Sleeping while basking?

[sensation]

I walked by my Carpet Chameleon about 3:30 and noticed he was basking a little odd. His eyes were closed and he was sitting up. I took some pictures. Basking temp is right at 80.
Just in case
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Carpet, Male, 3-4 months. Been in my care almost a week.
Handling - I've handled him 2 times in the last week, once to get him to his cage and the other to check him out.
Feeding - He has only eaten a few crickets that I know of since being home. He also ate a mealworm but refuses to eat with me being there.
Supplements - I dust the crickets with just calcium.
Watering - I mist him about 3-4 times a day for about 5 minutes each time. I have a fogger that I run on low all the time and a dripper. I use spring water from the jug or bottle.
Fecal Description - black/brown with white. The first day he pooped and there was a little yellow in it but I havent seen it since.
History - Got him from flchams. Was CB

Cage Info:
Cage Type - My cage is a combo with glass on the front and back and screen on the sides. I think its 18 inches across, 24 inches tall and 24 inches wide.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - The basking temp is right at 80 and it gets down to 72-75 elsewhere in the cage. At night it gets down to 71.
Humidity - Humidity goes from 50-90 depending on when I mist. Stays about 60
Plants - I have a live potho and a fake plant as well
Placement - cage is in my room where there is little traffic. I do run a fan at night on low and there is a vent next to him but I don't think it influences his temp. The cage is about 3-4 feet off the ground.
Location - North Carolina

 

[carol5208]

what kind of light are you using for the basking?

 

[sensation]

A 65w GE Watt Mister Flood.

 

[sensation]

it looks like a regular flood light that you would buy from home depot. Should I exchange it? It came with my cage which was used.

 

[sensation]

Ok I just looked again and he has one his right eye closed and the right eye is still open. When I saw him earlier, I'm not sure if both eyes were closed buy I do know his left eye was closed as you can see in the pictures.

 

[sensation]

Here is a picture of him sleeping. He was def sleeping, both eyes were closed.

 

[jojackson]

Your lighting/heating looks incredibly bright, you can wear sunglasses, your lizard can't.
Id close my eyes too.
Try a regular bulb of the same wattage, see if thats better, floodlights are harsh.

"We have ways of making you talk"...

 

[sensation]

Your lighting/heating looks incredibly bright, you can wear sunglasses, your lizard can't.
Id close my eyes too.
Try a regular bulb of the same wattage, see if thats better, floodlights are harsh.

"We have ways of making you talk"...

After thinking about it, I think you're right. I noticed that he hides his head behind a leaf to block out the light. Even in those basking pictures I submitted he is standing up as if he is trying to shade his eyes. What bulb do yall suggest I should change to? I just purchased the Repti Halogen 75W light from zoomed. I have the receipt so if there is a better light, let me know what yall use. I also upgraded my ReptiGlo UVB to a ReptiSun that everyone recommends. Should be here next week some time.

 

[ryno202]

just a standard incandescent bulb you would use around the house in a lamp or other fixture

 

[sensation]

Can you use a regular bulb? Do they produce UVA?

 

[Sticktongue]

Most everyone on the forum uses a regular bulb. I just bought a new 4 pack for 89 cents while a "reptile bulb" is like 5 bucks a bulb! They are perfectly fine

 

[jojackson]

Most incandescent bulbs produce an amount of UVA but not UVB. Both are essential.
If you dont also use a UVB producing bulb or tube, then get your lizard outside as much as possible.

 

[Chris Jury]

It might be a bit warm for him. It looks to me like he's trying to move away from the basking light in the first photo, but is a bit stuck on a 'branch to nowhere'. I'd get some temperature readings along the brach, to see where you're at.

Incandescents produce esentially negligible amounts of UVA. Fluorescent, mercury vapor bulbs, or some specialty reptile basking bulbs (or some metal halides, for that matter) produce sufficient UVA.

As for the light intensity being too bright for the animal--I doubt it. Even immediately below the surface of the bulb, you'd be hard-pressed to get mid-day levels of light intensity. A regular incandescent bulb, in a reflector, might get you as high as 100 umol photons/m2/s of light intensity right below the reflector. Mid-day sun in the tropics is in the 2000-2400 umol photons/m2/s neighborhood. The brightest lights we use indoors are, at even a very modest distance, quite dim compared to the sun.

cj

 

[jojackson]

Little chams dont get within inches of the sun Chris, they also tend to spend most of their time among foliage where glare is much reduced and not reflecting back off glass.
Light intensity and glare are not the same thing.
Try staring into a lightbulb with a reflector and see if you dont close your eyes pretty quick.

 

[Chris Jury]

Little chams dont get within inches of the sun Chris....

Well ya, the sun is some 93 million odd miles away--not much gets within inches of the sun

they also tend to spend most of their time among foliage where glare is much reduced and not reflecting back off glass.
Light intensity and glare are not the same thing.
Try staring into a lightbulb with a reflector and see if you dont close your eyes pretty quick.

Ha, sure sure, I wouldn't suggest staring at a light bulb, or the sun either. If you're not looking directly at a light bulb though, there shouldn't necessarily be a problem. We live under artificial lighting and, as long as one doesn't stare at the bulb, there isn't a problem. I go outside in quite bright sunshine (much brighter than indoor lighting) and, as long as I don't stare at the sun, I'm ok too. It wouldn't be good for our chameleons' eyes if they were to stare at a light bulb above them, instead of looking around their environment, but why on Earth would they do that? I can only imagine they, like I, would involantarily move our eyes after figuring out, hey, that hurts

cj

p.s. Glare depends on the polarization of light, with horizontally polarized light giving you glare.

 

[jojackson]

Point was, being arborial they spend more time very close to lightbulbs in captivity to bask, having no other option, hard to avoid the glare of a very bright reflector bulb just inches away, without, moving away (then it cant bask effectively), or, closing its eyes.

 

[tdotcham]

yeah regular bulb is fine.

i upped mine to a 100w as its cold in canada and i wanted to keep him warmer and I had the same issue.

im working on resolving it now, as hes not really asleep and it is usually just one eye.

 

[sensation]

Ok, I checked on him throughout the day and he was awake every time I saw him. I changed the bulb last night so I really think it could have been the bulb. I'll keep checking everyday and if I see him sleeping again I'll let yall know! I really hope this was a minor thing such as a light and I wont have to deal with this again

Also, does anyone feel that a chameleon that sleeps during the day could be because they are bored? I mean, there's no stimuli with him and the only time action occurs is when crickets are fed to him and when I clean/handle him? I understand the reasons why sleeping in the day is a sign of trouble in the wild but in captivity, they have nothing to worry about.

 

[Chris Jury]

Based on my experience, and that of people I've talked with, I would say that no, I don't think boredom has anything to do with closing eyes during the day. I've never seen a chameleon of any species spend any significant time (more than a moment) with either or both eyes closed during the day if everything was alright, and the chameleon was in good shape. Everytime I have ever seen or heard of a chameleon close one or both eyes during the day for any significant strech of time, there was something not quite right, and usually dehydration of the animal.

Glad to hear it's looking better, but I would keep an eye on it, and especially on water intake.

cj

 

[Chris Jury]

Point was, being arborial they spend more time very close to lightbulbs in captivity to bask, having no other option, hard to avoid the glare of a very bright reflector bulb just inches away, without, moving away (then it cant bask effectively), or, closing its eyes.

Ok, but how does one resolve this then? They all need basking lights, and need to be able to get close enough to reach proper temperatures. These places are inherently going to be brighter than others