What does he not like?

[Kleynie]

Hi all,
I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with my boy lately, so any help is appreciated.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Nosy Be Panther chameleon, 5 months old, been in my care for about 2 months.
• Handling - Every day, he crawls out onto my hand at feeding time.
• Feeding - Staple feeders are a mix of locusts and crickets, 10 a day, and he gets a wax worm a week as a treat. Hand fed at least 2 a day.
• Supplements - All exo terra, calcium on 4 insects a day, calcium and D3 once every other week, multi vitamins once every other week.
• Watering - He's got a reptirain on every 3 hours for 15 seconds, pointed at a singular leaf that he likes to drink from, I also mist him about 8 times a day, not for a set length of time, just until everything is sufficiently soaking.
• Fecal Description - Nothing unusual, it's always looked the same since I have had him, white urate, brown, odorless poop.
• History - Captive bred by a trusted reptile breeder, that's all really.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Custom wooden with glass front, ventilation at the top, front and back, behind the bark on the back, bioactive. 1070mmx570mmx450mm.
• Lighting - 10% D3 lamp on for 12 hours a day, off from 7-7.
• Temperature - Basking spot is 30C, 86F, lower is about 18C, 64F.
• Humidity - As high as 90 after mistings, drops as low as 40.
• Plants - Not sure what they all are, but I haven't changed them since I've had him and he's been fine with them up until now.
• Placement - On the floor, he sees us walk past the room, but he seems to tolerate that well and has never had a problem with it.
• Location - Heathrow, England.

Current Problem - In the last week or so, he wants to come out every single evening as if he is bored, he sometimes does it during the day as well, I'm trying to find out if he's just friendly or if there's something he doesn't like about his vivarium. Like I said, there's been no problems up until the last week or so. A picture of him in his vivarium is attached for size comparison. Also attached is a picture of him in my girlfriends hands, just because it's a nice picture I wanted to share

 

[Repti]

Have you thought about setting up a free range setup for him. I think you just have an active little guy that wants to explore because your enclosure is looking good.

 

[Kaizen]

Beautiful cage and setup! My only suggestion as far as the enclosure goes is to give him many more horizontal branches in the upper portion of the cage. This will give him the ability to bask at different distances from the heat source, and therefore pick his own comfort zone.

 

[Kleynie]

Have you thought about setting up a free range setup for him. I think you just have an active little guy that wants to explore because your enclosure is looking good.

He does have a 5ft indoor tree to climb that he goes on whenever he's out, do you think he might just be associating coming out with exploring his favourite tree?

 

[Kleynie]

Beautiful cage and setup! My only suggestion as far as the enclosure goes is to give him many more horizontal branches in the upper portion of the cage. This will give him the ability to bask at different distances from the heat source, and therefore pick his own comfort zone.

Thank you, I have a spare so I will try that.

 

[Lennoncham]

Your setup looks good but from what I can see the only real ventilation is at the top? Unless there’s parts on the sides I can’t see.


Is that a dog food bowl beside his tank? The dog may be stressing him out.

He may also be getting to the age where hes wanting to look for a female.

 

[Kleynie]

Your setup looks good but from what I can see the only real ventilation is at the top? Unless there’s parts on the sides I can’t see.


Is that a dog food bowl beside his tank? The dog may be stressing him out.

He may also be getting to the age where hes wanting to look for a female.

There's some ventilation behind the bark at the back, there's a small gap between the two pieces with ventilation in it. Also, it's a cat bowl, we've got 4, he doesn't hide from them and just ignores them to be honest, so I assume he's OK with them. Happy to be proven wrong though.

 

[Beman]

Hi all,
I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with my boy lately, so any help is appreciated.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Nosy Be Panther chameleon, 5 months old, been in my care for about 2 months.
• Handling - Every day, he crawls out onto my hand at feeding time.
• Feeding - Staple feeders are a mix of locusts and crickets, 10 a day, and he gets a wax worm a week as a treat. Hand fed at least 2 a day.
• Supplements - All exo terra, calcium on 4 insects a day, calcium and D3 once every other week, multi vitamins once every other week.
• Watering - He's got a reptirain on every 3 hours for 15 seconds, pointed at a singular leaf that he likes to drink from, I also mist him about 8 times a day, not for a set length of time, just until everything is sufficiently soaking.
• Fecal Description - Nothing unusual, it's always looked the same since I have had him, white urate, brown, odorless poop.
• History - Captive bred by a trusted reptile breeder, that's all really.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Custom wooden with glass front, ventilation at the top, front and back, behind the bark on the back, bioactive. 1070mmx570mmx450mm.
• Lighting - 10% D3 lamp on for 12 hours a day, off from 7-7.
• Temperature - Basking spot is 30C, 86F, lower is about 18C, 64F.
• Humidity - As high as 90 after mistings, drops as low as 40.
• Plants - Not sure what they all are, but I haven't changed them since I've had him and he's been fine with them up until now.
• Placement - On the floor, he sees us walk past the room, but he seems to tolerate that well and has never had a problem with it.
• Location - Heathrow, England.

Current Problem - In the last week or so, he wants to come out every single evening as if he is bored, he sometimes does it during the day as well, I'm trying to find out if he's just friendly or if there's something he doesn't like about his vivarium. Like I said, there's been no problems up until the last week or so. A picture of him in his vivarium is attached for size comparison. Also attached is a picture of him in my girlfriends hands, just because it's a nice picture I wanted to share

Hi hun. The UVB bulb. What exactly are you using? A compact in a dome fixture, A Mercury Vapor, or a T5HO? If you could give more specifics on this aspect please

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

There's some ventilation behind the bark at the back, there's a small gap between the two pieces with ventilation in it. Also, it's a cat bowl, we've got 4, he doesn't hide from them and just ignores them to be honest, so I assume he's OK with them. Happy to be proven wrong though.

Your boy looks spot on mine and has the same attitude it seems! I think you're right that he just wants out of his cage... and you're the way out. Beyond that, as someone mentioned, he's to that age where hes on the look out for females. [It looks like in the picture of you holding him hes displaying his "look at me" colors]

My boy is the exact same way. He has a huge custom cage but always wants out. Its freezing out the past few days, well below 60 degrees (I live in Florida) but my boy still wants to go out to his free range patio.

One thing I will say is that since you have glass... IF he can see even a hint of himself in the reflection, it can cause him to go into the "turned on" mode - this will cause his mood to change and he will reject food in an attempt to find a female. In a nutshell, he thinks his reflection is another cham and gets "turned on". I found this out when I was walking around with my boy. He saw himself in the mirrors of the bathroom:



It usually takes him a half day to full day to get out of that "phase". Other than rejection of food, it doesnt really effect too much.

Overall, I think he looks great! Welcome to the forums.

Best wishes!

 

[Lunatuck]

He does have a 5ft indoor tree to climb that he goes on whenever he's out, do you think he might just be associating coming out with exploring his favourite tree?

Cosmic did this with me. When I’d open his enclosure, he wanted out! It was always to go into his tree.

I could tell, because he would want to go towards it. I could see where he was looking and if i made his “arm bridge” go away from the tree he wasnt as interested.

 

[Kleynie]

Hi hun. The UVB bulb. What exactly are you using? A compact in a dome fixture, A Mercury Vapor, or a T5HO? If you could give more specifics on this aspect please

It's an Arcadia t5ho at the moment.

 

[Kleynie]

Your boy looks spot on mine and has the same attitude it seems! I think you're right that he just wants out of his cage... and you're the way out. Beyond that, as someone mentioned, he's to that age where hes on the look out for females. [It looks like in the picture of you holding him hes displaying his "look at me" colors]

My boy is the exact same way. He has a huge custom cage but always wants out. Its freezing out the past few days, well below 60 degrees (I live in Florida) but my boy still wants to go out to his free range patio.

One thing I will say is that since you have glass... IF he can see even a hint of himself in the reflection, it can cause him to go into the "turned on" mode - this will cause his mood to change and he will reject food in an attempt to find a female. In a nutshell, he thinks his reflection is another cham and gets "turned on". I found this out when I was walking around with my boy. He saw himself in the mirrors of the bathroom:

View attachment 251520

It usually takes him a half day to full day to get out of that "phase". Other than rejection of food, it doesnt really effect too much.

Overall, I think he looks great! Welcome to the forums.

Best wishes!

Thank you, he did reject his food at one point, but that was after he moved here, so I think that might have been why. Since then, he's eaten well. It's good to hear that he looks good to others, so thanks again.

 

[Kleynie]

Cosmic did this with me. When I’d open his enclosure, he wanted out! It was always to go into his tree.

I could tell, because he would want to go towards it. I could see where he was looking and if i made his “arm bridge” go away from the tree he wasnt as interested.

Perhaps that's just it then, which is good because it means there may well be nothing wrong. Thanks

 

[JackRipper]

Hi all,
I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with my boy lately, so any help is appreciated.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Nosy Be Panther chameleon, 5 months old, been in my care for about 2 months.
• Handling - Every day, he crawls out onto my hand at feeding time.
• Feeding - Staple feeders are a mix of locusts and crickets, 10 a day, and he gets a wax worm a week as a treat. Hand fed at least 2 a day.
• Supplements - All exo terra, calcium on 4 insects a day, calcium and D3 once every other week, multi vitamins once every other week.
• Watering - He's got a reptirain on every 3 hours for 15 seconds, pointed at a singular leaf that he likes to drink from, I also mist him about 8 times a day, not for a set length of time, just until everything is sufficiently soaking.
• Fecal Description - Nothing unusual, it's always looked the same since I have had him, white urate, brown, odorless poop.
• History - Captive bred by a trusted reptile breeder, that's all really.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Custom wooden with glass front, ventilation at the top, front and back, behind the bark on the back, bioactive. 1070mmx570mmx450mm.
• Lighting - 10% D3 lamp on for 12 hours a day, off from 7-7.
• Temperature - Basking spot is 30C, 86F, lower is about 18C, 64F.
• Humidity - As high as 90 after mistings, drops as low as 40.
• Plants - Not sure what they all are, but I haven't changed them since I've had him and he's been fine with them up until now.
• Placement - On the floor, he sees us walk past the room, but he seems to tolerate that well and has never had a problem with it.
• Location - Heathrow, England.

Current Problem - In the last week or so, he wants to come out every single evening as if he is bored, he sometimes does it during the day as well, I'm trying to find out if he's just friendly or if there's something he doesn't like about his vivarium. Like I said, there's been no problems up until the last week or so. A picture of him in his vivarium is attached for size comparison. Also attached is a picture of him in my girlfriends hands, just because it's a nice picture I wanted to share

Is he doing the runningman on the glass/plexiglass? Always makes me uneasy when i see them tredmilling. The only possible issue I could see with your routine is the 8 soaks a day. However you did state that the humidity drops to around 40 telling me that you are allowing for a complete drying off period. So unless it's just too wet for him he could very well be a socialite or is in love with you. The comment made on his reflection sending him into a state of Heat also a very good possibility. Besides these boys are natural explorers. I always recommend screen enclosures simply because you can always cover a few panels on a screen enclosure to meet heat/humidity needs, with a solid enclosure there's not much you can do besides drilling more vents.

 

[Beman]

It's an Arcadia t5ho at the moment.

Single bulb fixture? If so the UVB strength at a 10% is too high. You want a 6% nothing higher for a panther.

 

[mkeBob]

I would raise the cage 700-800mm off the floor, add more wooden tree branches, prioritize basking and UV lighting/temps. Most important, I would never put a chameleon in a free range situation with four cats roaming around the house.
The second picture looks like your chameleon and girlfriend are comparing manicures.

 

[Kleynie]

Is he doing the runningman on the glass/plexiglass? Always makes me uneasy when i see them tredmilling. The only possible issue I could see with your routine is the 8 soaks a day. However you did state that the humidity drops to around 40 telling me that you are allowing for a complete drying off period. So unless it's just too wet for him he could very well be a socialite or is in love with you. The comment made on his reflection sending him into a state of Heat also a very good possibility. Besides these boys are natural explorers. I always recommend screen enclosures simply because you can always cover a few panels on a screen enclosure to meet heat/humidity needs, with a solid enclosure there's not much you can do besides drilling more vents.

He only treadmills when he sees his me coming with his food, otherwise, no he doesn't.

 

[Kleynie]

Single bulb fixture? If so the UVB strength at a 10% is too high. You want a 6% nothing higher for a panther.

Yes, it is, I have been meaning to change it for a while, but haven't got round to it yet.

 

[Kleynie]

I would raise the cage 700-800mm off the floor, add more wooden tree branches, prioritize basking and UV lighting/temps. Most important, I would never put a chameleon in a free range situation with four cats roaming around the house.
The second picture looks like your chameleon and girlfriend are comparing manicures.

I don't put him in his tree if the cats are there, I know that might freak him out a bit, even if he doesn't mind them when he's in his vivarium. And considering the height, I currently have nothing to raise it with, I did half heartedly look at a unit to go under his vivarium, but never bought anything.

 

[Beman]

Yes, it is, I have been meaning to change it for a while, but haven't got round to it yet.

It could very well be that the UVB is much to high. I would get the 6% sooner then later. Overexposure is just as dangerous and underexposure.