Cham Spending Time Low in Cage

[ojr5]

Not sure why but it seems Heisenberg the past five days has been spending a significant amount of time in the bottom half of his cage, where he used to very rarely venture to.

I haven't actually seen him doing anything suspicious down there but it's like he's looking for something. I was worried he was looking for soil for minerals so I did an additional day of multivitamin dusting. Today when I got home I noticed one of the river rocks covering my soil was on the ground.

Feeding has been normal, only difference is in past week I did dubias for the first time. He seemed to be fairly receptive to them and ate about 90 over the past 9 days or so. It has been getting warmer in New York so maybe he's trying to cool off? Thing is he's not in the shade, he's like, searching...

All the cage specs are the standard from the care sheets. Anyone know why chams may do this?

 

[ojr5]

here's a visual...

 

[werecat]

Has it been warmer than usual in his room? My cham does this on really warm days. They will travel lower to get farther from the heat of basking light.

Also, it could be "spring fever". My panther has been patrolling the whole cage more. I assume looking for ladies and making sure no other guys are on his turf. I'd say it's probably normal behavior as long as he does not end up trying to eat the soil.

 

[ir0k]

I second what werecat said. I have a male that is spending a lot of time roaming his cage a lot more then usual lately. He is healthy and has no problems.

I wonder tho, is spring time a time that chameleons usually like to breed? I mean a lot of captive bred owners breed year round. I wonder if in the wild its instinctive to breed around this time which might make them more active.
My guy has been all over his cage. even walking the bottom for a second.

Also it could very well be increased cage temps due to its just getting warmer outside. Anyways, if there is nothing noticeably different other then him going lower in the cage i'd say he is fine.
But do be sure to check poop to make sure color is good. make sure he is eating well and getting dusted crickets. Other then that and making sure your temps are good. I'd say he is fine. Then again, im not a vet. Maybe a senior member with more experience could chime in with better info also.

 

[oblgobl]

My males are also spending more time exploring the lower areas of their enclouser as the weather is getting better. They could be simply trying to cool off with the increase in temperature. In the wild females do become more receptive in warmer weather hence why it's recommended to keep them cooler in captivity to reduce egg production so it could very well be instinc for the male to search for a mate when temps rise.
Did you cup feed the dubias? I rember when I tried them with mine a few weeks back by putting them on the branches and they fell to the bottom and my guys wen't down to the bottom to try and find them perhaps he thinks there are still some left and hes searching for them.

 

[melble68]

He might also be looking for some remaining dubias that worked their way down in the rocks. I know when I had a gnat problem early this winter and I went to repot my schefflera, I found 4 discoids under my rocks. I hadn't fed discoids for probably 5 or 6 weeks, and they were still there and still very alive and healthy. I also agree w/ the temp gradient possibility. I've recently seen my panther all the way bottom of his enclosure wandering around. When he sees me he'll hurry up and get back up like got caught doing something wrong.

 

[ojr5]

Thanks for the responses, folks - I think that all sounds very reasonable and reassuring.

The dubia possibility I also considered. As he has gotten bigger, he has on occasion knocked over the feeder dish (a problem I'm working on...) so perhaps he now looks for food on the bottom as well.

Otherwise, his health/feeding/defecation is all good.

I'll continue to keep an eye. Thanks again.

 

[ChameleonsByVanGogh]

its all good

he is hunting...mine do it too.....either a lady...food......or a fight

 

[PCD]

My 4 1/2 month old was doing this as well. Turns out he was starting a shed and was either getting restless, or trying to peel off the shed by taking some weird, very tight path's through the underbrush