Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my sengal cham sleeps constanty is this a sign of health problems or is he nocturnal

ITs a health problem. In my experience when a cham sleeps during the day and becomes lethargic you aer already to late. they soon stop eating and drinking. Then they die. This is in my experience. I had a female Jacksons who became like this. She lived for a month without eating. She drank but thats it. Near the end she stopped doing that too. I felt aweful, but I paid like 45 bucks for her as a cb baby, and although she was a beauty, by the time you pay for her vet expenses and such, you could have a new cham. I know this sounds horrible, but its true. Even the best cham keeper loses a few. You just have to pick your battles. I'm sure its possible to save your little guy if you act fast. I did try to give her some appetite and electrolites. This did help actually. But She hadn;t eaten for several weeks and I think when she did eat again her body went into shock and she died (I think this because I have heard that when you find the stomach of your animal turn green (a green circle) after death, that is what it comes from. I heard this from someone of the forum, I'm not sure if its true, but it seems logical. But what ever you decide to do, good luck. (I would encourage you to act very fast for best results)
Again, I could be totally wrong in your case, but in my experience excessive sleeping has been associated with health problems.

hey. i have a baby jax and about a week ago i found him doing the same thing and he was barely eating. i asked a few people on here and a problem is he could be dehydrated. so mist him up a bit and dont worry if he doesnt like being wet. i heard it helps to keep his skin healthier. and i cooled it down in the cage. and now hes basking regularly, eating well enough, drinking and enjoying the misting. good luck. its scarry though.

How old is your chameleon? How long have you had it? How have you
been keeping it (temperature, lights, watering methods, etc.)?
Is it a female? How long has it been doing this sleeping?

Healthy adult chameleons don't usually sleep during the day
(except if they are old).

hes a juv. ive had him for a few months. hes at normal temps,lighting etc

What do you mean by "normal"? If these things were normal your cham would probably not be sleeping like this. He's very sick now so something just isn't right. Maybe too late to help, but if you describe your setup, temps, humidity, dusting, gutloads, caging, lighting in good detail maybe we can eliminate what isn't wrong. Is this a wildcaught cham? Most Senegals are. Where did you buy him and what did they tell you about care? Has a vet ever checked him for parasites?

i got him from a show in pa. i have not had him checked by a vet. he has full specturm lighting. is feeding on crickets and mealworms that have been dusted and gut loaded with fruits and vegs. basking spot is 95 and the rest of cage is 75-85. the cage is 2 x 2.5 x 3. the humidity comes from a humidifyer 2 times a day plus sprayed 3 times.

What brand of lighting? What are you dusting with specifically, and how often? What is the cage air humidity (do you check it with a humidity gauge?)?

The reasons for the detail are:

Most full spectrum lights don't produce much if any UVB despite what the labels say, and without this the cham can't metabolize the calcium in its diet. A good safe light like the ReptiSun 5.0 will need to be changed every 6 months. "Full spectrum" incandescent basking bulbs usually don't do much.

Dusting too often or not enough will cause deficiencies. For an adult cham you should be dusting with a calcium supplement about once a week, and with a herp vitamin dust about once a month. These are separate dusts, not combined. Check the labels of the products you are using to see what if any vitamins you are giving.

You've got to know the air humidity level in your cage to know if your cham is dehydrating between sprayings too much. If there aren't enough live plants in the cage it will be hard for it to drink enough to stay healthy and the plants help keep the air humidity higher. Without a gauge you really can't guess and most likely the cage is a lot drier than you realize. This can lead to major health problems.

If this cham has never been checked for parasites by a vet chances are it does have some. Senegals are mostly imported and often have very heavy loads of them.

How much disturbance is there around the cage? Senegals can be stressy and shy, so if it is disturbed by seeing a lot of activity, other pets, being handled too much, all these things can add to health problems.

Hope this helps!