Very Lethargic Jackson

[Kieran89]

I need any advice on possible health issues my female jackson chameleon by have if at all possible. I purchased her about 5 months ago. Lately she's been very lethargic lately, and hasn't moved to much while laying her head on the vine with her eyes closed. She's a light green and no dark pattern is visible until I open the cage up.
Her tank is Zilla brand, half mesh-half glass, and approx. 24x18x18. I have the Monsoon rain system set up in her tank to go off every hour for 8 seconds And a small waterfall for constant access to water seeing as she didn't take to the dripper I set up. I use the mini halogen light for heat with a night red 25 watt bulb and a vine directly under the light for easy heat access. I have it concentrated in one spot but she doesn't seem to interested in the heat very often so I don't believe she's cold. I use the reptisun 5.0 watt light bulb for the UVB light. She has several vines going all around her tank, a large tree branch in the middle, and several (fake) green plants from the bottom and going higher to the top of the tank. There are also 2 red flowers towards the bottom but away from anywhere she would go as to not stress her out from the color.
I feed her about 15-25 medium size crickets once a week from Petco. It usually takes about 2-3 days for her to eat all of them. I dust them with repticalcium(?) each time before I put then in her cage. Usually she eats immediately but it's taking her longer each time. I don't give her meal worms as she would only eat those in the store and am concerned with her becoming fat and lazy since she wouldn't hunt the crickets.

A few other pieces of information that might be important. I received a tropical mist spray to help her shedding with instructions to spray on her and into cage everyday. I did it for maybe 2 weeks every other day. I want to say she started appearing lethargic when I did that but stopped as soon as I saw the lethargic behavior. She didn't really improve so I started thinking it was dehydration and ended getting a waterfall. She perked up immediately for a few days and returned to how she was before.

I'm not sure what else to do. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[DragoLikesReptiles]

I need any advice on possible health issues my female jackson chameleon by have if at all possible. I purchased her about 5 months ago. Lately she's been very lethargic lately, and hasn't moved to much while laying her head on the vine with her eyes closed. She's a light green and no dark pattern is visible until I open the cage up.
Her tank is Zilla brand, half mesh-half glass, and approx. 24x18x18.You need a bigger cage. 36inchesx18x18 is good.
I have the Monsoon rain system set up in her tank to go off every hour for 8 seconds And a small waterfall for constant access to water seeing as she didn't take to the dripper I set up. I use the mini halogen light for heat with a night red 25 watt bulb and a vine directly under the light for easy heat access. You don't need the night lamp. Having a drop in temperature can be good for them. Jackson's like high humdity about 50% to 80%.I have it concentrated in one spot but she doesn't seem to interested in the heat very often so I don't believe she's cold.She can NOT use that halogen bulb! The temp NEEDS to be 84 F. The halogen bulbs are very hot. I use the reptisun 5.0 watt light bulb for the UVB light. She has several vines going all around her tank, a large tree branch in the middle, and several (fake) green plants from the bottom and going higher to the top of the tank. There are also 2 red flowers towards the bottom but away from anywhere she would go as to not stress her out from the color.
I feed her about 15-25 medium size crickets once a week from Petco. It usually takes about 2-3 days for her to eat all of them. I dust them with repticalcium(?) each time before I put then in her cage. You need to have a calcium w/ d3 (give twice a month), multivitamin (same as d3), and calcium without d3 every feeding. She isn't eating enough and can't just feed her crickets. Do you gutload them? I feed silkworms, hornworms, roaches, crickets, superworms, and BB flies.Usually she eats immediately but it's taking her longer each time. I don't give her meal worms as she would only eat those in the store and am concerned with her becoming fat and lazy since she wouldn't hunt the crickets.

A few other pieces of information that might be important. I received a tropical mist spray to help her shedding with instructions to spray on her and into cage everyday. I did it for maybe 2 weeks every other day. I want to say she started appearing lethargic when I did that but stopped as soon as I saw the lethargic behavior. She didn't really improve so I started thinking it was dehydration and ended getting a waterfall. She perked up immediately for a few days and returned to how she was before.

I'm not sure what else to do. Any advice would be helpful.

P.S. Get a live plant if or when you get a bigger cage. Recommend ficus, pothos,and wandering jewelry plants. Look at the safe plants list. I had a Jackson's and he died while he was very young and I feel terrible. Please take suggestions before she gets worse.

 

[Kieran89]

May I ask what the benefits are for the live plants?

 

[Devokid]

May I ask what the benefits are for the live plants?

They help raise humidity and the water droplets tend to stick better.

 

[Devokid]

First off, have you taken her to a vet and had a fecal test done? Most jacksons are wild caught and as such, usually have parasites.

As for the husbandy, Drago makes some good points, but some of his info is more panther than Jackson. Supplements being the main concern. I have picked out some of your lines and replied with fixes:


I have the Monsoon rain system set up in her tank to go off every hour for 8 seconds
This is much too often and for not enough time. You want the cage to be able to dry out completely between soakings and you want her to be able to drink her fill. It usually takes my jacksons a full minute or two to realize there is water
And a small waterfall for constant access to water seeing as she didn't take to the dripper I set up. Remove that waterfall. They are just bacteria breeders and are unhealthy for your cham. Put the dripper back in. She will take to it. I have a blog post on how I set up the dippers in my cages.

I use the mini halogen light for heat with a night red 25 watt bulb and a vine directly under the light for easy heat access.
Both of these are bad. Heat and Jacksons don't mix very well. You do not want the cage to ever be above 80 F, 75 is a good target. Nighttime temps should fall to mid 60's or whatever your house falls to. If your house is cold, a regular incandescent bulb will provide plenty of heat. The red light just disrupts sleep and is not good for her.

I feed her about 15-25 medium size crickets once a week from Petco. It usually takes about 2-3 days for her to eat all of them.
This is a really bad practice. First, you want to make sure that your crickets are gut loaded, which they are not coming from petco. Second, cricket stomach's are empty really quickly, so by day 2 she is eating starving bugs. Lastly, those starving crickets will begin to eat your chameleon. Crickets have a nasty reputation for this and she should only be fed what she can eat in under 5 min. You should also vary her diet. My jacksons love Dubia roaches, snails, and silk worms.

I dust them with repticalcium(?) each time before I put then in her cage.
You need to have a calcium w/ d3 (give twice a month), multivitamin (same as d3), and calcium without d3 every feeding.
This is too often for Jacksons. They do not need the same amount as Panthers. I don't ever give mine D3 calcium as they are outside fairly often. I agree that a multivitamin should be given twice a month, and I would dust with calcium once every 3 days or so.

As far as other advice is concerned, I would take her to a vet ASAP just to make sure there are not any parasites, and I would try and take her outside whenever possible. Setting up an outdoor enclosure for her would be optimal.

 

[kinyonga]

So Devokid...you are saying that they don't need the same ratio of calcium to phos. as panther chameleons do then??