Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'll try to list everything I can.

first:
Open-air habitat
fake plants
dirt-like substrate
5.0 UVB bulb (one of those long ones)
i keep the cage temp between 80-95F at daytime and 60-75F at night.
I feel him gut-loaded pin-head crickets, i keep a little bowl-type on the side with fresh veggies and some oatmeal. I mist the cage 5-7 times a day. steaming water.

What is happening is he is "sleeping" all the time. His eyes are closed, and he doesn't move. When i open the cage he doesn't move, but when i put my hand near him he turns dark, his eyes still closed. I looked on some caresheets and they said that he was sick, but didn't tell me what was wrong. He doesn't hiss anymore, he doesn't move. I placed him on one of his leaves yesterday night and this morning he was in the same place, didn't move an inch. He isn't dead, but it's like he is. I would like to know what is wrong, if there's something i left out please let me know.. I don't want to lose him.

>> I would like to know what is wrong, if there's something i left out please let me know..
>>

Could you please tell us the species.

Carl

and his age?
how long have you had him?
to the best of my knowledge no cham eats oatmeal and they also do not require substrate (unless you have a leaf cham, but then he should not be in a screen cage).
when you say "open air" how large any area?
If you are feeding pinheads I would assume it is just a little fellow - how big?
Do you see him eat?
Can you post a pic?
Can he find his food?
cage may be too big.
are you supplementing his feeders as well (dusting)?
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

Oh, sorry.. He's a 3 month old baby veiled chameleon.
He was about 1 inch when i got em, tail to head.
He's about 2 now.
I saw him eat about 7 crickets saturday evening but he didn't lash his toungue out, he went up to the cricket and bit at it.
Sometimes, rarely, he opens an eye to see where he is going, but not when he is walking. Only when he's really stressed does he open one eye.
I dust his crickets 3 times a week.
He didn't have a problem feeding on his crickets when I let them crawl around the cage, until he started showing he was sick.

I'm not too sure how to post pics =-
I don't have a URL for the pics..
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

Well lets the let the newbie try to give advice for once:

It sounds to me like your cham has MBD. Does he have extra joints like the picture? MBD can cause tongue problems, and cause weak grip strength which would explain the constant resting position. Are you sure the UVB bulb is fresh (they may work but not emit enough UVB)? What are you using to dust? Is its casque flimsy?

My newbish input.

i don't know if it could be that because his gripping is excellent.. I found out how to upload pictures, i'm going to. He hangs upside down and he pulls himself up without any trouble at all. He has no trouble walking or anything, he just doesn't move.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

what size is the cage? did you just switch cages? is there any fluid comming out of his eye? how long has this gone on for? i would say a visit to the vet is in order. good luck.

you should remove the substrate too, if he eats it he will become impacted.

-jon
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1.1 veiled chameleons
0.0.1 normal cornsnake
1.2 leopard geckos

I had taken pictures and was trying to get them to a size suitable for the site but something happend and i think i deleted them. I'll have to take more.

Nothing is coming out of his eyes, I haven't been worried about him eating the substrate because he's always on his leaves and he never goes after crickets or anything on the ground because they are always on the sides, or on his leaves. I'll take it out anyways, tho. The cage is 20x18x12. It's all open-air so he gets enough ventilation. He's been in the same cage since I got him, 3 months ago. There hasn't been anything happen, no major changes, maybe some climate change because of the cold weather outside, but it's still the same in his cage. this has been goin on for about 6 days now. Before then he would walk onto my finger and hiss if I put it near his head, but that's it. He loved to be held, just like my other cham.

I'm going to be heading to the vet tomorrow after class, I took my other fischer's cham to this doctor because of a lump and he died from it, but hopefully he can help August out..

Thanks for the help everyone.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

Firs of all, I never use a substrate with my chameleons.
If they ingest it, it could cause an impaction. I would
worry about the oatmeal too. Oatmeal swells quite a bit when it
gets wet, so I would worry about what would happen when/if the
chameleon ate any of it.

Although young chameleons nap a little, sleeping all the time
and not moving around would make me think that there is something
wrong with him...especially since he doesn't wake up when you put
hand near him. I think he needs to go to the vet's ASAP.

You said....."he didn't lash his toungue out, he went up to the
cricket and bit at it" another sign that something is wrong.

"I dust his crickets 3 times a week"...what do you use?

Good luck with him.

I used Herpcare cricket dust. I make sure to get all the crickets then let them roam free in the cage, after he's done eating i remove them and put them in a seperate cricket cage. If they die i remove them immediately.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

The dust may be a problem too. I don't know what's in HerpCare dust, but you need BOTH a calcium dust AND a vitamin dust for a cham this young. The 2 can't be combined as the degrade each other over time. Is he dehydrated? Check for sunken eyes, wrinkled skin, rubbing eyes on branches, drinking a lot greedily every time you spray. Take a little fold of skin in your fingers and release it. If the skin flattens out right away he's hydrated. If it stays folded for a few moments he's dehydrated and needs a higher level of air humdity in his cage. Little chams dehydrate and overheat very quickly. Other than that, know that chams this tiny often die for unknown reasons. There is a percentage of most clutches that just don't thrive, and if you buy a very young baby you run a higher risk of ending up with one of the less fit babies. Do you have a herp-experienced vet you can check with?

I checked everything.. His skin goes right back when i pull it a little.. His eyes aren't sunken.. around his eyelid it is a little yellow tho, i haven't payed attention to see if they were like that before. I tried to get some close-up pictures but i don't have a macro camera. Right now I have him laying down in a top with just a few drops of water to see if he will drink, or even move. I put him in there andhe was searching for something to grab onto but then just layed down, he still hasn't drank any of it, he has his head down like a dog does when he's sleeping, his tail isn't curled or anything, and his feet are just on the ground, not holding himself up.

I made an appointment with a local exotic pet vet that took care of my fischers cham, my whole family goes to him and he has low prices, and seems to know what he's doing. Altho my fichers is past on because of what happend, it was only because we got to him too late. Hopefully this isn't the case this time. I hope he doesn't die because both of my chams would have died and i love em too much.. Chams are one of my favorite reps. =-
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

-sigh-

It's 3:33am here, i just woke up and I looked in Sir August's cage and he was hanging upside down, the only way he was even attached to the branch was one of his back legs, i'm sure he's near passing now. I have an appointment at 2pm tomorrow but I think i just might ask the doctor to put him down, I don't want him to suffer thru any painful procedures or anything, i'd like to know what I did wrong, but sadly, as i've found out in the past, that's very hard.

I'll update after i talk to the doctor tomorrow about his condition, if it's really bad then i'm just going to hae him put to sleep, because i don't want him to suffer anymore. If it's something that can be treated with not alot of pain, then i'll try my best, i'm going to miss the little guy.

Oh, I can't seem to find a spur on the back of his legs, could this be because he is a she or is "it" too young to tell? It's just a small fellow.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

My baby veiled past away at 5:13pm today. I just got back from the vet and he had told me that he had a vitamin deficientcy. he said he could tell right off the bat because there was no meat on his back legs and it was starting to show bone right above his tail. He said that this can happen to anyone due to not providing the proper vitamins for the rep.

If I ever get another cham I will be sure to get every type of vitamin that i can get my hands on. The doctor gave me Nekton Rep and Nutri-Cal. They are both food supplements with plenty of vitamins. I guess there's no reason for me to post in the chams forums anymore, good luck with your chams everyone.

R.I.P. Sir August De Winter 1-20-05
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.

I am sorry about your loss. I think that maybe trying an older chameleon or getting one through someone who will hold your hand thorugh the process (like I did!!!!) Please stay with the forum!!!

Deanna

=-)

I'm going to get another Veiled, because i am yet to see(in person) a real big one, with an actual casque. I'm gonna stay with the forums, hehe. I guess i can help others with some of the mistakes that i've made. I don't what size I should get, i dunno if my cage is big enough.
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Savannah Monitor - Artimus
Emerald Swift - Jesus
Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
Green Iguana - King Arthur
Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
Basilisk - Adam Used to be Adam and Eve but there was a food competition because my girlfriend was taking care of them and she didn't know what was wrong until it was too late.