Chameleon changing personality

[HueTheChameleon]

Hello,

I've had a veiled chameleon for 3 months and he was probably 1-2 months when we got him. At first, when he was young, I feared that he would get cold at night. To remedy this, I put a red light in the corner that I'd keep on for 24 hrs a day. Now that he's older and I read that light can bother them as they sleep, I put the red light on the timed light switch. He's much groggier in the morning and has chosen to eat his crickets at around 5 PM whereas he used to eat them when I first put them in his cage.

Do you think this change is due to personality or changing the light bulb settings? Also, is there anything I should worry about with making this switch?

He's about 10 inches long including his tail and about 6 inches long not including his tail. I think he's growing at a great rate. He doubled in sized within the first month, I think he was underfed before.

I appreciate any insight into this.

-Hue the chameleon

 

[HueTheChameleon]

He was also friendlier when I had the red light. He was a bit more active. Now he spends a lot of time hiding in the middle of the terrarium behind leaves. He is also eating more vegetables than before. He mainly eats romaine lettuce, cilantro, spinach, and his jade cactus that we have in there.

 

[alphakenc]

I will suggest you never let him sleep under the "red light district " mmm... he might get too excited not falling asleep...try the ceramic heat bulb,if your room temperature falling too low....yup...yup

 

[MSMorgan]

Hi Hue!

Interesting question that maybe a little of both the light change and him getting older. I'd give it a few more weeks to see how he adjusts to the change and go from there. Theoretically, if you put your feeder items in the enclosure, first thing in the morning, he should snatch them up and then bask to digest. You might hold off for a day with feeding and then try again in the am to possibly "reset" his clock. As far as veggies, from what I understand, romaine, spinach and the cactus(?), may not be the best to offer. Here's a list of possible veggies/fruit that you might try with him.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/veggies.46838/#post-438416

I'm curious to see what others recommend to you. Please let me know how it goes.

M.

 

[wodesorel]

What are his temps throughout the day? Is it taking too long for the enclosure to warm up enough to where he wants to eat?

 

[Teal Beauty]

Could it be that he got bored? Just joking. A temporary character change at this age is to be expected. Hang in there, this too shall pass!

 

[HueTheChameleon]

What are his temps throughout the day? Is it taking too long for the enclosure to warm up enough to where he wants to eat?

Near the top when the lights are on it's about 95 degrees right under the three lights. I have two uv bulbs and 1 red one.
Near the bottom of the cage it's about the same as the rest of the house and about 72 during the day. At night it probably drops to no lower than 68 in the rest of the house since we like to sleep under our heavy comforters and we have a nest learning thermostat. Some days we have it extra hot in the house, around 78-80 if for some reason we are all feeling cold or something. I think these are within the normal temperature ranges for a veiled chameleon. Before I turned off the red light it would be around 90 at the top of the terrarium in the corner where the red light is.

The vegetables he eats are meant more for the crickets in the enclosure than anything else. They also get pumpkins, celery, apples, whatever is laying about in the fridge. Hue used to not be too interested in the fruits and vegetable in the bottom of the terrarium until recently.

 

[HueTheChameleon]

I checked and sometimes it can get to low 60's at like 1-3 am according to Nest. Is this too cold?

 

[HueTheChameleon]

There's also another thing that's odd. After he shed last week, he scratched everything of except a few pieces of skin on his right side. He doesn't seem interested in getting it off either. Is this normal?

 

[HueTheChameleon]

Although he still will come out and play for a treat

 

[reptileguy112]

You need way way more branches and foliage like in this image

 

[reptileguy112]

by the way thats not my pic just and example, it will be much easier to hold humidity with more foliage. What is your supplementing schedule and do you have a UVB light? Just wondering I ask a lot of new people because they can be uneducated/misinformed.