Does this look normal??

[chrisglenn664]

Hi all, I have a juvenile male chameleon. He's about 5 or 6 months old i think. Recently he's been under his basking area which is at 75f acting strange. His mouth is open and what i think is sort of strange movent and breathing. See attached video does this look normal?

 

[chrisglenn664]

Hi all, I have a juvenile male chameleon. He's about 5 or 6 months old i think. Recently he's been under his basking area which is at 75f acting strange. His mouth is open and what i think is sort of strange movent and breathing. See attached video does this look normal?

 

[chrisglenn664]

Sorry video won't upload but see photo. His breathing seems quite heavy when he's there basking and he's very twitchy. Sometimes when your up close looking he will do what is like a massive yawn.

 

[Beman]

Hey there they will hold their mouth open and gape when it is far too hot for them. You will want to get a temp gauge with a probe to put below the basking on the branch to get a real temp. Should not be any hotter than 80 there. And you want to switch out that light for a white light. A regular 60 watt incandescent bulb will work. The red is bad for their eyes.

If you see prolonged gaping and pointing of the nose up then baby has a respiratory infection which would require antibiotics from a vet.

See this link to learn full husbandry. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
Then ask questions in the forum. Neptune the Chameleon on youtube is another accurate source of husbandry info.

 

[chrisglenn664]

Hi thanks for that. There is a gauge right there at the back which reads around 75 all the time.

With regards to the red light the shop i bought the cham from with everything included told me the red light is OK they can't see it so when I turn the Uvb off they can't see any light and I should just keep the heat lamp on all the time. Is this incorrect?

He literally only does the mouth open and gasping when he's basking. Haven't seen him do it anywhere else. And then he gets shakey when you come up close to him

 

[kinyonga]

You said they “told me the red light is OK they can't see it so when I turn the Uvb off they can't see any light and I should just keep the heat lamp on all the time. Is this incorrect?”…this is not correct. All lights should be off at night. Not only do they not need light at night, a drop in temperature is good for them as long as it doesn’t fall too low. Chameleons can see colour quite well.

Chameleons also have a third “eye” or pineal eye on the top of their head.


Another bit of information…
https://www.chameleons.info/l/never-use-red-light-at-night-for-chameleons/

 

[chrisglenn664]

Oh ok so iv got this all wrong.

Your telling me to turn off the heat lamp and the uvb at night and the heat lamp should be a natural white light?

I live in the uk so the indoor temp at night can get quite cold I'm not sure what but I would say around 50 or 60 Fahrenheit.

When should I turn the heat lamp off?

 

[Beman]

Hi thanks for that. There is a gauge right there at the back which reads around 75 all the time.

With regards to the red light the shop i bought the cham from with everything included told me the red light is OK they can't see it so when I turn the Uvb off they can't see any light and I should just keep the heat lamp on all the time. Is this incorrect?

He literally only does the mouth open and gasping when he's basking. Haven't seen him do it anywhere else. And then he gets shakey when you come up close to him

So the shop is very wrong... Heat lights are only used during the day and never anything but a white bulb. UVB light should be a long bulb being a T5HO fixture and linear uvb bulb. THis too is only used during the day. Shaky when you get close is normal, baby is not sure about you.

The gauge you are using is incorrect. It is going to pick up ambient temps and not accurately either. You want a gauge with a probe... Like this. https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Ther...=temp+gauge+with+probe+zoo+med,aps,135&sr=8-1

 

[Beman]

50 F and up at night is perfectly fine. I would read through the husbandry link I gave you. IF they gave you incorrect info on lighting then I am sure there is much more that will need to be corrected.