Newbie questions

[kalson]

i have had my first cham yesterday and its a 3-month old jackson . i think its in a good condition as it have swallowed 6 crickets once he entered his new home .
however...... i found some tiny black spot start to appear along his back and havent seen him drink so far.... is he ok ?

the condition of my setting
temp- day 77f nite 56f
humidity day 70 % nite 50% ( should i keep the humidity same for day and nite ?)

tks

 

[PukaKeha]

What kind of setup do you have for his water?
Do you have a picture of him?

 

[kalson]

i have a water bowl for him and i use to mist the habitat three times a day ...

i have some more questions which is about coloration... i found that when he goes to the heat-spot and enjoy his sunbath.. his color will turn black... at first tiny black spot appear along the abdomen then gradually extends to the whole body ... is it normal ?.. . .but when he leave the spots .. the color become paler but its still darker than its original one .

second is i would like to ask when will the cham go pee or excrete ?

thanks so much

 

[Hempa]

1. Chams can get darker to absorb heat faster.

2. Get rid of the waterbowl and start use a dripper http://www.livefoods.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=458 and keep on misting. You can make a dripper on your own. Make it drip on a leaf that the cham can reach once/second.

Chameleon dont like to drink from a bowl.

3. I think the pooquestion depends on how much they eat.

 

[Electric]

Should probably ditch the water bowl, he probably won't ever actually drink from it, your feeders could drown in it and stagnant water is always a good bacteria breeding ground.

For the colors you're seeing it's a normal thing they seem to do when absorbing light/heat, turning all dark because you know how black clothes absorbs the sunlight and makes you real hot well it's the same principle. Sometimes they'll also stretch out horizontally to one side and stick out their throat to make a bigger surface for the heat to hit.

and I guess they'll excrete/urine when there's no room left inside them lol

 

[stevereecy]

i have a water bowl for him and i use to mist the habitat three times a day ...

i have some more questions which is about coloration... i found that when he goes to the heat-spot and enjoy his sunbath.. his color will turn black... at first tiny black spot appear along the abdomen then gradually extends to the whole body ... is it normal ?.. . .but when he leave the spots .. the color become paler but its still darker than its original one .

second is i would like to ask when will the cham go pee or excrete ?

thanks so much

I don't work with Jacksons. But, generally, Chameleons are attracted to movement and a shiny appearance for their water. Your water dish probably doesn't interest him or he may not even understand that its water. He's likely used to drinking from rainfall. Go buy a spray bottle from Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. You want the kind that people use to spray plants. Use that to spray him. Put warm to hot water in the bottle and it will not come out cold. Then spray him until he drinks. Make no sudden movements so he will pay attention to the water...not you. This could take 10 minutes or longer. If he's gone too long without water, you could lose him.

Do it right away.

Two reasons chams turn black is because they are cold or sick. If he turns black under the heat lamp, it may not be hot enough for him to bask so he's trying to absorb all the heat he can.

I don't know about the black spot growing on him...is it a burn? Can he get in contact with the light and burn himself? Otherwise, there is no telling what it is, but you need to make sure he has an opportunity to dry out. You are using a misting system, so he may never dry out, and that could have something to do with it...it might be a fungus or something. Not knowing anything else, I'd suggest that you use the mister less, manually spray him with a spray bottle at least twice a day, and up the heat in the basking area, but not everywhere in his enclosure...just the basking area.

Steve

 

[kalson]

tks for the information men ..
anyway i have a last question ... as my friend told me that jackson doesnt reli need a basking light...and a uvb 5.0 is sufficient enough to provide the cham all kind of uv and spectrum .... is it true... as in my setting there is only one uvb 5.0( exo-terra)

lastly, how would you guyd feed the cham ? put the crickets in a container or jsut let the crickets run freely in the cage?

tks so much

 

[stevereecy]

tks for the information men ..
anyway i have a last question ... as my friend told me that jackson doesnt reli need a basking light...and a uvb 5.0 is sufficient enough to provide the cham all kind of uv and spectrum .... is it true... as in my setting there is only one uvb 5.0( exo-terra)

lastly, how would you guyd feed the cham ? put the crickets in a container or jsut let the crickets run freely in the cage?

tks so much

I don't do the jacksons, and I know they are different. Don't know what temps are like in your house, but it seems like every cham should have the opportunity to warm up if they want to. Even if you provide a little 40 watt bulb (heck, even a 20 watt bulb) that creates virtually no thermal gradient. My second cham was a jacksons, and it died quick because we didn't have cool resources like this site...but I can't believe it would do no basking at all in the wild.