ive noticed an alert male in the cage closing his eyes when i hold him. not all do this but personally i think they are just scared. as far as him sleeping in the cage. im going to put money you probably have two things going against him. first ditch the flukers light. get a linear tube uvb and a regular house bulb for basking. second your ambient temps in the cage are in the 80's which makes your basking spot probably even warmer. this is going to be hard to do in a cage your size and that it is glass. this is the reason many of us use screen cages. easier to pin point temp to a location, bigger flux in temps throughout cage, more ventilation for heat and humidity, this list goes on. many do keep in aquariums and have success. personally its a win going with a screen cage.
Cage:24x24x48' SCREEN cage lots of rope, vines and live plants if you can. live plants will help with the humidity. make sure you cover the soil with screen or large rocks. put cage as high up in the room as you can. not near any vents, fans or windows.
Lighting: 5.0 reptisun or reptiglo linear tube (length depends on cage size)/house hold bulb for basking. the house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps.
***change UVB bulbs every 6 months.
Temps: basking temp around 90* for a male low 80's* for female / ambient temps 72* measure by digital guages.
Hydration: manual spray 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. provide a dripper.
Feeders: gutload (24 hours before feeding) with fresh veggies and fruits and once a week with sticky tongues gutload. Crickets, mealworms, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, dubai roaches, reptiworms, BB flies.
Supplements: repcal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, repcal calcium w/d3 twice a month, repcal herptivite twice a month
*For females at about 6 months of age provide a laying container. When the female is getting ready to lay she will often go off food and will become restless, spending more time near the bottom of her enclosure and frequently pacing it's edges. A laying container should be about 14X14X14 . You need to have 12 inches of substrate in the bottom of the container. you can use washed play sand. It’s very important to have the sand moist .so that it will hold a tunnel and not cave in on your female. take a big spoon and dig a tunnel all the way to the bottom to make sure it’s going to hold the tunnel. If it’s too dry or too moist they will refuse to use it. Some females will dig several test holes before they finally get one they like. I usually leave my test hole and sometimes your female will use them. (read more info on laying bins @ jannb's blog)
very nice cage set up btw. IMO its just not a good set up for a chameleon. would be absolutely awesome for a gecko.
