Chameleon acting strange lately

[Ortizbrian33]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Jackson, M, about 4 to 5 inches. Got him a couple months ago, about 4 or 5. months.
• Handling - I don't really want to risk picking him up.
• Feeding - Usually crickets and mealworms. I feed the crickets tomatoes, carrots, or whatever vegetable I have.
• Supplements - Vitamins and D3 only when needed.
• Watering - I use a dripper, and a automatic humidifier.
• Fecal Description - Usually white/black, sometimes pinkish orangish.
• History - He is shedding a bit, from the looks of it.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Medium Chameleon kit cage.
• Lighting - The lamp that came with the Chameleon kit
• Temperature - Usually 75-60(at nights)
• Humidity - Don't have a meter yet, but I have the automatic humidifier on twice a day.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - In a corner near a window for some natrual sun for it.
• Location -New Jersey

Current Problem - My little guy hasn't been eating lately. Rex is usually active, as he is always climbing on the top of the cage. I am worried about it because I haven't seen him eat a cricket or worm yet. Not sure why. But I see him drinking water, and being active as usual.

 

[Syreptyon]

Couple problems in your husbandry:

(1) You should not ever feed a chameleon mealworms. They are nearly completely devoid of nutritional value and are difficult to digest, leading to impaction and sometimes death in bad cases.

(2) You should also never feed your crickets tomatoes. They are very bad for chameleons and need to be avoided. Using the produce you have available is an economic practice, but you must research every single item you use to see if it's safe. Please see this food/nutrition fact sheet for what you can and cannot gutload feeders with: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

(3) What do you mean by "vitamins and D3 only when needed"?? Chameleons need these all the time... You need to be more specific about your supplement usage, especially because this could cause you big problems in the future or be contributing to the problem you're having right now.

(4) You don't mist at all? A dripper and a humidifier is not nearly enough to meet the requirements of your chameleon species. And what do you mean by having the humidifier on only twice a day? Jackson's have strict humidity requirements. You need to get a hygrometer ASAP. Humidity is not something you can just hope fro the best with, especially with Jackson's.

(5) The lights that come with the chameleon kit are no good. You should be using a LINEAR model of UVB like a reptisun 5.0 and an incandescent light bulb for the basking light. What is your basking temperature? This is very important information left out in your post.

(6) I see there is lucky bamboo in your enclosure. This carries a risk of toxicity in chameleons.

I highly recommend reading the Jackson's Chameleon care sheet available on this forum, as there are a lot of discrepancies in your current husbandry.

 

[Ortizbrian33]

Couple problems in your husbandry:

(1) You should not ever feed a chameleon mealworms. They are nearly completely devoid of nutritional value and are difficult to digest, leading to impaction and sometimes death in bad cases.

(2) You should also never feed your crickets tomatoes. They are very bad for chameleons and need to be avoided. Using the produce you have available is an economic practice, but you must research every single item you use to see if it's safe. Please see this food/nutrition fact sheet for what you can and cannot gutload feeders with: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

(3) What do you mean by "vitamins and D3 only when needed"?? Chameleons need these all the time... You need to be more specific about your supplement usage, especially because this could cause you big problems in the future or be contributing to the problem you're having right now.

(4) You don't mist at all? A dripper and a humidifier is not nearly enough to meet the requirements of your chameleon species. And what do you mean by having the humidifier on only twice a day? Jackson's have strict humidity requirements. You need to get a hygrometer ASAP. Humidity is not something you can just hope fro the best with, especially with Jackson's.

(5) The lights that come with the chameleon kit are no good. You should be using a LINEAR model of UVB like a reptisun 5.0 and an incandescent light bulb for the basking light. What is your basking temperature? This is very important information left out in your post.

(6) I see there is lucky bamboo in your enclosure. This carries a risk of toxicity in chameleons.

I highly recommend reading the Jackson's Chameleon care sheet available on this forum, as there are a lot of discrepancies in your current husbandry.

I don't get it. Other chameleon care takers are telling me crickets and worms are alright for chameleons. I only put the tomato in today, so I took it out now. And are you sure the bamboo is bad? Other chameleon caretakers told me that it is alright to put in.

 

[Graves923]

Mealworms are generally not good for chameleons. No nutritional value and are hard to digest. Superworms are a far better choice compared to mealworms but should not be a staple in their diet. Crickets are a good staple feeder when properly gutloaded. Using leafy greens like kale, escarole, dandelion greens are far more beneficial.

Bamboo can be toxic if the chameleon ingests enough of it which is why most keepers will tell you to keep it out. There are plenty of better plants to use in the enclosure anyways so why put a potentially hazardous plant in there...

Definitely need to read over the Jacksons caresheet here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/
This caresheet was written and approved by members here on the forums so it will have the most accurate information.

Humidity and temperatures are very important with this species since they prefer cooler and more humid environments compared to other common species like veileds and panthers.

There are a lot of potential causes for your chameleon to stop eating. Correcting husbandry issues is the first step to figuring out what could be the cause.

 

[VerucaSalt]

We alternate supers, wax worms, crickets and keep trying Dubai's, but our little jackson guy won't touch em yet....he looks a bit smaller than yours tho and was a sickly Petco adoption I likely should've kept better will power getting.


Are you dusting with calcium with no D3 daily and then alternating calc wd3 and a multivitamin once every other week?

I'm trying Repashy all in one, but nervous about the switch as I don't read a lot yet about ppl using it, particularly with Jackson's.

 

[Ortizbrian33]

UPDATE: I apologize to all. Yeah, i feed them those super worms things. I just call them meal worms for some reason. You can see in one of the pictures that I feed them it by the container. And the vitamin supplements and D3 i use are the generic ones at Petco. I should I have explained better, my apologies.

 

[Ortizbrian33]

Everything turned out fine. It turns out it was because he was shedding, which explains why he didn't want to eat. Thanks for the help all.

 

[JacksJill]

Glad he's over the weirdness. I just want to clarify the supplement schedule for Jackson's.
Here is the info from the care sheet.
"Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. As a montane species (native to higher altitudes) Jackson's have decreased supplementation requirements compared to tropical species due to metabolism differences. Use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) twice a week, a multivitamin once a month, and calcium with D3 once a month."
I can't emphasis how important lightly dusting is. More is not better.

 

[Ortizbrian33]

Glad he's over the weirdness. I just want to clarify the supplement schedule for Jackson's.
Here is the info from the care sheet.
"Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. As a montane species (native to higher altitudes) Jackson's have decreased supplementation requirements compared to tropical species due to metabolism differences. Use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) twice a week, a multivitamin once a month, and calcium with D3 once a month."
I can't emphasis how important lightly dusting is. More is not better.

Gotcha. How do you measure a chameleon?