Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I need some help here. I've already made a vet appointment for tomorrow. My male veiled chameleon is acting funny. I noticed it yesterday morning. I worked the early shift, and was awake at 5 am. So was my cham. He was in the corner of his cage in his ficus attempting to climb the air. His balance and depth perception are almost gone. He falls from his perch and moves incredibly slowly. With big swooping arm and leg movements. When I got home he seemed fine. Walking and eating normally. I'm getting ready for work today and turn on all my lights. He immediately freaks out. And stumbles and falls to the floor of his cage. I attempted las tnight and today to hydrate him. He hasn't visibly, to me, drank any water in a week. I've changed two things with my husbandry as of late. I bought some silkworms for them. And i bought him a new ficus. The only other thing is my flourescent? uv bulb is about 5 months old, the rest of my bulbs are fairly new. I hope you guys can help. This is the first time i have had any problems with my chams. Especially him, he is my pride and joy I hope he can make it till his vet appointment.....

and change the soil in it ? Just checking as they can be sprayed with toxic bug sprays, and things harmful to our lizards.

I'm glad your taking him to the Vet, and hope he will be okay, as far as the uvb and problems with MBD, guess the Vet will have to check that out for you.

I just wanted to ask if you made sure that new plant was washed well. No doubt the veiled keepers will jump in here and give you their more knowledgable thoughts.

Let us know how he does.

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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I washed the plant down when I got it, but i did not repot it. He doesnt eat ficus leaves for some reason so I wasnt worried about that... I am worried that i didnt wash it well enough....If this is the case is there anything a vet can do? I know he doesnt have mbd. I was just giving everyone a run down on everything i knew about....

Is this happening only in the morning? Are you suddenly turning on lights? If he is startled awake he would likely be caught off guard - and maybe off balance. I have the UVB go on first for a more gentle wake-up call and then the basking about 1/2 hour later. Is he in your room? Maybe you can cover him at night so your lights don;t bother him and thne when you leave take off the cover and he will more naturally wake up to the normal daylight.

You might want to adjust his lights and maybe get yourself up a few minutes before they are to go on and see how he responds (hide somehwere so he doesn't see you If he is OK the rest of the time it may be as simple as the lights. Also, is the ficus replacing another ficus? Has the density of the foliage changed much hwere he may feel more exposed?

Does he look dehydrated? You seem to pay close attention to your chams so I would think you'd have caught anything. Can't imagine the silkies have anything to do with it.

As for repotting the plant it really should be done. What many do not realize is that there are herbicides and pesticides which are "systemic." They added to the soil, the plant takes them up via the roots and they then flow throughout the plants vascular system - thus (potentially) poisoning the entire plant and no amount of washing will get rid of it. Luna didn;t eat ficus either, but she would occasionally bite a leaf.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I don't completely understand what the problem is. I am pretty sure you said that when you put on the lights he basically freaks out and falls off, and then walks really slowly on the ground back up. If this isn't what is happening, lmk.

Well obviously the lights are what are freaking him out, not the plant. Although the new plant in his enviorment can be stressing him out at first, and the plant is not washed well enough, that would not cause the sudden fear in him to fall off the plant when the lights are first put on. Like Lele said, you can try puting one on and then the other. While I have never tried this, you can go to Home depot and buy a dimmerstat. You can hook up the lights to that, and turn them on a little bit at a time.

I personally think that he will get used to it. What time do you put on the lights? If he is already awake, the lights might scare him, or vice versa. Try turning them on at different times if possible. If you have to go to work at a certain time, you can buy a timer for the lights for about 10 bucks at home depot. Good luck and let us know if it continues. Oh yea, one more thing. Try putting some paper towels on the floor so that he doesn't hurt himself so bad when he falls. One of my most beautiful panther chameleons fell from his perch a few months ago and got some dead scales on his spine. They first turned white, now black. He was the most beautiful cham I ever had, and my favorite, and now he is not nearly as attractive. Don't let that happen to your cham. Put the paper towels down, or some sort of padding so he doesn't hurt himself.

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

It is not just the lights that are bothering him. It did startle him though. I noticed the first morning before his lights were on that he was awake and behaving oddly. He, then before any lights were on, was grabbing in the air as if he couldnt see or his depth perception was gone. His balance is off. He reachs for things and loses balance and falls to the floor. His arms move in very broad strokes as if he is unsure of his reach etc. The plant is more dense than before, he has much more cover. He has never been a shy animal nor easily stressed or caught off guard. He also not dehydrated, alteast not to the point of sunken eyes etc. His eyes are full and have color still, unlike the rest of his body. He has just perched under his lamp all day. It does seem to only happen as dramatically as i mentioned in the morning. He still seems odd now but calm. I dont use a timer on my lights. I turn them on at 10 am and off at midnight. Hes not in my room where he would be exposed to any more light than what he gets with his bulbs. I went from a schleffera to a ficus. I will repot the ficus tomorrow. Im assuming at this point that this is due to my not handling my plant right.....I will try some padding thats a great idea.. maybe a towel or something... His vet appointment is at 11 am now.. I switched vets. The first one didnt ask to many questions and I was a bit weary of them. The only other thing i did was move his light. I have it positioned on the side now rather than the top. His new plant was so full, and filled his cage right up, that the light wasnt getting through...perhaps I could have blinded him in one eye? or fried his brain lol This is going to make me really upset if I have done everything so right all this time and then make a dumb mistake like not taking care of the plant properly............

God knows, its a tough thing to think your cham is having problems. I found Pudge laying on the bottom of her enclosure a day after I returned from my Christmas Vacation (she stayed at my mom's while we were gone). The advice to seek the vet is valuable. I didn't even know that I could see one until these fab people at this site informed me. As the vet advised, it can be a combo of several things...mine, too many mealworms that may have caused an infection (due to the hard body casings), stress from the move, then anorexia.

I am pleased to say, that Pudge is on the mend. She doesn't like us much anymore, with all of the meds and forced feedings. Seeing her scramble is a site for sore eyes. She is still hanging out on the bottom of the cage. I modified it by adding a shelf so that she can't get too far away from her lights and get cold.

I hope you find out the reason, and I hope things get better .

I have seen a couple of chameleons act the way you are describing yours acting...startle reflex and grabbing at the air. I can't tell you what is causing it or what to do about it...so its a good thing that you are taking him to the vets. I hope the vet can tell you what might be causing it and solve the problem.

Just curious, how old is your chamy? I had a veiled once that lived to the ripe old age of 7, but toward the end really began to lose his muscular dexterity, similar to what you're describing. I don't think anyone really knows the longevity potential of a veiled in captivity, but I think right now anything over five years is considered to be an elderly chameleon. And like all other living creatures, they do slow down in old age.

he is only about 10 months old. So i dont think that is the problem. He seems to be much better today. No issues, a little on the dark side. I think it may have been a few things that did it, one being his lighting. The ficus in his cage 'ate up' alot of space at the top of his cage, preventing alot of light and heat from getting to him. When i moved his light to the side he was able to see where the light was coming from and not being used to that, freaked out. The doc said he was in excellent condition.