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Baby chameleon climbing upside down on top of cage screen?

michaelchameleon Jun 27, 2005 08:02 PM

Today I added more branches to my baby panther chameleons cage (he is young, so my first enclosure is a tank, the 2 larges ones that he will move into are screen)I placed the branches right to the top of the tank, touching the screen lid. Now he is climbing upside down on the screen lid. I am concerned with this behaviour, is anything wrong with him doing this? Either I do not let the branches touch the screen lid, or I will tape a 1.5 inch plastic divider on the lid to prevent him from going to the basking light and burning himself. The ambient temperature is 75ish, with the basking at 85-90.
The cage is on my desk, which I think is upseting him because it is below eye level, I am going to build a stand to raise the cage to eye level, and hopefully this will help.

Any reason why he is climbing upside down on the screen lid? Also I am not exactly sure how old he is but I would say roughly a few weeks, and he eats around 6 crickets a day, thats it. I put more in, but he wont eat them, is 6 crickets o.k to eat? I figure because he is really young and that is the reason.

Replies (1)

lele Jun 29, 2005 08:58 PM

if all else is OK, then he is probably just investigating since he can easily get there. I would not worry except about the light. You can certainly raise the light far enough away from the screen so he does not get burned. What are you using to monitor temps? a temp gun (about $25) is an essential tool for "correct" temps on surfaces (including your cham's skin!) Keep in mind that the glass will hold in heat a lot more than open screen so make sure he is not getting overheated. The 85-90 might be a bit much for a baby. check out the aricle on babies on www.adcham.com

lele
babies

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