Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently moved my 6 month old female veiled from a 38 gal to a 175 gal reptarium. Immediately afterwards she started eating much less than usual, and defecated only once every few days, but they were very large feces. I posted about this last week and was told it probably had to do with the stress of being moved. I took her to the vet anyway for a check up on Monday the 9th. They ran a fecal test and said that everything looks ok, and that my husbandry sounds ideal. They sent me home with a de-worming medication to administer 3 times, just to be on the safe side, ( and to make the bill more $) However, she is still behaving weird. She is a very nice green color but that makes me more nervous b/c if she were her gravid colors, i would understand the change of appetite and additude. she is still eating and defecating less. She actually had a "big" meal today...about 5 crix, which is about 1/2 of what she used to eat before i introduced her to her new enclosure. i also see her laying on some of the horizontal branches when she basks. Is that normal. oh, and when i spray the enclosure, she drinks like there's no tomorrow, almost everyday. Weird because I have a dripper in there, too. Any more advice to calm down a paranoid owner,please? Thanks in advance.

sounds to me like she was stressed when she first moved and seems to be picking herself up a bit.. as for the basking and laying ont he branches a few of mine do that not sure why probably to save energy or something someoene else might be able to help you there, with the misting also my veileds rarely drink so i spray above them so the droplets land on them (chameleons have a small area on the back of there neck which absorbs water) and they get most water that way.. i find that drip systems are pretty inefective and messy so i prefer to mist regularly.
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4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

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also i make sure that i give my chameleons water by pipette around 2 times each a week atleast that way i know they are getting hydrated (veileds also get allot of moisture from there prey)
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4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

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I am having similar issues with my 4 1/2 month old Veiled male. I just moved him to a new cage (a week ago) and he is eating very little but poohing every day - small poohs though. Try feeding it different food. I caught about 20 flies and gut loaded them - I also fed some king worms which i never fed him before. The flies are very active which induces him to eat them , the king worms are "new" to him - so he seems to be interested in them too. As long as she is eating and drinking and not eating for days on end I wouldnt worry too much at this point. Give her a bit more time. Try offering some greens too like mustard, dandelion, or GREEN LEAF lettuce.

-roo

Can she get to your drip easily. I use a tennis shoe'string in the bottom of my cup. I use a plastic bowl so it will run for about an hour or more. The water will run through the shoe'string really nice for you. Then it will drip into a bowl in the bottom of your cage. Put a branch so she can climb on it and drink right from the bottom of the shoe'string. Get your self two jugs of water and let the water sit for a day before you use it. Dont worry about the shoe'string getting moldy it wont because of the fresh water every day. But you can chage it every once in a while if you wont to. For the cage she went from a small cage she felt really secure in to a really big cage that is scary to her. Put in some plants so she can hide in them and she will fell save.It will still take her a while to get use to it but she will. Also do you do know that at 6 to 8 months if you do not mate her she will start to make a clutch of infertile eggs. Thats why she is going all out with her colors she is looking for a male to please. I use the water I catch from the drip to water the plants every day. I use fresh water every day. Try the water drip idea it works really good. Well good luck........... Scott..............

I have three ficus trees in her enclosure, so she should feel well hidden at least. Yes, I am aware of her possibly being gravid, but i thought that a female's gravid colors were usually dark with blue or green spots. She is a bright green. She looks really nice, actually, but not the colors I was expecting in a gravid female. Do they have to show those dark colors to be gravid, or are they only displayed when a male is present? Thanks again.

No they dont always have to show those gravid colors, and they dont always show them when a male is present either. I just took my female blue bar ambilobe to the vet b/c she stopped eating and was acting gravid but had no gravid colors. She wouldnt even get dark in the presance of the male no hissing gaping or anything. Well anyways onto the vet visit he palpated her and said feels like eggs are in there, I then had to be sure so I had an x-ray taken and sure enough she has a belly full of eggs. Guess not all chameleons read the how to be a chameleon book. She is a virgin 7.5 month old too, little young dont you think?

theres a big difference in being GRAVID and RECEPTIVE
gravid is when she has fertilised eggs inside, all young females begin to develop eggs at around 4-5 months old and will continue to grow, mine for example are around a year old and have never laid an egg yetand is eating absolutely fine - and my male has no idea what to do. so i guess it varies in all chameleons as to how the egg situation is dealt with.
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4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

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i had a fem. veiled who was receptive to the male and mated, but died eggbound (she was about 7/8 mths old).
what can i do different next time when i decide to get another female? cage conditions for her were what they should be.
it seems to be either you don't mate them and they die eggbound, or you do mate and they die eggbound??

make sure you feed them up BIG time on vitamins/minerals you cannot give them enough calcium when they are gravid.. what happens is they will pull the calcium from their own bones during gravidity to make the egg shells so its VERY VERY important to feed them up on calcium and stuff.. i learnt this the hard way when i lost my first female to eggbinding on her third clutch, i was gutted she was my first chameleon luckily 4 of the babies hatched and i still have 2 which im trying to breed so her name lives on in them
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4x Veiled Chameleon
1x Panther
Hollie/Willow > female veileds
Carling/Houdini > Male Veileds
Louey > Panther

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