Hi everyone, Im new to this forum and last sunday I purchased my first Chameleon, and Ambilobe Red Bar Panther Male, 10 months old. Now I work at the Reptile store I bought it from, and while I cared for him there he ate like a Champ for 2 months. Ate anything from Goliaths, to Butters, Crickets and Pinkies, didnt care if he had to hunt or take from the tongs with or without using his tongue. Now since He came home Sunday hes eaten once (on Sunday, 1 male Dubia and 4 Super worms, its worth noting that when he shot his tongue for the super the super did NOT stick to his tongue so I fed him the insects by placing them infront of his face) and defecated twice, on Tuesday and Today they were very LARGE defecations. Now he is temporarily in a glass aquarium that is only 16"high (its a 33 gallon, Ill provide pics later) He is being heated with a Solar glow bulb, 1 inch away from the bulb reads 93F, at 8 Inches its 80F and the ambient is about 77-79 F. I know that 93 is a bit hot but this is all temperary as my XL ReptiBreeze (24 x 24 x 48) Should arrive tomorrow. as for Humidity he is getting misted heaviuly for 1 minute atleast once per day and I do see that he is drinking. Something else to note is that today he was biting and "licking"the glass this morning, I assumed he was hungry, but He has refused butters and supers yet again today, wether by tongs or if i leave them in a 5 inch deep kritter keeper in his cage. Also whenever I open his screen lid he tries to dart out. What Im thinking is the cage is simply too short and he has not enough room to climb and this is stressing him, but that it'll be resolved as sooin as I get the larger cage tomorrow, But This is my first Cham so Id like all of your expert opinions just to be on the safe side, thank you!
Reason for Worry?
- Thread starter PDDM
- Start date
Syn
Avid Member
One, he is probably extremely stressed out from the move, being able to see his reflection in the glass doesn't help at all.
Secondly, 93 is too warm, Mid to High 80s would be much better for him, he is probably getting dehydrated much more quickly with such high heat.
Lastly, where is your UVB? The solar glow?
Secondly, 93 is too warm, Mid to High 80s would be much better for him, he is probably getting dehydrated much more quickly with such high heat.
Lastly, where is your UVB? The solar glow?
naich
New Member
gt him in that cage asap...keep him at 85 degress when basking and the ambiet should be 68 to 75...not in the high 70's...he shounds like he may be over heating in that small encloser made of glass(glass trapes heat in well)
try misting him 3 to four times a day for 5 mins each to get him hydrated...tomorrow when the cage is up post pictures and fill out the how to ask for help form..its in the health clinic section.
try misting him 3 to four times a day for 5 mins each to get him hydrated...tomorrow when the cage is up post pictures and fill out the how to ask for help form..its in the health clinic section.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Its not uncommon to have a stress reaction - like not eating - from a changed environment. Give it a few days. Also, at 10 months, he should start eating less than he did when younger and growing more rapidly. I too would reduce the heat (raise the bulb up). Aim for 88F being a good basking temp, 80F mid cage and 75 at the cool end. That's daytime. Cooler at night of course. As low as 65F but not colder. Biting and licking the glass could be that he sees a reflection, sees water spots (is thirsty), sees a plant or something else attractive elsewhere in the room he'd like to get to.... Try taping a piece of paper on the glass, see if that changes anything.
Billy Quan
New Member
If you use paper, tape it to the inside, taping paper to the out side will make the glass more reflective from the chams POV!!
Sorry guys I missed out on giving a lot of information as I wrote an entire wall of text describing every detail and point about him since he came into the store, it took me half an hour to write and then i hit post, and apparently I wasnt logged in and I forgot to copy it, so I lost everything I put. His UVB is a Repti-Glo 5.0, I heard Repti-Sun 5.0 was recommended but that the Repti-Glo 5.0 was sufficient. Its a 15" long bulb, I heard the compact ones caused conjuctivitus. Yes I have things for him to climb on... I have pictures, He was housed for the last 3 months in Glass so I did not figure that it was such a huge issue for him but yes hes going into that Repti-Breeze cage tomorrow, the Solar Glo im using is the one without UVB, green box exo-terra, Im going to now change for a 75 watt Heat Glo, Check it out if not I have another 50 WAtt. I read that a dripper wasnt nesciscary if you mist the chameleon heavily for around 4 minutes a day, but I will buy one if its needed.
Well this is a bit interesting as the place he was biting at in the aquarium is the place where I left the package of the bulb infront of it...the box has a Male Panther on it. So I think that might solve that mystery...
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Sometimes if you hit "back" on the browser window you can get back to what you wrote, when you can then copy the text. Also usually if you log in after having written the text, it will not loose the info typed.
Yep, that's fine. And there's nothing like glass or plastic between the bulb and the chameleon, right?
Glass is not necessarily a/the problem.
If you mist heavily for several minutes several times a day, that's fine. I find however a dripper is very much appreciated by my chameleons, is more effecient at getting them drinking well, and is easier in terms of clean-up /drainage since you can somewhat "aim" the unused dripps. Drippers are easy to make: https://www.chameleonforums.com/drippers-19143/#post177210
Oh believe me, I hit back, all I got was that I needed to log in, then I logged in and tried hitting back, no avail, threw my hat at the wall.
Yea theres nothing blocking the uvb lighting from the chameleon, I know how it works. Lasly, he is in a room with a few arboreal snakes, now I keep them all in Opaque tubs but there is my breeding pair of ATBs about a foot away from him, he does not seem to mind as he is often on that side of the cage, should he be moved? I have about 20 reptiles in the room with him, is it a must that he be isolated from everyone else?
As for the dripper, Ill pick the zoomed one up tomorrow as we carry them at my store so its no problem there.
Yea theres nothing blocking the uvb lighting from the chameleon, I know how it works. Lasly, he is in a room with a few arboreal snakes, now I keep them all in Opaque tubs but there is my breeding pair of ATBs about a foot away from him, he does not seem to mind as he is often on that side of the cage, should he be moved? I have about 20 reptiles in the room with him, is it a must that he be isolated from everyone else?
As for the dripper, Ill pick the zoomed one up tomorrow as we carry them at my store so its no problem there.
Chameleon Company
Avid Member
Have to go with Sandra on all of this ...
Sometimes changing cages will enormously stress one chameleon, while another might think it no big deal. I have seen chameleons go off feed with a cage change, then go back on feed once returned to their original cage. You have a new large cage coming, and hopefully you will see improvement with it. Also, as noted, a sustained drip is far better than a spray. If you can manage it with the aquarium, which does not favor a drip, I would try to get it done. Drips enable a chameleon to go to one spot and get its fill. Sprays require moving around, hoping to consume enough before evaporation eliminates the opportunity. Good luck.
Sometimes changing cages will enormously stress one chameleon, while another might think it no big deal. I have seen chameleons go off feed with a cage change, then go back on feed once returned to their original cage. You have a new large cage coming, and hopefully you will see improvement with it. Also, as noted, a sustained drip is far better than a spray. If you can manage it with the aquarium, which does not favor a drip, I would try to get it done. Drips enable a chameleon to go to one spot and get its fill. Sprays require moving around, hoping to consume enough before evaporation eliminates the opportunity. Good luck.
He did have the dripper while at the store, at the store he was in a 3.5' x 3.5' x 4.5' glass cage (mesh screen ontop, and he did have a dripper going, 9am til 5pm (or 9pm) usually we place a large water bowl in his cage to catch the falling drops, so the whole dripper deal is fine with me, now that I know it is the preffered method I will definitly pick one up.
As for being in a reptile room, is that alright? Here are the pictures by the way:
bad lighting I know, Aquariums are crap, especially when you have to remove the two lighting fixtures and take off the lid to get in the cage..ugh.
As for being in a reptile room, is that alright? Here are the pictures by the way:
bad lighting I know, Aquariums are crap, especially when you have to remove the two lighting fixtures and take off the lid to get in the cage..ugh.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Having snakes that he cant much see in the same room is no problem at all.
I have frogs and hermit crabs in my "chameleon room". So long as there are not stress signals, and they're not cohabitating in the same enclosure, you're good.
I have frogs and hermit crabs in my "chameleon room". So long as there are not stress signals, and they're not cohabitating in the same enclosure, you're good.
xanthoman
Avid Member
/Thats why, when ever a post includes "i just puchased my first cham", it is always a source of worry i would suggest an exagerated learning effort until you know how to take care of him properly, it is so much easier to keep them healthy , than it is to rehabilitate them
Im curious as to know why you think I do not know to take care of a Chameleon, I may not be an expert by any means and may be a noob, but I can assure you Ive read multiple caresheets, and where youre getting this rehabilitating thing from? The Chameleon when bought was perfectly healthy, I can assure you he was eating shedding and pooping just fine I mean I was around him 40 hours a week for the last two + months. Hes not unhealthy he is stressed from the move and from being in a cage, I think we established that in this thread and all the errors will have been all corected by tomorrow, Ill admit I effed up on the heating (even though I mimiced the temps he was at when he was at our store when he was eating 10 food items 5 days a week) but other than that I wasnt really told anything here that I didnt already know or read up on. Im a worrier so I came to this forum and posted, just incase I missed something, Ive gotten a bunch of opinions on the misting vs dripper thing, in my OP I said the Repti-Breeze would be in on Thursday. Ill admit a mistake on my part by the heating. By the way the red Heatbulb is giving me 88.5 and the cold side reads 75.3, In the night/morning though (living in Canada) it does go to 66.
Also as of 8pm eastern I noticed white specks on him, and hes just about finished shedding his skin, could this have also been why he was not eating?
xanthoman
Avid Member
relax, my only point was , known issues need to be addressed as soon as practical and it looks like you are doing that quite nicely, many begginers are aware of what changes they should make, but dont take things seriously (because their cham looks fine) until it becomes a health issue, as for non eating , chams are finicky , and short term non eating is not neccessarily a cause for alarm. as for white specks , any thing of a speck nature (in my opinion) should always be investigated further , it might not be a bad idea to look at them closer if you have a high power viewer available. (just to verify that it is shedding residual). it sounds as though you are fairly pro-active in addressing your chams issues, most beginners are not pro-active enough
Sorry if I came off sounding deffensive, Ive been on many forums and I know what youre talking about (about being aware of thechanges that need to be made etc), the last thing I wanted to come off as was someone that doesnt care about the animal or someone that didnt do the research involved.
