Shivering/trembling Chameleon?

Twunkles

Twunkles

New Member
I'm a little confused here, but I may have already got the answers I need, I just want to be sure. My chameleon has only been doing this for about a week now, and I thought it was normal until I looked it up. He started doing this little tremble or shiver thing whenever I open his cage to put food in. He's not scared or anything, in fact he usually loves coming out of his cage daily to crawl around my room and explore (I keep a very close eye on him). I just read however that spinach is not a good diet for him and he's really only been eating thay for less than a month. I stopped giving him that immediately hoping thay will solve the problem, but any other pointers would be helpful as well
 
Please fill out this form to better understand what could be happening. Be sure to include pictures of you chameleon and full set-up.

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • 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?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
 
Is it his whole body, or just his head?
male chameleons bob their head when they are trying to attract a mate.
Is it anything like this?
 
Twunkles said:
I'm a little confused here, but I may have already got the answers I need, I just want to be sure. My chameleon has only been doing this for about a week now, and I thought it was normal until I looked it up. He started doing this little tremble or shiver thing whenever I open his cage to put food in. He's not scared or anything, in fact he usually loves coming out of his cage daily to crawl around my room and explore (I keep a very close eye on him). I just read however that spinach is not a good diet for him and he's really only been eating thay for less than a month. I stopped giving him that immediately hoping thay will solve the problem, but any other pointers would be helpful as well
Click to expand...
Post a vid.
 
zigzagzug said:
Is it his whole body, or just his head?
male chameleons bob their head when they are trying to attract a mate.
Is it anything like this?
Click to expand...

Gingero said:
Please fill out this form to better understand what could be happening. Be sure to include pictures of you chameleon and full set-up.

Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • 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?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
Click to expand...
-Vieled, male, about 8 months old, been in my care for about 4 months
-I handle him every now and then. Not long, maybe about 10 min a day, let him roam around
-Gut-loading my crickets every time I feed him. Feed him every day at least twice. I leave arugala and kale now in his cage (used to have spinach as well)
-Calcium with D3, dusted the last series of crickets I gave him, a thought I wonder if it is possible to feed too much calcium because he ate a lot of calcium dusted crickets
-I misted at least twice a day for about 5 min each
-Poop looks normal and good.
-No previous history that I know of
-Cage is very large, plenty of room, screened in the back at the top to allow a lot of ventilation
-I have UVB and hear bulb both at the top of the cage, and I have been told before that the brands and wattage of the bulbs are great for my cage
-Basking spot is around 85-87 degrees while cage floor can be around 72-75 (I havent measure all the bottom part of the cage) However, I put a couple more sticks in recently that are closer to the heat lamp because I heard basking temp should normally be higher, have to measure the new area yet
-No live plants, one dead bamboo tree that he uses for climbing he doesnt eat the leaves
-The cage is located in the corner of my room away from windows and vents
-I live in South Georgia
 
Here is my cage, it is a cabinet that I cleaned up and used polyurethane to seal it so I could safely mist the inside of the cage every day
 

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Twunkles said:
Here is my cage, it is a cabinet that I cleaned up and used polyurethane to seal it so I could safely mist the inside of the cage every day
Click to expand...
Most of your set up needs to change. Let’s start with gutload and supplements. You need a real gutload, try cricket crack or bug burger both available on Amazon. She should be getting calcium dust without D3 at every feeding. Also should be dusting with calcium with D3 twice a month. She also needs a multivitamin twice a month.
Either of these failures can cause tremors in later stages. A D3 overdose could also cause tremors.
 
Can you please describe the last poop? Just saying “good” doesn’t tell us much.

Your entire cage has to go. Way too small for an adult veiled.

If the two domes are your only source of UVB I guarantee he is in the early stages of MBD. He needs a T5 6% at minimum, 12% would be preferable. But honestly I don’t know how you’d give him that due to the cage he’s in, another reason to swap it.
 
Can he physically climb past that screen the light is sitting on? Looks like it and is definitely a burn hazard.

Basking temp is acceptable but could be higher.

How are you measuring humidity? He’s a veiled so he doesn’t need a ton of humidity but live plants help to keep humidity balanced...
 
The poop was normal, no dehydration, no strange lumps, he cannot climb past the light. And he's been living great, amazingly, swimmingly, up until I started giving him spinach and possible too much D3 supplements. I've been told before that with the bulbs I have he should be just fine. What makes you think they aren't? I dont mean to say that rudely just trying to get your understanding.
 
I'm not going to swap the cage, I've been told that it would be good for him. The last cage I had I know was too small but this one is much larger. Lots of room on the inside
 
And this isn't a problem right now, but another question from what you mentioned briefly, is it possible for chameleons to eat too much? You said only 5-6 crickets or Dubias a day?
 
Twunkles said:
The poop was normal, no dehydration, no strange lumps, he cannot climb past the light. And he's been living great, amazingly, swimmingly, up until I started giving him spinach and possible too much D3 supplements. I've been told before that with the bulbs I have he should be just fine. What makes you think they aren't? I dont mean to say that rudely just trying to get your understanding.
Click to expand...
 

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Head shiver could be due to stress. My male veiled will do this if I linger in or around his cage too long while cleaning. I wouldn't let him roam your room. Make a nice free-range area he can climb and hang out in if you want to give him time outside the cage.

I also agree with what Brodybreaux25 has mentioned so far. Just re-read your help form and totally agree with Brody that too much D3 could be the cause. Getting proper plain calcium and a multivitamin along with better lighting will do wonders for your cham in the long run.
 
Brodybreaux25 said:
Your call, I’m not going to beg you to change it, my opinion. However the lighting upgrades I mentioned are mandatory, your going to kill him with what you have.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
Click to expand...

I thank you for your input about the lighting upgrades, and thank everyone else for pointing out the calcium supplements. I did not realize that there was a maximum intake for the calcium D3 supplement and will now look for calcium without it (along with other gut loads and mulitvitamins) I do believe it would be good that in the near future to get a better UVB bulb that can penetrate all the way down to the cage. Was that your main concern? The depth of the UVB rays? However, this website itself says that compact UVB bulbs are safe to use up to a certain depth, which my bulb states that it would reach well past his basking spot. I'm just wondering who is right here. I want the best care I can provide for Pascal, but I also dont want to waste money if I dont have to.
 
The linear bulbs cover a larger area so he doesn't have to sit in one small spot to get uvb. He can roam in his enclosure toward the top (where they usually like to hang out unless it's too warm.) And still be absorbing the uvb rays he needs. The compact bulbs are not an efficient source.
 
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