Just wanted to make a quick post on what new owners can expect as winter approaches. Screen cages make caring for chams during winter more difficult than other reptiles.

Temperatures drop and brings some changes. I will assume most owners have veileds and panthers and this post is mostly for them.

The biggest change is that their appetites will most likely drop. Every winter we see a big rise of posts asking about why their chams aren't eating as much. So expect a drop in appetite. For a full grown male veiled or panther it is even normal for them to reject all feeders for a day or 2 and to only eat a few feeders per day. Young chams and female chams should still be eating a lot more than this though.

Try to keep them hydrated still. Cold weather means less humidity. Cold weather also means they spend most of their time basking and less active and with darker colors.

Try to not keep your cage directly next to windows as they can be drafty and be much colder than your room without you realizing it.

No heat lamps are needed during night. In the wild they can deal with temperatures much more colder than you can. A perk of being cold blooded. If you are comfortable then they are fine.

Winter is an important time to focus on basking temperatures and perch placement. A cold cham will try to get too close to a heat lamp, or will try to hang upside down underneath it which causes severe burns.

During winter I usually have to increase the wattage of the basking bulb. and IR thermal gun is cheap (about $15) and makes temperature checking super easy and is very helpful for cooking also (I mostly use it to quickly check my oil temps for frying). But with this changes it increases burn risks. Please review the write up on how to prevent burns and correct heat sources.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chameleons/comments/1k9gvx/a_word_on_heat_sources_and_burning_your_animals/

Also, what should you do if there is a power outage during winter, or winter car trips? Please be prepared with the needed equipment

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chameleons/comments/1rykyg/traveling_with_chameleon_help/cdsdstk/

Those links have been in the sidebar this whole time! whoa!

Please let me know if you have any other questions on this topic!