Chadbot
New Member
Hi Everyone,
I'm having a bit of a weird incident right now. Up until about 8pm Tesla, my 5 month old Veiled male, was a nice pastel green and basking like he normally does before bed. About 5 minutes ago I looked over at his cage and saw him lunge from his basking spot, grab onto the top of his cage and start smashing his head against the top mesh repeatedly! I opened the door a bit and he ran over (upside down), climbed right out along the top of the door and then turned around and ran back towards his cage, climbed on top, and headed straight for his light dome (which I promptly turned off). The whole time he was fired up like he was really angry, and eventually I managed to get him to climb onto a branch and now he has calmed down a bit and is just hanging onto my camera tripod. I have read this can be a psychological condition in captive chams and can lead to rostral rubbings (which I see no evidence of at the moment). Can anyone offer some advice about what is wrong? I posted some pics of him (right now) and his setup as it is right now (temp shows low because I just turned lights on). I hope nothing is wrong and it's just him having a run around, but I know how fickle chams can be with health and I want him to be OK.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled I've had for 2 months, 5 months old. 6 inches snout to vent and a healthy weight.
Handling - Once a week.
Feeding - Feed him as many crickets as he will eat once daily around 3pm. Usually eats 8-15 mediums. I also vary it with hornworms, silks, supers, and butters occasionally. I also leave mustard greens/dandelion greens, red pepper, and squash in his cage once in a while. He sometimes eats chunks of his pothos.
Supplements - Daily dusts Phos-free calcium without D3. Alternate D3 and Multivitamin on saturdays.
Watering - Regular misting sessions via mistking and dripper. He gets misted 6 times per day 2-10 minutes depending on the session to keep the humidity up at 30-70%.
Fecal Description - No parasites at last vet screen. White urates which means he's drinking fine, brown normal poop which is solid and well digested. He does this daily.
History - Came from a reputable breeder, and is captive bred.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4.5' cage. Aluminum screen, pvc bottom, hardware mesh top.
Lighting - Dome light with 60W household, 18" linear reptisun 5.0. He gets 12 hours of light a day from 8 to 8.
Temperature - I take readings with a digital probe. 85-90 in his closest basking zone, 70-75 in the coolest zone. 78 in the middle.
Humidity - Gets measured with an analog hygrometer in the center of the cage. Maintained with the mister and the cage is wrapped with a shower curtain.
Plants -1 Hanging pothos, 1 gigantic dracaena.
Placement - Cage top is about 7.5 feet from the ground in the low traffic corner of my apartment (it's just me here). He's near to a window, but the window has curtains across it and isn't ever open so he can't really see out there.
Location - Canada. Roughly, Toronto ON.
Current Problem - See above.
I'm having a bit of a weird incident right now. Up until about 8pm Tesla, my 5 month old Veiled male, was a nice pastel green and basking like he normally does before bed. About 5 minutes ago I looked over at his cage and saw him lunge from his basking spot, grab onto the top of his cage and start smashing his head against the top mesh repeatedly! I opened the door a bit and he ran over (upside down), climbed right out along the top of the door and then turned around and ran back towards his cage, climbed on top, and headed straight for his light dome (which I promptly turned off). The whole time he was fired up like he was really angry, and eventually I managed to get him to climb onto a branch and now he has calmed down a bit and is just hanging onto my camera tripod. I have read this can be a psychological condition in captive chams and can lead to rostral rubbings (which I see no evidence of at the moment). Can anyone offer some advice about what is wrong? I posted some pics of him (right now) and his setup as it is right now (temp shows low because I just turned lights on). I hope nothing is wrong and it's just him having a run around, but I know how fickle chams can be with health and I want him to be OK.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled I've had for 2 months, 5 months old. 6 inches snout to vent and a healthy weight.
Handling - Once a week.
Feeding - Feed him as many crickets as he will eat once daily around 3pm. Usually eats 8-15 mediums. I also vary it with hornworms, silks, supers, and butters occasionally. I also leave mustard greens/dandelion greens, red pepper, and squash in his cage once in a while. He sometimes eats chunks of his pothos.
Supplements - Daily dusts Phos-free calcium without D3. Alternate D3 and Multivitamin on saturdays.
Watering - Regular misting sessions via mistking and dripper. He gets misted 6 times per day 2-10 minutes depending on the session to keep the humidity up at 30-70%.
Fecal Description - No parasites at last vet screen. White urates which means he's drinking fine, brown normal poop which is solid and well digested. He does this daily.
History - Came from a reputable breeder, and is captive bred.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4.5' cage. Aluminum screen, pvc bottom, hardware mesh top.
Lighting - Dome light with 60W household, 18" linear reptisun 5.0. He gets 12 hours of light a day from 8 to 8.
Temperature - I take readings with a digital probe. 85-90 in his closest basking zone, 70-75 in the coolest zone. 78 in the middle.
Humidity - Gets measured with an analog hygrometer in the center of the cage. Maintained with the mister and the cage is wrapped with a shower curtain.
Plants -1 Hanging pothos, 1 gigantic dracaena.
Placement - Cage top is about 7.5 feet from the ground in the low traffic corner of my apartment (it's just me here). He's near to a window, but the window has curtains across it and isn't ever open so he can't really see out there.
Location - Canada. Roughly, Toronto ON.
Current Problem - See above.
