High maintenance Bernard?

bimac6

Avid Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 1 year old Ambanja chameleon, been with me since May.
Handling - Every day, as he seems like he wants to explore ALL THE TIME, hence this post
Feeding - Currently discoid roaches every other day, I put 7-10 in there, he doesn't eat them all in one sitting but I consistently put them in. Also hornworms as a treat. I dust the discoids every feeding with no d3, besides 1x month reptivite, and 1x month with d3 calcium powder.
Supplements - see above, all REPCAL brand.
Watering - drench his cage with spray bottle, probably 2-3 minute sessions 3-4X a day. Also, never had a chameleon that hates being sprayed as much as him.
Fecal Description - healthy, big brown, white urate
History - Nope

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze viv, 16x16x30, I know this is a bit small for him, I had my last panther chameleon in one this size, but apparently he was small, because he's much larger and feels the need to zoom around. We're getting him either a large or XL soon.
Lighting - 5.0 reptisun linear, and 60w heat lamp. the heat is around 86-87, and the rest of his cage is around 72 I believe (maybe a little colder at certain times).
Humidity - gets pretty dry in there so I water often, and it stays around 65-70% when I do so.
Plants - Schefflera plant
Placement - In spare room, it is under an AC vent, but we have the vent pointed away, I've put my hand under it while its running and you don't feel the AC going downward. There is a fan in the center of the room, always on.
Location - FL

Current Problem - So, I've had my fair share of chameleons now and he is BY FAR the most hyper, energetic, high maintenance guy yet. He scratches at his cage to come out, when I open the door he FLIES out and tries to climb on anything he can reach. For this reason, I let him roam our small screened in balcony pretty often, but i'm starting to get worried he's stressed for some reason? I don't know if he just needs a bigger cage to roam or what. Also, his new hobby is hanging. He will voluntarily just hang by his back legs/tail and observe everything from a different perspective. He has no trouble with balance, has TOO STRONG of a grip, and he's in good health. He just likes hanging, and when he's done, he picks himself up to zoom off somewhere else. He's very friendly, so we started taking him out to roam every day, whether it's on the balcony (I don't like putting him out on the balcony because he literally will climb the screen up to the roof, and get cobbwebs on him, and I'm just scared he will fall), or we let him roam the spare room, he loves climbing on this plant we have in there, but lately it has grown into he's obsessed with climbing on anything, nothing placates this weirdo. He needs to be moving. Is this just a personality quirk or is there something I can do to calm him down besides gutload his feeders with xanax?

ALSO, does anyone have suggestions for indoor tall tree-like free-range plants that he would enjoy climbing? The one we have in the room is a frawn-y plant, so he struggles to climb around in it but seems to love it. (gets all bright and colorful whenever he's in it)

Thanks for your input on my WEIRD CLEVER CREATURE BERNARD. :)
 
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Just got this photo from my boyfriend. He's currently hanging on the curtain rod, watching the rain.
he was in action of adjusting his foot, he's not holding onto his tail. 90% of me thinks this is just his weird personality, just like he hates water being sprayed and aggressively shakes like I'm spraying poison on him, and how he head bobs when he makes eye contact with me, but the other 10% wants some input to either assure me he's cool, or if I should tweak anything. Thanks guys!


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I'd say he's looking for love in all the wrong places. Judging by his colors he's got a lot of testosterone circulating.
That was another thing I was wondering! If possibly its some weird PUBERTY for him, because he's pretty often fired up, head bobbing, just all around crazy lol.
 
Birds will fixate on their owners sometimes. If he's bobbing at you maybe he's fixated on you. Super unusual.
He's a hormone waiting to happen.
 
Birds will fixate on their owners sometimes. If he's bobbing at you maybe he's fixated on you. Super unusual.
He's a hormone waiting to happen.
He does it at me and especially at camera lenses, it's pretty hilarious actually. It's weird, because he doesn't acknowledge himself in the mirror (yet). My past two panthers were very passive, unless I showed them their reflection, then they'd put their fighting colors on and try to attack the mirror. He's the opposite; he fires up over getting in the plant, making eye contact, and the camera lens, but just ignores himself in the mirror. :rolleyes:
 
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