Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last week I took my Male Veiled cham to the vet because he was looking sick to me. The vet said he looked good and his skin texture was good. But he gave him an antibiotic just incase something was going on. I give him .06 ml of antibiotic every other day and .3ml of Gatorade mixed with water everyday. Since I have been giving him his antibiotic and his Gatorade/water he isn’t eating at all. Maybe 5 crickets a day. Do chams usually not eat when taking antibiotics or is something else wrong with him???? Just wondering what you guys thought, I would appreciate the help.

By the way he is only 5 months old and was normally eating around 15 to 20 cricks a day before this.

Antibiotics can be harsh on their system. He/she should have suspected an illness before just giving you an antibiotic. Maybe the vet had a reason for prescribing one.
Why did you think your cham was sick? What symptoms did he have?
Antibiotics can kill gut flora good and bad bacteria. Sometimes this can cause problems but some antibiotics are worse than others. Maybe these are questions you should discuss with your vet in any case I would let him/her know about the appetite loss.

I'm not so sure about the whole antibiotic thing (I'm nowhere near a vet) but 5 crickets a day isn't bad. A chameleon could survive on alot less. My adult veiled and panthers only get about 20-25 large insects a week (crickets, supers, etc). I feed about 6-8 insects every other day. 15-20 is alot of crickets and at 5 or 6 months of age, they slow down their eating quite a bit anyways.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV