Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My chameleon is very under weight, appetite decrease, and i can't figure out what to do about it.It started when i brought home a female that was sick, didn't know it, and had them together. She died two weeks later, and he has been sick ever since. He has been dewormed, and to the vet, he apears fine. my humidity is good the temp. is good, but he's just not putting on the weight and eating like he was. So what do i do.....

Tiffany

Was he like this when he was at the vet? If so, he/she should have told you somehting about it. If the hcam hasn't been to the vet since this has been happening, I would say take him in again. It's expensive to go that many times, but that's not a cheap chameleon either.

Could be viral. Melleri have been known to carry a deadly virus that can spread
and wipe out captive populations.

He was like this when i took him to the vet. They couldn't find anything wrong with him.That's why i took him. Him activity level is the same and he's maintaining weight, but he's not gaining what he should. If you look ay him you can almost count his bones. In his tail especially.As of today he is holding one eye closed. I do know he when through a vitiman A defitancy, and we fixed that by suplimenting his crickets. My only problem i geuss is that he's just not gaining weight and eat like he did

If you don't know his condition before he was put in with the sick female you may be seeing a longer term problem that has nothing to do with her. What did she die from? Did you have a necropsy done? Without knowing that you are shooting in the dark with the male. Both chams may have been sick before you ever saw them and it may not have been something contagious. It could be long term stress and dehydration from previous poor care. This can lead to kidney failure which is not treatable. Could we get more detailed info on your setup, gutload, lighting, temp and humidity? There may be something off there. If he's not gaining weight, no appetite etc. he is not "fine". Once there is organ damage it is very difficult to keep them going. A blood panel may tell you more.

He was fine when i bought him. He is a long term captive that i had bought off someone who was just selling their chameleons. He had great weight, appatite, ect. After i bought this female, from a pet store, I noticed that she wasn't very active, not eating at all, just didn't look good. No, i didn't have her tested when she died. These are my first chameleons, so i went into this whole thing almost cluless. I just knew the basics of taking care of them. My male's temp stays around 80 to 95 degrees, my humidity stays around 75 to 80 percent. Lots of live plant, none are toxic to him. I feed him crickets, that i gut load, sprinkle calcium on them. As of today he dosen't open one of his eyes, very well. I'm beginning to think that there is no saving him. But his activity has change since i got him. He's the same sweet little critter that wants to ride around on my head. So i'm just at a loss.

You are cooking him. Get the temperature down into the upper 70s and see if he improves.

Those temps are much too high. By LTC how long is long? Some keepers consider a LTC to be a couple of months or so. I would consider him a LTC if he'd been in their care for a year or more. It can take 2-3 months for accumulated shipping stress etc. to really show up in a wc cham. If he was kept at those temp parameters for very long I'm surprised he's still around. Chances are the female was suffering from poor husbandry/parasites/stress rather than something contagious. For your male reduce the temps down into the 70's, check the balance of vitamins and minerals in your gutload (what are you using?) and don't dust with calcium every day...an adult only needs it about once a week tops, and a vitamin dusting about once a month. Montane chams are very sensitive to vitamin overdoses.

Along with what Carlton said, you might want to consider not letting him "ride around on your head". No matter how things might appear, you are simply another giant predator to him, and the more you "play with him", the more stressed he is. Stress is deadly for chameleons. Right now he needs extreme non-stress. I would especially avoid handling a sick chameleon. If you want a pet to play with, consider a bearded dragon. It is widely known that chameleons really aren't pets for handling. And since yours is in bad shape, I would give him everything he needs and then leave him alone in a quiet, undisturbed area. The last thing you want to do with a sick chameleon is play with it.