Worried about Stress (first time cham owner)

[hiihenry]

Hi everyone, I'm very new to chams and have some concerns/questions that I am hoping someone could help me out with.

Where I got him:
On Saturday(8/8), I bought a juvie ambilobe panther chameleon from Amazing Blue Reptiles at the San Jose Reptile Show, which I happily named Henry. I am not sure on the exact age, but I e-mailed ABR to find out. I would say he is about 4 inches long not including his tail.

His setup:
He is in a 16x16x30 reptibreeze(?) with a small ficus,two pothos, and some jungle vines. He has a UVB 5.0 bulb and a 50w flood bulb for basking.
His humidity is a little low...reaches 60% at most, and when dry it is at 40%, but I'm waiting to get paid to buy and set up an ultrasonic humidifier for him. Until then I spray him 3-5 times a day, 1-3 min each. I also have a moist towel on one side to aid in humidity as well as a visual barrier for him.
Is the humidity for the time being putting him in danger??

So far, the past 4 days everything had been going smoothly...He eats really well, not displaying stress colors (very dark right?), and sleeps peacefully. I've been trying not to disturb him as much as possible.

Well today was a bad day for Henry...
I woke up this morning to find his cage COVERED in ants. Ants aren't new to me, but I hadn't had to deal with them in awhile. They were all over the plants, crawling all over the frame...all for 2 dead crickets.

I took Henry out of his cage and set him high up in my bathroom on a towel hanging on the shower curtain while I washed the plants and cleaned his cage. I had to remove everything, and try to kill all of the ants using as little raid as possible.
This all took about 45 minutes...
While he was up on the towel, he turned very LIGHT..instead of dark...are those his stress colors?

Ever since I put him back, I have been worrying about his colors, and what they mean!

Then he did this wierd thing...that I'm concerned about:
When I turned his basking light on he went under it and turned dark and held his mouth open for a little bit and yawned(?). I turned off the light, he turned back to his normal/bright colors and stopped opening his mouth...is that normal?

I have pictures of him & his enclosure, but they are on my laptop and its connection is bad. I will post as soon as I can.

I am wondering if there are any red flags that as a new cham owner I can't identify, that you guys may be able to point out for me.

-Chelsea

 

[chambabysitter1]

I don't think you mentioned temperature.
They usually keep their mouth open because they are too hot.

What were your temps during his color changes?

Does he seem fine now? Moving him around could be stressful, but he should get over it.

 

[Warrix642]

The light colors come from the chameleon being scared or excited and is ok and will go away. The yawn is a stress related thing and is ok if you rarely see it but there is a problem if he does it a lot.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Speaking of yawning, was his mouth just hanging open? or was it just a quick open and close?

If it was the latter, that is pretty normal.

 

[Gluuvan]

It is very common for a Lizard to open their mouth like that. They have no way of sweating so when they bask he was doing this to let out some heat. My guys will darken up and go close to their basking spot to warm up after the mister has gone off or if they feel a bit cooler then they should. Everything you are doing sounds wonderful and he is most likely still breaking in to the new surroundings. Keep us posted on him. BTW what are his ambient temp's and basking? 50w might be putting out a little too much heat but shouldn't be too bad, I use 40's

 

[kinyonga]

You used raid?? I hope your chameleon is okay.

 

[hiihenry]

@kinyonga: I didn't use raid in his cage, I just sprayed a little on a paper towel and then wiped what was around him. I then after wiped down with water to just dilute it.

chambabysitter: It stays around 80F in my room during the day (I'm on the second story & it's been hot in CA). and then drops to 65-70F at night. I'm not sure I 'need' the basking light..since it's adding onto the 80F? Does it sound too hot?

I don't have a tempgun...so it's by a thermometer gauge. :/

Gluuvan: It was an open & close kinda yawn. so that's good :]

Right now he is still pretty light..not as light when I took him out, but most of the time he is pretty colorful...not sure if that is good.

Thank you for such fast replies!

 

[spinachlove]

hey there hiihenry! i just got my cham pretty recently too and i'm really glad you posted cos i learned a lot from what you've asked and what people have answered! i was pretty concerened too when my cham was doing that thing w/his mouth & i guessed it was cos he was too hot, but now i've got confirmation

i also wasn't sure if he was stressed out even if he was super lime green or not, but now i know too! welcome to the forum! this place is GREAT! everyone is so knowledgeable and helpful!

 

[thealissa]

Light colors are usually a good sign. You will see those colors when your cham is sleeping, excited, and over-all in a good mood. Stress colors appear as dark spots/stripes and then get more prominent as the chameleon becomes more stressed, angry, or scared.

 

[hiihenry]

@thealissa: that helps a lot! Thank you for the input :] makes the color figuring out a lot more clear.

@spinachlove: hii!! it's great to meet another new cham owner that's going through the same little worries too! I'm glad to hear that my questions were helpful to others :] Yeah this place is really great, I haven't had this many fast and helpful replies from any other forum I've been too :]

 

[hiihenry]

having trouble with pics..
but I hope they work!!
this is his home:

Here's henry!! this was a little after his cage cleaning

then I came to visit him and he was sad :[

 

[Julirs]

LET ME OVEREMPHASIZE THIS! You need a digital thermometer or temp gun if you own a chameleon, or any cold blooded animal. If you have a 50W Halogen spot those things easlily create temps over 100 and you do not want to go that high. Digital thermometers with probes are $10 or less.

 

[Julirs]

The light colors come from the chameleon being scared or excited and is ok and will go away. The yawn is a stress related thing and is ok if you rarely see it but there is a problem if he does it a lot.

Chameleons usually go dark when stressed or excited in a negative way.

You used raid?? I hope your chameleon is okay.

I second this. Raid is a scary chemical and you are dealing with a reptile with sensitive lungs and absorbant skin. Fumes alone can do damage. I would rinse that cage down throroughly.

Light colors are usually a good sign. You will see those colors when your cham is sleeping, excited, and over-all in a good mood. Stress colors appear as dark spots/stripes and then get more prominent as the chameleon becomes more stressed, angry, or scared.

Light (blanched) colors also can mean overheating.

 

[hiihenry]

@Julir:

T ME OVEREMPHASIZE THIS! You need a digital thermometer or temp gun if you own a chameleon, or any cold blooded animal. If you have a 50W Halogen spot those things easlily create temps over 100 and you do not want to go that high. Digital thermometers with probes are $10 or less.

It is a 50w flood, but when I get paid I definitely will buy a temp gun.

Raid is a scary chemical and you are dealing with a reptile with sensitive lungs and absorbant skin. Fumes alone can do damage. I would rinse that cage down throroughly.

Is wiping down with a really wet paper towel ok? I would really hate to take him out and stress him out more.

This morning...Henry is NOT looking good. He's REALLY dark..and when he woke up, he stayed on a vine for a good hour..and he won't drink He ate a cricket, basked & did his weird yawn thing. And now he's just sitting there really dark. He had been near my window for more visual light, but I moved him farther away when she mentioned that the window makes it hot.

Oh, also when he moves he does the 'leaf dance?' the swaying back and forth while before the whole ant situation he was happy to move around whenever :[[ ATM he is walking towards his feeding cup...leaf dancing, and less dark, but still darker than he has shown me for a long period of time.
I really wish the ants had not come, I feel everything has been thrown off and I just want henry ok :[

I have work today from 1-7...and besides my parents spraying him around 3 & 6, today will hopefully be a calm day for Henry to calm down?

I just don't want him to die :[[[[

 

[Jimmy Filth]

i am so worried about stressing my chameleon out, i'm stressing myself out. haha.

 

[thealissa]

To clean the habitat, I use Natural Chemistry's Healthy Habitat. It's safe, non-toxic, and smells nice. You can buy it online in gallon jugs (cheaper), or buy it from Petco in spray bottles.

 

[hiihenry]

@JimmyFilth: yeah...that's basically what's happening
@thealissa: Thanks, I'll definitely try to find some of that stuff

I'm getting henry a temp gun, a humidifier, and a new UVB bulb cuz I found out the 10.0 is bad :[

 

[Syn]

That plant that looks like a "pothos"... I don't really think that is a pothos (due to the leaf coloring, patterns, etc).
I can't think of the name of the plant right now, but I believe it may be toxic?

Errgh, could be wrong though. That "pothos" just doesn't look right.

 

[hiihenry]

@syn: hmm yeah, I get what you mean. It did say pothos on the tag, but I took the plant out just in case...and of course I didn't keep my reciept to exchange it :/

Unfortunately, the ants came back, not as bad as before, but we found where they were coming from, taped it up (thanks dad...) and hopefully they'll go away. :]

 

[summoner12]

I like the cage setup it is almost perfect. lots to climb on too. I would maybe add a vine that goes behind a plant just in case he wants to hide he has something to roost on.

a 50w flood is fine as long as you are using a screen enclosure. I use 50w spots from zoomed on my guys. I have them about one inch from the top of the screen and don't have any burn issues. my female veiled spends a lot of time under her lamp at the moment.... warming her eggs lol.

as for him being stressed... hes new.. give him some time. cue off his colors but give hime some time... they are shy when in a new place.. he'll get used to you. don't stand there all day or walk by him with a ton of traffic.... but he will get used to you being around. I spend a lot of time in my cham room because it is where my computer is and where I do my little projects... or im working on cham stuff.... so they see a lot of me and don't mind me at all.