winter effect to chameleons

[dodolah]

Hello.
I got questions again that needed answer.
I put my cham next to a window (I slide the glass over to the other side. SO there is no barrier, except for the window screen, between the sun and the cage).

I saw one person in this thread (I forgot whom) wrote a statement that goes something like this:
"Close your window during the winter so that your chameleon won't know about the changes in sun cycle"

Why should you "trick" the chameleon during winter?
what does the sun cycle changes do to your cham?

Also, to you who put your cham next to the window.
Have you experience grumpy mood from your chameleon during cloudy day or when you cannot open the window for some reason?

(PS: I have a veiled cham. I put UVB and UVA lights on top of the cage. but, offcourse, my chameleon totally ignores them and go straight to the real sunlight.)

merci

 

[Walter]

Hello, first post here and may I say what a good forum this is. I'm posting from London, on a miserable winters afternoon.

I'm also curious as to the effect that winter has on chameleons, or more to the point my Veiled, Walter.

We've had him around six months and until the recent fall in tempreature he has been extremely active, happy to be hand fed and loving climbing all over us, always wanting to be outside of his viv, either roaming round our flat, in his 6 ft hibiscus plant or money plant on our window cill. This is despite us providing him with a luxary viv, placed by plenty of natural daylight, full of sticks for him to climb around on and plants, real and fake. He has a drip system and his sprayed twice a day. Walter has never had a great appetite, a few locusts a week and but as many wax moth lavae a day as we let him.

Over the past week or so, there has been total change in character. Only wants to sit under his basking lamp, refused to be fed from hand but does still eat, stays darkish green most of the day while looking pathetic. However, towards the end of the day, he will still roam around his viv while looking for a bed spot, even though he always ends up in the same place!

We changed his UV lamp yesterday and today he's been very slightly more active, in fact he has come out for the first time since temps dropped and will now probably spend the night in the money plant.

Hopefully, the changing of the UV lamp will cheer him up a bit and the slight improvement we've seen today will contiue, but I'm still looking for some advice and reassurance that his change in character isn't anything to worry about.