Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What does it mean if they sleep through the day a lot? My jackson sleeps all night (10 hours) and through the day on and off for a combined 6-7 hours through the day. Oh he is about 4 months if age matters.

Not good. Is he showing signs of other problems? What is your setup? Go to the link below and go to the Tips on Asking Questions then answer so we can help you troubleshoot.

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Screen cage, 75-80 during the day, high 60’s at night. Reptaglo 5.0 on the top for about 12 hours through the day. No light at night. Not sure of humidity but I mist about 3-4 times daily, I have running water but I have not seen him drink from it, so I mist so much daily, and have seen him drink this way. He eats OK about a dozen or so pinheads a day, I have tried giving him meal worms but he does not want them. Gardenia and fake plants, providing a decent amount of cover, sometimes he is hard to find in it. Supplements are reptical- for pretty much every meal. CB 4 months old from a breeder, I have had him for about a week. He is in the quietest room of the house, cats that can be seen at times by him but I have not observed them bothering him at all. He is awake for about 8-10 hours a day . What could be the cause of this?

>>Screen cage, 75-80 during the day, high 60’s at night.
Is 75-80 the overall temp of cage, or is this the temp where your heatlight is directed? 75-80 overall temp might be a bit too hot for such a young jax.
>>Reptaglo 5.0 on the top for about 12 hours through the day. No light at night. Not sure of humidity but I mist about 3-4 times daily, I have running water but I have not seen him drink from it, so I mist so much daily, and have seen him drink this way.
Jacksons are mountaine species. Just looking superficially at the specifics of your setup, I would say not enough humidity for your Jax. May want to increase the humidity via automated misting system. Could you explain what you mean by 'running water'? I'm assuming you mean the drip system; do you have it set to high drip rate or low drip rate?

>>He eats OK about a dozen or so pinheads a day, I have tried giving him meal worms but he does not want them. Gardenia and fake plants, providing a decent amount of cover, sometimes he is hard to find in it. Supplements are reptical- for pretty much every meal. CB 4 months old from a breeder, I have had him for about a week.
Inquire with the breeder about his prior behavior if possible. He might have some insight on your cham that you're overlooking.
>>He is in the quietest room of the house, cats that can be seen at times by him but I have not observed them bothering him at all. He is awake for about 8-10 hours a day . What could be the cause of this?
Hrmmm... I'm thinking the sight of the cats might be stressing him. Maybe he's not so much sleeping so long, as he's trying to remain still so as to not be seen by the cats? Isolate your cham from the cats, see if this helps.
Just my opinions, hope they were of some use.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Is this due to stress? Has anyone seen this before? I will look into increasing the humidity and keep the cats out in the mean time and look for a change.

It sounds a bit like accumulating stress and dehydration to me, given your description. A cage with mostly fake plants may be drying out too fast for him to benefit from the spraying you do. Even if he drinks a lot, drier air will dehydrate him at a fairly constant rate due to respiration. Do you have a humidity gauge in the cage? I would strongly suggest getting a good quality one and checking to see how long it takes for the cage to dry out after you spray and see how low the humidity level gets. I bet is is lower than you realize. If you add more live potted plants it will really help stabilize the relative humidity in the cage and offer him more choices in his retreats from view. Seeing your cats is probably pretty terrifying as he doesn't realize they can't get to him.

This is just a thought, I am not familiar with Jackson chameleon, but I did not see mention of a basking bulb. I do know that reptiles slow way down when they are too cool. Do you have a basking bulb?