Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am giving him mixed greens as well as crickets but his legs are looking thin. I bought a UVB bulb and hope that helps. I wanted to know if I should give him electrolites from an eye dropper to help with hydration. Any tips.

Thanks

What types of greens are you feeding? Do you see him eating / pooping? Can you describe the enclosure (dimensions, hiding places, temps etc)? What do you have for lighting / basking, whats the photo period? How old / big is your chuck and is he wild caught or captive bred? How long have you had him?

In the short term these are my recommendations: try adding a shallow water dish. Wash his greens so that they are moist prior to feeding and make sure they are chopped so that they can be easily eaten. Try adding flowers like dandelions, pansies and nasturiums to make the veggies more appealing and provide fresh veggies on a daily basis. Make sure that his veggie bowl is very shallow and that the greens are overflowing / easily visible. You can also try something more fattening like mealworms or wax worms rather than the crickets (see if he'll take these from your hand, so that you don't have loose bugs stressing him). If he's in a glass tank, cover at least three of the sides to reduce stress (covering the bottom half of the front may help too). Provide lots of tight hiding places; if using rocks make sure they can't shift. Handle only when absolutely necessary. Make sure you have a 100 degree basking spot available and keep the lights on at least 10-12 hours (appliance timers really simplify this).

Get a weight on him as soon as possible ( you can get cheap digital postage scales at places like Office Depot that work great). Try to weigh him every two to three days, if he's a captive bred chuck and his problems are stress / environmental, he should bounce back quickly and start putting on weight by the second weigh in. If you got him from a breeder and he arrived in good shape, ask about the conditions they kept him under.

I got a cb baby chuck about 6 inches long last year who arrived thin. His weight increased at every weigh in and had almost doubled within two weeks. They're pretty tough guys and can bounce back quickly if conditions are right.

-Alice