New Cham is sleeping during the day

genebean12

New Member
  • Your Chameleon - Male Veiled approximately 4 months old, has been in my care for 1 week.
  • Handling - I have handled him to put him under the heat lamp about 3 times. He then regains energy and feeds.
  • Feeding - I have been feeding him a combination of superworms and crickets gut loaded with kale and spinach with 1 superworm and 3 crickets daily in the morning
  • Supplements - i dust his feed with repti-calcium w/o D3 and zoo med's reptivite at each feeding
  • Watering - i have a drip system going constantly as well as 3 misting sessions that typically last 2-3 min. I have seen him drinking once from this..he doesn't like the misting and his focus seems to be getting away from the water rather than drinking it.
  • Fecal Description - I have not seen any fecies. I have seen him eat and logically that would produce some but no dice.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - the cage is a 16" x 16" x 30" screened affair
  • Lighting - I am using a zoomed UVB and heat kit with a 13w mini compact fluorescent light bulb and recently switched the 60w blue day bulb for a 75w red night bulb
  • Temperature - The basking spot is typically around 90 going down to 65 at the base
  • Humidity - I do not have a humidity gage but plan on picking one up tomorrow
  • Plants - I have a pothos plant as well as a plastic plant for climbing
  • Placement - the cage is in the corner of my room near a
  • Location- Northern Nevada U.S

Current Problem - He is spending a lot of time at the bottom of his cage and is sleeping during the day when he is down there.
 
Im gonna go from top to bottom here.. Im guessing by handling him to put him under the lamp you mean setting him under the lamp? Dont do that. If he wants to bask, he will go up on his own. Dont feed superworms everyday, maybe once a week, feed crickets everyday. Dust with calcium without D3 every feeding, dust with calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks and dust with vitamins once every 2 weeks. Basking spot should be about 85 for younger chams and 90 for older chams, make sure your basking spot is atleast 6 inches away from your light to prevent burns. I would guess hes sleeping during the day at the bottom since its darker down there, and he feels safer down there, so he doesent want to go back up, so when its darker he thinks is night and will go to sleep, i could be wrong though. Maybe add a light to the side of your cage and see if it changes anything.
 
Thank you thank you. I am trying so hard for this little guy and gathering as much info as I can which leads to me fussing over him because I want everything to be just right. Hence the moving bit. It's all good info and I seriously appreciate the feedback.
 
Your baby needs to be eating a lot more. He should easily eat 10 small crickets every day. He may be going down to the bottom of the cage to look for more food. Also, are you using the red night light at night? No light should be used at night otherwise his sleep will be disturbed and that may be why he is sleeping during the day. Use a regular soft white household bulb for his basking spot 12 hours a day. No colored lights are needed day or night.

Temperature: Baby/juvenile (<9 months): ambient 72-80F (22-26C), basking 85F (29C)
Feeding: Juveniles 3-6 months of age: 10-12 small crickets daily
 
  • Your Chameleon - Male Veiled approximately 4 months old, has been in my care for 1 week.
  • Handling - I have handled him to put him under the heat lamp about 3 times. He then regains energy and feeds.
  • Feeding - I have been feeding him a combination of superworms and crickets gut loaded with kale and spinach with 1 superworm and 3 crickets daily in the morning
  • Supplements - i dust his feed with repti-calcium w/o D3 and zoo med's reptivite at each feeding
  • Watering - i have a drip system going constantly as well as 3 misting sessions that typically last 2-3 min. I have seen him drinking once from this..he doesn't like the misting and his focus seems to be getting away from the water rather than drinking it.
  • Fecal Description - I have not seen any fecies. I have seen him eat and logically that would produce some but no dice.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - the cage is a 16" x 16" x 30" screened affair
  • Lighting - I am using a zoomed UVB and heat kit with a 13w mini compact fluorescent light bulb and recently switched the 60w blue day bulb for a 75w red night bulb
  • Temperature - The basking spot is typically around 90 going down to 65 at the base
  • Humidity - I do not have a humidity gage but plan on picking one up tomorrow
  • Plants - I have a pothos plant as well as a plastic plant for climbing
  • Placement - the cage is in the corner of my room near a
  • Location- Northern Nevada U.S

Current Problem - He is spending a lot of time at the bottom of his cage and is sleeping during the day when he is down there.

I answered in your other thread....
 
Just as an example to what Merujack said about feeding... My young Veiled, about 2-3 months old, eats 6-8 small crickets in the late morning and I offer another 6-8 in the late afternoon. He usually eats around 12+ small crickets each day.
 
Just as an example to what Merujack said about feeding... My young Veiled, about 2-3 months old, eats 6-8 small crickets in the late morning and I offer another 6-8 in the late afternoon. He usually eats around 12+ small crickets each day.

Thank you so much! Little update on Walter (my sleepy guy) I took him into the vet because he was only managing about 1 cricket a day and the vet said that he had some all over bruising and that made it difficult for him to move let alone hunt. Thaaanks petco. The woman tried to tell me that I must have dropped him but that for sure never happened. I am so ginger with my guy. So he was dropped at the store at some point. To their credit, they did shoulder the vet bill and are being very communicative about the whole ordeal.
 
I'm pretty dang frustrated at this point. I took Walter to petco to see the vet who initially said 7-10 days for recovery (he must have been dropped by an employee of petco because I certainly did no such thing; although they maintain that I did.) and they continue to tell me that it will be a bit longer. It has been 3 weeks and when I call to check in on him they get very rude with me although I am only calling once a week for updates. I obviously want to do what is best for my little guy so I'm wondering if I should just wait for however long it will take in the hands of the people who inflicted the damage in the first place or pick him up and take care of him again myself. Suggestions?
 
I'm pretty dang frustrated at this point. I took Walter to petco to see the vet who initially said 7-10 days for recovery (he must have been dropped by an employee of petco because I certainly did no such thing; although they maintain that I did.) and they continue to tell me that it will be a bit longer. It has been 3 weeks and when I call to check in on him they get very rude with me although I am only calling once a week for updates. I obviously want to do what is best for my little guy so I'm wondering if I should just wait for however long it will take in the hands of the people who inflicted the damage in the first place or pick him up and take care of him again myself. Suggestions?

I would highly recommend that you go to another vet. I might be wrong, but I have a hunch that the vet at your petco doesn't have vast lizard knowledge.
 
I have been feeding him a combination of superworms and crickets gut loaded with kale and spinach with 1 superworm and 3 crickets daily in the morning
Regarding the gutload,Spinach contain way too much oxalic acid,replace it with collard green,mustard green for better choice!
 
Thank you so much! Little update on Walter (my sleepy guy) I took him into the vet because he was only managing about 1 cricket a day and the vet said that he had some all over bruising and that made it difficult for him to move let alone hunt. Thaaanks petco. The woman tried to tell me that I must have dropped him but that for sure never happened. I am so ginger with my guy. So he was dropped at the store at some point. To their credit, they did shoulder the vet bill and are being very communicative about the whole ordeal.

This does not ring true to me.

I have bought a lot of pretty battered wild caughts and they will eat just fine, regardless of their injuries. One particular recent import had legs so swollen I feared the swelling would cut off the circulatoin to her legs. She didn't have one good leg. She coudn't grip, just laying on a branch hanging her swollen useless legs. One knee had very little movement in the joint. It took her months to recover and she grew big and fat through her recovery from her injuries and from import.

Find a new vet.
 
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