My Cham for the past 2 weeks ahs refused to lap water off leaves. This means my misting system that goes on for now 8 minutes! is pointless, as well as the drip system that is on 8 hours of the day. He just won't drink! This may be linked to my concern of initial dehydration since I hardly saw him drink, so I began gushing waer in his mouth when he opened it to feed. I still do it as much as I can, 2-3 times a day and I would think it would be more water than any cham could lick off leaves but I'm seeing signs of dehydration. When he looks behind him there is a slight sunkeness to the eye, and his stools reveal no urinate or hardly any! They are white though. The humidity is around 50-60%. I don't know what to do to make sure he is getting water. He is otherwise perfectly healthy, he never refuses food and always chases it down. He is very active and colors are tranquil. I dust him 2 times a week with repcal with vitd3, and once every 2 weeks with reptivite. I feed him gutloaded crickets and silkworms and he has all the proper lighting. Any tips?!
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Dealing with minor dehydration, on a stubborn cham!
Replies (5)
Hi-
You said your feeding silkworms, chameleons do get a lot of moisture from them. Depending on how many he is eating a day, he my not have an need for water. What color is the urate in the feces? If they are coming out white, then he is well hydrated. Hope this helps!
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John W. Lucas
www.CHAMELEONPARADISE.com
www.CALIFORNIASILKWORMS.com
They are white, except they are barely present, if none at all. Does that mean he is dehydrated?
A chameleon that is dehydrated won't eat. So if your chameleon is eating, then he most likely is not dehydrated. Forcefeeding him water is risky in that he can aspirate water into his little lungs by accident (eg, by trying to resist you forcing the water in). I would stop forcing water into him, its too risky and most likely not even necessary.
A vet could check it with a blood test.
I would cut the D3 back to only once a week as it is hard on the organs especially the kidneys.
I would cut the reptivite to once a month.
Giving him a shower in your tub. Put him in there on a plant and if the water is too strong bounce it off the sides.
Also taking him out in nice weather and putting him on a plant in a sunning cage and using a misting nozzle on your hose works too. The trick is to get him to start swallowing on his own.
I had one like that and it can be frustrating. It ended up that mine had some kidney failure and when the kidneys finally gave out he died but he lived pretty long time with it.
If you ever do give him water by mouth I would do no more than 1ml at a time and maybe only once a day if he really is dehydrated. Getting him to drink on his own is best.
Do you think it is because I have been letting him out in the sun ALOT, and still dusting with D3? In a week he probably gets about 20 hours of Tampa sun, so could this be the reason?
