Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female flapneck chameleon that I think is about 7 months old. She is about 7 inches long from nose to tip of tail.
For the last month she hasn’t been eating well. Only a mealorm here and there. She won’t eat crickets anymore.
Now I think she is becoming dehydrated. I have been misting her a couple times a day really good and having a dripper go most of the day with this electrod3 supplement to help her get her appitite back.
Is there anything I can do to help her start eating and drinking more.

Sam

She has had her mouth open here and there today. I have never seen her do this before. Also I think she may have got water or somthing in her left eye because it is all bulging out and kinda scary...she has been ribbing it on stuff.

Here are some photos I just took of her set up and her.

I just had my female pass away showing the same signs yesterday. I gave her many showers and decided to put in a laying site just in case. She showed no sign of being gravid you couldnt feel or see any eggs.She never went to the bottom of her cage and act like she needed to dig either. She did go down and dig a hole came back out of the hole and went but down. She came back out of the hole the next morning with eyes sunkin and very weak. I found her dead yesterday at the bottom of her cage. I looked in the dirt and found no eggs. My husband decided to necropsy her and found there were eggs but the were up under her rib cage which is why I think she couldnt lay them. Just keep her hydrated and put in a laying site just incase its the same thing as mine. I didnt write this to scare you but to let you know what may be going on. Hope yours bounces back because I sure miss popeto she was my favirote. Good luck and keep me posted. They are such a beautiful animal.

I don't know what the electrod3 stuff is you are talking about, but I wouldn't be using anything but water in the dripper if it were me.

The bulging eye and rubbing it on the branch could be irritation or it could be a sign of infection...just to name a couple of possibilities. The gaping could be that it has aspirated something or it could be the beginning of a respiratory infection....all you/we can do is guess....so I think the best option is to take it to a good reptile vet.

BTW...I couldn't see your pictures.

Here are some pictures I just took of her yesterday. I have since given her a good shower and made a vet appointment for today.

How did things go at the vet's?

Are you sure its a she?

Well I took her to the vet and that was a waste of 55 bucks! I knew more about chameleons than she did. She is supposed to specialize in reptiles. I drove about 40 minutes there too. She was like...."oh well you pretty much did all my work for me"
Anyways...I am pretty sure that it is a she because there is no spur on the back of her feet. I really think she might just need to lay eggs. My boyfriend is at home during the day so I call him from work and have him tell me what she is doing and what she looks like once and a while. She has been turning black, which she has never really done before, and her temps are not cold. She has aslo been exploring her cage way more than ever before. She has been going down to the bottom. I have put a plastic container in the bottom(as big of one that I could fit in there) with moist soil.
I am hoping that this is what it is.....

Anyways thats for the help

How come my pictures wont show up for you?....when I preview them she show up.

Samantha

You asked.."How come my pictures wont show up for you?....when I preview them she show up"...I don't know why they wouldn't show up when I answered you....they do now though. Your chameleon looks quite healthy in the pictures.

The reason I asked if you were sure it was female is that I think judging from the base of the tail, that its a male. I'm not absolutely sure though. Not all male dilepis(flap necks)have spurs. Read the information on this site...
http://adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chdilepis.html

Before I came to that conclusion though...I was going to suggest that you try putting a container of sand/soil in the cage in case it is a female and it needs to lay eggs..so I'm glad to know that you have one there.

Does it ever get bright yellow dots?
The dark coloration could be stress related....or if it is a female, I think it could be non-recptive coloration if it also has bright dots on it. (I'm not very familiar with flaps.)

Sorry that the vet experience wasn't good. Was the vet even able to tell you if it was a male or female?

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Let me know how it goes please.

I did't really think to ask the vet if she thought it was a boy or girl....I don't really think that she would know anyways.
I think she is a female....after looking at those pics at the site you showed me. Her flap is not very big.
I have been to that site before....I think I have been to every site possible. There really isnt much information on flapnecks.
Every other kind of chameleon though.

I think I saw some yellow spots on her today though. Hard to make out, but maybe they will become more yellow as she is more ready to lay eggs. She did almost eat a worm today...but then dicided not to. She hasnt eaten in a couple days now...again. I will be getting some different kinds of worms in on friday.

If she is ready to lay eggs will she stop eating completely???
Also how big should her laying site be and what kind of soil???

She is quite small (16 grams is what the vet weighed her at two days ago.) About 6 inches long.
I have in there now a tupperware container about 6x12inches and 4-5 inched deep with a soft moist soil. Will that be ok??

Samantha

You said that her flaps aren't very big....if you don't have a male and a female to compare, its still hard to base it on that. Flaps from different areas have bigger and smaller flaps to begin with. The whole group of flaps needs more work...both on identification and husbandry. Since they come from a fairly wide area, there are differences in the habitats too. (Just a bit of an explanation...not saying that it can't be a female.)

What kinds of worms are you feeding her? Do you feed her other insects? Do you gutload the insects? Does she get direct sunlight or UVB from full spectrum florescents? Do you dust the insects with any supplements? Do you have a substrate? Does she poop? Does the poop look normal? How do you provide water for her? What are the temperatures in the cage (day, night, hottest area, coldest area)?

You asked..."If she is ready to lay eggs will she stop eating completely???"...some do and some don't. It has to do partly with how full their abdomen is with eggs. I think you said that she hasn't been eating for quite a while now....do you mean that she wasn't eating at all or just that she has slowed down? Chameleons slow down as they approach full grown and they also generally slow down seasonally. Even when they are going to shed, they can go off food for a couple of days.

What I usually do with any egglaying female chameleon that I have is to place in her cage a container that when empty she would fit into with a couple of inches to spare on all sides and above her. I fill it about 3/4 of the way full of washed sandbox sand and moisten it so that it will hold a tunnel. Some chameleons will actually lay their eggs in this container and some will need to be moved to a larger container when they start digging. Many people use different soils/sands to fill the container with, but I have always had success with the sand so I haven't changed it.

The container that you described should be okay for her to start to dig in but its kind of short and shallow...so she may need to have a bigger one.

When/if she starts digging, don't let her see you (don't watch her dig). If you do, she may abandon the hole thinking that its not a safe place to lay the eggs. If this happens too often, it can lead to eggbinding. She may dig more than one hole looking for the "perfect" site...but that's different than abandoning it because she's being watched.

I hope she will be okay. Flaps are not one of the easiest chameleons to keep in captivity, IMHO.

I have only had access to crickets and mealworms. She won't even look at the crickets lately...I have been putting some in a cup and leaving them in her cage for her though just in case she changes her mind. I have butterworms, waxworms, and superworms coming tomorrow though. I have been feeding
both crickets and flukers cricket food, water gel, and some veggies. I am getting some different cricket food in with my worm order though.
I would go out and catch some different insects, but I won't be able to for at least a month.

She doesn't get direct sunlight(not till it gets nice and warm in a month or so. I live in Kelowna BC, but I have a 7% uvb coil bulb, and a 24" reptisun 5.0, and a 75w
sunglo heat bulb.(I think I might need 100w). Are zoo med heatbulbs better than others???

I dust the crickets with cricket dust. Since she hasn't been eating crickets I have been getting the
mealworms a little wet and dusting them too.

I used to use a soil like substance for subtrate. When it is wet it helps keep the humidity up, but I stopped
using it cause it is too messy to clean her cage out! I am now using that soil for her laying site.

She hasn't pooped much lately because of the eating issue. When she does though the brown part is
not very much and light brown and goopy. The white part is still looking normal though. (so I am assuming
that she is hydrated)

I have a dripper going most of the day. It drips in a couple spots for her. I put some drops in that is supposed
to take out the chlorine. I also have been misting her whole cage down pretty good 2-3 times a day with hot water,
so by the time it gets to her its warm.

Her temps are usually 70-75f during the day (however when I mist it drops to about 65 for a bit) Her basking spot
has been about 80-85f. I have been thinking that it may be a little cool. I am going to pick up a 100w zoomed bulb
today. At night it is usually about 65-70f. It is not good to have the dripper going at night??? Sometimes the dripper
is not out of water before her light go out.

She hasnt been eating well for over a month now. I really hope she will eat some of those worms I am getting!!!!!

Also I think there is too much action around her cage. I have her in our apartment which is like one big room with
kitchen, livingroom, dining and everything. Since my boyfriend and I have been getting our mt bikes out for spring
my boyfriend has been working on them right next to her cage. I think this is stressing her out! I am moving her into
my bedroom tonight so it will be much more quite and very little action around her cage, other tha ....well you know...in
the bedroom...lol. I do have a towel I will put over her for that though...lol.

Well thanks again

Samantha

Glad to hear that you will have a bigger variety of insects to feed her. Silkworms would be good to use too.

There is a gutload that is highly recommended on ADCHAM....
http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/gutload.html

You said..."I would go out and catch some different insects, but I won't be able to for at least a month"...lots of people do feed wild insects to their chameleons with no problems, but I have always worried that they might get parasites from the wild insects and haven't done that. Also...be careful which wild insects you use. Some like fire flies for instance are toxic.

You asked..."Are zoo med heatbulbs better than others???"...sorry but I don't really know. I have used mostly Reptisun 5.0's for the last few years. When I first started keeping chameleons years ago, I used different ones that were available until these became available. I never switched because I was afraid that I would throw the balance of UVB to my supplementation off.

You said..."I dust the crickets with cricket dust"...there are calcium, calcium/D3, vitamin and mineral dusts that are all important to use depending on how you gutload the insects and your husbandry.

I'm glad you stopped using the substrate. Its hard to find one that you can be sure doesn't cause impaction or that isn't toxic.

You said..."I am now using that soil for her laying site"...I use a type of washed sandbox sand (Produced by King, in a red, white, yellow and blue bag) for my egglaying sites because I have found that that particular kind of sand goes right through them.

You said..."She hasn't pooped much lately because of the eating issue"...I was only asking that in case she was impacted.

You said..."When she does though the brown part is
not very much and light brown and goopy"...goopy doesn't sound good. Has she been tested for parasites?

You seem to be providing her with lots of opportunities to stay hydrated.

I can't be sure if the temperatures are exactly right or not...but they sound like they are in the right range for the most part. To be sure that they are right, you would need to know what area she's from.

I water a couple of hours before the lights go off so that they have time to dry out. If I lived in a hot climate, I might not worry about it but I'm in Ontario, I do. I would worry that they might get a respiratory problem if the dripper was left on all night.

You said..."She hasnt been eating well for over a month now. I really hope she will eat some of those worms I am getting!!!!!"...most chameleons slow down somewhat in the cooler seasons.

I think you are making a wise choice to move her to a quieter area too. You said..."other than....well you know...in
the bedroom...lol"...other than what(evil grin)?? You said..."I do have a towel I will put over her for that though...lol" for the darkness or the privacy? (evil grin....sorry I couldn't resist...BTW...maybe I'm old enough to be your mother, and you are telling me this, lol??!! Shh! This is a chameleon forum).

Thank you for your help.
She actually ate a cricket today!!!! Woooo Hooo!!!
So we will see how things go....

Samantha