Strange Behavior in ~3 year old Male Panther Chameleon

[seaweedg]

Hello! My male Ambilobe panther chameleon named Dewey has been acting particularly strange lately. Recently (past few weeks), he's been climbing the mesh a lot more, and just being a lot more active in general, especially so at night. He paces around his enclosure and has weird bouts of moving quickly as if he's seen a bug, but just stops after a few seconds. Just before bed, he'll climb the mesh of his enclosure for about 30 mins, then stop and sleep. Normally, he would sleep consistently in the same spot nightly, however now he always fluctuates his sleeping spots. To my knowledge, no other health signs are present. He is happily eating, basking, drinking, etc. He is however, due for a shed soon, his last shed was ~a month ago and his skin is beginning to become less vibrant and wrinkly. He does not typically exhibit this behavior prior to or during a shed, so I'm not sure what could be causing this. I have not made any changes to his husbandry recently either. Below is some general care information, in case that's relevant. Thank you for your help and let me know if I missed anything!

Cage: 2-2-4, Bioactive, Hybrid (Mesh inside with backgrounds to lock in moisture),
Plants and coverage: All live, no plastic, and there are good hiding spots, though in all honesty he's never exhibited the typical hiding behavior in any of the cages he's been in and has always stayed in open places for some reason to sleep.
Diet: Primarily Dubia Roaches, for treats he gets hornworms and super worms, though those are more of a once every 1-2 weeks thing. Roaches are gut loaded with BioDude bug grub.
Water: 3 Misting cycles: one just prior to 9:00pm that runs for ~2 mins, one in the morning that runs at 8:00am for about ~2 mins, and one at 12:00am that runs for ~1 min. Mist king mister system with 3 nozzles (both on the top of the cage, one single nozzle and one double). Humidity reaces ~ 85% after each cycle.
Lighting: 1 LED Plant light, 1 Heat lamp (75w if I remember correctly), 12in T5 HO UVB from Reptisun, Heat and UVB replaced every 6 months. Basking branch is at 85 degrees.
Biographical information: Ambilobe captive bred male panther chameleon. ~3 years of age (he turns 3 in February).

Thank you!

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Could you post some pictures of your chameleon and enclosure? That would allow Chameleon Forum members assess what is going on.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Pics of Dewey and his enclosure will most definitely be a huge help here. Also, what is his age and what supplements and schedule he receives?

 

[seaweedg]

Of course here are some pictures! One is a close up of his face, two are of him basking, and the last is of the total enclosure.

As for his supplement and feeding schedule, two feedings per month I do Repitvite with D3, every other feeding is Repti-calcium without D3. Feedings are 4 bugs every 2-3 days. Lights are on from 9:00am - 9:00pm (I just thought of this, maybe it's something to do with daylight savings? I changed his lighting times to align with it when it hit so its possible maybe that is messing with his internal clock? Though, I've done this in the past with daylight savings and he's never reacted this way so I could certainly be incorrect). He is currently ~2 2/3 years old (turns 3 in February). Thank you!

 

[MissSkittles]

He looks like a healthy guy & his enclosure looks/sounds good. You could add more branches or vines. I’d be giving the calcium at every feeding.
I wonder if he’s just kind of coming into his own. Mature males will often do routine patrols of their enclosures to check for rivals or mates. If he’s fine in every other regard (eating, drinking, etc) I’d just monitor him.

 

[seaweedg]

Ah okay thank you for the recommendation! That’s actually very interesting I wasn’t aware that they did that! I’ll certainly add more things for him to climb on though. Thanks!