Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just brought home an awesome little male dwarf jackson's chameleon. He'd just been shipped in the day before I bought him, and was still dehydrated at the store. He's home and set up now, and I'm working on getting him hydrated and healthy.

Other than frequent mistings, is there anything else I can do for him? I know with my snakes or with other lizards, I'd soak them, but I'm extremely hesitant to stress a chameleon that much, especially after all the moving around he's gone through.

I do have some Pedialyte on hand, but as he's otherwise healthy looking and was even eating at the store...I'm not sure how beneficial it'd really be to stress him out by handling him to give him some.

Any advice would be appreciated!

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

Got some pictures of him today!

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

Why do you think he's dehydrated?
Do you have a dripper on his cage?

I do have a dripper on now, which he has been drinking from regularly. I'd been told by a coworker that used to run a reptile shop that one of the ways you could tell a chameleon was dehydrated was by checking the little pouches above the eye in the head...I believe it's called the casque? If the cham was dehydrated the casque would be concave, if it was adequately hydrated it'd look kind of full. Also I'd heard that looking at the eyesockets was a way to tell; if they weren't fully out of the skull then the cham was probably dehydrated.

My cham the first day had slightly sunken in eye sockets and his head casque is still looking concave. I'm misting him thoroughly at least twice a day, three times if I'm home for lunch, and he gets the dripper twice a day after I mist him for a while.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

Light showers with lukewarm/cool water can help. You may want to consider replacing your plastic plants with real ones. Live plants work well for gauges the humidity levels in cages. Healthy plants help indicate decent humidity levels not to mention they tend to increase the humidity level around them.

What is the relative air humidity in his setup? If the air dries out very quickly after you spray it could settle to a lower level than you realize unless you are measuring it accurately. The little stick on analog gauges are not very reliable. Chams are not very efficient at conserving moisture, and they lose a lot during respiration alone, especially if the air is dry. Replace your fake plants with live, as the moist soil and the plant transpiration will help keep the humidity level higher. For a montane higher humidity species like jax an ultrasonic room humidifier cycling on a timer will help a lot.

To determine how often and how long to run one, first measure the air humidity before and after you mist the cage down. Find out how long it takes the cage to get TOO dry after a misting, and how dry it gets. That tells you how often you would need to supplement misting to keep the cham from getting too dry. Set up the humidifier slightly above and next to the cage so the fog can pour down on the plants. Turn it on and record how long it takes for the cage to reach the humidity level you want. That determines the length of the cycle. How much you need it will depend on the climate in your house. In winter heated air tends to be much drier. In summer if you run an AC it can also dry out the air.

There were actually two live plants in with him, the fake ones were there to add decoration around the base of the pots and along a side of the cage that looked empty. He just happened to like hiding in the fake plants.

Relative humidity before misting was usually around 50%. I had an indoor/outdoor thermometer that stayed in there to measure temperature and humidity extremes. The lowest the humidity got was 40% on one day. Most days the lowest extreme was 50%.

Unfortunately, he never started eating here at my home. He seemed fine otherwise, but about a week after I brought him home he was fine that morning, but in the evening he was on the bottom of his cage, staggering around. I hoped he would make it through the night, as everything in my area was closed until the next morning, but when I got up the following day he had died.

My thought is that he was just too stressed from all the shipping and transporting, and the move to my house after being imported, shipped to one store, shipped again, and then shipped to my store...it was just too much.

Since that's only a guess, and it may very well have been my husbandry, I've decided to avoid chameleons and stick with what I'm most familiar with - snakes.

Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it!

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

What a shame! Was he CB? I would definitely contact the breeder if he never ate. Shipping stress was probably part of it, but dehydration can keep a cham from eating also. Long term low level dehydration can cause kidney failure and associated organ damage which isn't treatable. Sorry you lost him! Montane chams are tricky for first time cham keepers for all these reasons.

I meant to add...one of many advantages to keeping some snakes is their easy care. My bp Kumasi is such a nice balance to my other fussy herps. He's bomb proof, gentle, beautiful and almost social. Perfect lap snake. I often think that every cham keeper should be required to have a dog so they feel appreciated!

He was a WC animal, I'm pretty sure. I work at a reptile store and was so excited when the trio of them came in that I took the male home the next day. Since it's so dry at my house naturally, I think it's probably best if I avoid humidity-needing animals for now, at least until I move somewhere that's not so constantly dry.

I breed ball pythons and have taken in a few rescues of several different species. I've had balls since I was 5 and totally agree with you - best lapsnakes ever!

Thanks again.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire