unhappy chameleon?

stinax182

New Member
my chameleon: a yearling male veiled cham. i've had him since august last year.
Handling - very often, everyday if it were up to him. but usually 3 times a week.
Feeding - crickets as a staple on flukers cricket food. and i switch it up between super, meal, butter, wax or pheonix worms weekly. i have 3 feeding cups set up. i'd say he eats 7 crickets and 4 worms on average. i don't see him eat much honestly.
Supplements - calcium and multi twice a month.
Watering - he gets misted 5 times a day. an hour after the lights turn on i put a dripper on top and that drips for several hours. i have seen him drinking off the leaves before.
Fecal Description - perfect chameleon poops :)
History - his behavior has changed since moving him into a different enclosure. he would never come to the door and willingly climb on my hand. he was perfectly content to be hidden in his jungle. now all he wants to do is come out and climb on the wires.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - the largest zoomed metal screen and frame enclosure. it's roughly 4' tall, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. i have a giant sheet of plastic on the back and halfway up the entire bottom.
Lighting - for 12 hours he has a 5.0 reptisun uvb tube light and an incandescent light bulb for basking. and a 48" regular fluorescent for extra lighting.
Temperature - with the temp gun i bought at home depot the basking spot is 89F with the daytime temps ranging from 75F-86F. night temps range between 69F-75F.
Humidity - with my humidity probe the humidity ranges from 50-70%. there is a giant plant with many many smaller ones in the enclosure. he's in the "reptile room" and the humidity doesn't drop below 50% any where in it. i have a desk fan set up at the bottom to dry access water.
Plants - a 3 foot tall dracaena with many spider plants.
Placement - in the reptile room on the second floor of my 2 story house. the door is always closed and the only fan is the desk one pointed at the floor of his enclosure. it sits on milk crates.
Location - springfield, massachusetts, united states.

Current Problem

i recently upgraded his enclosure, not a lot bigger, but definitely more plants and just a better jungle, haha. ever since then, every time i walk into the room he's at the door, trying to get out. beforehand he wasn't too fond of being handled. now if i open the cage door he climbs right on me and just wants to go...he climbs on the light wires and the chair rail on the wall! i feel everything was going perfect, then i got him a new cage and he doesn't want to be in it!
 
have you thought about setting up a free range and letting him spend a couple hours out on it a day? he is getting to be an adult and wants to explore and he would probably love to free range for a few hours a day :) if you can set it up in a room and keep it away from other pets, i would really try it!! you have to make sure he still spends enough time under his UVB in his enclosure everyday and such but you can check out threads on here about free ranging to get an idea on that! and of course he wont want to go back into his enclosure but they seem to really love exploring outside their cages :)
 
that's a great idea! i actually just bought a 6' tall fake ficus tree last night online thinking that was the only solution. i can just put it in the same room. he would need just a basking spot? as the whole rooms temp is 75F.
 
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