hey yall,

so my veiled cham has been displayign a brown coloration lately. Someone told me that brown coloration was a sign that the cham is content. He eats fine and defecates regularly. I did a fecal test on him at work and nobody could find any parasites.

does he lookes stressed to anybody?

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

Maybe its just me, but I have always heard that darker colorations meant stress...has anything changed in the habitat??? What are the temps? Is he still feeding and defecating normally????? Thanks

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Chams are such a guessing game when it comes to why they display their colorations because there can be so many reasons. Since parasites have been put out of the question, are their any other signs of ill heath. If the temps are lower than normal this could be a just using coloration to gather more heat. Also What type of lighting is being used (possibly time to replace a bulb due to lower UV output?) Has there been a change in activity around the cage that would possibly cause the animal stress? Has the cham reccently been bred?

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"Tonights forcast..... Dark." Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weather man, George Carlin. You will be missed.
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Check out this web site under stress...
http://www.chameleonsonline.com/illness.php

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Colleen

the temps have been lower at night (down to 65), and my umbrella tree started to wither (watering too much...not watering enough...idk) anyways, i snapped off a bunch of dead branches so maybe I need to get me another tree, maybe a ficus and make sure he's got more foilage covering.

ill keep yall updated, thanks.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

yeah...if they are to exposed this could lead to stress. If he is not usually brown and now all of a sudden constantly brown there is definetly something up. Ficus is a real good choice(good cover and nice sturdy branches).

Titus gave some good pointers to lighting. Maybe replace the bulb if it has been a while(6 months usually means replacement time). But I feel it is the fact that he feels exposed that has lead to a little stress. You need to do something very soon, stress is the number 1 killer of captive chams.

good luck!

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Don't be jealous the voices only speak to me...

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its not the bulb, i replace all of my UVB bulbs on all of my enclosures at the same time and they arent due again until january. I will do my best to find a ficus asap. thanks.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

I don't think it looks stressed at all. Sounds perfectly healthy and you may be worrying needlessly.
Besides the plants though I would include something with a little thicker branch. Something easier for Irwin to hold on to, if anything I would think maybe he could use something sturdier and thicker to perch on.
Just a thought.
Kenn

Brown colouration in male chameleson is often a sign of stress. this can be casued, as other members have said, by a number of things.

Temps, UV output, coverage, climbing space are all factors in this. Another common prolem is too much noise/traffic in the immediate area of the chams viv.

As you have ruled out the UV output and your temps are okay then the main plaes to look are obviously the coverage (which you are working on) and the traffic around his viv.

If he hasn't been recently moved to the place he is now and has only recently been displaying the darker colouration then he could well be needing more climbing and hiding places.

Ficus benjamina are excellent plants for coverage if not very forgiving with their light and water requirements - all of mine have to be changed every few months due to them not liking various aspects of the environment.

Another great plant to look into is pothos (Devil's ivy). This is a trailing plant and is very sturdy and can take the weight of an adult cham quite easily.

Also, another thing that can lead to stress colours is if the cham is not getting enough sleep time. Does he get total darkness at night or are there lights form the TV or other things within his viv range? Do you leave his crix free roaming his viv or do you cup feed? Lack of sleep can be a very important factor for a cham and can cause premature death if left for too long.

I hope some of this helps a little for Irwin to get back to his normal self

I dont know where you got the name "irwin" from but yea, my cham's name isnt irwin. anyways, yes I am going to find a new tree. I cup feed him, and I mist him heavily once daily. he gets total darkness at night except the moonlight from the window, and I have recently put a heat emitter (lightless, non-ceramic) from reptileuv.com over his enclosure to add a little more nighttime heat. Its 65degrees at night minimum. yes, he started this behavior a while back but it was pretty sudden, around the time that the umbrella tree started to die and lose branches (imagine that).

I did a routine fecal on my beardy sunday and he's completely infested with roundworms! so.... i called my former exotics vet (who moved to maine, and is a friend of mine) and she said panacur would work fine, and I should probably dose every reptile I have just in case, and also that I should give everything a round of panacur every 3-4 months because most parasites come from the feeder insects they eat. It's kinda hard to find perfectly healthy feeder insects so...yea. anyways the chameleon has grown up now and almost bit my finger off last night when I went in to give him his panacur. luckily, i didnt have to pry his mouth open, i just squirted the meds in his mouth when he gaped and hissed at me lol.

thanks,

-Adam

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"