big cage and problem with adaptation

[Lathelia]

hi,
So we moved our ambi over two weeks ago to the big viv we made for him 7x4x4. He's 5.5 months old.

Our concern is his behaviour since then. For the first few days he spent most of the time hidden in one of the plants, after that he started exploring his new home. Now he spends few hours (2-3) at the top, but later the day he goes below and curls up his tail like he was preparing to go to sleep.
Also most of the time his colors are dull and he lightens up only while eating. And when it comes to eating there is another thing - we made him a feeding cup (as it seems much simpler to feed him this way in a big viv), but he doesnt want to feed from it, but started to eat from our hands (for the first time!).
We've put two 5 UVBs and 75W. Temps are good: basking up to 91, in the middle 77-84. Humidity around 60%.

So my questions to you guys are: is it normal that after almost three weeks his colors are most of the time dull and he stays most of the day in one place? And his eating... sometimes he eats a lot and sometimes he doesn't eat for a few days. Should we be concerned?

Few pics of viv, his light colors and dull:

 

[Dean Pulcini]

I think chameleons turn brite for specific reasons eating, breeding, fighting who knows how much energy it takes to turn colors if any. You might be seeing a relaxed state or his natural coloration because he looks fine to me. He moves away from the light because he's had enough.

 

[Lathelia]

That's good. It's just he hasn't been like that in his previous cage. He walked around more and was brighter more often.

 

[Lolcakes]

our cham is doing the same thing, we moved him a few months ago to a much bigger cage and he hasn't been acting right since. He hasn't pooped in his new cage at all, he'll only poop outside and he only poops once maybe twice a week. we've had him in the new cage about 3 months now. we took him to a vet yesterday, he was dehydrated and skinny, but other than that he was healthy. he's not very interested in crickets anymore so we have some red runners on the way to try and fatten him up, hopefully he will enjoy those. other than that the only other thing i can think of to help my cham out is to get a fogger, maybe another 5.0 uvb above his tank. the vet also recommended 1cc(mL) of mineral oil for him once a week or every other week to help him poop, we'll see how that goes. if anyone has any suggestions or similar experiences i would love your input, other than that i will keep you posted on the slow changes we make and how it affects our cham. good luck with yours i hope he brightens up for you =)

 

[myshed]

our cham is doing the same thing, we moved him a few months ago to a much bigger cage and he hasn't been acting right since. He hasn't pooped in his new cage at all, he'll only poop outside and he only poops once maybe twice a week. we've had him in the new cage about 3 months now. we took him to a vet yesterday, he was dehydrated and skinny, but other than that he was healthy. he's not very interested in crickets anymore so we have some red runners on the way to try and fatten him up, hopefully he will enjoy those. other than that the only other thing i can think of to help my cham out is to get a fogger, maybe another 5.0 uvb above his tank. the vet also recommended 1cc(mL) of mineral oil for him once a week or every other week to help him poop, we'll see how that goes. if anyone has any suggestions or similar experiences i would love your input, other than that i will keep you posted on the slow changes we make and how it affects our cham. good luck with yours i hope he brightens up for you =)

As you said, the vet said he was dehydrated and i've seen chams that show all of these signs when they're stressed over a change of environment. Its usually symptoms of dehydration, but the actual cause seems to be the viv change.

Dave

 

[ibdragons]

Probably needs more time to get use to such a big place all his life he was in this small enclosure and then he is in this huge jungle. Also they recommend foliage to hide and a open space with vines to cruise around . Maybe if u let the light penetrate down to the bottom more because it looks dark down there that's why he probably curls his tail when he gets down there and thinks its getting late in the day. Good luck hopefully this will help..

 

[Lathelia]

Thanks for the replys. The situation still hasn't changed. I don't think the lighting is an issue, he has two 5 UVB and it's not that dark at the bottom as it looks in the photos. He stopped eating from hand and he eats max 2 crickets per day. I also moved the feeding cup to the other side (he spends mor time there), but no results after a while all crickets get out and I don't know if he eats them or not..
What's weird right after we moved him to the big viv he was eating normally or even more than usually, he loved green banana roaches, but now he just turn his head when I offer him one.
I would appreciate any advice, thx

 

[xeonic]

Seeing as he isn't eating much I would be gutloading your feeders well to make sure he is getting as much nutrition as possible. My chameleon only eats 2 or 3 feeders a day. But because I gutload this sustains him. As for using mineral oil I wouldn't as mineral oil isn't water soluble. Once digested will perevnt water and oxygen from reaching tissue cells. Just Massage your chameleons tummy. My chameleon doesn't pooh for weeks at a time. I massage his tummy and the next day he will pooh. I've had great success with this method.

 

[Wykd]

I didnt see t mentioned here but... colors impact their moods/behavior. Bright colors are unsettling to them i am told. Much like they light up colors when they see another cham etc... Just a thought cause the cage looks like it has some bright greens etc on the walls.

Dunno just tossing something in the ring, based on what i had been told about cham's and their environment.

 

[ibdragons]

So the Crix don't escape from the cup remove their hind legs ,that way they can't leave the cup and u can keep count of them

 

[ibdragons]

Easiest easy way to remove their hind legs is with the tweezers grab the Crix from one legs he will break away on his own leaving the leg behind. Then grab the other leg with the tweezers and if he doesn't disconnect that one holding on to the leg push the leg against the side of the cup and slowly turn the tweezers toward the cricket and the leg will disengage. And bamm their u have it a hind legless Crix. Now put him in the cup and he won't escape.

 

[ibdragons]

I should of made this a thread of how to remove the legs from a cricket. I think I will.

 

[Lathelia]

Thanks for the answers. I gutload all the feeders, so can't do much more here.
He doesn't have problems with hunting, so he can easily eat crickets which run loose, he just doesn't want to. And pooping isn't a problem, he poops regulary..

 

[xeonic]

I was responding to lolcakes, sorry.
Remove one of the 5.0 UVB lights. It's too much UVB. I used to use a 10.0 in my panthers cage. I found it made his colors dull. The next morning when he woke up his colors would be nice till the 10.0 UVB lights came on. I switched to 5.0 and this made a huge difference in his color. This is also why he is going to the bottom of your tank to escape the light and heat at the top. Also your Panther is still young, He is going to go through some color changes for the next couple months. I also think your ambient temperatures are too high, if you can try to lower them a bit. If he wants to warm up he will go to his basking spot. They need to be able to thermoregulate, and he can't do that if the ambient temperatures are 84F.

He does look good healthy though so I wouldn't worrie too much

 

[Lathelia]

Thanks I'll try to do that, I hope thats the issue. I've put two 5 UVBs because I thought with big viv rays won't go that far, so it was better to have at least more of them at the top.

 

[xeonic]

I thought the same with my first cage setup. I find if the chameleon wants light he will hang out up top in the UVB light. And that's what he does. He never goes to the bottom. Please update with results.

 

[Lathelia]

I 've covered one of the bulbs with double mesh, I'm going to watch how he reacts to that.

 

[xeonic]

You should just remove one of the 5.0 and put a 6500k tube in. They work well for growing live plants.