New Owner Question

Incognito

Incognito

New Member
My Chams are black and brown right now and when I bought them they were bright green. I read online this is a sign of being unhappy. Is this just the stress of a new home? I have a drip, I spray every few hours, I have my uvb bulb lots of vines and they ate just fine this morning. Any tips would be great!
 
From what ive read and heard on here they could be cold...
Keep in mind this is coming from a new chameleon owner as well :p
 
Incognito said:
My Chams are black and brown right now and when I bought them they were bright green. I read online this is a sign of being unhappy. Is this just the stress of a new home? I have a drip, I spray every few hours, I have my uvb bulb lots of vines and they ate just fine this morning. Any tips would be great!
Click to expand...

What species do you have? How long have you had them? We can't even begin to guess until we have more to go on. Check out the sticky "how to ask for help" and answer the questions. Give a picture too.
 
I have 2 Jacksons and I got them yesterday. 1 is 4 months and 1 is 6 months, 1 male and 1 female. I don't have a picture yet. The only other thing I have noticed is my female "dances" (kinda of rocks back and forth) when I spray. I have followed all directions from the breeder and what he did. But he is not home right now for me to ask.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Jacksons, 4-6 months, and I've had them a day
Handling - I do not handle them because I want them to adjust and not be scared
Feeding - Small Crickets from pet story - crickets are feed with orange cube cricket diet and calcium powder
Supplements - Is that the calcium powder?
Watering - I have a dripper but it runs a little fast so I have been filing it a few times a day with a few ounces each fill. I mist every 2-3 hours and i have not seen them drink yet
Fecal Description - White and not tested for parasites while in MY care but the breeder said he had other litter mates tested...
History - Only had them a day - Breeder said the female was getting picked on by the other females and unhappy so he wanted me to take her so she would no longer be with them so he gave her Free . . .

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Mesh 3 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft
Lighting - Used a red bulb last night have a UVB bulb on now by Zilla its a 5 watt
Temperature - I do not have a gage
Humidity - I do not have a gage
Plants - I have most fake vines with a Bermiliad (spelling?) and Hibiscuis
Placement - In the living room but its pretty quiet in
Location - Honolulu Hawaii
Current Problem - The color of my chameleons
 
You do not need the red night bulb as a good temp drop is what they like and they need pitch black in their lights off hours. You will only need heat at night if your temps drop into the 60s. Since you are in Hawaii, your ambient temps are probably spot on inside your home. But in any case, get a thermometer.

As for your original question- You've only had your cham for 1 day. Give him some time and she will calm down and probably turn green soon enough. I'm not sure about receptive or non-receptive colors for Jackson's so that might be a consideration. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can give you advice on that.
 
i would feed your crickets something other than flukers cubes. Gutload them with fresh fruits and vegetable. Dust your feeders with the calcium. you don't feed the calcium to the feeders if that is what you are doing. Living in Hawaii I am sure your chams will have access to natural sunlight quite a bit which is good. I would dust your feeders with the calcium everyother day as I know the Jackson's take less supplementing. We also use a calcium with d3 but depending on how much your chams will spend outdoor will determine how much cal/w d3 you should use or maybe none at all. Also a multivitamin once a month for them.
 
Dust them with calcium? What does that mean? I just put some in the cage, I thought the crickets ate it... OPPS! And I also put fruit in with the cubes. And thanks I will give them some time. Anyone have any idea what this "dancing" or rocking movement is that my female does when I spray?
 
I understand that keeping them together is cheaper and easier but any time now you will have a gravid (pregnant) female. As young as she is it could kill her. Please put them in 2 cages if that is possible, she should not be bred until about 1 year.
If you can do it, from where you live the more time outside the better. Just make sure both shade and sun is available and mist as ofter as you can.
 
I suspect rocking when being misted is her way of complaining about it. You might try warming up your water a few degrees and spraying her from behind. Don't spray right at her face.
 
I have been spraying from the sides and behind, I will try to warm the water a tad or just spray the leaves above her even and let it drop to her like rain. I do not have another cage to seperate them but I will call the breeder back and see if I can A. Get another cage or B. Return her... He asked me to take her for free becasue to other females bullied her and he wanted her out of thier way and she and the male I had chosen got along *shrug* I hope he was not trying to solve his problem by giving me one of my own. I will take them outside for some sun tomorrow.
 
Incognito said:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Jacksons, 4-6 months, and I've had them a day
Handling - I do not handle them because I want them to adjust and not be scared
Feeding - Small Crickets from pet story - crickets are feed with orange cube cricket diet and calcium powder
Supplements - Is that the calcium powder?
Watering - I have a dripper but it runs a little fast so I have been filing it a few times a day with a few ounces each fill. I mist every 2-3 hours and i have not seen them drink yet
Fecal Description - White and not tested for parasites while in MY care but the breeder said he had other litter mates tested...
History - Only had them a day - Breeder said the female was getting picked on by the other females and unhappy so he wanted me to take her so she would no longer be with them so he gave her Free . . .

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Mesh 3 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft
Lighting - Used a red bulb last night have a UVB bulb on now by Zilla its a 5 watt
Temperature - I do not have a gage
Humidity - I do not have a gage
Plants - I have most fake vines with a Bermiliad (spelling?) and Hibiscuis
Placement - In the living room but its pretty quiet in
Location - Honolulu Hawaii
Current Problem - The color of my chameleons
Click to expand...

Hi there :) you said you dont have gages for temp or humidity?? In my short amount of time owning chams this what i would think! Before I got my temps at the right levels and stable mine would turn black and very dark brown as well! I would say you need to find out the temps and make sure they are correct for the breed you have. After I got all my temps right they stoped doing that Unless they were right next to each other so i put them in seperate cages sooner then planned but since then I havent seen either one turn those colors :) So I would say you deff need to check the temps and really need to think about seperating them!! but fix the temps 1st!!! cold and stress will not be good!! Over all is could just be stress of the change but your temps are very important!! good luck with your little dude and lady!! cant wait to see pictures!:D
 
Hopefully you can get another cage. If money is short, look into a reptairum. They're mesh over pvc pipe, very affordable. You do need to separate them. She's too young for babies. Maybe in 6 months or so you can try breeding them.
 
Incognito said:
Dust them with calcium? What does that mean? I just put some in the cage, I thought the crickets ate it... OPPS! And I also put fruit in with the cubes. And thanks I will give them some time. Anyone have any idea what this "dancing" or rocking movement is that my female does when I spray?
Click to expand...

Wow, you've got a lot of reading up to do! There's a lot of good husbandry info on this forum so use the search feature to read up on jackson's care first, then ask your questions.

Chams will sway and rock back and forth partly to look less like an animal and more like a leaf in a breeze. They usually do this when upset or feeling threatened. They will also do some stylized movements to display to intruders. Basically it is a defensive behavior. Your cham doesn't like being sprayed directly. Spray the foliage around her instead and use warm water, not cold.

I've heard that the Zilla UV lights are not great. If you can't keep your cage(s) outside you'll need to provide UVB light every day. The best UV generating light most of us use is the ReptiSun 5.0. Use it in addition to a small regular house light bulb as a basking spot.

Most insects are not fed well at the shop and it will be up to you to improve their nutritional value. Gutloading them well (feeding them fresh leafy greens, fruit, fortified whole grain cereal, bee pollen) and dusting them with mineral and vitamin dusts is really important. Montane species such as jackson's are sensitive to the amount of vitamins offered. You will need 3 types of dust including a calcium powder without added vitamin D3, a calcium powder with added D3, and a vitamin powder. Use the plain calcium every other feeding, the calcium with D3 once a week or so (I think...correct me folks for a juvenile jacks?), and the vitamin dust once a month.

To maintain the proper humidity level in your cages live bushy plants really help a lot. Fake plants might look nice but they won't contribute to the cage humidity much at all.
 
I have two fake plants, fake vines and 2 real plants in there. A hibiscus and a bromeliad. I give my crickets the orangecubes and had put in some fruit and a potato slice. I misunderstood the breeder when he was explaining the calcium powder, obviously. I also looked at the petstore and didn't see any vitamin supliments except something you add to the water drip? But I didn't want to get that because I havn't even seen them drink and want to make sure they acctually get it. Where can I find a vitamin powder? Can you suggest a specific brand? Also the Zilla brand was the only kind offered at the petstore here so I will look up the Reptisun and order online. I am taking them outside for sun as well but they don't stay out there all day. I am no longer spraying her directly due to everyone's advice and I put in a 2nd drip. I mist the leaves above her and let it fall to her. She has lightened up to a brighter green (in my new picture) so compared to the black/brown I'm certainly much happier with that. I've always had snakes, never a cham so I absoulutely have alot of reading and research to do but that is why I joined here!
 
Here's some information that might help you....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption. Temperatures needed can vary with the species and age. For hatchling panthers I keep the temperature in the warmest area in the low 80's. For older panthers I keep it in the mid to high 80's for the most part.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month lightly with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month lightly as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
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