Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We're going to take Roan to the vet tomorrow i think. He hasn't been drinking or eating. He did eat a cricket yesterday, and I have managed to get a few drops of water into his mouth, but not enough.
he just doesn't look happy. His skin is starting to wrinkle and he is in the middle of a shed, and he doesn't even seem to notice or care. He is not trying to get it off or anything. He's going down to his sleeping spot really early in the day. We're just not sure what to do. This all started since we rearranged his cage. For more info, see a post a few down.

I am so worried about him!

Now, what do we take a stressed out cham to the vet in? How do you get him out of his cage when he runs and hides from you everytime we open the doors. I wanna nip this thing in the butt before it gets to bad.

Please help!

This is a picture of him on Sunday when we re-arranged his cage.

Hi-

How many days has he not been eating for, and what are you feeding him? What is he housed in what kind of lighting, what is the basking temp, do you have a gradient temp in the cage, do you use a dripper and mist 2-3 times per day? What is the humidity, how many plants are in the cage, are there any vines/branches for basking on, do you allow a cool down period at night?

Often chameleons will tire of being fed the same food over and over. If you have not already tried, mix up his food to include other feeders like superworms, silkworms, hornworms, waxworms (on a limited basis). Superworms seem to be a favorite for most chameleons, and are widely available. Also food presentation may trigger a feeding response.

If there are other internal issues like parasites or URI and the like, food intake will slow or stop. Depending on where you get your feeders, crickets kept in unsanitary conditions will carry parasites. I would get a fecal done during your vet visit, to help rule out parasites (although just because one fecal is clean doesn't mean one two weeks later will be). If there are not internal issues and URI is ruled out (most chameleons with a URI will bask for long periods of time, not sleep in the lower part of the cage), the vet will feel for an impaction. If that is the case the vet will do one or more things. 1. give a fluid injection 2. tube the chameleon and give liquid baby food (greens are good) 3. wait a week for it to pass and have you give lots of water via a syringe 4. Last resort would be to start an enema.

When I take my chameleons to the vet I use a shipping box with two paper towels taped to the bottom of the box. Then place a small stick that has a V or Y shape to it in the box and secure it to the box with tape. Then I mist the paper towel once and place the chameleon on the stick and close the box. On the top of the box, I place two small strips of tape on one flap of the box going horizontal with the flap. Then one piece of tape on the opposite flap going vertical with a tab at one end of the tape. This will allow you to open and close the box more then once without having to re-tape it. If you cant picture this let me know I will post pics of the box. I use packing tape.

One other thing, chameleons can get liquid from the feeders like silkworms and hornworms that have a high liquid content. They can also get water from plant leafs or flowers or fruits/veggies (veileds will eat both). You can also try misting with warm water, or place the chameleon in the shower for 30 min to hydrate him. Use a light warm spray against the side wall of the shower and allow the splash off the wall to go on to the plant the chameleon is on. Hope this helps!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

He has a repti-sun 8.0 uv and a exo terra basking light. Temps in his cage are roughly 76-82 and his basking is about 89-92. His humidity is great now. It is at an adverage 53% and raised to 75% with misting and then the humidity continues to rise when I am done. Usually reaches about 82%. We re-arranged his cage cause his humidity was terrible due to the colder weather and having the heat on all the time. We added 6 more plants, so he has 7. Four pothos, 2 bromeliads and 1 croton. I mist 3-4 times a day. (hot water: mist is warm) He has a dripper that runs all day. he has a tonne of vines and a fake ficus tree that gives him lots of places to go and hide. He was eating crix, superworms, silkworms and butterworms. He hasn't really eaten since Sunday. He did eat one cricket yesterday and he drank water for me tonight in the dropper. I added some of the exo-terra electodize to it. I have been offering orange(he likes it), and we are going out to look for blueberries tomorrow because they are his favorite. The last few superworms he ate were not very well digested. You could tell by looking at his poop that it was a superworm. It was kinda gross. The thing about getting a feces sample done is he hasn't been eating, so he isn't pooping. Since he did drink a bunch of water tonight, i am hoping he may poop tomorrow morning. But it will probably be watery, or mostly urate. Is there another way to tell parasites other then a feces sample. Roan was in the shower while we redid his cage. He has just gone downhill since then. And it's not like we can put it back the way it was. We are adding a few new vines tomorrow so he can access every part of his cage better.

Now, jade basks all the time, and always sleeps at the top of her cage. We thought the constant basking was from being gravid. She isn't showing any other signs of uri though. She hardly gaps, and drinks and eats good, doesn't hold her head up for air. Can uri be determined through a feces sample or should we lug Jade to the vet too?

Thanks so much for your help, and I hope this helps you help me!

Hi-

Set up sounds good, but is it a screen cage or tank, and what size is it?

I don't want to get mixed up here, you have a male and female correct in two diffrent cages?

For the male:

You will need a fecal sample to have a fecal test done. Have you tried getting some liquid baby food (greens, chicken, and fruits) and try feeding him with a syringe/eye dropper. Also pedilite can be useful for a water supplement. Try and get some food in him if he has not eaten for 7 days now (don't over do it), to get a feces sample from him. Often you might find cricket legs/head and superworm heads/sections in the feces if you go digging through it.

For the Female:

No URI doesn't look to be the case, basking for long periods of time is just one of a few signs of a URI. Gravid females will bask for long periods of time. Is she showing gravid colors, can you see eggs protruding from her? Have you noticed a weight gain? Has see been eating allot more food then normal? No URI can not be determined through a fecal test, I would not worry to much about a URI with her if she is eating and drinking. Things to look for would be constant gapping, popping noise when breathing, decreased food intake, long basing periods, sleeping during the day, not active, and heavy mucous in the mouth.

Hope this helps!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Roan's cage is 5'2" tall, 3'4" wide and 2'3" deep. It is an all screen enclosure. Jade's cage is slightly smaller, and all screen as well. We do house them seperatly, and in seperate rooms. We'll try the baby food tomorrow, and his vet visit is in the very near future, but I would like to have a feces sample to go down with. we'll take one for Jade as well.

Jade is getting a big belly. No clear defination of any eggs. She started showing orangish looking spots about 1 week and a half ago. She eats like a pig. This pic is real fuzzy but it shows her big ol belly.

Thank you John so much for your help!!

before we re-arranged it

Hi-

Looks good! How long have you had the cage? I noticed you did not stain/paint the wood, did you use a clear coat on it? If not with the excess water and humidity in and around the cage the wood will mold/rot and warp (expand) causing problems. Just thought I would check! Also I hope in your newly arranged cage there are more live plants, and not so much fake (the ficus). You will notice the live plants the chameleons like better especially the Veileds they like to snack on the leafs. Hope this helps!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

We used poly Hellman's I beleive. For high heat, humidity and moisture protection. 8 real plants in there, Ficus is still there just for added climbing and cruising. But we split up the tree and zip tied one to each side. More vines, more plants, it's a much better set-up, Roan just hates the change.

I just had a thought

do you know if dry baby cereal (pablum) is okay to add to the dry cricket food mixture. (rolled oats, corn meal, coccanut, bran, wheat germ) Carrots & oranges for wet, sometimes potato. cricket gutload pellets, and cricket total bites w/spirulina (it's the water and food gutload all in one)
We feed our crickets well. Just having a baby makes me have alot of cereal around, and it is chalked full of nutrients, but I thought I heard somewhere it was bad.......

Sorry for going off topic

Hi-

Baby cereal is okay, it is used in cricket gutloads and both waxworm and fruit fly cultures. I would not feed it directly to the chameleon, you want the liquid baby foods I suggested (vet recommended/used). Cage sounds good. You will want to make sure there are allot of branches/vines for walking on and basking on. I just trimmed the tree in my back yard and redecorated 6 of 20 cages, now I need to finish trimming the tree to redecorate the rest of the cages, I got side tracked!LOL
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Hi-

Sounds good! IMHO I would not go to the vet until you get a fecal, unless it is life and death, you will end up making to trips if you do and spending double. Best advise I can give is keep giving lots of liquids. Hope this helps!
-----
John W. Lucas

CHAMELEON PARADISE

CHAMELEONS ONLINE E-ZINE AUTHOR

Feeding Baby Chameleons
Caging Baby Chameleons

F. pardalis

Ambilobe Locale
Nosy Be Locale
Sambava Locale

Rhampholeon uluguruensis

Eggs Incubating-

F. pardalis - Ambilobe Locale

got SILKWORMS!

Photo © Chameleon Paradise 2003

Wow! look at her mama gut!! that's adorable!! She is probably basking a lot b/c she's gravid (I'd still raise it a bit though)

One thing that I found helped to raise the humidity a bit, and keep the temp up (especially in winter) was to drape thing cloth over all of the sides of Orion's cage. I use beach wraps/skirts, but a thin sheet would be good also. I have things with stones holding the one side up, a light (flourescent) holding the other, and the door holds the middle one up. the back of her cage is solid. I found this made a big difference. Also, if he is stressed out and she is gravid, not being able to see out will help a lot. Just make sure to chose a not-bright colour

I haven't read the whole post yet.. so someone may have already said this, but I would raise both chams' baskig spots. When they are babies they like it a little on the cooler side, but when closer to adult age/size vieleds are good at 100-105 (from what I've read). Try and keep their basking spots in the top of the range, and that might help him recover faster (whatever the problem is - I hope you find it!) and will also keep her from getting a uri. SHe may be basking so much just b/c she isn't warming up enough. I have a panther, and her basking spot reaches about 95. Sometimes she even likes to bask hanging from the roof where it's a little over 100. When she was sick raising the temp up helped TREMENDOUSLY. She had a uri, but whatever his problem is I'm sure it would help; the temps seem a little low. Also, how much light is in the cage? When Orion wasn't eating someone suggested to lighted up the cage a bit. This stimulates the metabolism. I hope Roan and Jade (I hope I got her name right!!!) are ok!!! The stress from the change may have just started a hunger strike... I hope that's all it is!!
~Lindsay