Napping After Eating

[M21]

Hi everyone... I have a just over three month old Panther Chameleon. I know that closing eyes and napping during the day are not good signs. I debated even writing this post but decided better to get some advice from more experienced members. I have only had my Chameleon about two weeks. He seems very healthy, and he is eating like crazy (primarily Hydei Flies). He is normally very active, eyes opened wide, and changes color throughout the day. I am slightly worried though. When I feed him 10-15 pinheads or flies he always seems to either go under his 40W basking bulb or under his 5.0 18" fluorescent UVB light. I'm sure he's doing this to heat up and help with digestion, my concern is that he will almost always close one or both eyes off and on for an hour or two like he's napping. This is the only time he does this. The rest of the time he is wide eyed and alert. I have searched through other posts and not found any that say their Chameleon naps after eating, but I'm wondering if this is normal or something that I should be concerned about. His basking temperature is 85 and he has vines and leaves that vary in distance from the light. I mist a minimum of three times a day and have a control valve dripper I made.

 

[carol5208]

no, It is not normal but your lighting seems ok from what you have posted. Maybe scale down to a 20 watt for basking and see what happens. Have you checked your basking temps to see what they are? sometimes there are some chameleons who are very light sensitive for whatever reason. I have seen it on here on rare occasions. It could possibly be a vitmamin A difficiency also. What are you gutloading with and what supplements are you using?

 

[M21]

Basking temp 85 max at closest point and monitored constantly. Repcal without D3 Mon-Fri Sat Repcal with D3 or Herptivite alternating weekly, Sun nothing... Gutload Orange Cubes and Fluker's Calcium gel primarily for moisture, Fluker's dry feed, mustard greens, apples, blueberries, yams, honey other vegis and fruit from time to time... Cricket Crack on the way. Hydei flies and pinheads lightly dusted in shaker every feeding. Waiting on Mantis Ooth and Silkworm eggs to hatch. I don't get it. Everyone says how this is so bad, so it really worries me, but I watched him again today when I fed him in the morning and afternoon. Both times only for about half an hour, as soon as he ate as much as he could, he went and sat under the light and would shut one eye for a few seconds and occasionally both very briefly and then he'd move away and not do it throughout the rest of the day. Also, if he sits right under either light as close as possible and hasn't eaten recently, I've never seen him close either eye. Other than that he looks and acts extremely healthy in every other way. I've seen sick Chameleons and have seen ones that constantly appear lethargic and droopy eyed and that is not the case. However, I've never seen one that demonstrates this exact behavior either. I did read at least one other post that someone said they had babies that were healthy and appeared to rest from time to time during the day and would briefly close one or both eyes but not virtually every-time after eating a large amount (I don't think he's done it if I only feed him a few pinheads or fruit flies at a time). Everyone says you can't really overfeed a baby, but I'm starting to think this one is a glutton because that is the only time the behavior occurs. Wow got carried away... I hope what I just wrote is comprehensible. It is 1:35 a.m. and I'm running on about four hours from the night before.

 

[Silkyslim]

My guy did this for a little bit too, it got me concerned so I started a thread much like yours. My case was that he would close one eye towards the bulb when he took a really hard basking angle on his perch. I always thought of it like this: He is basking and digesting and trying to conserve his energy for those functions, it seemed more logical to me that closing his eye would be expend less energy than looking away from the light.

I am not sure if this is the case for your guy, but if he seems active and your lighting checks out then all you can really do is observe him, maybe he's quirky like that?

Remember, paragraphs are your friends!

 

[M21]

Silkyslim I just read your previous thread. That sounds almost exactly like what mine is doing.

I fed him a combination of crickets and fruit flies this morning (as much as he could eat) and he didn't close his eyes at all (go figure). He didn't go straight to his basking spot initially like normal but did about 15 min later and still never shut his eyes (maybe he walked it off LOL). I'm not complaining.

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs. It was late and I get carried away without separating thoughts. WOOPS

 

[Citizen Snips]

My 3 month old is doing this, too. This morning, he climbed around and drank some water and ate a little bit, pooped, climbed, ate about ten more 1/4 crickets then I came home and he was under his UVB bulb with both eyes closed. I looked closer and one eye opened at looked back at me. I fed him another cricket and he seems o.k. I'm not sure if they are napping or just digesting... when he slept last night he was sitting upright and now he is laying flat. I will keep monitoring his behavior as I have only had him for one day, so I can't tell if it's out of the ordinary.

 

[M21]

I would definitely keep monitoring him closely. I was extremely worried about mine. He did this every-time I fed him for about the first week I got him. It was like clockwork with no other negative behavior.

Rango only continued to do this for about one more day after I started this post. I haven't seen him do it anymore. I know it's not normal behavior, however, I don't think Rango was unhealthy at all. That being said, if he had displayed any other negative/abnormal behavior, I would have taken him to the vet immediately and I was watching him like a Hawk.