moved one plant, now he seems stressed...

[LBonawitz]

I always keep Pokey's cage clean, but once i month i take everything out and clean (and rinse) everything very thoroughly. and when i put everything back in i put it back, kind of the way it was, this last time i turned his main, big, plant 180 degrees so the lights hits it at a different angle. but since this last thorough cleaning he's been hanging out in the back, on his favorite branch, but he's dark, like he's stressed about something. he's still eating and drinking fine, and he walks around some times, but his favorite branch is making him dark now. when i take him out he brightens up again. i don't understand what happened. do you think he is stressed about the plant being turned? or could it be something else. all the temps are still the same


this is all that i've found that can cause him stress:

Wrong lighting, heating
Too much human or animal traffic
Seeing its reflection or sight of another chameleon
Changing cage layout
Changing the position of the cage
Handling
Spraying with water that's too cold, too strong a spray
Not enough water or wrong presentation of water


all that has happened is the "cage lay out", i thought after a week he'd get use to the plant being turned, but he's still dark...

 

[hallenhe]

How easy is it to turn the plant again and see if he returns to his lighter colors?

 

[LBonawitz]

How easy is it to turn the plant again and see if he returns to his lighter colors?

it would be easy, but i thought after a week of the "new surroundings" he would get use to it. because the plant is growing toward the light so i turned it so it had to start growing back the other way to get to the light.


i might just have to do that, but i really want the plant to grow kind of straight again.

 

[SS4Luck]

id turn it around just to see if he brightens back up again.. If he does then you may jsut have to leave it the way "he likes it"

 

[LBonawitz]

he's such a spoiled brat... he's brightened up again.

throwing a tantrum over THAT. what a whiner.

 

[merumontanus]

Hey Laura,

Good job on keeping such a close eye on its behavior. Thanks for sharing those notes-- I have a male merumontanus who is also highly sensitive to any changes in its surroundings, which is tough as it's difficult (and time consuming) to try to keep everything exactly as it was every time the cage is cleaned. Nonetheless, he adjusts every time, with lots of privacy being the key.

Cheers,

Fabián

 

[summoner12]

Exactly what Fabian said about privacy and adjusting.

Ya just give them some space and they figure things out. Some chams seem to mind it more than others. I know it seems to stress them out... but I almost treat it like a crying baby...... just let them figure it out and they calm down.