Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've posted a few times over in the veiled forum but this seems more active, anyway:

my girl is still hanging in there, but now she's taken to sleeping ALOT, and usually at the bottom of the cage. sometimes she falls asleep with her head in her food cup. today, she fell asleep WITH A CRICKET IN HER MOUTH. i had to nudge her awake and then she crunched it up and swallowed and went back to sleep.

she is her happy colors and eating and drinking but seems so out of it. she's not defecating often enough. has anyone else's cham done this? she's around 5 years old and has been in perfect health since she was a wee bitty month old tiny girl...

Not to hurt any feelings but... she is 5 years old and is becoming an old lady. I know I dont know any history of the cham but if this is really spur of the moment I would contact your vet.

I don't like to say it but all of my Chams that have died due to old age did pretty much the same as her. Five is old age for a female Veiled. I don't think there is much need to take her to the vet, there's nothing a vet can do to prolong her life. If she is sleeping on the floor, she may be falling off her tree or vines. You might think about keeping her in a Kritter Keeper with a towel underneathe her. She'll be more comfortable that way. Give her drinks with a spray bottle directly into her mouth and try to hand feed her. Make sure there isn't any crickets left in her cage, they'll chew on her.

thank you both for the replies. i will definitely try lining the bottom of her cage and the base of the tree with soft hand towels so she doesn't sleep all the way on the bottom. that makes sense. and i'll not leave any free-roaming crix and just hand-feed her from now on. i think she does indeed fall slowly down the tree while she's sleeping, she'll slip a few branches, a couple of times, and then a hour or two later she's on the floor of the cage

it's very very humid here (NYC summer), but i've been giving her extra mistings and will continue as she is constipated. many thanks again for the advice, it's kinda sad to watch. i've had her since she was a wee bitty nearly-translucent little baby and she's been a joy to care for. i'm a tad afraid if i take her to the vet they'll also just tell me she is old and offer to euthenize her and then hand me a $300 bill.

Im from Jersey city. I know the feeling

I hope everything is alright and if it is her time, i hope it's peaceful.

-andrew

I lost my female after 2 and 1/2 years. It is tough. My oldest dog (1 of 3 black labs) is 12 and is going through the same thing! To bad we couldn't pick up the chams and cuddle them eh?

Good luck.

Kris
-----
2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar (Another lost pet RIP and party on with Harold!)
2.0 Horses Smoothie and Rocky
1.0 Husbands (he puts up with me)
1.2 Kids-Trevor (congrats c/o 2006), Logan and Rylie
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
1.1 Veiled Chams Squiggy and Pudge (may she RIP)
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky

i'm making sure she gets as much real sunlight as possible, just in case these are her last days or weeks of hanging around (literally) in my life

i noticed her tail is never curled up tightly anymore either. is that a sign of something?

The only thing I hate about Chameleons. Their lives are too short. I hope it is not her time but if it is, she had a full life. The fact that you've had her for five years is fantastic. You must really know what you are doing to keep her alive that long. Good luck, I hope she hangs on for a while longer.

I don't know of anything significant with her straight tail.

today she is sleeping kinda on her back, in the sun on a towel. argh

i have had wonderful luck with her health over the years (1 eye infection, 1 thermal burn) and owe MANY THANKS to the kind folks on this board who were always helpful with advice and never impatient with newbies.