Chameleon grey/dull in color?

[Reesemski]

Hi everybody! This is my first time owning a Cham, and I’m curious if these colors are something to worry about. My boy here is a little over a year old, and used to be VERY vibrant. For the past couple months he’s been this very dull greyish color, and I’m worried. I can’t seem to find anything online with any help. He is housed in a Reptibreeze XL with plastic window sealing on three sides, and I’ll picture that (it’s really dry here). His basking spot stays about 80-85 on the cooler side and a little higher (about 87-90 ish) on the hotter end. Humidity is usually about 45-50% during the day and higher at night. He has 5.0 linear UVB, his misters go off in the morning and at night for 3 minutes, and I usually have his dripper going. He eats dubia roaches gut loaded with repashy superload and bug burger, and occasionally superworms/bsfl/hornworms. He’s fed every other day or every 3rd day. Calcium without d3 on every feeding, and then vitamins with d3 twice a month. I have him on filtered water now instead of tap w/reptisafe. He’s still very active, eats like normal, he’s eyes seem to be functioning good, he drinks water, no signs of RI. Overall acts like a healthy chameleon but his colors worry me and I don’t know what I could be doing wrong, or if I need to take him to the vet. Here is a picture of his setup and some pictures of him before/after. I only used the fogger at the beginning of having him, but do not anymore because I read that they can trap a lot of bacteria. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome!! Boy he sure is beautiful! I love his yellows and reds!

Just reading what you have shared so far I am guessing your beautiful guy is too hot. His basking temp should be 80-85 degrees with 85 degrees being the max. The rest of his enclosure you want a gradient of 78 degrees to 72 degrees. Instead of a 'hot side' and a 'cold side' from left to right you want a warmer top with a cooler bottom.

 

[Reesemski]

Hello and welcome!! Boy he sure is beautiful! I love his yellows and reds!

Just reading what you have shared so far I am guessing your beautiful guy is too hot. His basking temp should be 80-85 degrees with 85 degrees being the max. The rest of his enclosure you want a gradient of 78 degrees to 72 degrees. Instead of a 'hot side' and a 'cold side' from left to right you want a warmer top with a cooler bottom.

Hi!! So the middle to bottom of his enclosure does stay about 72-78. That may have been confusing. I meant his basking branch has the temperature gradient of 90 at the hottest and 80 at the coolest. I will work on bringing that 90 down though!!

 

[elizaann2]

I love how much coverage you have for your guy, the only thing I would change is removing all of the plastic plants and replacing them with real plants. Panthers aren't known to eat the foliage in their enclosure, however if he were to accidentally eat a plastic leaf by accident, say a bug was on it, it could cause impaction which is fatal.

I would also take the fog machine off of your enclosure. I have mine set up next to my enclosures on some kind of side table or something. Those screen's arent made to handle any weight and so the less you have up there the better. Obviously keep the lights and dripper on there but the fog machine itself is a decent weight for that screen.

What are your humidity levels at night?

 

[elizaann2]

Hi!! So the middle to bottom of his enclosure does stay about 72-78. That may have been confusing. I meant his basking branch has the temperature gradient of 90 at the hottest and 80 at the coolest. I will work on bringing that 90 down though!!

Ya 90 is a little hot for him. How long is your heat lamp on for during the day?

 

[elizaann2]

Forgot to attach my fog machine example: (ignore the ugly construction mess in the background)

 

[Reesemski]

Ya 90 is a little hot for him. How long is your heat lamp on for during the day?

He’s on a 12 hrs on 12 hrs off schedule! 9 am-9pm!

 

[Reesemski]

I love how much coverage you have for your guy, the only thing I would change is removing all of the plastic plants and replacing them with real plants. Panthers aren't known to eat the foliage in their enclosure, however if he were to accidentally eat a plastic leaf by accident, say a bug was on it, it could cause impaction which is fatal.

I would also take the fog machine off of your enclosure. I have mine set up next to my enclosures on some kind of side table or something. Those screen's arent made to handle any weight and so the less you have up there the better. Obviously keep the lights and dripper on there but the fog machine itself is a decent weight for that screen.

What are your humidity levels at night?

Okay noted about the fake leaves. Will replace them! Also, I don’t use my fog machine often anymore, because I was reading that they can harbor bad bacteria and it freaked me out. His nighttime humidity is about 70. His lights go off and the misters go on about 20 minutes later. Do you suggest I start using it again? Just saw your picture of the side table!!

 

[elizaann2]

He’s on a 12 hrs on 12 hrs off schedule! 9 am-9pm!

Ok I would consider only having the heat lamp on for a few hours during the day. Its super hot where I live so my heat lamp is only on for an hour and a half for my panther.

 

[elizaann2]

Okay noted about the fake leaves. Will replace them! Also, I don’t use my fog machine often anymore, because I was reading that they can harbor bad bacteria and it freaked me out. His nighttime humidity is about 70. His lights go off and the misters go on about 20 minutes later. Do you suggest I start using it again? Just saw your picture of the side table!!

It depends on your conditions. Everything we have are 'tools' and we may need to use things more or maybe not at all depending on our conditions. For example: Where I live its really really dry so I have to fog at night in order to maintain the conditions needed for my chameleons. People that live in Florida where its humid don't really need to fog.

Another thing to note is I also use fogging as my main source of hydration for my chameleons, so for me reaching 80-100% humidity at night is important. I do also mist and use a dripper but I find that fogging at night hydrates my chams so I never see them drinking. The misting and dripper is just a 'safety net' to allow them drinking opportunities just in case.

What do your chams urates and poos look like?

 

[Reesemski]

It depends on your conditions. Everything we have are 'tools' and we may need to use things more or maybe not at all depending on our conditions. For example: Where I live its really really dry so I have to fog at night in order to maintain the conditions needed for my chameleons. People that live in Florida where its humid don't really need to fog.

Another thing to note is I also use fogging as my main source of hydration for my chameleons, so for me reaching 80-100% humidity at night is important. I do also mist and use a dripper but I find that fogging at night hydrates my chams so I never see them drinking. The misting and dripper is just a 'safety net' to allow them drinking opportunities just in case.

What do your chams urates and poos look like?

I may start using the fogger again at night then. I frequently catch my boy drinking from his dripper! I’m in Oklahoma, so the summers here easily get over the 100’s. Still over a hundred now! & you never know if the humidity is going to be super high or super low, but for the most part it stays pretty dry here.

He’s pooing now that he’s gotten older about once a week, sometimes a little over a week, but it’s usually pretty consistent. His poos are always pretty big, but they’re not watery or too dry & they’re brownish in color. His urates are always almost completely white and decent size as well.

 

[elizaann2]

Just make sure you do not fog at night unless your temps in the enclosure get to 68 degrees or lower, anything higher and you run the risk of your cham getting an upper respiratory infection.

Depending on how hot it is would probably depend on how long you have your basking light on. Today was a hot day in my house so I actually spent the day doing things to cool down my chameleon enclosures.

Thats good it sounds like he is hydrated then.

 

[udi]

Hi @Reesemski, I just got a new panther chameleon and it is also showing the same dull colors you mentioned. Did you figure out what was happening with yours?

 

[Luca]

Hi everybody! This is my first time owning a Cham, and I’m curious if these colors are something to worry about. My boy here is a little over a year old, and used to be VERY vibrant. For the past couple months he’s been this very dull greyish color, and I’m worried. I can’t seem to find anything online with any help. He is housed in a Reptibreeze XL with plastic window sealing on three sides, and I’ll picture that (it’s really dry here). His basking spot stays about 80-85 on the cooler side and a little higher (about 87-90 ish) on the hotter end. Humidity is usually about 45-50% during the day and higher at night. He has 5.0 linear UVB, his misters go off in the morning and at night for 3 minutes, and I usually have his dripper going. He eats dubia roaches gut loaded with repashy superload and bug burger, and occasionally superworms/bsfl/hornworms. He’s fed every other day or every 3rd day. Calcium without d3 on every feeding, and then vitamins with d3 twice a month. I have him on filtered water now instead of tap w/reptisafe. He’s still very active, eats like normal, he’s eyes seem to be functioning good, he drinks water, no signs of RI. Overall acts like a healthy chameleon but his colors worry me and I don’t know what I could be doing wrong, or if I need to take him to the vet. Here is a picture of his setup and some pictures of him before/after. I only used the fogger at the beginning of having him, but do not anymore because I read that they can trap a lot of bacteria. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Just to start off, I am relatively new to the hobby, but I have read that humidity should be higher, I do around 70%

 

[Beman]

Just to start off, I am relatively new to the hobby, but I have read that humidity should be higher, I do around 70%

With Panthers daytime humidity is best kept 40-50% with air flow. Veileds can run 30-50% daytime.

 

[Luca]

With Panthers daytime humidity is best kept 40-50% with air flow. Veileds can run 30-50% daytime.

I checked soon after a misting, sorry for the misinformation

 

[Beman]

I checked soon after a misting, sorry for the misinformation

No problem this is a place for learning and helping each other

 

[Ben28tx]

No problem this is a place for learning and helping each other

So true