I have had him about 14 days and the last 2 or 3 days he has been acting really weird. His backbone and spikey things coming off him are a reddish-brown color and the rest of his body is a dark brown. He Isn't climbing his plants, he's very lazy and looks very glummy....... He doesn't seem to be eating as much at all.....I was giving him everything, feeding him 2 to 3 times a day, about 4 crickets each time , misting his aquarium about 3 or 4 times a day...i read online that you need to cover the crickets in a calcium powder about once or twice a month but I have gave him calcium on the crickets about 3 times already....his temperature is at about 85 and about 75 at night which is said to be about usuall .......at first I thought he got bored of his diet of crickets to meal worms he liked them then barelly ate anything .....please help me I dont want him to die ....... thanks reply asap please.

Reptiles sometimes take a bit to adjust to a new home. YOur temps might be a bit low but I honestly know little about chams.

__________________
Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

don't over due the calcium. you can do more harm than good. What is your UVB lighting like? How big is his setup?

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

From the coloration your discribing it does sound like somethings not quite right. If your not using a light that provides UVB that could be a large part of the problem. It could also be stress realated if not provided with lots of hiding places or foot traffic around the cage. 5-15 crickets per day is the normal eating habbits for my Veiled. So it could be that it's just good and full. also if your not hand feeding it's possible that it is eating but your not seeing it happen.

__________________
"Tonights forcast..... Dark." Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weather man, George Carlin. You will be missed.
http://schlange-titus.de
http://dght.de

Thanks for the replies....i read on the net that the temp in the day time should be around 80 degrees and 90 degrees and at the night it should be 70 to 85 degrees..........My set up is only a 20 gallon tank but I was told that that would be big enough for him until he gets bigger. i do realize that I am going to to have up grade to a big tank or a terrarium ...........the tank came with a fluorecent uv light but im not sure if it is the right kind so I am going to buy a new uvb light to be sure. the color around his back is still the redish borwn color but his body color seems to be greener now .........i had put crickets in his cage yesterday and this morning there is only 1 left so that good ......but he is very very lazy and he seems to be weak .......yesterday when I misted his cage and him he never moved at all and now today when I misted it he did move .......its like his legs are very weak and clumsy when he actually starts to move he gets caught up with his front and rear legs ....thanks again.......id you have any more suggestions please help greatly appreciated !!!!

You'll probably want to get a new habitat. Aquariums are very poor enclosures for chameleons. You'll also want a UVB light immediately. If it doesn't say UVB, it's not UVB. If you don't have a lot of plant cover, you'll want more. If you can easily see your chameleon, then you don't have enough. Make sure you have a screen lid too, with wide spacing between the grids.

You'll also need to turn those temperature ranges into a temperature gradient. 70-80 degrees doesn't mean 70 or 80, it means 70 at one end of the habitat and fading to 80 at the other end, so that the chameleon can move about and regulate her temperature. As humans we don't have to do this because we are endothermic, but reptiles are poikilotherms and can't regulate their temperature like we can.

__________________
+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

I've always been told chams are hard to care for. The key is apparently all-mesh cages.

I would agree. Every time I have seen Chams at reptile shows, they are always in mesh cages, and those guys usually know what they are doing.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

They need very good ventilation, and they also get stressed from refections in the glass. I think being able to see through the glass but not walk through it also stresses them out a lot, as I've seen them try. With a screen, you can see through it, but you can also see that it's there. Plus they can climb the screen. The trick is finding a screen enclosure with grids wide enough to let the UVB in. Some of the challenges of keeping an all-mesh enclosure is keeping the heat and humidity up, as well as keeping drafts of air out, but the mesh is necessary none-the-less.

__________________
+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield