Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so after reading some more I stoped out at a local reptile store who is supposed to be pretty reputible and got a baby male vieled who he said was captive bred and eating like a champ. Since ive got him home he has not ate once he has only been handled once and that was only to get him into his new enclosure. I tried the hanging feed cup for a day and he took nothing early this morning i put three crickets loose in the cage seen him try once to get one but all three are still in there. he has pretty much been sleeping all day i really havent noticed him move very far at all. The pet store is closed all day today and tommorow and wont be open until tuesday

You said..."he has pretty much been sleeping all day i really havent noticed him move very far at all"...a chameleon should be awake during the day...so there is something wrong. It might be as simple as the basking area or cage temperatures are incorrect or it might be more serious.

What is the temperature in its cage?

the ambient is around 80ish and the hot spot is around 90-95 ish

When moved into a new environment, Chameleons often won't eat for 2 or 3 days until they feel comfortable. He shouldn't be sleeping in the daytime however. I don't know what to say about that.

yeah its ood cause he will like be active for like a hour or so than go hide and sleep for maybe 3 or more hours its wiered and with the food he tried to eat i thin it was three times now but he missed the first one and the second it like slipped off of his tounge and i only seen him move the third one he is like 10' away from my comp desk so i dont see everything

A chameleon shouldn't be sleeping most of the day even if it has been moved to a new set-up IMHO.

Sometimes if the cham is dehydrated their tongue isn't as sticky. I wonder also if he is stressed by seeing activity or other animals (including you) around the cage a lot. If he doesn't have spaces to hide from view he may be trying to shut out all the stressors. Did you ask the shop what they were feeding him and how they offered it (bowl, free range)? If the cage is a lot bigger than what he is used to he may be intimidated by all the space and not able to find his food easily.

they had him in a 20 gallon with 3 other chams the guy saidthey were bowl feeding him but when i tried for the day/day and a half the cham wanted nothing to do with it but once i set them free range so to say the cham actually tried a few times than lost ambition. she has plenty climbing and hiding in her cage and the sides of the cage next to her is coverd with backgound stuff(fish tank background) and there is no camotion in the room she is in the comp desk is in there but only me and my other half go in there and dont even have to walk past the cage to get to the desk

Hey, She might not know where to get food. Some tricks are to put the bowl right below here she perches at her basking spot. If that doesn't work, you may want to put "too many" crickets in there during the day for free range, and take as many as you can find out at night. If the cham is on a downward spiral, food is more important than a cricket chew at night. If you do this, leave lots of food for the crickets to eat everywhere so the ones you can't find will nibble on it, and not on her.

Also, I feel there is too much emphasis on drip systems at a lot of pet stores. Babies like to lick moisture off leaves, and as long as you let them and their cage dry off before you shut down the lights for the night, its OK to spray them...sometimes that (was) the only way I could get them to drink. Babies need water more often than adults and don't always figure out drip systems if you're using one. If you don't have one, go to Home Depot and get a small pump sprayer (just like a windex bottle). The sleeping may be brought on by dehydration...not starvation.

Steve

ok thanks for the advice i have plenty of spray bottles layin around and in use plenty of other reptiles and i do spray about half the cage during the mourning and she travels over sometimes and has a lil sip or so. Ill try the alot of crickets free range thing tomorrow and im pretty good at gettingt hem out at night i dont like to leave them inwith the beardies either but it isnt often there are any leftover in there lol ill keep everyone updated as things go and ill be contacting the store as soon as it opens