Why does he do this?

[Adriang33]

Chameleon info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? (Veiled, male, 3-4 months old, since December 23)
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?(not very much he’s not very social)
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? (Small crickets, 8 or 9 a day most in the morning a few in the afternoon, I give the crickets repashy bug burger)
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? (Repti calcium with d3 and zoomed Reptivive with out d3 twice a month. And Repti calcium with out d3 with all crickets)
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? (I have a dripper running often and I spray the cage with a mister from homedepot a few times a day. Also, when I shower the humidity fills the the room)
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? (Never been tested, but it is brown with a little white on the top)
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.(I got it from a reptile store near my house)

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?(all screen 16x16x30)
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? (Repti basking 75w and a reptisun 5.0 uvb. Light is on from 8am to 8pm)
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? (Basking is from 100 to 95ish. Bottom of the cage is from 70 to 73ish I use a zoo med little thermometer)
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? (I spray multiple times a day with a homedepot sprayer and when I shower it m makes my room humid)
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? (A Schefflera and a fake vine plant)
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? (In my room near a fan that I run at night sometimes. No ones really goes in my room and the top of the cage is around 5ft 10 inches
• Location - Where are you geographically located? (Tallahassee Florida)

Current Problem - every now and then I’ll find him up here super close to the basking spot even though he can’t be cold

 

[Syreptyon]

Thanks for providing all that info in your first post! Couple things I find concerning here. First of all, that basking spot is way too hot for him. At his age, it should be more around 85 and he will certainly get a thermal burn is he climbs underneath it like that and stays for too long. Unfortunately, chameleons are not good about feeling and avoiding burns and intuitively like to get close to the heat source as it is their source of energy. Definitely need to lower the wattage of your bulb or use a dimmer.

Secondly, are you sure that's a male? I can't see spurs in the second pic (but it might just not have the right resolution). You also need to be gutloading your crickets with fresh produce. Repashy is not good enough. Some good options include: sweet potato, mustard greens, collard greens, escarole, turnip greens, and papaya. This is very important to get your cham the nutrients it needs.

It also looks like you are using a coiled UVB bulb for him. You should get rid of that ASAP and replace it with a linear bulb. The coiled ones have been shown time and time again to cause eye problems (and don't disseminate UVB over as wide a surface area).

I think you need to add more horizontal branches/vines/foliage closer to the top of his enclosure. He can't really get very close to the light in your current setup and it is much preferably to have perches up higher for him to sit on. The lack of places to perch is probably contributing to his feeling like he needs to be right underneath the bulb.

 

[Adriang33]

Thanks for providing all that info in your first post! Couple things I find concerning here. First of all, that basking spot is way too hot for him. At his age, it should be more around 85 and he will certainly get a thermal burn is he climbs underneath it like that and stays for too long. Unfortunately, chameleons are not good about feeling and avoiding burns and intuitively like to get close to the heat source as it is their source of energy. Definitely need to lower the wattage of your bulb or use a dimmer.

Secondly, are you sure that's a male? I can't see spurs in the second pic (but it might just not have the right resolution). You also need to be gutloading your crickets with fresh produce. Repashy is not good enough. Some good options include: sweet potato, mustard greens, collard greens, escarole, turnip greens, and papaya. This is very important to get your cham the nutrients it needs.

It also looks like you are using a coiled UVB bulb for him. You should get rid of that ASAP and replace it with a linear bulb. The coiled ones have been shown time and time again to cause eye problems (and don't disseminate UVB over as wide a surface area).

I think you need to add more horizontal branches/vines/foliage closer to the top of his enclosure. He can't really get very close to the light in your current setup and it is much preferably to have perches up higher for him to sit on. The lack of places to perch is probably contributing to his feeling like he needs to be right underneath the bulb.

Thank you for the quick response! I just put in a new bulb for him! This one is at around 87 degrees, and I also put a vine a little closer what do you think? Second, why isn’t repashy good enough I’ve read that it works fine? And if I get a linear bulb will I need to get a new bulb holder thing also ? And here are some other pictures of him people have told me it’s a boy what do you think?

 

[Kristen99]

It's a male. Looks like my little dude! Very cute. I use both repashy and greens like collard greens and carrot for gutloading. Your enclosure looks nice but I do agree you want to maybe get some branches you can bake them to make sure they are safe if you get them from outside but he will continue to climb the sides of the enclosure if he doesn't have other avenues to take.

 

[Syreptyon]

Repashy's main 3 ingredients are rice, corn, and potato-based. These will sustain crickets but are not particularly nutritious for your chameleon. You will be hard pressed to find an experienced member here who only gutloads with repashy. Fresh produce is super important and inexpensive, especially the leafy greens. Also, yep he's totally male! I just couldn't tell from the first pic.

As for the UVB, you will need to get a hood for the linear bulb, yep. They're readily available at pet stores. I like the improvements you made to your enclosure (also that's a nice looking schefflera in there)! Still, I'd recommend fastening a branch of some sort which goes all the way from one side of the enclosure to the other (you can secure such a thing with push pins, garden wire, or zip ties) - looking good though!

 

[Adriang33]

Repashy's main 3 ingredients are rice, corn, and potato-based. These will sustain crickets but are not particularly nutritious for your chameleon. You will be hard pressed to find an experienced member here who only gutloads with repashy. Fresh produce is super important and inexpensive, especially the leafy greens. Also, yep he's totally male! I just couldn't tell from the first pic.

As for the UVB, you will need to get a hood for the linear bulb, yep. They're readily available at pet stores. I like the improvements you made to your enclosure (also that's a nice looking schefflera in there)! Still, I'd recommend fastening a branch of some sort which goes all the way from one side of the enclosure to the other (you can secure such a thing with push pins, garden wire, or zip ties) - looking good though!

sounds good! So I should put a branch stretching across the entire cage all the way on the top?

 

[Adriang33]

Like directly below the light?

 

[Adriang33]

Added a vine right below the light ! Is that good?

 

[Kristen99]

This is what I have you can see him chillin at the top on the rope he normally spends the majority of his time up there

 

[Kristen99]

Looks good just make sure it's not too hot where the branch you put is put your hand on the branch under the light and if you if your hand get too hot where you have to move it I would lower it a bit. I have my heat lamp hanging from the ceiling so I can ajust accordingly and so if he does climb up on the cage he won't burn himself.

 

[Adriang33]

Also every now and then when I look at him he has his mouth open, he will some times open it super wide for a second then close it. Should i be concerned ?

 

[Kristen99]

That is normal no need to worry. It's their way of cooling off.

 

[Kristen99]

If he was doing this a lot I would assume it was from the basking point being too hot at 100-95 like you said it was rather than low 80's for his age.

 

[Syreptyon]

Yeah, that's more what I was thinking! It might be a liiittle too close to the basking lamp, though. Just be sure to check the temp there so it isn't too hot! Way to go with the quick turnaround on these improvements

 

[Adriang33]

Yeah, that's more what I was thinking! It might be a liiittle too close to the basking lamp, though. Just be sure to check the temp there so it isn't too hot! Way to go with the quick turnaround on these improvements

The thing is if I move it down at all he will climb back up on the screen and hang under it

 

[Syreptyon]

You could always try to construct something to attach to the screen that could physically prevent him from getting too close, I suppose... It's tough, I know! They're very stubborn. I just turn on my Mist King whenever my guy does that and he shuffles along on his merry way

 

[Kristen99]

Try hanging your lamp from the ceiling then you can control how close he can get to it and avoid getting burned

 

[Kristen99]

Also what are you using for a uvb I see the double light set you you should look into getting a tube linner uvb and hood.

 

[Adriang33]

I moved the light up a little bit using something, and now his basking spot isnt as warm but i still catch him trying really hard to get closer to the light, he will climb all along the top screen trying to reach it. i dont know what to do

 

[Adriang33]

also some times after eating he will get on a branch that is vertical and face upward for a while