Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a female veiled cham, about 1.5 years old. She hasn't defecated in about 2-3 weeks, I gave her a shower twice and still nothing. Is there anything else I can do or should I just take her to see the vet? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

You said..."I have a female veiled cham, about 1.5 years old. She hasn't defecated in about 2-3 weeks, I gave her a shower twice and still nothing"...it would be a good idea to take her to the vet.

Do you use a substrate in her cage? Does she have a suitable place to lay eggs? Is her basking temperature in the high 80's or low 90's? Is she well hydrated? Do you gutload the crickets and other insects? With what? Do you dust/supplement them before feeding them to her? Does she have access to UVB light (that doesn't pass through glass or plastic)?

Thanks for the response, you are always very helpful here.

She has a basking area, about 105F and the ambient temperature in the cage is usually around 80-85F. She has laid eggs twice before so I don't think that is the problem. When I notice her poking around the bottom of the cage and trying to dig, I place a big pot of soil in the enclosure and she has gone in a dug, layed, buried both times without any issue. I gutload the crickets with Fluker's gutload which I have recently read is not the best choice for chams because of the corn content. I usually dust them once in a while with a calcium supplement but not every time. She also gets mealworms and butter worms. The last thing she ate was a bunch of butter worms and a few crickets. And also no substrate in the cage.

Sorry, I forgot to answer a couple of your questions. Yes she is well hydrated, I spray her down 3-4 times a day for about 10 minutes each time. And she does have access to UVB without it going through glass or plastic.

Thanks again.

You said..."When I notice her poking around the bottom of the cage and trying to dig, I place a big pot of soil in the enclosure and she has gone in a dug, layed, buried both times without any issue"...I always have a place for my egglaying females to dig in the cage. It avoids the possibility of missing the signs that the female is ready to lay eggs.

You said..."I gutload the crickets with Fluker's gutload which I have recently read is not the best choice for chams because of the corn content"...I've never used it...so I don't know what it contains. I don't like to use commercial gutloads at all. I use a wide variety of greens and veggies.

I dust the insects with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings because the ratio of calcium to phos. in most insects is not good. Calcium is important not only for bone health but muscles, organs, and more.

If your chameleon still hasn't pooped, IMHO its time to take her to a vet.

Ok I will get her to the vets right away. I have never actually handled this cham, whenever I go near her she freaks out. Can you give me any pointers as to the best way to get her out without getting bitten and stressing her too much.

Thanks for all the help.

Also I forgot to mention that she also has been eating her tree. It's a schefflera (umbrella tree) .. I have read in some places that it is non-toxic, but I have also read in other places that it may be toxic. Could this have also triggered this constipation?

Also even though I haven't fed her since I noticed no poop, she should still be defecating the urates correct? I mean I still should see white poop every couple days right?

Thanks

Ok well in case you are interested, I took her to the vets today. Turns out there was no impaction and she is in perfect health. After she had two clutches of eggs only a couple months apart, laying 60 per clutch, I got worried so I reduced her food. Turns out I wasn't feeding her enough and she just didn't have that much poop in her. The funny thing is, a couple hours after coming home from the vets, she laid a big poop. This is the poop I had been waiting for the whole time and now she decides to do it. I'm thinking the vet pinching her and all the stress must have helped it come out. Anyways, everything seems back to normal now, thanks for all the help with this.

Glad to hear that she isn't constipated any more. It could very well have been the examination by the vet that stimulated her to poop...so although there nothing was wrong, it might still have been good that you took her.

Yes I think it was the exam that stimulated the poop. She was really freaking out and hissing non stop. She has been back to a regular pattern now, going every other day.

The vet visit was definitly worth it though, I realized no matter what she should always go for a check-up. She passed the physical exam without a problem, and also the blood test came back without any problem. However the fecal test showed that she has some worms. Unfortunately she has to take some medicine now to get rid of them, I am so glad she was constipated in the first place because I may have never discovered this! I have been trying all day to administer the medicine but she just won't give. The vet told me that if you pull a flap under her chin she should open her mouth. Well good luck even getting that close to her. She has tried to bite me many times and I just can't seem to get her to take the medicine, hopefully I won't have to get the vet to do it. It's been a very frustrating day!

You said..." I have been trying all day to administer the medicine but she just won't give. The vet told me that if you pull a flap under her chin she should open her mouth. Well good luck even getting that close to her. She has tried to bite me many times and I just can't seem to get her to take the medicine, hopefully I won't have to get the vet to do it. It's been a very frustrating day!"...if you can get her to drink, while she is drinking ease the syringe into her mouth and ease the medication onto her tongue. If you bring the syringe up from below her line of vision, and from the back she may not see it coming. If this doesn't work, another option is to gently slip the end of the syringe between her lips and put a little of the medication in at a time until she takes it all.

Glad you found out about the worms! Some of them can cause constipation.
Good luck!

WOW! After many hours of trying to give it to her she finally gave in! I had the idea like you said to give it to her while she was drinking. Unfortunately whenever I start spraying her, she likes to go to the bottom of her tree and kind of cover herself from the direct spray while she drinks. So I tried many times this way but just couldn't get my hand close enough to her. I eventually had to provoke her to get her to hiss. I felt bad doing it this way but with her mouth wide open and hissing at me I was able to squirt the medicine in without a problem. She licked her lips after that and I could tell she got it in ok. I am going to keep trying the way you mentioned but at least I have this as a back up plan if she gets fussy. I have to give the medicine once every week for 4 weeks, then do another fecal exam. Thanks for all the help again, and I'll let you know if there are any further updates. And just for fun I added a pic of her from when she took a shower a couple weeks ago!