Sleeping, dehydration, etc!

[yogurt mittens]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled cham, ~9 weeks old, in my care for 4 weeks.
Handling - weekly for cleaning his enclosure but minimally
Feeding - pinhead crickets
Supplements - calcium most feedings and calcium w/D3 once a week
Watering - Misting 2-3x day and dripper going for most of day, though I am concerned I haven't seen him drinking.
Fecal Description - clear/solid white consistently. Never tested for parasites.
History -

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screened enclosure 18x18x36'
Lighting - 12 hours on/off 60w basking and 5.0 Reptisun
Temperature - 85' at basking, 75 middle area 70 in lower.
Humidity - 65-80% (when misted)
Plants - Live ficus and a small fake leafy vine for basking area and another for dripper to drip onto
Placement - Just moved it away from near the window a few days ago because it's getting chilly, it's about 3 feet off the floor and as far from any vents or windows as possible
Location - Pacific Northwest, USA

Current Problem - A few things I am concerned about as a first time owner - 1. small white deposit on one nostril (see photo). I have heard conflicting things about this and want more input.
2. dehydration? I have no sure reason to believe this but I haven't seen him have any water recently and not sure how to really tell other than seeing him drink. Does he look dehydrated?
3. Sleeping - his light goes off at 8pm and on at 8am. The last 3-4 days he has been ready for sleep progressively earlier. Today he was in his sleeping spot by 630. Not sleeping just clearly ready for sleep - figured he probably would be sleeping if the light had been off.

Sorry the picture is sideways I have no idea why that is!

Thank you

 

[sharp229]

Welcome to the forums! Your husbandry looks spot on for the most part, the one small tweak I would make is dusting with plain calcium every feeding, calcium with D3 twice a month, and multivitamin twice a month.

As for the questions,

1. The white deposit is 100% normal. Veiled chameleons expel excess salts through their nostrils to conserve water, and it is not abnormal to see even larger deposits than that.

2. He is not dehydrated in that picture. One common sign of dehydration is sunken eyes, and that is not the case. Also their excrement contains two parts, the feces and the urates. The white you are seeing is the urates, and if it is white and not yellow/orange he is not dehydrated. The feces should be solid and black/brown.

3. It is not unusual for them to go to their sleeping spot well before the lights go out. I would say up to two hours before is normal, and if his eyes are open at that point it is definitely not a problem. One thing you could check is that it is dark for him at night when he is sleeping, and that lights from the room are not keeping him awake. If they are it could make him tired more early.

By the way, he was sold to you far too young, they should generally not be sold before 3 months old. But in this case you seem to have been doing a very good job and he looks very healthy.

 

[yogurt mittens]

Thanks so much for the info, you've put my mind at ease. It's possible it wasn't dark enough for him lately so I've fixed that. I will tweak my supplements also. Thank you again!

 

[shawn_melanson]

Yeah my little panther goes to bed about a hour early each day

 

[cass737]

You've been given good advice. He looks good - and adorable

I have a little Panther and he too snuggles up to his favourite leafy spot about an hour before bed time