Various questions please - newbie

[Ranny]

Hey guys
I've had a chameleon now for 1.5 month - he's only 2 months old himself, very tiny still. His name is Kammi. So below I have all the details about him and have been worried lately over a few things, which I hope you enthusiasts could help me with and give your feedback?

Firstly, and most importantly as this happened five minutes ago:
1.) Kammi just ate a Dubia Roach, which seemed to be ok sized (not much bigger than he's been eating recently) but it must've been too big because he took many breaks - which was fine - but then he went to the top of the cage, turned completely black and was breathing insanely with his mouth wide open (I saw half the dubia still in his mouth!). His rib cage would actually be visible while he seemed to be choking!!! Will Chameleons generally go for insects that might be too big for them? I felt like I was watching him slowly choking to death and couldn't do anything :-(

2.) He's been VERY dark in color for the past two days, sometimes turning practically black. Everything is seeming right with his cage, humidity I always watch, rocking between 60 - 80%, the heat is 24 Degrees celcius in the day and 19 degrees in the night. The UVB lamp is on for 10 hours per day. Always available water on the leaves/branches, I give him a variety of crickets, dubia roaches and fruitflies. The Fruitflies are becoming too small for this growing one though, so I now have plenty of maggots getting ready to hatch to flies (will be there in about 2 days!)

Please tell me what you think? Is there anything I could be doing better/differently to have Kammi perfectly healthy and happy?



Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Calumma parsonii, 2 months old, I've had it 1.5 months.
Handling - Hardly ever, he's really shy!!! He'll run instantly away when we try to take him so only hold him about once a week.
Feeding - He has been getting over 20 fruitflies per day, with a mix of small Dubia Roaches and some crickets. The crickets eat carrots while I'm now waiting for maggots to hatch to flies where I'll give them jam and bananas.
Supplements - The guy who sold me Kammi gave me a box with vitamin and stuff (he said it was all he needs) every once in a while I'll throw the flies in there before putting them in the cage (maybe 2 - 3 times a week)
Watering - I've seen my chameleon drinking often. I literally just squirt some water on the branches and leaves 2 times a day (or when humidity is low)
Fecal Description - Fine fecal, regular - brown and sometimes orange on the end ?


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass cage from Exo Terra, smallest type.
Lighting - UVB light, on for 10 hours per day (roughly as per my job, 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening, give or take)
Temperature - I have a proper thermometer in the cage, stable 24 degrees celcius in the day, 19 degrees at night. For this I use a special heating cable (covered in silicon) which is placed outside the cage and I can turn on and off to regulate temps.
Humidity - Have a proper measure thing to keep this ok. Always between 60 - 80 % I just put more water on the leaves to pick up the humidity if it's getting too low.
Plants - Yes, regular pot plant with lots of branches and some leaves.
Placement - It's in a nice calm area in the corner of our apartment, no light disturbance, ventalation or anything close by
Location - Scandinavia

 

[Kate]

Hi there. Welcome to the forum. It sounds like your little one tried a roach that was too big for him. A general guide would be no biger than the space betwee their eyes. And yes they can try to eat prey to big for them. I dont keep parsons but there are some on here that do. In the meantime could you be more specific about your supplements and the method of heating your cage. With supplementing is very important to keep your cham healthy. Too much or too little can make a big difference to his well being.

 

[Ranny]

Thanks Kate
To be honest I'm not sure, it's some white stuff that the guy I bought him off said was all he needed, and to dust the feed in that once in a while (he wasn't very specific unfortunately!) So I throw the fruitflies in it about 2 - 3 times a week (maybe 5 of them at a time) and then into the cage where he eats them.
The heating, well I found out the first 2 days it was way too cold for the poor guy so I went to the pet store and found this heating cable, it's covered with silicon so it won't burn anything. When I plug it in it heats up so I secured it on the outside of the cage, giving it the stable temperature of 24 degrees. When I turn it off it goes down to 19 degrees (in the night)
He's always beautifully light in color while he sleeps, I only wish he were like that during the day - but today especially he's been absolutely black!!

 

[Kate]

I had hoped that someone with experience with Parsons would have answered by now. I think this thread should be in the health section to be noticed, anyway I have bumped it up a bit. Your temps to me are very low and I think he needs a bigger drop at night. Orange urates means dehydration. He needs more water. You need to know the correct supplements to use as this is vital to his health. What type of uv do you have and how old is it? Can you post pics. Please do not change anything except more water until someone with experience with Parsons come in.

 

[Kate]

Just been searching for help for you. Can I suggest you pm jannb as I believe she has Parsons and she is very knowledgable. Good luck.

 

[kinyonga]

It's important to know what is in the supplements you are using. Calcium, phos, vitamin A and D3 in particular....they are important players bone health and other systems in the chameleon and need to be in balance.

It's also important to feed/gutload the insects you feed to it well. Crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms can be fed a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, kale and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini. Don't use spinach or cabbage or broccoli often. (I don't use them at all.)

Do you have a basking light so it can warm up if it needs to? You can use a regular household incandescent bulb in a hood for this. The wattage is determined by the temperature it produces. I don't think that 24 is warm enough....even for this time of year.

How big is he snout to vent?

 

[Garrett]

I keep parsons, and my guess is your baby is stressed. Probably something
about your cage or parameters he doesn't like. This could be any number of things, can you post a pic of his setup?
They are very shy and need tons of cover\plants to feel safe, especially out in the open in a glass cage. Even staring at them for more than a minute or two can really put them off.
These are some temporary rubbermaid tubs I was using during a move as an example.

 

[Ranny]

Hi guys

Thank you so much. I think I'm getting there, I better buy a new potplant for him, he definitely doesn't have enough leaves and stuff to hide when he wants to.
I'm going to post more pics and info soon for your great help... My laptop is down so not yet

In any case, in the meantime, could you tell me how many flies he should eat per day? I am getting them from maggots, when they hatch I give the flies bananas, jam and carrots. They're very big, decent flies (i was surprised Kammi could even eat such big ones but he munches them very easily!) he's only 2,5 months old, getting bigger but still very small. I have loads of flies so need to understand the best balance, if I put too many he'll get stressed but don't want to starve him either. He has eaten 3 of these flies today, i've put one in at a time to not stress him. How many should he be eating? (3 or 20? I wouldn't know)

Thanks a million in advance
Ranny