sleepy cham

[Buckeye238]

Chameleon-Mojo!
Chameleon Info: Ive had my blue bar ambilobe male about 4-5 months old
Handling - once a week
Feeding - I drop 5-10 powdered crickets a day. He also gets a small wax worm most mornings to get a little weight on him
Supplements - calcium powder w/ and w/o d3 and multivitamin
Watering - I use a drip system with a few mists a day.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16x16x20 mesh cage
Lighting - I have a uvb light on a timer during the day with an ultraviolet heat lamp on top of the cage all day.
Temperature - Stays around 65-80 degrees
Plants - golden pothos and a zebra plant along with fake vines with leaves wrapped around and pieces gnarled wood
Placement - On top of a desk about 3 feet off of the ground with no fans on it.
Location - Marietta, Georgia



Mojo seems to be 'napping' much more often. it seems to be only in darker areas but i occasionally catch him faced up towards the light as if he is trying to catch some sun. his lights are set to turn off at 9pm and on at 9 am. is it healthy for him to sleeping this much as a young cham?

 

[carol5208]

no it isn't. A sleeping chameleon during the day is usually a sign of illness. You say you are keeping the basking light on all day? Do you mean night as well? If so, you need to turn that off when your UVB light goes off. Also what are you using for your basking light? What type of UVB light are you using?

 

[camimom]

Chameleon-Mojo!
Chameleon Info: Ive had my blue bar ambilobe male about 4-5 months old
Handling - once a week
Feeding - I drop 5-10 powdered crickets a day. He also gets a small wax worm most mornings to get a little weight on him
Supplements - calcium powder w/ and w/o d3 and multivitamin How often are you using these per feeding?
Watering - I use a drip system with a few mists a day.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16x16x20 mesh cage
Lighting - I have a uvb light on a timer during the day with an ultraviolet heat lamp on top of the cage all day. What is the strength of your uvb and your basking light? what brands are they?
Temperature - Stays around 65-80 degrees
Plants - golden pothos and a zebra plant along with fake vines with leaves wrapped around and pieces gnarled wood
Placement - On top of a desk about 3 feet off of the ground with no fans on it.
Location - Marietta, Georgia



Mojo seems to be 'napping' much more often. it seems to be only in darker areas but i occasionally catch him faced up towards the light as if he is trying to catch some sun. his lights are set to turn off at 9pm and on at 9 am. is it healthy for him to sleeping this much as a young cham?

Chams dont nap during the day. Its possible his lights are too strong and he is just closing his eyes to stop the hurting.

 

[Buckeye238]

there is one 'Deep Blue' 24W drylight 10KK and one 'Corallife' 6700K 24W. I keep those one for 12 hours during the day and his heat lamp is on 24/7. It is my brothers old fish tank light set up.

 

[camimom]

there are two 'Deep Blue' 24W drylight 10KK. i keep those one for 12 hours during the day and his heat lamp is on 24/7

If your heat lamp is emitting light, then turn it off. chams like a 10-15 degree temp drop at night, and need total darkness to sleep. if you mess with your sleep schedule, you might sleep during the day too!

 

[Buckeye238]

the heat lamp it directly on the side of his cage on his favorite plant. it has one of those deep purple lights. thinks its too hot? and is two 24w bulbs too bright for him?

 

[carol5208]

you are using the incorrect lighting!!!! This is what you need to get: A Reptisun 5.0 tube light, not the compact. A 40-60 watt white ordinary housebulb that can be screwed into a dome for basking. You want your basking temp to be in the lower 80 range. Those lights are most likely hurting his eyes. Leave on the basking, turn off the other lights and get your chamleon outside tomorrow in the sun! Do not leave him unattended. If you can move the cage outside, great. You cannot use fish lights for chameleons! They need UVB! Also, turn off the heat light as other member suggested! You should see improvements. He is probably not sick, but having bad effects from your lights!

 

[Buckeye238]

well thats embarrassing. first cham...learning as i go thank you for all of the help now. now i am off to the pet store to get some new lights!

 

[Buckeye238]

My timer for my lights has two plugs. should i use a 40-60w regular house light for his heat lamp and keep it on the same schedule as my other lights???

 

[carol5208]

yes, coincide your basking with your uvb light. 12 on 12 off. Try different wattages to get the basking temp down around 80. That little guy looks alot younger than 4 or 5 months. Either that or he has not been growing. how long have you had him? if you cannot get the reptisun, get a reptiglo

 

[Buckeye238]

ive had him since june 20th. he couldnt have been more than 2 months when i got him. i guess hes much younger lol ive been working on his cage and what not so often i guess it felt like more time. what watts would you recommend for basking and uvb??

 

[carol5208]

for basking I said try 40 watt. You want your basking around 80. Your UVB should be a 5.0 linear tube, either the Reptisun or Reptiglo brand

 

[Buckeye238]

what watts for those?

 

[carol5208]

just get the one that says 5.0 on the box. you have to get it to fit your hood though. You may have to get a new hood. I don't know if the one you have will work.

 

[fowlers]

doesnt matter what watts, your tube needs to be as long as the vivarium, over here in the uk they are sold by length, eg, 24", 30", 36" etc.

the tube needs to be placed above the vivarium, best to place it near the basking spot so as he is basking for heat he is also recieving the uv from the tube. eg if your viv is 2foot long then you need the 2foot bulb to sit above the viv.


your cham is closing his eyes because he has been kept under lights that are not allowing him to absort the uv rays, because fishtank bulbs do not produce vitamin D3, it also depends on how much you have been supplementing him, too many vitamins are not good.

you can supplement with calcium as much as you like but if the cham cannot get acces to vitamin D3 then the calcium wont be absorbed and used by the body.

this was a common problem when people began keeping chams.

just make sure the bulb you purchase is a linear tube and not a CFL compact light as these have also been blamed for causeing problems with chams eyes

also natural sunlight can do wonders for chameleons, just make sure their well hydrated and have shady areas to get away from the sun, mesh vivs are great for this, if im sitting in the garden and its sunny i have 3foot tall fake plants that i get out for the chams and get a few chams out at the same time.

rob

 

[CBPanther]

Is it normal for a 3month old to want to take an afternoon nap around 4:00Pm. Lights on 9am - 9pm.

 

[fowlers]

if the cham is closing their eyes during the day then there is something wrong. read through this thread to see whats been said about closed eyes.

rob

 

[fowlers]

there is one 'Deep Blue' 24W drylight 10KK and one 'Corallife' 6700K 24W. I keep those one for 12 hours during the day and his heat lamp is on 24/7. It is my brothers old fish tank light set up.

are you keeping this cham in a fish tank? who told you to use these bulbs?can you post pics of your set up please


cheers
rob

 

[Buckeye238]

ok! problem solved. i went out and got an 18 inch repti glo 5.0 tube with a 20 inch hood. i also replaced the heat lamp bulb with a 60 watt house hold bulb. it seems a little dim. can someone with an indoor cage post an image of their cage so for some reassurance?

here is what mine looks like-

 

[AdamChameleon]

Here is a picture of Darwin's Setup.

Home Made Wooden Stand w/Lexan liner & tie downs to hold cage to stand (wont tip over)
LDS 18"x18"x36" Screened Enclosure (top Height 6')
Potted Live Plants (Arbicola, Arbuca, Croton)
2 Large Exo Terra Jungle Vines, 2 Medium Flukers Bend-a-branch, Misc vines
Monsoon Automatic Misting System w/2 heads (4x Daily @ 90 sec each)
Reptisun 5.0 tube bulb in 20" ReptiSun Terra Fixture (turned backwards)
ZooMed Porcelain Clamp Lamp with 60wt GE Profile Bulb 5" from top
Lights on Zilla Digital Power Center 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Upper temp at basking spot 86 degrees, middle 80 degrees, lower 76 degrees
Night time temp 72 degrees