Homemade enclosure, any opinion?

In the store where it was sold, it drank from the sprayer, it rode on the shoulder of the caretaker during the care of the terrarium, etc...
Here, in his new habitat, he is very fearful, very shy, he has only been there for 48 hours...I gave him 1 cricket, he kicked it and ate it.
I specify that if I look at the terra at regular intervals, well it is never in the same place, sometimes at the bottom, sometimes on the left, sometimes at the top, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, at the very top under UV, or under the lamp...
How long do you think it will take to get used to its new terrarium and start to feel comfortable? 4 or 5 days? 2 or 3 weeks?
 
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Fred02 said:
In the store where it was sold, it drank from the sprayer, it rode on the shoulder of the caretaker during the care of the terrarium, etc...
Here, in his new habitat, he is very fearful, very shy, he has only been there for 48 hours...I gave him 1 cricket, he kicked it and ate it.
How long do you think it will take to get used to its new terrarium and start to feel comfortable? 4 or 5 days? 2 or 3 weeks?
Click to expand...
Being fearful in a new environment is normal for them. It can take them a good week or so to settle in. To know that the environment is safe.

How was he being fed prior? With a feeder run or free fed?
 
I don't know, I didn't ask... 😳
What reassures me is that he visits his entire terrarium and never opens his mouth to blow...even when I approach within 0.5 inch. If this shy behavior at the beginning is normal in the furcifer who has just moved, I am reassured.
 
Fred02 said:
I don't know, I didn't ask... 😳
What reassures me is that he visits his entire terrarium and never opens his mouth to blow...even when I approach within 0.5 inch. If this shy behavior at the beginning is normal in the furcifer who has just moved, I am reassured.
Click to expand...
Ask how they fed him. I recommend using a feeder run. This keeps them contained. If you free feed in the cage and they do not eat them all, crickets will chew on the cham at night.
 
They used a container, so I'm going to use the same thing, white plastic, like the tutorials on the internet...I just made it
Thanks a lot
 
Yesterday I fed him, he didn't refuse anything and he stayed under the lamp for quite a while, maybe 1 hour...
Today I offered him 2 crickets, he ate them and I saw him trying to find the place closest to the hot spot.
I found it 10 minutes later in the position shown by the photo...
Do I have to draw a conclusion? Should I lower the heat lamp a few inches?
However, I have 32°c in surface temperature at the hot spot, but whatever the temperature, shouldn't the behavior of the animal show us the way?
Thank you for your opinion.
 

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Fred02 said:
Yesterday I fed him, he didn't refuse anything and he stayed under the lamp for quite a while, maybe 1 hour...
Today I offered him 2 crickets, he ate them and I saw him trying to find the place closest to the hot spot.
I found it 10 minutes later in the position shown by the photo...
Do I have to draw a conclusion? Should I lower the heat lamp a few inches?
However, I have 32°c in surface temperature at the hot spot, but whatever the temperature, shouldn't the behavior of the animal show us the way?
Thank you for your opinion.
Click to expand...
No do not lower the lamp. He is screen climbing which can indicate stress. 32 is hotter than what most of us provide. Hotter does not mean better. And the difference between them in captivity being able to regulate and the wild are very different.

How are you checking your temps?
 
If I come here, it's to respect your instructions, so I won't move the light bulb, especially since he only stayed like that for 5 minutes.
I measure this temperature with a laser heat gun, on the back of the animal after 10 minutes under it
 
Fred02 said:
If I come here, it's to respect your instructions, so I won't move the light bulb, especially since he only stayed like that for 5 minutes.
I measure this temperature with a laser heat gun, on the back of the animal after 10 minutes under it
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I appreciate that. Our feedback is based on what we would do for our own chameleons so we wont steer you wrong. Get a temp gauge with a probe attached. Then place that probe at the branch below the heat. You can use a tiny zip tie to secure it to the branch. This will give us a better idea of where the actual basking temp is sitting. Typically it is a few degrees warmer where the cham rises up off the branch. So we want the temp at the probe to be lower than target basking temp by a few degrees.
 
I also proceeded this way before, I had 29.8°c
An other question please : When it goes to the hot spot, it darkens its colors, it seems logical to me, doesn't it?
 
Fred02 said:
I also proceeded this way before, I had 29.8°c
An other question please : When it goes to the hot spot, it darkens its colors, it seems logical to me, doesn't it?
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Yes they darken to absorb more heat. They will lighten and typically move down or away from the heat when they are regulating temp.
 
Some news :
He eats with tongs, he eats when it's placed on my hand, he eats carefree from a cup. He drinks the water on the leaves, everything is going well for the moment, thanks again for your advice.
A small photo because I find it pretty
 

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Fred02 said:
Some news :
He eats with tongs, he eats when it's placed on my hand, he eats carefree from a cup. He drinks the water on the leaves, everything is going well for the moment, thanks again for your advice.
A small photo because I find it pretty
Click to expand...
He is a stunner!
 
I have a few questions for you:
The slowness...When I watch the videos here or there, they are always moving. When I look at my chameleon, it is always motionless, never moving. It is very frustrating for me because there is no activity, nothing. If I put his bowl, 60cm from him, it will take him 1 hour to get there. When the light comes on in the morning, it will take between 2 and 3 hours to go under the spotlight. When he shoots an insect, it will take him between 3 and 5 minutes to chew it, with poses of 1 minute often with the insect in his mouth...Sometimes I see him take his leg off the branch by 5mm to move forward , I come back 15 minutes later, his paw has not moved at all, still 5 mm from the branch....Given this slowness, he only uses a very small part of his terrarium, the part between the spot and its place at night, i.e. 20% of the place.
It's winter, the whole room is at 67°, so the whole terra is also at 67°. The upper 1/4 is around 70°, and it is 84° below the spot.

Is this normal behavior for a chameleon in winter, with these low temperatures? Or is it just that there are individuals who are like that all the time?
 
Fred02 said:
I have a few questions for you:
The slowness...When I watch the videos here or there, they are always moving. When I look at my chameleon, it is always motionless, never moving. It is very frustrating for me because there is no activity, nothing. If I put his bowl, 60cm from him, it will take him 1 hour to get there. When the light comes on in the morning, it will take between 2 and 3 hours to go under the spotlight. When he shoots an insect, it will take him between 3 and 5 minutes to chew it, with poses of 1 minute often with the insect in his mouth...Sometimes I see him take his leg off the branch by 5mm to move forward , I come back 15 minutes later, his paw has not moved at all, still 5 mm from the branch....Given this slowness, he only uses a very small part of his terrarium, the part between the spot and its place at night, i.e. 20% of the place.
It's winter, the whole room is at 67°, so the whole terra is also at 67°. The upper 1/4 is around 70°, and it is 84° below the spot.

Is this normal behavior for a chameleon in winter, with these low temperatures? Or is it just that there are individuals who are like that all the time?
Click to expand...
So is the ambient enclosure temp actually reaching low 70's?

Panthers seem to like to hold their food while a veiled will inhale their food.

Can you post a few pics of him?
 
If I take the ambient temperature from where it is most of the time, it is between 67 and 70 there during the day..
Between 65 and 68 at night....I'll take pictures and come back to put them
 
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Fred02 said:
If I take the ambient temperature from where it is most of the time, it is between 67 and 70 there during the day..
Between 65 and 68 at night....I'll take pictures and come back to put them
Click to expand...
Ambient day time is a bit low. Remind me please, does the cage have screen sides or solid sides?
 
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