Going to take Eustis to the vet on saturday

Lindasjackson said:
i hope it’s nothing but I do think it’s something because he sits in the same place in his cage all day except when he’s basking. Only once in the last month did I find him half way down his tree trunk But that isn’t something he does normally so I don’t know why he was down there!
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I´m experiencing the same thing with my xanth. Since wintertime started. He only moves from his sleeping spot, to his basking spot (UVB and 2 hours heat) and back to his sleeping spot. He barely moves all day, but he´s constantly alert, drinks and eats (less appetite then during summer). Only routine change is during his defecate moment, then he moves towards his lower drop zone branch.

Really delighted to read that Eustis is doing okay and nothing severe came from his vet visit.
 
Sonny13 said:
I´m experiencing the same thing with my xanth. Since wintertime started. He only moves from his sleeping spot, to his basking spot (UVB and 2 hours heat) and back to his sleeping spot. He barely moves all day, but he´s constantly alert, drinks and eats (less appetite then during summer). Only routine change is during his defecate moment, then he moves towards his lower drop zone branch.

Really delighted to read that Eustis is doing okay and nothing severe came from his vet visit.
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Yes, that is exactly what Eustis is doing! He did have a couple other worrying signs as well though. So it must be what they naturally do when days get shorter and temps cool down even though they are inside. I did bump my heater in my house up to 70 degrees during the day to help him out some on the vets advice and he seems perkier. Normally in winter I keep the heat at 68 in my house during the day and 65-66 at night. I guess that 68 during the day is too cold. I also increased the amount of time the heat lamp is on from 5 hours to 8 hours. That seems excessive according to what I’ve read on chameleon academy and on your guys posts but he seems to like it. The temp probe reads anywhere from 80-86 degrees which also seems way to hot but he basked all 8 hours it was on yesterday.😟
 
MissSkittles said:
Pardon if I’m clueless about Jackson’s, but is it possible that they may be going thru a sort of partial or mini brumation as the weather gets colder?
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you know the vet opened our conversation over the phone with thoughts on this and I told him that as far as I know Jackson’s don’t brumate because they come from a warm climate but he said it’s possible that when taking them to live in a cold climate like mine, since I live in Maine, that even though they are inside the darker days and slightly cooler temps may cause them to act like they are going into a brumation. When I think about this though it worries me because this is not normal conditions for them so what is being negatively effected in their bodies that maybe could cause permanent damage? That’s why I decided to turn my heat up in my house to 70.
 
Just thought id share a pic of Eustis today. He’s growing so well! He weighed 77 grams at the vet on Saturday and when I was looking at him today I realized that he’s probably a little more than double the size of the Jackson’s I had over 25 years ago. They never grew well or did well at all unfortunately. Not enough info on care for them back then.
 

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I also just down graded his basking bulb from a 75 watt to a 60 watt so temps there dont get so high. I think 86-88 is absolutely too high! I want it around 82.
 
Lindasjackson said:
Just thought id share a pic of Eustis today. He’s growing so well! He weighed 77 grams at the vet on Saturday and when I was looking at him today I realized that he’s probably a little more than double the size of the Jackson’s I had over 25 years ago. They never grew well or did well at all unfortunately. Not enough info on care for them back then.
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Wow, he’s looking beautiful and healthy and really not as 77 grams. Sonny weighs 168 grams 😱, but doesn’t look that much bigger or thicker.
 
Lindasjackson said:
you know the vet opened our conversation over the phone with thoughts on this and I told him that as far as I know Jackson’s don’t brumate because they come from a warm climate but he said it’s possible that when taking them to live in a cold climate like mine, since I live in Maine, that even though they are inside the darker days and slightly cooler temps may cause them to act like they are going into a brumation. When I think about this though it worries me because this is not normal conditions for them so what is being negatively effected in their bodies that maybe could cause permanent damage? That’s why I decided to turn my heat up in my house to 70.
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Still it could be possible. Yes, it’s a warmer climate but yet they’re montane and we now how mountains are. I don’t directly think they brumate, but the lower temps slow them down in their metabolisme. This is now the second time I witness this behavior with Sonny and during spring and especially summer he comes back to his hyperactive behavior. Still it’s fascinating what the surrounding temps do with them (not the basking temps).
 
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Lindasjackson said:
Yes, that is exactly what Eustis is doing! He did have a couple other worrying signs as well though. So it must be what they naturally do when days get shorter and temps cool down even though they are inside. I did bump my heater in my house up to 70 degrees during the day to help him out some on the vets advice and he seems perkier. Normally in winter I keep the heat at 68 in my house during the day and 65-66 at night. I guess that 68 during the day is too cold. I also increased the amount of time the heat lamp is on from 5 hours to 8 hours. That seems excessive according to what I’ve read on chameleon academy and on your guys posts but he seems to like it. The temp probe reads anywhere from 80-86 degrees which also seems way to hot but he basked all 8 hours it was on yesterday.😟
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Our house is around 66-67 24/7 and the cham room can go up to 68 during winter. During summer it’s 71-72. During the night it’s always between 60-65, because I open the door for 30 till 60 minutes to cool down the room. Basking light I haven’t changed, because I’ve tested it and he gets overheated when left on all day. So it needs to related to room temps and I find barometric pressure (thoughts from your vet) even more reasonable. Because all 4 my chams (all different species) changed behavior after the seasonal change.
 
MissSkittles said:
@DeremensisBlue What do you know or think about Jackson’s going thru a brumation-type state?
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Jackson's don't have a natural brumation because they don't have a sustained cold or dry season. In Kenya they have two wet and two dry seasons which don't have a whole lot of temperature variation between the two. That said, they are reptiles and they will respond to lower temperatures by being more lethargic. And so it is no surprise that you are seeing a slow down. The difference between the two that I see in my collection is that if we have a warm day through the winter, my Jackson's will happily eat. My parson's, which does a brumation, doesn't care about a nice warm day. He won't eat until he is ready to be done with the slow season.

The bottom line is that we are switching things up on our poor jackson's. To them, the seasons are supposed to be wet or dry. We add on hot or cold and long days and short days. So they may get confused with the environmental triggers provided to them. And their response may not have a parallel in the wild with their natural seasons. So, even if it is not an official natural brumation, the behaviors can still end up being similar.

This opens up an interesting question, what do chameleon bodies and instinct do when their seasons are all messed up and their sun is split up into three parts? This is why we have to be careful observing and basing husbandry changes on their behaviors. It may be something done out of confusion!
 
DeremensisBlue said:
Jackson's don't have a natural brumation because they don't have a sustained cold or dry season. In Kenya they have two wet and two dry seasons which don't have a whole lot of temperature variation between the two. That said, they are reptiles and they will respond to lower temperatures by being more lethargic. And so it is no surprise that you are seeing a slow down. The difference between the two that I see in my collection is that if we have a warm day through the winter, my Jackson's will happily eat. My parson's, which does a brumation, doesn't care about a nice warm day. He won't eat until he is ready to be done with the slow season.

The bottom line is that we are switching things up on our poor jackson's. To them, the seasons are supposed to be wet or dry. We add on hot or cold and long days and short days. So they may get confused with the environmental triggers provided to them. And their response may not have a parallel in the wild with their natural seasons. So, even if it is not an official natural brumation, the behaviors can still end up being similar.

This opens up an interesting question, what do chameleon bodies and instinct do when their seasons are all messed up and their sun is split up into three parts? This is why we have to be careful observing and basing husbandry changes on their behaviors. It may be something done out of confusion!
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Thank you! That all makes perfect sense. :)
 
I have similar situation, I live in Toronto Canada since winter time my chameleon has become less active, other than this, he doesn't have any symptoms of breathing difficulties, he eats well and his poop looks normal.
 
DeremensisBlue said:
Jackson's don't have a natural brumation because they don't have a sustained cold or dry season. In Kenya they have two wet and two dry seasons which don't have a whole lot of temperature variation between the two. That said, they are reptiles and they will respond to lower temperatures by being more lethargic. And so it is no surprise that you are seeing a slow down. The difference between the two that I see in my collection is that if we have a warm day through the winter, my Jackson's will happily eat. My parson's, which does a brumation, doesn't care about a nice warm day. He won't eat until he is ready to be done with the slow season.

The bottom line is that we are switching things up on our poor jackson's. To them, the seasons are supposed to be wet or dry. We add on hot or cold and long days and short days. So they may get confused with the environmental triggers provided to them. And their response may not have a parallel in the wild with their natural seasons. So, even if it is not an official natural brumation, the behaviors can still end up being similar.

This opens up an interesting question, what do chameleon bodies and instinct do when their seasons are all messed up and their sun is split up into three parts? This is why we have to be careful observing and basing husbandry changes on their behaviors. It may be something done out of confusion!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for responding! I agree with you but I’m still not sure wha t I should do to keep Eustis on an even keel so to speak. Is increasing the heat in my house from 68 to 70 ok and giving him a longer basking time or should I keep basking time from 7 am til 11am? I just want to do what’s best for him. I can’t do anything about the shorter daylight outside but it does seem to effect him.
 
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