscalvert]

thanks for all the feedback. i raised his basking temp up a little bit and closed the blinds to the window and he got back on his normal sleeping cycle. ive also been watching him eat all day. still gonna go check him up at the vet though

 

[kinyonga]

If you live in a cold area its not a good idea to have the cage near the window.

 

[Elizadolots]

Normally I'd say that the window isn't a problem in San Diego, but it's been unusually cold lately. Night time temps have been dropping to almost freezing in some areas. At least until it warms back up, moving the cage away from the window would be a good idea.