I have been doing a lot of research on the internet about the symptons of stress. I can not pin point the problem. Its not like he is always cligning on tightly or anything, its just that he is not colorful. He looks very healthy, full-bodied, normal, just he is usually a dark brown/forest green. He turns a beautiful green when I take him out for showers, or cage cleaning. I dont know why he is always this color. The cage is 3 feet tall, three feet long, and one foot deep. I have a reptisun 5.0 and a heating bulb for basking. I have a dog, but he NEVER comes up stairs, 100%. He is in my room and I am not home for almost 12 hours of the day. One thing I consisdered is that in a recent storm, the power went off, setting back his light hours for his timers by 2-3 hours. Could this be a problem? I am not sure why his coloration is bland. Very healthy looking, just bland in color. Any ideas?
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Stress?
Replies (3)
Is the humidity low?
You mentioned he turned bright colors when you gave him showers. Sometimes it seems my cham will be bright the more I mist and the higher the humidity.
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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
11 months
Forgive me for not remembering, but is this a veiled? How old? Veiled can go through a brownish phase at about 6 months. Remember, when a cham is relaxed in its habitat they are not all that brightly colored. When you take him out he gets more alert and excited and his color will naturally get brighter. There are good stresses as well as bad. When they see food or have access to water they can get brighter too. There may be nothing wrong other than he's just relaxed and not needing to flare his dominance at anything at the moment.
See i think the problem is that he is not getting proper hydration and the cage is too shallow. Chameleons like the oppritunity to retreat to the back of the cage. This gives them a little stress repliever...its kinda like going to your room just to chill and relax...Since the cage is so narrow he feels like he is on a constant display....i thin k this might be frightining him alittle...
Get a bigger ccage maybe?
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eric
