Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2 1/2 yr old Jackson cham has been becoming quite sluggish over the last 2 months or so. He's never been overly active (for a cham that is), but now he hardly moves. I've also noticed his decreasing appetite starting about 2 weeks ago. I can see no flaws in my husbandry or his housing (oooops, just remembered cage not cleaned for several months). he resides in a nylon Reptarium (just upgraded to aluminum and screen cage by Blue Beast), 90% live plants, tree branches, misted 2x/day, 2 overhead Reptisun 10.0 bulbs. He has been fed 1-3 Blaptica dubia roaches (instars ... adults r too big) every 2-3 days, dusted w/ Nekton Rep vitamins 1x/week (even gave a F/T pink mouse 1x/ mo for 3 months just for the extra proteins and fats). Things have been slowly changing over the last 2 months. Oh, I started mingling him with my female every now and again (after she was quarintined). Any ideas what's wrong? I've got him on Pedialyte (1.5 ml SID PO for 3 days...to ward off any dehydration). Don't no if its kidney dz from extra proteins(pinkies) or resp. infection (although he's not gasping or dyspnic in anyway). Help...please.

How about calcium dust? Didn't see that mentioned. An adult cham should be getting a light calcium dusting once a week. Vitamins a lot less often...once a month or so. What are you gutloading the feeders with? Gutloading should be considered the primary way to get nutrition into your cham, not the dusts. Dusts are "gap fillers" to help make up for the lack of variety offered by captive bred feeders. Dusts are easy to overdose especially in montane species. How old are your lights? If over 5 months, change them. You can use the ReptiSun 5.0 instead of the 10.0s. UV penetration into the cage area is about the same. If he's drinking on his own, stop the Pedialyte. You can overdo the electrolytes and cause more problems. Being with the female may have stressed him and made some other underlying health problem more obvious. I'd suggest a few things. First, raise the humidity...it's often lower than you realize and is putting stress on his kidneys. Get a fecal analysed by a vet to rule out a high parasite load. Isolate him visually from all other animals including the female. Cut back on the vitamin dust and check the quality of your feeder gutloads. Good luck!

His roaches gets Nekton Rep dusting 1x/wk, (the roaches also get fed hi quality cat food, fresh fruit and greens 1-2 x/ wk), the lights r 4 mo. old ( he goes outside 1-3 x/wk), His fecals r neg....did them myself (I'm an LVT). He seems to have perked up after the 2nd Pedialyte dose. Took a roach today but he still seems a little ADR. He HATES being misted (even more so than other chams). Still won't take water on his own yet.

Check the vitamins to see if the source of vitamin A is preformed(retinol) or proformed (beta carotene). Cat food has preformed vitamin A in it.

Not saying that vitamin A is the problem...you need a vet to tell you.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=17&cat=1796&articleid=3027

Holy S--t, thanks for the heads up. I think that's the problem. I haven't checked the vit A content yet, but I have noticed (but wasn't sure) a swelling of his eyes. Had no idea that chameleons could manufacture vit A from beta carotene...or cats for that matter.I'll get back to u on the vit A content.

You said.."I haven't checked the vit A content yet, but I have noticed (but wasn't sure) a swelling of his eyes"...I wasn't suggesting that too low an amount of prEformed vitamin A.

You said..."Had no idea that chameleons could manufacture vit A from beta carotene...or cats for that matter"...cats can NOT convert beta carotene prOformed....that's why the cat food has prEformed vitamin A in it. Its controversial as to whether all chameleons can convert it too....but if NektonRep has prEformed and you are using cat food (which will have prEformed vitamin A in it)....you may be overdoing the prEformed vitamin A.

Carlton mentioned calcium and gutloading and overdoing the vitamins....both are important.

OK...take a breath. I appreciate the information, but do u always JUMP on people's grammatical mistakes w/ so much gusto? Wasn't it apparent to u that I FORGOT the "could not" in my statement. I do understand the concept of pre and pro-formed vitamins. I am in the field of veterinary medicine. If it's possible, next time could u be a bit LESS condescending. Anyway, he's doing much better now... he's eating again. Not back to his "old" self yet, but improving. Thanks for the info...I will watch out for the excess vit A and start him on Ca dusting 1x/ wk. Probably be good for his female too ...I think she's "knocked up".

I think I found out what the problem is. I believe it's NSHP......I guess I just assumed there was sufficient amts of Ca in the Nekton-Rep. I also didn't realize that consuming vits would interfere with Ca uptake (guess I'm gettin a lil mentally lazy). Good thing I got some powdered Ca (crushed cuttlebone). I'll see if that does the trick along with some sun worshiping sessions now that it's June. Thanks again for the heads up.

You said..."do u always JUMP on people's grammatical mistakes w/ so much gusto? Wasn't it apparent to u that I FORGOT the "could not" in my statement"...why would it be apparent? Do you know how many times a day I have to explain the difference between preformed and proformed and even when I do people don't get it??

You said..."I do understand the concept of pre and pro-formed vitamins. I am in the field of veterinary medicine."...didn't know that either! (Although I'm not a vet I have taught vets from time to time.)

You said..."If it's possible, next time could u be a bit LESS condescending"..it was not meant to be condescending...it was meant to explain.

You said..."Anyway, he's doing much better now... he's eating again. Not back to his "old" self yet, but improving. Thanks for the info"...you are welcome for the information and I'm glad that your chameleon is already doing better.

Good luck with the female/reproduction too.