not eating.......

[joefromtoronto]

hey,im new to the chameleon world,and i luv it,i have i mesh cage about 2 feet tall 2 feet wide and 15 inches deep,,my temps are 100 degrees at his basking spot and my humidity is at 75 to 80 percent,lots of fake pants and vines,branches from trees ,a real pothos and hisbiscus tree,,so basically hes got lots to do,,i mist him everyday before i leave for work and when i get home,and i saw him drink so im not worried about that,,the thing is when i purchashed him,he ate like crazy,but its been like 3 days i havent seen him eat anything,the crickets i leave him in the morning are still there but dead in his cup,,i thought maybe hes not eating cause his skin is shedding so he was eating that,but im stumped,,,and he sleeps a lot!,,i know he had a problem with his eye,cause he was buldging them up like ballons to clean them a few days ago,so i bumped up the misting a bit,and fixed the problem,,but im worried about the eating and sleeping,,maybe someone can help me,,oh,and theres no reason for him to be stressed too,soo,pleasee help!

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

If your chameleon is sleeping during the day, it's a sure sign something is wrong. What are you doing for UVB bulb? How far away from him is it?

 

[joefromtoronto]

his uvb light sits right on top of his cage,what could be worng?

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

As long as the chameleon can get to within 12" of the bulb, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[joefromtoronto]

so what do u think is the problem?

 

[Julirs]

How old is the chameleon?

 

[joefromtoronto]

i bought him 2 weeks ago,im guess 5 weeks to 6 weeks,,maybe older,i dont know

 

[Julirs]

Whoa-100 is WAYYYY too hot for a baby. He could be sleeping because you are cooking him. Basking no higher than 80 at this age. Make sure you have a good digital thermometer with a probe to check temps.

 

[Julirs]

And eye bulging is usually just them cleaning out their eyes.

 

[joefromtoronto]

ive been reading on the net that it should be between 90 to 100,plus,there are lots of different levels and branches to sit on,so if its too hot he would just move down a bit...im worried about this little dude,,,why isnt he eating too?

 

[joefromtoronto]

i know all about the eye buldging im not worried about that,just the eating less and sleeping a lot

 

[Julirs]

Did you see my other post about the temps?

 

[Julirs]

Seriously-that is for adults. Babies are terrible at thermoregulating-ask anyone here. Where did you get your cham?

 

[joefromtoronto]

really,well,i will move the heat lamp a few inches away from the top of his cage and try to maintain 80,thanks man,i bought him from a very well known reptile store ,actually the store is inside a reptile zoo called reptilia,,ive been doing a lot of reading on VC's so im pretty confident on my knowledge,,but there are some things about them that u can find on the net,lol,like how long does it take them to shed there skin,because hes been shedding for about 2 days now

 

[Julirs]

They are all differrent-could take a few days to completely shed-as they get older it takes longer. Have you tried just letting crickets lose in the cage? I never could get my Veileds to eat out of a cup. Mine stopped eating a few days after I got him and adjusting temps fixed it. Try some different feeders also-silkworms nd waxworms are great.

 

[joefromtoronto]

ya i have 2 loose right now,and before i also had a few loose,and he always found them and ate them,but now,nothing,i dont know why,,,,so are you saying u think his sleeping and eating problems are because my lamp is at 100 degrees?

 

[Julirs]

Could very well be. how is his poop looking? How much is he sleeping?

 

[joefromtoronto]

hmm,is poop is pretty big i think its black with a lil bit of white in it,,everytime he does it i pick it up right away,when i first bought him he fell asleep at 9 every night till 6 am when i go to work,now for the past week he goes to sleep at 6pm or ,today actually i came home early,and he went to sleep at 2 pm,he's still slepping now ,i dunno,i feel something worng

 

[Julirs]

Try not to worry too much. As long as his poop looks good with white and brown parts, I would just turn a few crickets lose in his cage and let him hunt. One more thing-some are picky about cricket size. How long is he from head to vent?

 

[joefromtoronto]

hmm,i think about 4 inches,thatsw not including his tail right,lol,,ya i just figured id let him be,the more i worry the more stuff will happen,im just gonna relax and let him be,he'll pop out of his funk soon enough i hope,lol,but i will move his lamp a lil higher off his cage top