his surroundings...

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Posted by icequeen on April 15, 2003 at 22:51:29:

In Reply to: Re: Another vet visit...another 70 bucks... posted by anson on April 15, 2003 at 22:03:28:

I've often wondered about these things as well.
Zoe is in a corner in our dining room. But there is a great deal of activity through that room, as it's a living room/dining room combination.
I also have two cats and a dog, as well as my two children. Also, as everyone is aware his enclosure is FAR from perfect. I just don't know where else to put him within the house. If I don't keep him on the main floor with us, I won't be able to keep an eye on him and his behaviours.
He does get handled quite a bit, but he is not the least bit aggressive, doesn't show any stress colours at all when we do handle him and as soon has he sees a hand, he climbs right on, because he knows that's his ticket out of that too small tank he calls home. By handling, I mean he climbs up our arm, to our head, and sits up there. Or he will climb onto my shoulder and sit with his head him my hair, with his body against my neck. We only handle him (other than at feeding time) on his terms, so not really holding him, just kind of providing him a place to 'perch'.
I have started wrapping his enclosure with a dark sheet at night so that he can't see any movement or shadows, and I've been contenplating putting up some sort of "privacy screen" for him during the day as well.
The upstairs of my house gets VERY cold at night, which was part of the reason why I made the decision to keep him on the main floor.
I have added lots of real plants to his enclosure so he can hide himself, and more climbing sticks...but his living arrangements need tons of improvement.

:Do you handle Zoe a lot besides when you are force feeding? Chameleons can stress out from lots of handling. Also could there be anything that is visually stressing him out in his enviornment? Can he see another animal from his cage or maybe too much activity around him. Chameleons can be stressed from many things. Sometimes things so minute you might not even notice what it is but it can be causing tremendous stress to the chameleon. When mine was sick I only handled him for force feeding. I took him outside in a cage in case my holding him was stressing him. Stress can cause lots of illnesses in chameleons. In people too.
:I hope Zoe feels better soon, and you too!

Follow Ups:

Maybe I should come up and check....more Bigtattoo 04/16/03 (5)
- *in my best southern accent* ...Why BigT....I DO declare.... icequeen 04/16/03 (4)
  - Well Miss Scarlet...... Bigtattoo 04/17/03 (3)
    - ohhhh....my, my, my.... icequeen 04/17/03 (2)
      - E-mail me..... Bigtattoo 04/17/03 (1)
        
        You've got mail.... (n/p) icequeen 04/17/03 (0)
Re: his surroundings... anson 04/16/03 (0)
Re: his surroundings... chimbakka 04/16/03 (0)