Winston spending most of his time under basking bulb

[ReggieCluggins]

Hi everyone! I got my chameleon about a month ago from Kammerflage Kreations and he spends about 3/4 of his time during the day under his basking bulb. The bulb is a 60w and his closest basking branch is about 7 inches below the lamp which rests directly on top of the screen cage. He is a 5 month old ambilobe panther. Is it normal for them to spend so much time just basking? He has plenty of other branches to perch on. I just checked the temperature of his basking spot and its at 80 degrees. I have a 75w basking bulb still in its box and I would like to try to use it but every once in a while Winston will climb on the ceiling of his cage and walk right under the light bulb and I'm worried he'll burn himself. Do you think its safe for me to give the higher wattage bulb a try? He hasn't walked on the screen top of the cage for about a week and a half now so I think maybe he got it all out of his system lol. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[ERKleRose]

Could you fill out the ask for help form (linked in my signature below) and post pics of your cham and his enclosure, please?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I suggest both upping the wattage and lifting the lamp up a few inches to ensure he can not burn himself. Play with different wattage/distances until your happy with it. Basking branch may need to be moved as well.

 

[Thehippie]

just to be safe I would move the bulb an inch or two above his cage

 

[ReggieCluggins]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon – 4 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon. I’ve had him for a little under 2 months now.
• Handling – Never. I want to get to the point where he is comfortable with handling but every time I get close he puffs up and sometimes hisses so I back off.
• Feeding – Dubia roaches, crickets, superworms and every day I try to get him to eat just one treat out of my hand (wax worms, hornworms etc) Feeding him as much as he will take since he’s growing (except for the treat items). I usually feed him when I get home from school and before I start work at around noon. I gutload the feeders with apples, oranges, potatoes, carrots, collard greens
• Supplements – I was using the repticalcium with and without d3 and reptivite but about 2 weeks ago I switched to repashy calcium plus and now I use that for every feeding.
• Watering – I use a mistking with a rain nozzle, I mist every day 3 times a day for 2 minutes each time with a 10 minute misting every Sunday. I do see my chameleon drinking occasionally
• Fecal Description – Has never been tested for parasites. His poop is moist and tight packed and most of the urates are pretty much white but about a quarter of them are slightly orange.
• History – He is from kammerflage kreations. The only weird thing he has done is one of the first few nights I had him he slept on the floor of his cage. He hasn’t done it since but I’m not sure if this is significant or not.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type – Reptibreeze screen cage, 24” X 24” X 48”
• Lighting – Zoomed T5 terrarium hood with a UVB 5.0 bulb in it for UVB, for heat he as a 65 watt daylight basking bulb, and a natural light led bulb to help the plants grow. He also has a 25 watt ceramic bulb that comes on at night. The lights come on at 8 AM and they turn off at 8:30 PM.
• Temperature – Cage floor is 72 degrees, basking spot is 80 degrees. Temperature never drops below 67 at night. To measure I use a thermometer/hygrometer and I have a temperature gun. I also have a space heater that will turn on if the temp drops to low.
• Humidity – The room humidity is always around 45%, the cage humidity is usually between 45% and 60%. I have a live umbrella plant in the cage and my humidifier turns on when the room humidity drops to low. I measure it with the thermometer/hygrometer.
• Plants – I have an umbrella plant in the cage and up until 2 days ago I had a pothos plant, a rubber plant, and a spider plant next to it to help boost the humidity. The problem is I have a super stubborn infestation of fungus gnats (I’ve killed 4 so far while typing this) so I took the plants out of my bedroom because I felt like I was going insane. The umbrella plant is still in his cage.
• Placement – His cage is in my bedroom/office since I work from home. His cage is only about 6 feet away from my desk that I work at but I have reed fencing all around his cage except the front and lots of leaves on the sides to give him some more privacy. Also my back is always turned away from him while I’m working so he doesn’t feel like I’m staring at him. Its not near any fans or vents.
• Location – I am in northern Utah so for the most part it is pretty dry around here.

Current Problem – See my post at the top

 

[ReggieCluggins]

Here is my setup. In one of the pictures you can see how close his cage is to my desk