Sleeping During the Day

jkashyap

New Member
hey everyone, I have a male jacksons- He is in a 4ft tall, 1.5ft deep, 2ft wide mesh (netted) enclosure. He has 2 dwarf umbrella tree's in it... the daytime temp stays roughly 70-75 in the midpoint of the tank and at the top he basks at roughly 83-87... He has a mister that goes off 3 times a day for 4 minutes each time, and i hand mist twice a day ensuring his eyes stay clean etc... He hasn't eaten crickets in about 3 days and i have fed him 2 hand-bred roaches... he seems to love them, now he is starting to take random short "naps" while his light is on-- is this normal??

Please help im very scared... I have heard rumors of chameleons "fasting" sometimes but this is just unusual to me....

Thanks,

jason
 
chameleons sleeping in the day time is usually a sure sign that something is wrong. this is something that needs to be taken care of right away. i am unexperianced in jacksons but a vet visit sounds like it might be needed. im sure that some of the more experianced people will tell you also that your chameleon should never sleep with his lights on.
 
I dont have any humidity gauges, since the cage is made of screen it probably doesnt hold much humidity, i would think the 2 big pots of soil would hold humidity... how else would i keep humidity?
 
have u guys heard anything about "fasting"? also, what should my humidity be? and where should i place the gauge? and he did eat the cockroaches so i dont really know whats going on...
 
I would try to keep it about 65%...some chameleons can go on a food strike because they get bored with one kind but your guy is sleeping...which is not good.
 
Sleeping during the day... (continued)

hey guys- my guy still hasnt eaten ( i havent seen him eat)... and he is starting to sleep before his light goes off- is 11 hours too many? i think im going to take him to the vet tomorow if possible...
 
jkashyap - I merged the two threads so people would not have to look for the original in order to get all the info.

I highly recommend taking him to a qualified vet asap. Sleeping during the day is a serious condition for chameleons.

Another possible cause of food strikes is dehydration. How often do you see your chameleon drinking? You may need to increase your misting frequency and make sure your humidity levels are correct.
 
Last edited:
normally what i do is spray a little bit on the leaves around him to see if he goes for it and if he seems like he's desperate for water i increase the amount of misting etc... do u think he would not go for the water around him? he seems to flush his eyes out alot when i spray around him... any ideas? this help?
 
First of all, your enclosure and temperatures are right on target. Misting can sometimes irritate a chameleons eyes, that's why I prefer a drip. That way, if the chameleon needs to hydrate or clean it's eyes it can go to the source. Likewise, if it doesn't want to get wet it can move away.
If I had to hazard a guess, it sounds like a respiratory ailment. Jackson's also
can develop shedding problems from staying too wet, the skin tends to cling to the body under such circumstances and makes them uncomfortable. They will sometimes shut their eyes for this reason. That being said, a chameleon shutting his eyes during the day is all around unhealthy. You should probably take him to a vet just to be safe.
How long has it been since his last shed? Do you trust your roach source?
Others have said it before, the more information you give about health issues, the better more experienced keepers can help you. Pics of the chameleon and their setup is invaluable in diagnosing problems. That's the great thing about digital cameras, they really will revolutionize chameleon husbandry. Not only for health issues, but for record keeping as well.
 
Sean said:
First of all, your enclosure and temperatures are right on target. Misting can sometimes irritate a chameleons eyes, that's why I prefer a drip.

Misting does not cause skin or eye irritation as long as only clean water is used. In fact, many chameleons more readily identify misting as a water source than a dripper. It is my opinion that drippers should not be used as the only source of water. They should supplement a daily misting schedule.

Heika
 
well his stool seems to be clear and almost liquidy, i think he may be dehydrated... ive increased the amount of time that his water will run and i have one mister and one dripper in his tank so hopefully he will start to go to the water that he wants more... his last shed was probably a month or 6 wks ago
 
Back
Top Bottom