HELP What Is Wrong with Lenny???

[laurie]

I need some ideas on what I am doing wrong. Lenny free ranges in a 12 x 16 foot room. The room is set up for him it use an 8ft square. All his, lights, mistking, plants, dripper are in that area. For the last 4 days I have found him in the farthest corner of the room away from everything. He feels cold when I move him back to his area. he is eating, but not like normal. Usually he would almost run down from the top or where ever to me, as he hand feeds. There is no way he gets any water where he is going. I have been doing a lot of hand misting, but he won't always drink. Nothing in the room has changed in the last 2 weeks and he just started this behavior 4 days ago. I am at a total loss. The normal area has a correct temp range, a million places for him to hide, proper heat & uvb, it even has his 3 windows he likes to look out. Why would he suddenly give it all up to sit in the corner?? I am open to any ideas.

 

[drcrossfire]

How old is lenny? Is it possible a bad bug got into his enclosure and he ate it? One of my guys ate an odd bug and acted strange for a few days~

 

[Olimpia]

When I free ranged it wasn't unusual for Cerberus to wander off for a day or two and then find his way back. He would go exploring the house and end up in a closet or something and then wander back unless I found him first. He would come out form his FR every day at the same time and sit by the TV while I had lunch, for months and months. But he thought of the FR room AND the livingroom all his territory.

BUT, the guys who never left the FR really never left the FR. So if Lenny is one of those that never leaves his FR, I don't know what would posses him to start now. Do you think he's looking for females or something? This is the WC guy, right? Maybe he's realizing that one isn't going to just wander into his territory any time soon. I don't know, it's an odd thing for him to start doing!

 

[laurie]

How old is lenny? Is it possible a bad bug got into his enclosure and he ate it? One of my guys ate an odd bug and acted strange for a few days~

How old is Lenny? I have no idea. He came to me as a wild caught Adult. I have had him for about 18 months I do worry that me might be getting older, but I refuse to consider that yet. A s for weird bugs, the only thing I have seen is a moth flew into the room, that's it. he doesn't see anything unusual in his bedroom. The moth was white about 1" i think. He grabbed it pretty fast. I had forgotten about that until you ask. Thanks

When I free ranged it wasn't unusual for Cerberus to wander off for a day or two and then find his way back. He would go exploring the house and end up in a closet or something and then wander back unless I found him first. He would come out form his FR every day at the same time and sit by the TV while I had lunch, for months and months. But he thought of the FR room AND the livingroom all his territory.

BUT, the guys who never left the FR really never left the FR. So if Lenny is one of those that never leaves his FR, I don't know what would posses him to start now. Do you think he's looking for females or something? This is the WC guy, right? Maybe he's realizing that one isn't going to just wander into his territory any time soon. I don't know, it's an odd thing for him to start doing!

My brat has always wandered, laundry room, my bedroom, any place he can get to. I am much more careful that his door is always closed. He does wander his room but not like this. He always comes bacl to the light and water. He might be looking for a female, but all he will see is williamsi geckos. He would eat them not mate. I am starting to think about the moth. I wander if one moth could do him long term damage? It is a 5 hour trip each way to a decent vet, do you think I need to call Monday morning? I love this guy to bits, I just can't have anything happen to him.
All the people I try to help and you two are the only ones to help me, Thanks much!!

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

Like above said maybe he caught a bug, though maybe he's having a mid life crisis I hope he feels better, you could research into white moths and see if you find a species, I have really thick bug book so I usually look into that.

 

[pssh]

Does anything actually seem wrong with him or is he just wandering? How long does he leave for before you bring him back? Have you tried seeing if he will go back on his own?

If he seems fine otherwise, I'm thinking he may just be wandering. It is spring time. My guys get a bit more active in the spring after winter.

 

[drcrossfire]

You might just want to try super hydration-- get him into the shower a few times-- flush out his system? Hopefully it's just an upset tummy and he'll be back to normal soon. Keep us updated!

side thought:
Have you tried showing him a mirror to see if he's still flaring up? Also, when my guys are looking for a lady, they tend to get restless-- climbing into the most awkward locations and looping around the cage in laps.

 

[UrbanChameleon]

I'm so sorry you are worrying yourself to death. I know how it is. The worst part is not knowing what's wrong, or how to fix it. Hopefully it's one of those things where in a week he will be back to his old self. What can he see when he sits in the corner? Can he see out of a certain window? It could be that the moth made him sick. I know this sounds crazy, but I've noticed my Chams remember things. Especially my Veiled. If something freaked him out, or he had a bad experience, he refuses to let it happen again. He will fight and avoid the place/situation at all costs. Could something have happened to him in his FR and now he's avoiding? Again, I know that sounds crazy, but I thought I would throw it out there. Have you considered moving his FR to that corner? Maybe that's him trying to tell you he likes it better over there. If you really think he isn't getting water or heat, that could be an option. Even if it has to do with the moth, you could at least move a plant or two and his lights to the new spot. You can hand mist him and see how it goes. If he moves away from the corner after that, I would say to get him to the vet.

I went through something similar recently. When a Cham is sick they tend to not want at least one of the necessities (water, heat, food, etc.). Downswing on the situation that is. When Loki was sick, he drank like crazy, basked, but wouldn't eat a thing. It reminds me of vein sick as a kid. The things you need make you feel worse. Hopefully he will come around.

I'm sorry you're going through this right now Laurie. Please keep us updated on the situation. If anything changes (better or worse) or if you notice something odd, please post it. Hopefully we can figure out why he is acting out of the ordinary. Post pics of the corner he's in, with a good view of the room. Just so we can get an idea. Let's get this little guy feeling better.

 

[Hoj]

Well we have talked about this and you do tend to worry. But if he is eating and pooping I would take that as a good sign and would def, give the shower a try.
And look closley at any changes made to the room

 

[laurie]

I gave lenny's little green butt a shower. Put him in a large butterfly cage with a plant. Usually he likes it. Today he hated it. I think with all the extra misting I have been doing since he wanders off, that the humidity may be too high. I checked and in the past 24 hours it has not been below 76%. maybe he was trying to get away from the misters. I will let the humidity drop a good 30% for a while as see if he is happy. Rotten little cham!!
I tried to take pics of him in the shower but somehow I had it on video.

 

[Solid Snake]

I highly doubt he has eaten a "bad bug".

I say letting him dry out a good bit would not hurt at this point.

Do you have any temp readings off him, when he is in his distant corner? Just how cold is he getting there?

 

[laurie]

At one point he was down to 74. that is pretty cold.

 

[DekuScrub]

3 windows. im guessing his free range is set up by the windows? could he be seeing a lot of activity outside now that its warming up? maybe birds? could he feel exposed or nervous? could you try shutting the blinds or something simple like that?

any time ive had chams wander to weird parts of their enclosure its usually becuase they want to get to something or get away from something. could he just be seeing branches or trees outside he wants to get to but cant? in effect causing stress?

 

[justjumpit621]

My chameleonwill wander all around the house and for a while his favorite sppot was in my COLD kitchen under my microwave cart. He would just chill there until I found him. He also likes to go visit my ball python and will climb on my boyfriends TV cords. Even found him in a kitchen cabinet once! Not sure what would possess him to do those things but he does and he's fine. Not sure what to really tell you other than that though.

 

[JonRich]

My Cham was doing the exact same thing and I know exactly why!

About 2 weeks ago I got a female Panther ( first I have ever had) . My 6.5 month old Ambanja's enclosure is next to where she is kept . I put a divider up . But I didn't realize his cage sits a little higher than hers and he can view down on her cage if he stands on his tippy toes! Well he has been looking at her and liking what he sees!

He has been restless ever since and will not stay in his cage and activally paws at the door to get out. I though it was his cage size , so I recently moved him to a muchhh larger cage and he does the same!! I am 99.999% convinced he is activally seeking her (or any other female out). He has since changed color and has stayed this way since.

Note: the female is receptive!

Yesterday on a hunch I moved the female to another rOom across the house. Coincendientlly he has since stopped and changed his color back and is back to basking/eating/drinking and his usual behavior.

So my question to you is . Do you have a receptive female near him or in the direction he's heading?

 

[JonRich]

This brings me to my own question ( sorry if it derails your thread Laurie).

But do Chams use smell? Is there pharamones at play when a female is receptive ?

 

[Kibu]

I've read chameleons let off pheromones, and I am pretty sure they play a pretty big part in finding each other in the middle of the rainforest for mating. My male paces around the screen over and over when the female is near, and When he sees the female he fires up and starts bobbing.

 

[laurie]

Jon I don't think that is it. There isn't even another chameleon on the same floor of the house, Lenny is my upstairs man.

My Cham was doing the exact same thing and I know exactly why!

About 2 weeks ago I got a female Panther ( first I have ever had) . My 6.5 month old Ambanja's enclosure is next to where she is kept . I put a divider up . But I didn't realize his cage sits a little higher than hers and he can view down on her cage if he stands on his tippy toes! Well he has been looking at her and liking what he sees!

He has been restless ever since and will not stay in his cage and activally paws at the door to get out. I though it was his cage size , so I recently moved him to a muchhh larger cage and he does the same!! I am 99.999% convinced he is activally seeking her (or any other female out). He has since changed color and has stayed this way since.

Note: the female is receptive!

Yesterday on a hunch I moved the female to another rOom across the house. Coincendientlly he has since stopped and changed his color back and is back to basking/eating/drinking and his usual behavior.

So my question to you is . Do you have a receptive female near him or in the direction he's heading?

 

[DekuScrub]

kind of reaffirms what i said though "any time ive had chams wander to weird parts of their enclosure its usually becuase they want to get to something or get away from something." ive had chams do the same thing as jon though for the same reason.

 

[Kibu]

Pheromones are chemicals released by the animal's body. Laurie, if you have any other chams within a semi-close range that might be it. Any other females?