Baby Chameleon bedtime?

[SueAndHerZoo]

Hi Fellow Chameleon Lovers.
I'm a brand new chameleon mom (have had many, MANY other exotic pets but this is my first chamie!) and I have a question about his sleep needs. This will only be the fourth night I've had him but the first three he definitely let me know when it was time for him to turn in for the night... he climbed up to the highest shady perch, got vertical and comfy, and closed his eyes. It was almost always about 10:00 p.m. Tonight it's almost midnight and he's still exploring and looking very alert and active. Do I mist and turn off the lights to force him to sleep or do I let him stay up and play?

Geez, I remember having these issues with my human children but never dreamed I'd be asking about bedtime discipline for a reptile!
Sue

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. It’s best to keep your chameleon on a 12 hour lights on/off schedule. Timers make this so much easier to maintain. Most have them set close to natural sunrise/sunset or around 7-8. At night there should be no lights at all so your chameleon can sleep. The dark triggers them that it’s sleep time. Usually they get accustomed to their schedule and will go to their sleep spot and get ready for bed close to lights out time. To answer all of the questions you may have and the ones you don’t even know you have yet, check out httpps://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ There is also species specific care info. This is the most current and correct source of information on chameleons that there is.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

Hi. It’s best to keep your chameleon on a 12 hour lights on/off schedule. Timers make this so much easier to maintain. Most have them set close to natural sunrise/sunset or around 7-8. At night there should be no lights at all so your chameleon can sleep. The dark triggers them that it’s sleep time. Usually they get accustomed to their schedule and will go to their sleep spot and get ready for bed close to lights out time. To answer all of the questions you may have and the ones you don’t even know you have yet, check out httpps://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ There is also species specific care info. This is the most current and correct source of information on chameleons that there is.

Thanks for the info..... as soon as I get his new cage set up and his new lights arrive (Saturday) I will have things set up on a timer. But I'm thinking I will train him to be a night-owl like me so I can enjoy watching him a little later at night and both of us will sleep in in the morning. I've adapted all my dogs and cats to my schedule, why not a chameleon?
Sue

 

[EmilioTheAnkify]

 

[Thatcher]

Thanks for the info..... as soon as I get his new cage set up and his new lights arrive (Saturday) I will have things set up on a timer. But I'm thinking I will train him to be a night-owl like me so I can enjoy watching him a little later at night and both of us will sleep in in the morning. I've adapted all my dogs and cats to my schedule, why not a chameleon?
Sue

I don't see why not though it would be stressful for him to change

 

[MissSkittles]

Thanks for the info..... as soon as I get his new cage set up and his new lights arrive (Saturday) I will have things set up on a timer. But I'm thinking I will train him to be a night-owl like me so I can enjoy watching him a little later at night and both of us will sleep in in the morning. I've adapted all my dogs and cats to my schedule, why not a chameleon?
Sue

Umm…actually this is a topic that I don’t recall ever seeing anything about. I would think that completely trying to make your chameleon become nocturnal it would be major and possibly chronic stress for him. If you want to try a 9-10AM/9-10PM schedule, that may be ok, but I wouldn’t try to keep a chameleon awake past that time. Cats are naturally more nocturnal and I think dogs will follow whatever their pack does. Chameleons are completely different creatures. I’m a night owl too and there’s nothing sweeter than peeking in at your cham and seeing how adorable they look when asleep.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I agree about the peeking and seeing how adorable they are when they sleep (like with dogs and children - so sweet when they're finally quiet and peaceful!)

I don't want to switch him from being diurnal to nocturnal, I just wanted him up a little later in the evening because there is still a lot of light and activity in the household up until about midnight. But if you think he needs to be asleep no later than 10:00 p.m. I could try covering his cage for a few hours before all the rest of us retire for the evening. He SEEMS to sleep right through the lights and noise of the household, or maybe he's just closing his eyes and praying that we'll all shut up soon!
Sue

 

[Beman]

So this actually does not work all that well. Sunrise is sunrise... So unless you have the cham in a totally dark room that no light enters including light from windows this is not going to work and is going to stress it out. They have to be on a 12 hours lights on and 12 hours total darkness. Noise does not matter because they can not hear the way we can. Instead things like vibration impact them. Typically we wrap the outside of the cage (not the top and not the lower few inches because they need airflow) in a black out curtain if a room has a light on when they are supposed to have darkness.

I would start reading everything in this link. Chams have very specific needs. When they are not met they die rather easily. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

 

[Lindasjackson]

I’m like you Sue. I’m an older woman and am a night owl. However I live alone in a small apartment and my Cham is in my living room. When his lights go off at 7 pm I go and get in bed and watch videos on my iPad Till I’m sleepy. His lights are on a timer so when 7 am comes they turn on and I get up and feed him and make sure his basking light is on and the right temp then I go back to bed, lol! I get up around 11 am. It’s so important that they sleep on their schedule and it’s completely dark so they get good sleep. They live longer and do better on their schedule. If they are awakened by lights or vibrations during the night it effects their health over time. Welcome to the forum by the way! We’re glad to have you. What kind of cham did you get?

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I’m like you Sue. I’m an older woman and am a night owl. However I live alone in a small apartment and my Cham is in my living room. When his lights go off at 7 pm I go and get in bed and watch videos on my iPad Till I’m sleepy. His lights are on a timer so when 7 am comes they turn on and I get up and feed him and make sure his basking light is on and the right temp then I go back to bed, lol! I get up around 11 am. It’s so important that they sleep on their schedule and it’s completely dark so they get good sleep. They live longer and do better on their schedule. If they are awakened by lights or vibrations during the night it effects their health over time. Welcome to the forum by the way! We’re glad to have you. What kind of cham did you get?

Hi Linda, thanks for the nice note. Nice to know I'm not the only "older woman" with crazy pet addictions and hobbies! Wow, you are actually IN BED at 7:00 pm?!!?! I start getting my second wind about 8:00 pm and get so much done from 8:00 to 12:00 or 1:00 am! Hell, we don't even eat dinner till 8:00 or 9:00.

So here's a sleep question: if he's in his sleep area and his eyes are closed, is he sleeping or is he TRYING to sleep? Because even with me moving around him so much after his lights are out, whenever I peek at him his eyes are closed and he hasn't moved. Maybe I have a sound sleeper?

I have a baby veiled.... estimated to be about 2 months old, too soon to tell if it's male or female but I am armed with enough knowledge (thanks to you guys) to deal with either gender.
Sue

 

[Lindasjackson]

he may look like he’s sleeping but when lights are on or vibrations happening, it does wake them up even if their eyes are closed. I used to be like you, up half the night doing house work and all types of things but when I got my Cham and did some research and got lots of great advice from people here I realized my guy needed to be asleep by 7 pm, I changed my schedule. Really I just started staying in my bedroom with the light on instead of being in the living room where my guy is. I have a power bed so I can put the head of the bed up and I get in bed and read, watch videos or movies until I’m tired around midnight, then I fall asleep. I never thought I could stand being in bed at 7 pm but I do because I know my guy needs his deep sleep with no disturbances. If you live with other people this may be impossible so maybe you need to move his cage into your bedroom with lights out at 7 pm.

 

[Thatcher]

I’m like you Sue. I’m an older woman and am a night owl. However I live alone in a small apartment and my Cham is in my living room. When his lights go off at 7 pm I go and get in bed and watch videos on my iPad Till I’m sleepy. His lights are on a timer so when 7 am comes they turn on and I get up and feed him and make sure his basking light is on and the right temp then I go back to bed, lol! I get up around 11 am. It’s so important that they sleep on their schedule and it’s completely dark so they get good sleep. They live longer and do better on their schedule. If they are awakened by lights or vibrations during the night it effects their health over time. Welcome to the forum by the way! We’re glad to have you. What kind of cham did you get?

That's exactly my schedule

 

[Veiled Lady]

My veiled's schedule is 7a-7p. My house is chaotic up to about 9p and then I am generally still awake til 12a or 1a working. My enclosure is in my bedroom because of low traffic and I have a sheet that I place over the top half of the enclosure to keep it dark when I am going to work. I take it off when I am done for the night. In the morning when we get up for work (6a), before any lights get turned on in the bedroom, the sheet is placed back on her cage so that she is not disturbed. Misting is on an automatic timer and I place feeders in a feeder cup for her before I leave for work.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

I have Yoshi on a 9 to 9 sleep schedule I’m the summer but when it’s his bedtime it’s completely dark in there so if you were doing later sleeping schedules j would make sure it’s pretty dark in his room

 

[Thatcher]

7:20-7:20 for me

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Please don't mess with these animals' circadian rhythms by forcing them to match your lifestyle. I'm not concerned with an hour either way (like ST/DST), but every hour beyond that increases the stress and likelihood of serious health issues.

Blocking off windows/external light is not enough.

Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (German for "time givers"), which include light, temperature and redox cycles. In clinical settings, an abnormal circadian rhythm in humans is known as a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

Totally blind subterranean mammals (e.g., blind mole rat Spalax sp.) are able to maintain their endogenous clocks in the apparent absence of external stimuli.
....
Free-running organisms that normally have one or two consolidated sleep episodes will still have them when in an environment shielded from external cues, but the rhythm is not entrained to the 24-hour light–dark cycle in nature. The sleep–wake rhythm may, in these circumstances, become out of phase with other circadian or ultradian rhythms such as metabolic, hormonal, CNS electrical, or neurotransmitter rhythms.
Ibid.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026225744.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632990/
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/4/1657

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

Please don't mess with these animals' circadian rhythms by forcing them to match your lifestyle. I'm not concerned with an hour either way (like ST/DST), but every hour beyond that increases the stress and likelihood of serious health issues.

Blocking off windows/external light is not enough.



https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026225744.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632990/
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/4/1657

Wow, thanks for the information - very interesting! I know how well I sleep and whether or not I mix up my sleep patterns affects me, so it makes sense it would affect them, too, maybe even more.
Sue

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Wow, thanks for the information - very interesting! I know how well I sleep and whether or not I mix up my sleep patterns affects me, so it makes sense it would affect them, too, maybe even more.
Sue

You're welcome. When we (voluntarily or otherwise) alter our cycles, we have the capacity to understand what's going on, and hopefully we can do something about it.

Most animals don't have the capacity to understand, do anything about it, or even complain about it.
If we play music or TV too loud, the dog can get up and go back to sleep under my desk (where he's snoozing right now) where it's dark & quiet, but the reptiles don't have that option. This is one reason they live far from the noise-makers.

 

[neomat]

I do not own a Chameleon yet, and I have a major question about light : do they need to be in a dark room when their light are off? I don't know if I'll go for a chameleon, but I'm used to watch Netflix on evenings till 11 pm, and the flexarium could be in the living room, with some lights on. Could it be a problem? Thx

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I do not own a Chameleon yet, and I have a major question about light : do they need to be in a dark room when their light are off? I don't know if I'll go for a chameleon, but I'm used to watch Netflix on evenings till 11 pm, and the flexarium could be in the living room, with some lights on. Could it be a problem? Thx

As dark as possible, and no artificial lights at night. A TV is probably OK, depending on size, and if sound levels are reasonable (chams don't hear like we do—no external ears—but are very good at picking up vibration), and the TV isn't shining directly into the enclosure.

The lights could be a problem. Some folks have made removable (velcro) wrap-around covers out of blackout fabric (check opacity—not all are the same). But be sure to leave the top and a small strip at/near floor/substrate level to allow air movement/ventilation.