How to keep Oustalet's healthy

Hi, I have a baby Oustalet's and she seems to be doing poorly. She has gone to the vet twice but has not improved. I want to know how to care for her so I know if I am doing everything right. Please help, thank you.

Fill this out the best you can so we can all get more info about the cham. What did your vet say? Do you have any pictures of your cham that you can share with us?

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Here is her cage
Cage Type - Plexiglas(used to be an aviary, recently converted to a cham enclosure)
Lighting - FS-fluorescent sun lamp
Temperature - top of cage is 80 and bottom is 75
Humidity - about 75%, I mist the cage everyday 3 times a day.
Plants - 3 live tropical plants on bottom of cage, rest are plastis reptile plants.
Placement - In my T.V. room, next to a window and away from all vents and fans.
Location - Atlanta, GA

Your Chameleon - Female Outalet's Cham. About 6 months old and have had her foe about 3 months.
Handling - Everyday to feed her.
Feeding - 3 or 4 meal worms or wax worms a day, no crickets because she won't open her eyes to catch them. She is hand feed because of this too.
Watering - Cage is misted everyday 3 times a day for about 2 minutes each time.
Fecal Description - Currently being treated for parasites.
History - Purchased from a reptile show.
Current Problem - Won't open eyes, and ha parasites( has been going to vet)

Sorry, my computer won't let me post pics at the moment.

The setup you describe is obviously not working for her. I'd get her out of the plexiglas and into a screen cage with live plants. She's in bad shape if she won't open her eyes to eat. Your lighting doesn't sound right and I didn't see anything about a UVB light. Chams need exposure to UV light as well as heat. What are the cage temps at night? Any lights on at night? Chams need at least a 10 degree drop in temp at night, with no visible lights left on. If you can get her a screen cage (an inexpensive one would be a smaller sized Reptarium for example), try putting her outdoors to bask in true sunlight if the weather permits. She probably needs UV to metabolize the calcium in her diet. What mineral and vitamin dusting do you use and how often? Young chams need calcium dust on food every day. You CAN give her crickets, you just have to hand feed them to her. They will be better for her than mealworms or waxworms as a regular diet.

How do you know she has parasites? Did the vet do a fecal analysis? What did the test show? Usually treatment for parasites is done once and then repeated a few weeks later depending on what types were found.

I originally had in her in a screen cage which didn't hold enough humidity. My vet recommended trying a glass tank. My vet also recommended those lights, which are UVB. All lights are turned off at night. And yes, my vet did a fecal test for parasites, which I am currently treating. She used to eat crickets just fine but lately she won't even take them when I hand feed them to her. In fact, she only seems to want to eat meal worms at the moment.

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My cham's current home

The light you're using...is it a tube or a cfl?

Its a tube.

Here is my cham, Tara:
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What is the UV lamp BRAND? This is important as most lamps sold as UV producers are not very good. If it is a ReptiSun 5.0 that's the best. If not, this may be part of your problem. If you put the UV lamp right next to the basking lamp she'll be able to absorb more of the UV as she basks. Most UV the lamps produce doesn't penetrate very far into the cage...the cham needs to be able to sit within about 18" of the light.

That is a nice large cage! Was your screen cage like this? If so, the reason it didn't hold enough humidity is because you need a LOT more live foliage. Even the current glass cage could use more. She may also be stressed from being in plain view most of the time, and possibly her reflection is stressing her. They need places to hide from view. If you have trouble finding your cham it's about right. Does she paw at the plexiglass? Sometimes chams get stressed because they don't understand why they can't walk through the clear walls. Live plants provide many more surfaces to hold misting spray and provide more surfaces for her to drink off of. The pots themselves slowly release moisture and help keep air quality higher. You can increase a screen cage's ability to hold humidity by draping some clear plastic sheeting on the back and sides of the screen frame or by using a room humidifier aimed at the cage. This can help a lot!

is the top of the tank glass or screen? i couldn't tell by the picture. if it is glass then it needs to be replaced by screen because UV lights cannot pass through the glass


p.s. that is a very beautiful girl

Yes, the UV bulb is a Reptisun 5.0. I also went to the pet store today and got small crickets for her and she refused to eat them again. And I put more plants in which I made hiding areas with. Every now and then she paws at the glass but I think it is because she used to live in a screen cage and was used to climbing on the walls, she has learned not to do that as much any more.

jamncristian said:

is the top of the tank glass or screen? i couldn't tell by the picture. if it is glass then it needs to be replaced by screen because UV lights cannot pass through the glass


p.s. that is a very beautiful girl

Click to expand...

Thank you, I just want her to get better though. I spend all day thinking about her and thinking of ways to improve her habitat. Also, the top of her cage is not screen. Her cage used to be an aviary and we recently adapted it to hold her comfortably. But, we are currently working on making the top a screen lid.

She needs a screen top, that may be why she is poorly. The uvb cant pass through, moving her into the screen on would be best until you can fix the other one. What do you dust her food with?

As stated-UVB will not pass through glass or plastic. What are you measuring your temps with? I can't imagine much heat will pass through the glass either. I would immediately put her back in a screen cage full of plants and mist until the plants are good and drippy about 3 times a day, letting it dry out between each misting. I would also get some Terramycin to apply to her eyes. I keep my Oustalets just like Panthers and Veileds. If your house is about 72-75 degrees that is perfect and I would create a basking temp in the low 80's using a digital thermometer.

I don't think this animals health has anything to do with a glass top and u.v. I would check the temps also most locales of oustaleti come from arid scrub land i woiuldn't worry so much about humidity. The large enclosure may just be to overwhelming for her.