restless cham

annabelle

annabelle

New Member
hi,
my veiled has started acting very restless, he keeps going to the floor of his enclosure and starts scraping at the bark on the bottom he also comes to the door wanting out. He gets out into the garden at least 3 times a day. Is this behaviour normal or am i missing something, he seems fine in every other respect. Appreciate any help. Thanks
 
Before someone starts telling you that she's trying to lay her eggs...
If you're not 100% sure of the sex ID -post a pict ....

Maybe you might want to leave the cages door open for a tad
and watch where he wants to go?

Usually they keep and eye on their target
and so you can usually figure out what's going on
in the pea brain sized minds they've got.
if you watch their body and color language as they leave the cage
you can get a good idea about what they're thinking.

One of my favorite panthers is what I call "a runner"
he's always trying to get out only to end up "talking smack"
when he displays to one of the other caged males in the house.
If I don't let him out to run around and keep him in him cage
I've noticed he gets (what I view as) "depressed" and very listless.

What seem to work for me best is when I place afflicted animal upon
one of my fake office trees and let them spend some time in there where they generally stay put.
by dinner time they're usually ready & happy to go back into the cage to warm up again.
 
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Howdy!

How old is this cham?

Just to clear up the male/female thing, when you look at the back feet, do you see any spirs? They look like very small extra growths at the heel of the foot.

Also, you said he/she was digging in bark? I would recommend you get rid of any substrate in the cage. Chams can get compacted if they accidentally eat some of that it is not recommended for them to have any.
 
resltless cham

So you have checked to see if he has spurs right? That actually happened to me with my first female cham i got. She was pregnant and laid 22 eggs, but it took me 3 days and finally my husband figured it out. If you are sure it is a male i would say it is probably too hot, did you check the temp? I do have a male veil that absolutely loves to climb out of his cage and sit on top of it. Don't know why but wheneve i have him out and try putting him back it he makes a grab for the outside of the cage. He will sit happily on the top of his cage all day, it is by the window so he looks outside, and his cage is 40 x 36 x 66. The back of his screen cage i have covered to make sure he didn't get a breeze and stuff.
 
re-restless cham

hi,thanks for your answers here is some pics of tarzan i've tried to identify whether he's a she or not but am still unsure. I do have a sand box in the enclosure and have had for a while buthe shows little interest in it other than to occassionally taste it! Am attatching some pics please help, thanks.

DSC01126.jpg

DSC01128.jpg
 
i think thats a she, but not possitive. i think the spur would be on the other side of the top picture and could not tell on the second.
 
re-restless cham

hi, thanks for the response. I've checked again and there is definately no spur likethe one in your picture. Now my dilema is what do i do next, would it be that my sand box is not big enough? it's 8x5 inches and the sand is 3 inches deep.
 
re-restless cham

hi, done some reading, obviously sand box was too small so i've rectified that however when i put her in she just keeps trying to get out, WHAT am i doing WRONG!:confused: i've been reading the article Management of Egg-laying Fatigue in a Female Veiled Chameleon
by Marc H. Kramer, DVM. It makes me nervous.!!!
MY cham started behaving restless, digging etc. about a week ago, when should she lay her eggs, and how long can i leave her in the sand box at any one time. Doi need to have a light and basking lamp in situ over the sand and should i provide cover,ie. branches leaves etc? thanks.
 
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just leave the sand box at the bottom, have it a little moist to make it easier to dig. only thing that doesnt get me is that she is not showing gravid coloration. you might want to check with someone else because i know very little about females. also how old is she? her age could tell you if she is going to lay her first clutch of eggs. again check with someone who is familiar with female chameleons. good luck!
 
From what I can see she is def a she, and also she doesnt really look "BIG" yet, April gets huge before a clutch.... I pm'ed you teh suggestion of the trash can enclosure, you may wanna try that...
 
re-restless cham

hi, asyou suggested ren i have some more pics, hope these give you a better idea of my setup. Thanks for the help. When making the trash can setup what exactly do i need, does it have to have lighting etc?
DSC01134.jpg

[
DSC01129.jpg

DSC01136.jpg
 
the only comment i would have to say is to get a bigger cage. that maybe why she was walking on the bottom of the cage. what are those 2 things at the top of the cage? basking, uvb lights, or mist system? you also dont want to sand on the floor, but in some form of a container, so when she does lay eggs they are easy to find, and throw away.
 
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Chameleons look for a basking spot based on visible light. The ceramic heat spot won't get their attention, plus she may try and climb on it and that would cause a LOT of damage to her feet from the heat. I would ditch the ceramic heater and get a heat bulb that is in a reflective dome and have it outside the cage pointing in.

That amount of sand may not be deep enough. You should possibly get a trash can and be sure there is 10-12" of sand. Do a search for what kind of setup you should have. Do this today.
 
I've heard that females will still lay a clutch of eggs even though they are not fertilized. Would a female veiled still show gravid colours if she hadn't mated?

Also you may want to make the digging substrate a bit deeper. I've heard they like 8 - 12" to dig in and as someone else mentioned it does need to be moist so it doesn't collapse in on her while she's digging.

GOOD LUCK!!

Dyesub Dave. :D
 
Chameleontario said:
Are you sure your HE isn't a SHE? Sounds as if the chameleon is looking for a spot to lay eggs. Or it's possible the enclosure is too hot for him and he's looking for somewhere cooler.
Click to expand...

Looks to me as my first guess was right... I figured He was a She from the description.
 
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She looks to be in decent health....a very pretty girl.
However, I don't like her enclosure and set-up at all.
Everything electrical should live on the outside of the enclosure and that ceramic heater is not only unnecessary but (as previously mentioned) potentially very dangerous.
Veileds need a temp drop at night (down to 65 degrees f. even 60 degrees is okay) and a basking spot to warm up in during the day (up to 90-95 degrees for an adult animal). And temps down to the lower 70's in cooler parts of the enclosure to allow the animal to thermoregulate. (20 to 25 degree differences in temps is (I imagine) hard to achieve in her current set-up)
Ventilation is of extreme importance for these animals as well....I prefer all screen enclosures.
There is definetely not enough space for her in that exo-terra terrarium.
She needs at least 3 feet of vertical space and at least 18 inches of width and depth.
I will leave it to others to talk about egg-laying requirements.
I suspect a degree of restlessness is due to her inadequate environment.

-Brad
 
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