Triceros mouth

Chali2naRap

Chali2naRap

New Member
first thing is, am i seeing my chameleon yawn every once in a while or is it just me. second, does anyone else's Jackson chill there with his mouth open for just a little bit? i know this could be a sign of dehydration but he drinks from the spray bottle every day and gets a hurricane every once in a while :D any other reason he would do this?
 
The main reason he would hold his mouth open would be over heating.

"yawning" can be a sign of aggression, or he could be trying to break a shed.
 
ive only caught him doing it like 3 times, i have a 100 watt powersun lightbulb inside the inclosure because my set up is an explorarium, i put all his basking spots at least 6-7 inches underneath the light no closer. i soak his tank about 5-7 times a day
 
whast the basking temp at?

and you should never hav elights inside the cage, they can stilll figure out a way to get to them and get burned.
 
I use 40-60watt bulbs to get a basking of 80-85F, and thats on top of the enclosure.

It sounds like you are over heating him.
 
im not real sure but its prolly between 65-70 but not positive on that. never had a problem with him getting in the light. my set up is a lot different than most out there. i might have to post some pictures of it but never have seen him near the dome. lights are inside so if anything he might be able to touch the dome if he goes all the way up.
 
Chali2naRap said:
im not real sure but its prolly between 65-70 but not positive on that. never had a problem with him getting in the light. my set up is a lot different than most out there. i might have to post some pictures of it but never have seen him near the dome. lights are inside so if anything he might be able to touch the dome if he goes all the way up.
Click to expand...

well the dome gets hot too and can still cause a burn.

and you need to measure that basking temp. thers no way its 65-70 with a 100 watt bulb.
 
i will measure it to see where its at. ill try to snap some pictures. i made sure to set it up to where the only way to touch the dome would to crawl on the mesh to the top and its so dense so ive never seen him crawling on the mesh. if indeed he does decide to ever crawl up there i will consider getting a set up that doesnt hang from the ceiling:)
 
Im not trying to boss you around, and I think its great that people do things differently, believe me.

However, I would like to say that water hitting a hot bulb, can cause it to explode, just take a second to form a mental picture of what might happen.
I urge you to change the setup.

An all in one bulb is no good for a jackson IMO either.
It just seems like it would be impossible to get a proper heat gradient, and provide enough UVB with them. These animals need lower temps, and I know people who use those bulbs mounted to their ceilings, in free range setups for panthers, that need a basking of 90-95F.
I can assure you your temps are too high.

It is much easier to adjust the environment using house hold bulbs, and linear tubes.

JMO

I would like to see your setup, as it sounds interesting...
 
i use these bulbs for my male panther and my male veileds they are 10 inch above my cage and my basking spot is 8 inch below the top of the cage and my baking temps are 92-94 on average so you are way to hot for sure expecially for a jakson as that would be to hot for my panther and veileds not to mention the exposion risks
 
thanks for the advice, and no worries, i dont think anyones being harsh. i joined chameleonforums to get straight advice from people who have first hand experience. this is my very first chameleon and ive spent so much money on it and its such a beautiful animal that i want to do all i can to make it happy and healthy. problem with having two seperate lights is my set up. here is a picture of the set up and of course him sleeping right at this present moment :D
 
That's an odd enclosure. I would for sure find a way to separate the light from the rest of the enclosure to prevent burns. Its only a matter of time before your chameleon gets burned like this. Looking at the picture of your enclosure I would hang the mercury vapor bulb outside of the enclosure, and using a digital thermometer with a probe try to get the correct basking temperature. Also the Mercury Vapor bulbs put out more UVB then a florescent, it may be able to penetrate that thick mesh and provide enough UVB light, but that's questionable and hard to predict without a UVB meter.

I hope other people have some suggestions for you.
 
Ok, that is some great handy-work, so props on the ingenuity.

I am afraid that that is just not going to achieve the results that you want. ;)

Here is what I would do.

I would hang that dome outside the cage, from the romex, about halfway up. Tie it where it is like thusly: (to where its angled sort of out)

helpflex.jpg

I would do this tonite, only to give yourself time tomorrow to figure out something else to do.

That thing would be a great outdoor cage, but as a permanent enclosure, its going to be insanely hard to work with, at least I would think so.

I would also remove all of the thin whitish colored "plant" material.

I highly recommend any jackson owner watch Jdog1027's Jackson Chameleon Video:


I would start changing the lighting, that is the main thing.
You could hang any lighting you wanted on the outside, youd just have to be Mcgyvery about it ;)

Then I would work on getting a solid-frame enclosure, its going to make your life a lot easier. Youll have it "made" after that. ;)

If you need any help, suggestions, or have any questions at any time, you can PM me.
 
i would use a clamp lamp and clamp it to your book shelf i have that same encloser i use it for my female mitsio out side the clamp lamp will be the best and if you use two lights you can clamp one high one low or one on either side but ther light will pass through that mesh. but if i were you i would work on getting a cage that you can mount the lights above and turn that into a outside cage
 
i think you have some good advise so far, i personally would take the light out and clamp it on the top of that shelf in the pic and angle it down, and confirm temps with a qualtiy thermometer,
unfourtuanatly you will cook him under that light and you seem to genuinly care and want what is best and i commend you for that
i would look into a basic screen cage like a dyi or reptibreeze, it will make things alot easier for you.
in the mean time i would think that the mv puts off enough uvb to get some through that screen and buy you a bit of time.
definatly would hate to see you lil guy get burned, and by the time you see he has gone upto the light, the damage will most likley have been done.
cheers :)
hoj
 
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