konni
New Member
Hi All,
My daughter and I are new chameleon owners. We recently purchased (2 weeks) a graceful chameleon at a reptile expo. We were told he was a few months old and wild caught. He is about 8" from the tip of his tail to the tip of his nose. Lately he seems to be sleeping a lot when he should be active (last few days). He frequently has one or both eyes shut. At first we weren't sure he was eating but the crickets are disappearing and we only found a few (2 or 3) dead ones when we cleaned out his cage. We have only been giving him about 5-6 a day because we only want there to be as many as he will eat. He gets handled for about 5-10 minutes every day or every other. I am not sure if there is something simple we overlooked, I have been doing some reading on lighting and I am now wondering if that could be causing him to close his eyes? Or is it a sign of something more serious? One of the chameleons he was housed with had both eyes closed. He was in a cage with 3 or 4 other same age and species at the expo. The following is all the other info I can provide:
Cage: screen cage, 16x16x20
Light: 18" strip light bulb reads 15w tropical 25 T8 Zilla, came fixture with bulb, just removed plastic cover in front of bulb yesteday
For Basking: 50w zoo med repti basking spot lamp, we were using 60w daytime heat lamp but it seemed a little too warm so we switched, we also had the light directly on top of his cage but changed our setup so it is a little further away. For awhile we were leaving basking light off trying to get temp down because we read gracefuls like 65-75 degrees
Temp: 78-80 degrees, pretty consistent, day and night, little cooler at the bottom, but he never goes there (not since his first day home)
Humidity: 50-70% depending on when we misted which we do 3 or more times a day because we read his humidity should be around 80-90%, it is higher at the bottom
Substrate: Wood chips with moss
Plants: we have fake vines and one live pothos, we have observed him licking water off the leaves
Water: He also has a waterfall and we use a drip system
Feeding: He ate 3 flies (wild) when we first got him, since then we have tried waxwroms, horned worms which he did not eat, flightless fruit flies maybe he ate and crickets, 5-7 med to large a day, not sure if the crickets are gut loaded, bought at a local petstore
Droppings: he is pooping, not sure what chameleon poop should look like so don't know if it's normal, looks white and a little slimy, but then he is pooping mostly in the water.
Any suggestions or info are appreciated. We did a lot of research prior to getting him, and since, but we were going to get a veiled until the seller convinced us gracefuls were better for handling. I was hoping to avoid a large vet bill if possible but now I am thinking it may be inevitable. Please help...
My daughter and I are new chameleon owners. We recently purchased (2 weeks) a graceful chameleon at a reptile expo. We were told he was a few months old and wild caught. He is about 8" from the tip of his tail to the tip of his nose. Lately he seems to be sleeping a lot when he should be active (last few days). He frequently has one or both eyes shut. At first we weren't sure he was eating but the crickets are disappearing and we only found a few (2 or 3) dead ones when we cleaned out his cage. We have only been giving him about 5-6 a day because we only want there to be as many as he will eat. He gets handled for about 5-10 minutes every day or every other. I am not sure if there is something simple we overlooked, I have been doing some reading on lighting and I am now wondering if that could be causing him to close his eyes? Or is it a sign of something more serious? One of the chameleons he was housed with had both eyes closed. He was in a cage with 3 or 4 other same age and species at the expo. The following is all the other info I can provide:
Cage: screen cage, 16x16x20
Light: 18" strip light bulb reads 15w tropical 25 T8 Zilla, came fixture with bulb, just removed plastic cover in front of bulb yesteday
For Basking: 50w zoo med repti basking spot lamp, we were using 60w daytime heat lamp but it seemed a little too warm so we switched, we also had the light directly on top of his cage but changed our setup so it is a little further away. For awhile we were leaving basking light off trying to get temp down because we read gracefuls like 65-75 degrees
Temp: 78-80 degrees, pretty consistent, day and night, little cooler at the bottom, but he never goes there (not since his first day home)
Humidity: 50-70% depending on when we misted which we do 3 or more times a day because we read his humidity should be around 80-90%, it is higher at the bottom
Substrate: Wood chips with moss
Plants: we have fake vines and one live pothos, we have observed him licking water off the leaves
Water: He also has a waterfall and we use a drip system
Feeding: He ate 3 flies (wild) when we first got him, since then we have tried waxwroms, horned worms which he did not eat, flightless fruit flies maybe he ate and crickets, 5-7 med to large a day, not sure if the crickets are gut loaded, bought at a local petstore
Droppings: he is pooping, not sure what chameleon poop should look like so don't know if it's normal, looks white and a little slimy, but then he is pooping mostly in the water.
Any suggestions or info are appreciated. We did a lot of research prior to getting him, and since, but we were going to get a veiled until the seller convinced us gracefuls were better for handling. I was hoping to avoid a large vet bill if possible but now I am thinking it may be inevitable. Please help...
