Poor little Jackson

[captkirk7]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Jackson chameleon, male, about 5 months old. I've had him for a week now.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I handle him about once or twice a day. Usual he'll climb onto my finger and get comfortable, so I don't think I'm stressing him out to much.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? The previous owner fed him mealworms but in my care he's only eaten crickets. I have no schedule yet, as I'm trying to watch his daily habits. Gut-loaded with Flukers calcium cricket food along with the Flukers cricket quencher.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? None at the moment, currently looking for desirable brands
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Home made irrigation system along with 4-5 daily mistings to raise humidity.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Brown and white, kind of thick (if thats a proper description). Never tested to my knowledge.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I'll admit, the P.O wasn't taking the greatest care of him; little to no foliage and a diet on mealworms.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen, 20x20x32in
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? ZooMed Repti Basking Spot Lamp 75 watt and Zoomed Daylight Bulb 100w. Lights on from 9am to 9pm.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Under basking light-about 80F, Bottom of the cage-70-75F. Have yet to measure night temps. Measured with a thermometer from Petsmart
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Not sure on the humidity levels, but I do mist regularly to keep humidity up
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Fake plants and vines with one live hibiscus
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Cage is located next to my desk near a window. Vents are closed, and a small amount of traffic. Cage sits about 32in about the floor.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Central Florida


Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Well the Chameleon seemed healthy and energetic when I first got him. He ate a couple crickets on Monday and 4 on Tuesday, but none since then. He actually hasn't eaten at all since. Before when I'd mist, he'd be all over the cage drinking the droplets, but now he'll just sit there and do nothing. He became lethargic over the past couple days and sleeps during the day. To hydrate him, I give him showers which he seems to love right now. He spend a lot of the time under the basking light, but sometimes he'll be 'leaning' and looking kind of weak. I'm not sure if he's just basking his side or actually growing weak. The grip is still pretty strong though. Any info and advice is greatly appreciated

 

[deadhd5]

Get a variety of feeders and gutload with fruits and veggies. Silkworms, superworms, roaches etc.. More foliage and vines would be good. He may just be on a hunger strike. Also maybe cut down the handling. Definitely get calcium powder without d3 immediately.

Edit: is he shedding? They're appetites sometimes decrease when shedding.

 

[captkirk7]

Get a variety of feeders and gutload with fruits and veggies. Silkworms, superworms, roaches etc.. More foliage and vines would be good. He may just be on a hunger strike. Also maybe cut down the handling. Definitely get calcium powder without d3 immediately.

Edit: is he shedding? They're appetites sometimes decrease when shedding.

What brand of calcium powder should I be looking for? I read that I should dust with D3 twice a month or something of the sort. He is shedding, and has been for quite a while actually. Also, I'm confused on lighting. How many/what kind of bulbs should I be using? On the daylight bulb I have, it says its full spectrum and the basking light says it provides UVA rays. Should I use both, or cut it down to a single bulb?

 

[deadhd5]

Repcal makes a calcium w/o d3..
http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-Calci...qid=1345343606&sr=8-1&keywords=repcal+calcium

Dust with a calcium w d3 once every 6 weeks. Jacksons are montane species who require less d3 and supplements in general. You should also use a vitimin powder like Herptavite every 6 weeks.

For lighting you need two fixtures. One basking and a UVB light, reccomend a Reptisun 5.0 linear tube. This is an urgent need for your chameleon. Jacksons need less heat, so make sure your basking spot is no hotter than 83 degrees.

 

[captkirk7]

So should I keep the Zoomed basking light and get rid of the daylight bulb I have? The Reptisun is quite expensive! hah But I'll run over to the store and grab one.
Thanks a lot for the help! Today he's looking better and enjoyed climbing around outside for a bit.

 

[Solid Snake]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Jackson chameleon, male, about 5 months old. I've had him for a week now.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I handle him about once or twice a day. Usual he'll climb onto my finger and get comfortable, so I don't think I'm stressing him out to much.You are. Dont handle the animal unless it is necessary. Letting them be, and going about their business is best. The reasoning behind this is that the animal should take care of itself for the most part, you jut want to concern yourself with providing him the opportunity to do so. Frequent handling, especially when the animal is "new to you" can put them off of taking care of themselves, which leads to issues. This is what is meant by "stress".
That said, its important to keep a close eye on him. Weekly inspections in which you handle the chameleon, and give him a thorough looking over is a good thing in my opinion.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? The previous owner fed him mealworms but in my care he's only eaten crickets. I have no schedule yet, as I'm trying to watch his daily habits. Gut-loaded with Flukers calcium cricket food along with the Flukers cricket quencher.Both of those products are rubbish. No good way to say that really. I highly recommend you stop using them.
There are many other products that you can use, that are appropriate, uch as Cricket Crack. This can be purchased through TikiTiki (a site sponsor) and they even carry a "Montane Mix" that would be good for your jackson. Orange slices can be used to hydrate the crickets, and are much easier to use, and healthier for the chameleon.
Just those two things wont be enough to keep your chameleon healthy though. Please look at sandrachameleon's blog on gutloading for how to best go about it on the whole. Also, you need to provide a regular variety of feeders, at least three would be best, and change up what you gutload with from time to time.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? None at the moment, currently looking for desirable brands
This is very important, and can be somewhat tricky for jacksons.
Ill leave a link at the end of this post with more info.



Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen, 20x20x32in
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? ZooMed Repti Basking Spot Lamp 75 watt and Zoomed Daylight Bulb 100w. Lights on from 9am to 9pm. Lighting should be a 5.0 reptisun linear tube, a 40-50w regular white household bulb for basking, and a 6500k is good for keeping plants healthy and thriving, but is not necessary.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Under basking light-about 80F, Bottom of the cage-70-75F. Have yet to measure night temps. Measured with a thermometer from PetsmartWhat type? The dial ones are rubbish, a digital is the way to go. A 100w light should be putting off WAY too much heat for a jackson. These animals should not encounter temps higher than 85F.


Location - Where are you geographically located? Central Florida
Get him outside as much as you can, you should be able to take him out at least early in the morning, and late evening. On cooler days, (under 85F) he can stay out more, but provide a heavy shaded area, as direct sunlight can heat objects (and chameleons) to extreme temps, even if its a "cooler" day. This will do him a ton of good.
Be sure to mist often if outside as well.

Slanting himself while basking is normal.

Him not eating much while shedding is normal.

Him sleeping in the day, is not normal, and generally a bad sign.

He may be over heated, or being blinded by your lighting. (Im unfamiliar with the products youre using, so cant be sure)

I would switch the lighting, and get some decent instrumentation with which to measure temp/RH with. ($20-30 at most any petshop)

Here are some links that you will find useful, I recommend going over them as much as possible.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/nutritional-information/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/hoj/634-montane-chameleon-care-info.html

 

[captkirk7]

I just went to the store and all they had were ReptiGlo 5.0 compact bulbs. I found a reptile shop about 40 minutes from me and according to reviews they are very ideal. Tomorrow I'll make a trip out there and see if I can get a linear bulb and return this one.
Will read and change how I gut load these crickets..It's a shame, PetSmart swore by this Flukers but I guess they don't really specialize in this kind of stuff. I also have Rep-Cal w/o D3 for dusting. Is that a quality dusting product?
Today he is looking much better and more active. He's currently watching the crickets at the bottom of the cage, so maybe he'll eat again!

 

[Solid Snake]

I just went to the store and all they had were ReptiGlo 5.0 compact bulbs. I found a reptile shop about 40 minutes from me and according to reviews they are very ideal. Tomorrow I'll make a trip out there and see if I can get a linear bulb and return this one.
Will read and change how I gut load these crickets..It's a shame, PetSmart swore by this Flukers but I guess they don't really specialize in this kind of stuff. I also have Rep-Cal w/o D3 for dusting. Is that a quality dusting product?

Yes, it is a shame. You are not the only one who has bought the product, and not the only person they have unknowingly mislead. So dont feel bad.

I use rep-cal for my plain cal.

Repti-Glo tubes are fine too. Reptisun is better though.

I have used both with no issues. Some people use the compacts with no issues, however I think the larger coverage area you get from a tube is worth the money/effort. By far.

For more detailed supplementation info, read Hoj's blog that I linked above.

Keep in mind that you want to dust EXTREMELY lightly.

I add small amounts of supplement to a jar of feeders, until they all have a little on them, but not so much that there is any supplement left over in the jar. A few of the larger chunks yes, but if there is leftover fine powder in the jar, your dusting too much.

I dust most feeders with at least a little plain cal. except for maybe two days out of the week.

Cal. is important because you need an appropriate balance of phos. and cal. for the cal. to be absorbed and used properly by the animal.
We add the supplement to balance this out, as most feeders are basically the opposite of an appropriate ratio.
Supplements are just that, supplemental. Most of the animals nutrition should be coming from the gutload.

 

[Psychobunny]

Your second pic looks very strange.
I'm sure its your camera and the lighting, but your cham looks like a kid's clay figure (esp his head)

 

[Solid Snake]

Could you share photos of the entire setup?

 

[captkirk7]

Heres the only picture I have for now

I plan on getting a larger plant for him to climb around on. For now, he has a couple vines he walks on. Also, I have a feeder bowl set up and he knows there crickets in there, but won't do attempt to eat them. Sometimes he'll go right up to it and just watch then walk away. Is he just lacking an appetite right now?

 

[Solid Snake]

Just hanging a few pothos in there would be good, or adding a large ficus or hibiscus yes.

When shedding, the appetite will go down yes.

Also though, if they see alot of feeders in the cup, it seems to make some chameleons nervous. Try having just one or two in there at a time and see how it goes.

Give him lots of rainstorms while hes shedding, it will help out alot.

 

[captkirk7]

Thanks a lot for the help!!
I bought some stuff from the health foods store to gutload the crickets too. Besides him not eating, everything else seems to be good. He's much more active now and just looks better overall
again, thanks a bunch

 

[Psychobunny]

Snake is right about the water, jacksons need lots of it
The rain water does not bead off their skin like veiled chams, they get wet and they like it if its warm water (not hot!).
I have found that warm water showers is a good way to get them to drink if they are being stuborn

They also need high RH. I use a humidifier with the nozzle mist going right into the screen cage. My guy loves it, and sleeps in the mist all night

In the morning, he lumbers up to his basking spot

 

[captkirk7]

I think I'm going to take him to a herp vet tomorrow. He drank a lot of water earlier today and seemed happy. But now he's just sitting with his eyes closed again and seems lazy. Still won't eat at all, just watches the crickets. Should I leave the feeder bowl in his cage? Or is he bored of it? I plan on buying more variety of foods tomorrow