Reptile & Amphibian Forums

we moved about 2 months ago and my jackson hasn't been quite the same since...he doesn't wander the cage as much...doesn't eat as much and is almost always displaying dark colors rather than the "happy" greeen he used to display...

i've tired moving things away from the cage but there is just so much re-arranging i can do since we're doing alot of work in the house and the basement is the storage area and mini workshop..

is there something i'm missing or something i can do??...

oh yeah, lele, are you far from Burlington, Vermont??...i might be there for a week running a shop that all the employees walked out on.

How much sunlight get's into your basement?
Chameleons will slow down like that when moved to
low light environments. I had the same problem a few years ago when I lived in a basement, my chameleons haaated it. I had
to rotate them on shifts in front of the only sunny window in the house.
gw

the original basement he was in was a finished basement that was bright because of the high hats but no exposure to sunlight...this basement has 3 windows around his cage area but actually isn't as bright as the old one...i could put a torch lamp down there to try to brighten it up some more...i'll give it a try

thanks

Even if the windows don't recieve direct light,
elevating his cage to be right in front of one would help.
(Think of chameleons like high light requiring plants.)
If you are going to try adding more artificial light instead,
I'd stay away from incandescents & halogens (torch light?)
The light they output is a different wavelength than sunlight,
and won't give you the results you're looking for.
What type of lighting are you currently using? Jackson's
like it cool and bright, so lottts (as many as you can fit)
uv flourescent tubes a small heat spot is the best way to go.
You could also try a powersun uv bulb, but you have to be carefull about placement over the cage, they put out aLOt of
uv.
gw