The best place in the house for my chameleon?

[Petan]

Hello,
I would like to know if the living room is a good place for my new chameleon? He seems a bit disturbed by all the movement and noise. I`m thinking about moving him to the bedroom instead.
I would also like to know why my chameleon goes down to the bottom of the cage sometimes? Is it because he is nervous?
Peppe, my chameleon, is 6 months old and very tender. He eats from my hand and drink fine without problems.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Best regards Patrick

 

[laurie]

Hello,
I would like to know if the living room is a good place for my new chameleon? He seems a bit disturbed by all the movement and noise. I`m thinking about moving him to the bedroom instead.
I would also like to know why my chameleon goes down to the bottom of the cage sometimes? Is it because he is nervous?
Peppe, my chameleon, is 6 months old and very tender. He eats from my hand and drink fine without problems.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Best regards Patrick

Hello & welcome. Most likely your cham is upset by a lot of movement and noise. They like to be away from everything. If you will take a few minutes and fill out this form I will try to give better answers. Just copy the form and type your answers in. Sorry it is long but it does help.


How to ask for help
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


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.


Pictures are helpful

 

[Petan]

Hello again !!

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? - The cage is Glass 45X45X70
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?-I have the Exo Uvb 10 and 60 watts and a spotlight 60 watts.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)?-I have 32 at the basking spot middle place is about 28 and down 24.
Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?-i have 20 or 22 , i put off all the lights and just let the warm carpet under the cage all night on.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?i have a humidity between 60 and 70 i´m creating this humidity with living plants and spraying water 3 times/day in about 2 minutes.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?- yes i have 2 fikus benjamin.
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?-the cage is in the living room ,is about 78 Inches (2 MT). is geographically located against the wall at the end of the room.
I hope this can help you ,thx in advance for your comments..

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[laurie]

Hi me again, you skipped the first part of the form. When we ask where you are it is because where you are located in the world makes a difference on how you keep chams. But that is info not all people want to give out and that is ok to.

But what kind of Cham do you have?

 

[Petan]

sorry for missing the first part..!

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?-Is a Phanter Chameleon Ambilobe ,male 6 months,has been with me just 3 days now.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?- I live in Sweden and is very hot right now so i try to take him out every morning to the window where the sun is and seems he like it very much!.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?-I feed him with 5 crickets every 2 days ,i gut loading them with carrots and vegetables.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?-I bought a mix with calcium and vitamin and i´m dusting my feeders every time i´m going to feed my cham ( so every 2 days)
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?I´m watering just with a spray bottle and i spray 3 times a day, Yes i see him drinking water a differetns times at the day.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?-the color is white and black ,and i don´t think so he has been tested for parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.-It seems that my cham (Peppe ) is very calm and from 3 days ago when we come home he was eating from my hand and drinking water and sleeping when i turn off the lights off,and he have no problem to take him out of the cage,well that´s it,thank you very much for your time and i hope this will help you guys..

 

[Elizadolots]

Hi!

I understand why you want your chameleon in the living room. I used to have mine there. I do think you can make that work. One thing that could help is to limit the sides of the enclosure that can see the room. If you put the cage in a corner and then cover one side, there will only be the "front" of the cage that is "dangerous"...that might reduce the stress level considerably.

If that doesn't work then a move to the bedroom would be in order. As I said, I used to have my chameleons in the living room but ultimately, for their benefit, I decided the hobby room was a less stressful place for them to live.

 

[lee72411]

I keep mine in the bedroom , I would love it in the front room , But the kids do not no how to open and close the front room door (slam)

 

[Petan]

Thx guys!!

Thanks for your help my friends,i will try to put him in a corner and cover the other side and will see how is going ,otherwise i will move him to the bathroom,have a nice day and thx very much again..

 

[bork da basher]

im in the same boat deciding where to put my cham which arrives a week today. i have the space planned in my living room but i have a 4 year old and though hes very well behaved and knows not to go near the reptiles we already have unless i say so or am with him he still jumps around and makes a lot of noise as kids do during the day.

my other option is the bedroom but its pretty small and i dont really want it in there if i can help it and as its basically a display animal i may aswell not have it at all if its just going to sit in my bedroom where i only go to sleep.

whatever is best for the animal i'll do but its a catch 22 situation and im already commited now.

 

[Lathelia]

what do you mean "warm carpet under the cage"?

 

[ph34r]

im assuming he means an undertank heater. i was also curious if your just guessing at the temperture or are u accuratle measuring it. i also noticed that you are using a 10.0 bulb ? 5.0 is the recomended, also is it a linear tube or a cfl? and you feeding a 6 onth old panter 5 crickets every 2 days ? thats it ? what size crickets are u feeding ? my 6 month old ambilobe clears 12-15 1/4 - 1/2 " a day easily. is there any chance you can get a pick of your enclosure up just so i can have a peek

 

[Petan]

hello guys !!

Hello guys!!, here i put some pictures so you can give me yours opinions about the cage. I bought him in a petstore and the guy there told me that he eat just five crickets every 2 days not more and he is doing fine, now i´m worry because my cham does´t want to eat today and yesterday was the same problem,if i let the crickets on the bottom of the cage he don´t go after them or something , i think i´m missing something here but at the same time is my 3 day with him so maybe he have to get more just to his new environment,take care guys,cyaaaa.

 

[ph34r]

everything seems to look fine lots of branches for climbing and seems like u have adequate foliage for him to hide in, everyone is going to tell you to lose the substrate due to cham possibly injesting it and becoming impacted. but since you have only had him a few days it might just be stress from adapting to his new setup. also was curious to how much ventalation you get with that glass tank

 

[lee72411]

Same cage as I got , mine is 36x24x24 I had substrate , after a week I could smell that it was damp , so now I just use nothing , I wipe the bottom every day to keep it as dry as I can

 

[Petan]

hello guys!!

Hi everyone!!, well i have problems with the humidity guys in the 2 day that i can´t get over 50%,today i bought this eco terra waterfall with fogger and nothing have change , i don´t know what is the problem guys i put some pictures again so maybe you can help me or have some good advice ,thanks in advance and take care you,bye....
By the way i changed the cage against the wall like someone told me here and is so much better for him.thanks..

 

[DekuScrub]

OH NO! not the waterfall again!

the fogger should help greatly with the humidity....however the waterfall will need to be cleaned very very frequently. it will turn into a cesspool in no time flat without regualr cleanings.

the exoterra hygrometers in my experience are crap.

if you have that fogger running and the humidity isnt skyrocketing i blame the hygrometer.

my opinion is to scrap the waterfall, its more trouble than its worth and keep the fogger if youre still having issues maintaing humididty.

with a glass tank like that you should really have no problems maintaining very high humidity with regualr drippings/spraying, especially with those live plants. you might just want to return the waterfall honestly.

and im not just parroting what ive heard about these waterfalls i had one a long time ago and the surfcae is so pourous and textured youll be sitting there scrubbing for way too long all the time. like every other day. pain in the butt, it is.

its a shame tho huh? it looks really cool with the waterfall.

 

[Petan]

Thanks !!

thanks for the help !! ,i will go tomorrow and buy a new hygrometer, i was thinking that´s maybe was something wrong with this eco hygrometer,do you know some good hygrometers so i should buy or is just go and see and try it??,i will give it a try to the waterfall if is so much trouble i will return to the petstore with it,thanks again and have a nice day...

 

[DekuScrub]

oh and the other things....and someone said something about the 10.0s youll be just fine with that. ive always used 10.0s as my chameleons never activly hang out in the areas of the cage that get full exposure from the uvb and much of it is filtered by the foliage.

from what i understand the 10.0 reptisun output is much more the the reptiglos anyway. if he seems like hes sitting right under the uvb bulbs for an extended period of time you may want to consider downgrading or putting some of that fake foliage between the bulb and the spot he is sitting. but this wouldnt be causing your current problem.

the 60 watt basking bulb looks a tad close to the basking spot, have you gotten an accurate reading of the basking temperature? maybe hes avoiding it becuase its too hot? and in effect slowing his metabolism because hes too cool. that could be why he was at the bottom of the cage maybe perferring the heatting mat (which you shouldnt be using whith chams anyways. get an accurate basking temp and drop the bulb wattage if its too hot. glass tanks retain more heat anyway.

other reasons he may not be eatting, as was mention impaction, hopefully he didnt eat any of that substrate, if youre going to use anything use coconut fiber, its digestible but it will retain moisture and harbor bacteria. one of the many reasons substrate is frowned upon. not saying you cant use it, its just something you can remove completely so its one more worry off your mind. even though it makes the cage more visually appealing it can end up causing issues...

like someone else mentioned juviniles will eat A LOT! more than what was recommended for sure. id go with 5-10 a day depending on the size and skip a day here and there when he seems like his appetite begins to wane.

it may just be stress causing him not to eat. which is a bad thing but better than impaction.

by the looks of him in his cage he seems healthy. can you post some close ups of just him?

 

[Petan]

Pictures!!

Here i put some pictures of him ,well i will take the substrate tomorrow because he is sleeping right now, i will drop the bulb wattage,by the way he was eating today ( 3 crickets,but just when i taked him outside the cage,he did the same thing yesterday (eat outside the cage,strange),well here are some pictures i takes,thanks again for your help ..bye..

 

[DekuScrub]

he looks great to me. hopefully he keeps eating fine. dont want a cham with stunted growth

try putting his feeders in a cup in the cage. he may not like hunting around the bottom.

another nice thing about screen cages is the feeders climb it.

later, good luck