My Jackson's doesn't like normal temps?

chrisr

New Member
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Got a Jackson's Chameleon last week - until this weekend he "seemed" normal (based on my zero experience:)), eating a few (3) crickets a day, drinking twice that I've seen (he HATES being misted) and just hanging out near the top near his basking spot. This was with temps 85-95(almost 100) here this last week, and very humid. Then I was reading and realized this is too hot for Jackson's, so I moved him near a window in a cooler room but since then he has not behaved like when he first arrived.

If cage is 70F - 80F, bottom to top with basking spot at 85F, he moves all over the cage, goes to bottom and climbs up about 6 inches off the floor, then returns to bottom, keeps repeating this all around the sides of the cage like he is trying to get out.

If cage is 75F - 85F, bottom to top with basking spot at 90F, he sits at basking spot and after a few minutes his mouth is open, which I've read means it's too hot. But he acts more normal at these temps and isn't spending all his time trying to get out.

If I turn off the basking light, he gets up as close to the UVB light as possible and stays there and generally will spend all his time there, except to grab a cricket when I first put a couple in.

Point being if I try to use normal Jackson's temp range for daytime (which per everything I've read is 70-80 with basking up to 85) he seems uncomfortable, but if I raise it 5 degrees he opens his mouth (too hot?).

What should I do?
 
What makes you think he hates being misted? Just curious.

I have a Veiled (they're very similar in care) and he had the exact same thing going on. I finally figured out what to do, though.

I realized that I wasn't misting enough before, actually. How humid is your cage? How often do you mist? I never mist my little guy directly unless he's shedding because they normally don't like getting wet otherwise, so I've seen. But he enjoys being cooled down by the general mist going through the cage.

It's important to have live plants (or at least one) in your cage and a drip system of some sort for water. That helps keep them hydrated and cooled down as well.

My cham likes to crawl around the cage a lot as well. If you feed him worms (which I do a lot of the time), I realized it's mostly because he's looking for one on the bottom of the cage. Sometimes he just likes to go for a "jog" though. I wouldn't worry about that too much.
 
Hi, thanks for the reply.

I "think" he doesn't like being misted because anytime he gets hit with the water he tries to get away and climbs up to the highest point of his cage while misting is going on, basically he goes to wherever he stays most dry during the process. I have added a 15 minute drip (just a water bottle with pinhole) like normal raindrops after misting, and it seems like this is doing better to actually stimulate his drinking. He finally had white urea(?) at the end of his poop this morning, it's been orange since I got him and I was worried about dehydration. So at this point I mist to get everything wet while avoiding the chameleon, then drip to get him to drink. I mist enough to keep the cage around 60% humidity (4 or 5 times a day).

The cage is 18x18x36 screen with a live Schefflera plant, and fake vines. Reptisun UVB 5.0 18" and 60watt incandescent bulb for heat.

So I have decided to stay on the hotter temps, 90F to 75F top to bottom and then 75 - 65 at night. I do see him still opening his mouth when basking sometimes, but he does also seem to move after some time so maybe I'm just worrying too much about the open mouth. When it was cooler he was also black a lot of the time, no matter basking or not, so I guess it was just too cold?

Thanks again.
 
Hi, thanks for the reply.

I "think" he doesn't like being misted because anytime he gets hit with the water he tries to get away and climbs up to the highest point of his cage while misting is going on, basically he goes to wherever he stays most dry during the process. I have added a 15 minute drip (just a water bottle with pinhole) like normal raindrops after misting, and it seems like this is doing better to actually stimulate his drinking. He finally had white urea(?) at the end of his poop this morning, it's been orange since I got him and I was worried about dehydration. So at this point I mist to get everything wet while avoiding the chameleon, then drip to get him to drink. I mist enough to keep the cage around 60% humidity (4 or 5 times a day).

...

So I have decided to stay on the hotter temps, 90F to 75F top to bottom and then 75 - 65 at night. I do see him still opening his mouth when basking sometimes, but he does also seem to move after some time so maybe I'm just worrying too much about the open mouth. When it was cooler he was also black a lot of the time, no matter basking or not, so I guess it was just too cold?

Alright, that's fine. Normally chams don't like being misted much. I was just curious to know what yours did! :D Mine likes to hide under the leaves where the mist doesn't fall, but he likes being around when it starts to "rain" when there's enough mist on the leaves that they bead up and run off. He drinks plenty, then.

That's good that you've noticed the white! Just keep an eye on that and that's a pretty good indicator. As I said, there are others, but that's the easiest one, I've found...

The water bottle is a good idea. I did that for a while. If you put ice in it, it may make it last longer, too :) I would suggest getting something called "The Little Dripper." Petco's and other pet stores should have them. You fill it up with water (about a gallon, I think, or more for the bigger ones) and it has a tube and a gauge for setting the speed of the drip. You can set it up to drip wherever you want it at that point. And it's only like 8 bucks or something. I have mine run all day.

I'm not an "expert" per say on the "open mouth" problem, but Ender (my Veiled) used to do the same thing all the time. From what I've seen, it's like a dog opening it's mouth with it's tongue out--just to cool himself down. I wouldn't worry about it too much, so long as your cage is between 90-92F at top and 70-72 at bottom. If it's much higher than that (up to 95 in basking spot, really...), is when you should be changing things. :)
 
I would keep his temps down. Roaming around is pretty normal for jacksons. Just sitting with his mouth open is him trying to cool off or could be a sign of a RI.

This needed to be responded to because it is dead wrong:

What makes you think he hates being misted? Just curious.

I have a Veiled (they're very similar in care) and he had the exact same thing going on. I finally figured out what to do, though.
This is WRONG!! DO NOT keep your Jackson the same way you keep a Veiled. They are very different in care.


It's important to have live plants (or at least one) in your cage and a drip system of some sort for water. That helps keep them hydrated and cooled down as well.
This is true. For jacksons you need to have live plants and a drip system.
 
My notes on this are in Blue:

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I "think" he doesn't like being misted because anytime he gets hit with the water he tries to get away and climbs up to the highest point of his cage while misting is going on, basically he goes to wherever he stays most dry during the process. I have added a 15 minute drip (just a water bottle with pinhole) like normal raindrops after misting, and it seems like this is doing better to actually stimulate his drinking. I would do much more dripping. I have a dripper running for an hour every other hour.He finally had white urea(?) at the end of his poop this morning, it's been orange since I got him and I was worried about dehydration. So at this point I mist to get everything wet while avoiding the chameleon, then drip to get him to drink. This is perfect. I mist enough to keep the cage around 60% humidity (4 or 5 times a day).

The cage is 18x18x36 screen with a live Schefflera plant, and fake vines. Reptisun UVB 5.0 18" and 60watt incandescent bulb for heat. Too small. I would use a 24"x24"x48" as a min. Jackson's love to roam around

So I have decided to stay on the hotter temps, 90F to 75F top to bottom and then 75 - 65 at night. I do see him still opening his mouth when basking sometimes, but he does also seem to move after some time so maybe I'm just worrying too much about the open mouth. When it was cooler he was also black a lot of the time, no matter basking or not, so I guess it was just too cold? Too hot. I would reduce the max temp to the low 80's. Have you taken him to a vet? I would get him checked out for a respiratory infection and parasites if you have not done so.

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the advice folks.

Devokid, it's 90 at the TOP of the enclosure, 84-86 at basking spot. This is too hot?
 
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