She sleeps in my hand and I should be worried?

ADotsalot

Member
Two months ago I started letting my veiled chameleon, Dot, free roam in my room 24/7. I've had her for over a year now and started to notice she was very dark in color whenever she was in her cage, even if I wasn't in the room. I'd take a quick peek through the door and she would have dark stripes instead of her beautiful lime green color. So I decided to give her more space and it worked very well. In turn she has gotten more used to me and now doesn't even care if I'm near hear. I can now handle her as well. Sometimes when it's time for bed. I'll pick her up from wherever she is to place her on her plant to sleep. But for the past few days. She falls asleep in my hand before I even get over to it. I read it could be stress but she doesn't do this during the day. I decided to let her sleep on my hand for a bit one day while I watched tv. But here's the main issue... now she takes much longer to sleep when I set her down in the plant. The room can be pitch black and 30 min later she could still be awake. (This doesn't happen every single night) when I put her back in my hand; right to sleep she goes. Even though I do love how cute she looks when she sleeps I want to figure out this problem. Any help you can give me will be great.
 
Free roam your room 24/7? Your cham is likely not receiving adequate water, uvb, heat, etc. Unless I'm misunderstanding. Please read the stickies and fill out the care form, it sounds like some husbandry issues need addressed.
 
Free roam your room 24/7? Your cham is likely not receiving adequate water, uvb, heat, etc. Unless I'm misunderstanding. Please read the stickies and fill out the care form, it sounds like some husbandry issues need addressed.

I'm terrible sorry for this misunderstanding. What I mean by that is she is able to leave her plant and explore the room whenever she wants. Whenever I mist her plant she'll come down (she usually climbs the curtains) and drink a lot of water from what I can see as I'm in the room 80% of the day.
She sticks close to her plant which has a heat and a uvb light. She climbs around the curtains for a bit then goes back to her plant and climbs around there. I feed her crickets as well as some fruits and veggies from time to time. (Mostly fruits) I know it's different and I hate that it sounds like I'm mistreating her but as I said both her mood and health have improved since I've done this. Back when she was only in her cage she would sit in the exact same spot all day. She wouldn't move an inch and she was very dark in color. What I'm trying to figure out mostly as I haven't been very clear (sorry...) is; "is it always a bad thing for her to sleep in my hand?" And "how did me doing this make it harder for her to sleep when she's not in my hand? And how do I change that?" Also what are stickies :(
 
Your hand could be warmer than the plant, making it more comfortable? My guys tend to sleep on me if it's dark, I always feel bad putting them back. Your baby could just be wondering what you're doing when you stay still for so long
 
No one is going to, or even be able to help you until you fill out the sticky. I don't mean to be rude, but you need to change a lot of things by the sound of it. Chams aren't dogs. Your chameleon should not be sleeping in your hand every night. At this rate he/she probably won't live that long. I'd be more than happy to help where I can and there are much more experienced people here than me that will help, but you NEED to fill out the help form and apply advice given. If that is too much, then you are probably in over your head with animal.
 
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