Stress Issue

[skittles1234]

I recently rescued a Jackson chameleon from a pet store close to death. In the last week or so he has been improving dramatically. Finally eating and drinking and sleeping all on his own normally. But....I have one tricky issue. He has been acting soooo stressed out last couple of days. Pacing and pacing at the bottom of his cage climbing back up to the top and then back down again, etc..So today i made him a free range with a large ficus tree and some vines leading to his enclosure in the room. He accepted it immediatly as something fun to explore, colors changed and he went right out and began climbing the vines to get to the ficus. I laid down a ton of blankets on the ground and covering anything hard, because he is still so weak, in case he fell. But instead of falling he went right to the end of the ficus and dropped his front feet only hanging by his back two and fell right down catching the blanket with his foot and began heading for the floor to escape. I hurried and placed him back into his enclosure as so no one would step on him or he wouldnt get lost, but now he is right back at it pacing on the cage floor. I don't know how to make him happy and safe at the same time. Any suggestions? Here is is pacing

 

[Carlton]

How big is the cage? How high off the floor is it? In your pics it looks pretty bare. He has been through a LOT, so is restless and disoriented by all the changes to his surroundings. He's been too weak to express himself up until now.

Make sure he has places in the cage that are hidden from view so he feels more secure. Give him as much space as you can, privacy, lots of cover, a nice hidden basking area out of view, and he'll probably settle down over the next week. It could also be he was wild caught and totally new to captivity.

 

[skittles1234]

His cage is about 5 ft off the floor on a dresser. and the cage is small cause he's just a baby right now, only 6 months, its one of the small reptibreezes the 20x14x14 and i hope its not to bare, is this a better veiw? is that enough vines and plants?

 

[Carlton]

His cage is about 5 ft off the floor on a dresser. and the cage is small cause he's just a baby right now, only 6 months, its one of the small reptibreezes the 20x14x14 and i hope its not to bare, is this a better veiw? is that enough vines and plants?

He should be ready for a larger cage and it will provide him with a better range of microclimates and roaming room. More plants are always a good thing. One rule of thumb I like to use is...if he's hard to find in his cage the cover is about right. If you are concerned that he find his food you can put the feeders in a plastic storage box below favorite perches. He can watch and hunt from the rim. Sometimes chams prefer this to a smaller feeding cup.

 

[skittles1234]

well thank you. i went to the pet store and bought a vine with leaves on it so i placed that in there with another small hibiscus and i also placed a towel over his cage just in the front so he cannot see me. Now he is back up in the trees again. This seemed to make him much happier. i also just got my therm with a probe on it today and its perfectly 85.2 f in the cage. He seems so much happier already. thank you so much for the advice!! i'm happy when he's happy

 

[skittles1234]

oh and i'm going to be making a new cage with my father as soon as i get the money together. he said he'd help me build a huge enclosure, one for rex my jackson and one for skittles my senegal

 

[Carlton]

i'm happy when he's happy

And, we're happy you're happy he's happy!