Chameleon staying at bottom of cage?

Rango220

Rango220

New Member
Hey,
My male veiled chameleon is mostly walking round the bottom of his cage and scratching the glass, and always seems to want to come out, this is only just recently starting to happen, could anybody tell me why this is?
Also, he has stopped eating as much, he started off not eating crickets so i brought some mealworms, he ate a couple, then stopped eating them too, so yesterday i brought some locusts he ate 2 of them, but today he doesnt seem to have ate anything. Im not sure if its something to do with the change of weather as its been getting hotter recently?
Could anybody tell me why this is and how i can get him to start eating again?
Thanks :)
 
Oh ok, well we ruled out that it is a female then!! I don't really have an answer as far as going to the bottom. If the temps have increased in your house, which would increase your cage temps, then he could be hotter and trying to escape the heat. The eating part can be tricky as sometimes they just refuse to eat what we give them! They get bored and become picky eaters. You can try feeding every other day and see if that does not spike his appetite. What are your cage temps by the way???
 
Last edited:
Right now it is 84 farenheit, its usually around 88 but i figured i should turn it down a bit as it may be too hot for him.
He has ate a cricket and i think a mealworm since this morning, which is better than last week as over the past 2 weeks he has not ate anything at all, he is being really picky at the moment, but i altered his cage a few days a go and he seems to be being less grumpy now.
 
Is your basking temp at 84-88 or your overall cage temp? I would say that is warm, but if you had those temps all along and he wasn't at the bottom before, then I don't know. They can go quite awhile without eating, so don't get too upset about that just yet. I have both of mine that are refusing crickets right now!!
 
Thats his basking spot temp, it is usually always 88.
And im happy that he's finally ate something but it does worry me when he goes through these phases of not eating!
 
I'd say your cham is getting curious and is just going through a stage. Do you free range your cham? Does he come out of his cage a lot?How old is he? And when did he last shed? My cham refused to eat and would kinda pace around the bottom right side of his cage trying to find a way out. Last week there were multiple threads about this happening to a lot of forum members chams. My cham would ignore food just to leave the cage and showed absolutely no interest. This went on for about a week and a half. It was really frustrating and I was beginning to think he had a URI or something. But then he shed and the day after he was acting back to his normal self and I believe he has transitioned from the "I only want to be in my cage" stage to the "always wants to leave the cage stage." He still only eats about 7-8 large crickets a day and rarely goes to the bottom of the cage and paces any more.
 
He comes out mainly when i clean him out, hes been out a few times to just roam my room, then i got him out the other day for him to just sit on my arm. I arent sure when he last shedded i think it could be between 2 and a half-3 weeks. He is between 9-10 month, ive had him since he was a baby, since demeber so that was 7 months ago. When he comes out of his cage he usually climbs my curtains and stays there until i put him back in. Right now he is just walking around his cage a lot, mainly staying at the bottom still.
 
How big is the cage and what type is it as you mention glass? At 10 months he should be in his adult size cage now.
 
well im no expert but he is getting bigger and not sure how much bigger he is going to get. I have mine in a 24x24x48 cage and that gives him room to turn freely and i think it puts less stress on him. but I also shower with my chams so i might just be crazy... good luck!
 
He most likely needs more space. I would use a Xl reptibreeze screen cage which is 2x2x4. I am in th UK too and there is no problem keeping humidity and hat up in a screen cage like many people think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Nal0114
Leon seems sluggish
Replies
10
Views
215
Beman
Beman
D
Jackson’s Chameleon scratching at glass & climbing on roof
Replies
16
Views
450
JacksJill
JacksJill
lallalaura
Rescued a chameleon
Replies
5
Views
454
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
S
is my chameleon okay? what should i do?
Replies
14
Views
403
kinyonga
K
C
Food ideas for young, shy chameleon
Replies
4
Views
271
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Back
Top Bottom