What to do about the light and the screen?

[Chameleon Jim]

Current Problem - My Cham keeps climbing onto the screen and going onto the roof of the enclosure. I am worried she is going to sit directly under the light and burn herself. I have read so many posts talking about the danger of chameleon burns and I am not sure how to handle this.


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Female Sambava Panther, 6 months old, I have had her for a week.

* Handling - Only when necessary, she is still acclimating. Mostly to move her off of the screen...

* Feeding - Medium Crickets and Roach Nymphs (Gutloaded and dusted). She is eating 4-5 bugs a day and I put the feeding cups in twice a day for 2 hour intervals. I gutload with a mix of baby cereal, wheat germ, oats, walnuts, spirulina, dry milk, coconut with a side of fresh greens or fruit, and a tiny bit of fish oil, depending on the day.

* Supplements - Herptivite (WITH BETA CAROTENE – NOT VITAMIN A), Rep-Cal w/D3 and Rep-Cal W/O D3.

Repcal w/o D/3 4 days a week
Herptivite 1 day a week
Rep Cal w/D3 1 day a week

* Watering - Automatic misters run every 2 hours during day cycle for 3 miuntes at a time. I also hand mist in the morning with warm water. Water is treated with Reptisafe.

* Fecal Description - White and brown. Poop is good.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Screen 5x3x3 with a hibiscus and a Jasmine Vine.

* Lighting - Lights on at 8am and off at 8pm. Using a Reptisun 10 with a curved reflector outside of the cage and a Zoo-Med 100w basking spotlamp.

* Temperature - Temp at basking spot is 90-95 depending on time of day, gradient runs down cage from mid 80's to 70 at the bottom. Lowest temperature is 70 at night, total cage temp.

* Humidity - Humidity levels are between 40-65 depending on when the last misting cycle ran. Humidity is maintained by live plants and automatic misting.

* Plants - Yes, Hibiscus and Jasmine. Both noted safe on FLChams plants list.

* Placement - The cage is in the living room, medium traffic area (I live alone so I am the only traffic) The top of the cage is roughly 8 feet off of the floor. The bottom of the cage is roughly 3 feet off of the floor. Drain system and mist setup is under the cage.

* Location - Arizona.

So, as I said in the intro, she is climbing on the sides of the cage and she seems to like it on the sides of the cage. The only time she ever gapes or hisses at me is when I am going to move her from the screen. I never grab her off, just wait with my finger out until she finally gives in and climbs on. If I elevate the light off of the top of the cage so that she would not get burned from climbing directly underneath it, then the basking spot will drop in temp. How do you all have your basking lights set up on your enclosures?

*Note on image, yes the cages are right next to each other. There is a divider between them, they cannot see each other.

 

[jojackson]

Current Problem - My Cham keeps climbing onto the screen and going onto the roof of the enclosure. I am worried she is going to sit directly under the light and burn herself. I have read so many posts talking about the danger of chameleon burns and I am not sure how to handle this.


You cant really train it to do otherwise mate, so next best is ensuring it cant get burnt.
Consider why it might be doing that in the first place. One possibility is that the basking bulb may be inefficient if ambient air temp is quite cool, so the lizard climbs up to get closure, rather than hang out on the basking perch.

IF this is the case, you have several options.
Firstly you might slightly increase the ambient room temp by some means (safer)
Otherwise, perhaps use a slightly higher wattage bulb, but place it further away and take a careful reading of the temp at the basking spot, before and after. Ensure that the bulb is still far enough away that it cant get burned if it climbs on the ceilings mesh, but that the basking still gets to a suitable temperature.

Its probly best you ensure that anyway, lizards can be unpredictable some times, but again, the first option is safest, and possible more economical.
There may be other reasons for the behaviour, such as the lizard is trying to get closer to the uv source, which may be degrading???
I try to ensure a perch where mine can bask in uv but not directly in the heat if it chooses.

Your basking temp does seem a little high for a female, but Perhaps your species require higher temps than mine (veiled)? Somebody here will know.
Its generally suggested basking temps be somewhat lower for females, to keep the metabolism, less than maximum, so the eat less and are less inclined to produce huge clutches which drain them of reserves and in the long term shorten the lifespan.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Thank you.

I am 100% it is not a uv issue. The bulb is 2 days old and it is as wide as the enclosure. So it may be the ambient temp, I will try jumping my homes temp from 70 to 75 and see if the behavior continues. Thank you.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Raised the temp to 75 and raised the bulb a couple inches. The basking spot is now about 90F and the screen is not nearly as hot to the touch. Time will tell if this is alright I suppose.

 

[pssh]

90 is too hot for a female if you want to prolong egg laying (which will lengthen her life.) bring it down to 80-83 and feed 5-7 crickets or the equivalent of three days a week.

You need to use the vitamins and d3 way less. That brand has way more d3 than most others so it is recommended you only use it twice a month and the vitamins once a month.

Wall and ceiling climbing can sometimes be because they chameleon doesn't have enought branches to climb on, in addition to the earlier post.

Good luck.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Alrighty, I will see if I can get the light even higher. But if 90 is too hot then she wouldn't be climbing the cage due to lack of adequate heat.... so that still leaves me right where I started.

In regards to the vitamin schedule, was that about my young male or the female?

 

[jojackson]

I did say it was a possibility, maybe it just likes to climb, or as pssh suggested, perhaps it needs more vines or branches. *shrugs* Eitherway, youve ensured it cant get burnt, your a step ahead.

 

[Chameleon Jim]

Yeah, I think I will just chalk this up to curiosity and make sure she cant hurt herself. I suppose if she is gonna keep finding a way onto the screen the best I can do is ensure she can get back onto the plants with ease as well. Make a ladder at the bottom onto the plants and move the edges of the trellis that the vines are on closer to the screen.

Thanks for all the help folks.