Reptile & Amphibian Forums

recently(bout a month now) my veil seems to be very weak,and he lost interest in his food(cricket).all he does all day is sleep on the bottom of the tank.i thought that he might want a change of food so i bought him some mealworms but after sampling 1,he goes into a food strike again.and so far i had only seen his dropping twice,usually big and watery.

Now he's lying on bottom of the tank,skinny and weak and maybe even dying.what can i do? please help!

give us more info on your setup...cage size, temp, lighting etc and are you dusting and how often..does your cham have access to water...

you said "tank"...is he in a glass tank???

feeding just crickets won't cut it..your veiled needs some variety like superworms, roaches, silkworms, mantis, fresh fruit and vegetables

most likely your going to need a vet visit before anything else, but in the meantime, tell us about your setup and we'll go from there

thank you for your reply.im using a plastic kinda fish tank about 2ft lenght.Im using zoomed 60w basking light.i mist the tank at least 3 times a day but my veil does not seems interested to drink at all...instead it will get agitated whenever i mist the tank.

It really breaks my heart when I read things like this. Basics: Unless your chameleon is very young, it MUST be in a screened caged. No plastic or glass. You MUST have a source of UVB light. Provide a moving water source, a cup with a pin hole dripping into the cage works good. When you mist, the water should come out warm. How would you like a cold shower? Your chameleon doesn't like it much either, esp since he is cold blooded. So if your chameleon is more than a few months old, you need go out to the pet store (PetsMart if you have one), buy a reptarium, UVB lighting, and set it up with plants and vines. If it is a very young one, sorry if I come across harsh. Just really gets to me when people don't do their research.

ok...he's gonna need a screen cage...they need the ventilation...the basking light is fine but you need a UV bulb also...getting pissed when misted seems to be pretty much the norm...please take a look at a few caresheets!!...there is one here on kingsnake and if you read some posts here you'll find alot of the memebers have links to their caresheets...your setup isn't cutting it and is probably the main cause of your chams health deteriorating...do some reading and get back to us....good luck

And, on top of needing to set him up completely differently, you should make a point of getting back to the careless person/shop/dealer who set you up...tell them they were way off base with this and a nice animal is suffering because of it. It is very frustrating to see this as correct cham info is not that hard to find these days. There are several good websites with CORRECT keeping info you should read. You can trust the content of these sites.

http://www.adcham.com
http://www.chameleonjournals.com
http://www.chameleonnews.com
http://www.geocities.com/ccicenter
http://www.calumma.com

Hope your little one does OK.

Chameleons do not make good pets and they are very difficult to care for. The majority of chameleons sold as pets will become ill and die well in advance of their potential life span from a combination of husbandry errors including:

1. Provision of clean drinking water using a method that is accepted by the chameleon and stimulates a drinking response. Spraying three times a day will not accomplish this if the chameleon is startled as you describe.

2. A balanced diet that includes a minimum of five species of insects that are of the appropriate size for the chameleon, kept in hygienic enclosures, and fed on a nutritious diet. A diet of crickets and mealworms does not meet these minimum requirements.

3. Chameleons require good air flow and exposure to unfiltered sunlight - neither of which can be accomplished with a solid-walled enclosure such as the one you describe.

4. The effects of starvation and dehydration begin to weaken a chameleon within a few days. If your chameleon stopped eating and was not drinking, a veterinarian may have been able to counsel you on husbandry and provide the chameleon with fluids and nutrition with a feeding tube, but it has been a month since it ate and drank, it is too late to save it's life.

The description of your chameleon's condition indicates it is dying of starvation and dehydration. While chameleons cannot vocalize pain and suffering by crying or whimpering like a dog or cat, it is still suffering. It is your responsibility to have a veterinarian end this suffering as quickly as possible by humanely putting it to sleep.

I am confused as to why you waited an entire month (even a single week) to respond to your cham's troubles. You may try to "make things right" but as Carlton points out the best thing for both of you may be to have him euthanized. If you have a good herp vet you can bring him in but my guess is that she/he might agree. Sorry this has happened to you, and especially the cham. Before you get an animal you are unfamiliar with it is best to do as much research as possible which might include reading thru some of the problems that keepers, both experienced and new, run into by reading forums like this one.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta