Big foot is compacted maybe?

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I just brought big foot home 2 weeks ago, she's been doing great but the last 2 days she's not herself. She sleeps a lot and sits in an odd position. I haven't seen her straining to poop, but the way she holds her belly looks like an impacted poop. So far, I'm misting the he'll out of her and I give her long soaks in warm water with organic coconut oil to try and loosen things up. She ate a superworm a few days ago, and I really don't think it's going through her belly properly.

 

[Decadancin]

Could you post a few more pics of her? She looks dehydrated and very thin to me in that shot. Sometimes the angle of the picture can be misleading and I don't want to give advice off one pic.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

• Your Chameleon - Female veiled chameleon, I honestly am just guessing but I think she's about 2 months old.
• Handling - I hold her quite a bit, she's very social. She loves to wander around my pillows and perch while I watch TV.
• Feeding and supplements - I am keeping 1/4 inch crickets in her cage always available. I gut load them for 3-4 days with Mazuri brand gut load before I put them in the cage. When I put a new batch of crickets in about every other day I dust them with Zoomed calcium without d3, and I use reptivite vitamins to dust a batch once a week. I offered superworm as a treat and I honestly think she ate the worm defensively, it bit her and she snapped at it. She didn't sticky tounge it like a normal meal and she's been acting strange since.
• Watering - I'm keeping about 60 percent humidity, I spray her several times a day and she has a dripper.
• Fecal Description - I haven't seen any poops since she has acted atrange, but I'm watching

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

She does look dehydrated, that's why I'm soaking and spraying so often. She's thin with a definite bulge .

 

[Goose502]

She looks very thin, and very dehydrated. There's many different ways to hydrate your chameleon, start investigating them now. Long soaks in the shower or under a gentle garden sprayer work well for me.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

She looks very thin, and very dehydrated. There's many different ways to hydrate your chameleon, start investigating them now. Long soaks in the shower or under a gentle garden sprayer work well for me.

She likes warm soaks in the sink with coconut oil to loosen her belly a little. I use an eyedropper and give her lots of sips, she drinks the warm water and oil steadily. I'm trying to let her rest but I have the humidity at 75 in her cage and a constant drip system. I even gave her a belly rub. I just don't know what else I can do to help and it's breaking my heart! I'm going to find an emergency vet first thing in the morning but it's going to be a long night!

 

[Decadancin]

• Your Chameleon - Female veiled chameleon, I honestly am just guessing but I think she's about 2 months old.
• Handling - I hold her quite a bit, she's very social. She loves to wander around my pillows and perch while I watch TV.
• Feeding and supplements - I am keeping 1/4 inch crickets in her cage always available. I gut load them for 3-4 days with Mazuri brand gut load before I put them in the cage. When I put a new batch of crickets in about every other day I dust them with Zoomed calcium without d3, and I use reptivite vitamins to dust a batch once a week. I offered superworm as a treat and I honestly think she ate the worm defensively, it bit her and she snapped at it. She didn't sticky tounge it like a normal meal and she's been acting strange since.
• Watering - I'm keeping about 60 percent humidity, I spray her several times a day and she has a dripper.
• Fecal Description - I haven't seen any poops since she has acted atrange, but I'm watching

Could you complete all the questions on the "how to ask for help" former so we can get more info? Be as specific as possible and don't leave details out. What types of lighting and duration, how you are measuring temps/humidity, etc. We may see something that can be helpful.

 

[Decadancin]

Why coconut oil? Soaking isn't going to help with hydration as reptiles do not absorb moisture through their skin. I don't know of any help the soaks will do for compaction, but I'm also not sure that would be the problem. A vet visit may be the best thing, but make sure the vet has experience with chameleons. Bring a copy of the cares heels for veileds, and if the vet is not supporting what you see on the sheets, you may want to ask more questions here before going ahead with the suggested course of action.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

• Cage Type - I have a medium zoomed breeze chameleon cage, it is all mesh with a vinyl back round that I added.
• Lighting - voo med reptisun 5.0 UVB and a 60 watt daylight blue reptile bulb, also zoomed brand.
• Temperature - the cage floor is 75 day and night, basking spot is 80-85 during the day and around 75 at night
• Humidity - The humidity is always between 50-60. I mist 3 or 4 times a day and that brings the humidity close to 80. I have a petco brand humidity gage set where she spends most of her time, a few inches from the top of the cage. She also has a zoomed little dripper that drips lightly down a live plant 24 hours a day.
• Plants - I have plastic and a live dracaena plant.
• Placement - She is set up at the foot of my bed on my dresser. They top of her cage is a little higher than eye level, the bottom is waist level.
• Location - Cockeysville, Md

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[Goose502]

Not sure how soaking in oil helps. If it's ingested, I don't see how that could be beneficial. Typically, an impaction or constipation can be made worse or caused by poor hydration. Straining to poop is odd, if it's constant, remember reptiles use active exhalation, this may look like straining. The sunken eyes are screaming dehydration to me. Try misting continuously for 15 minutes plus with regular tap or bottled water. Sometimes the won't start drinking for awhile. This will have to be repeated multiple times a day for several days. Good luck, a vet may be able to provide emergency hydration via intramuscular fluid.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

Thi

Why coconut oil? Soaking isn't going to help with hydration as reptiles do not absorb moisture through their skin. I don't know of any help the soaks will do for compaction, but I'm also not sure that would be the problem. A vet visit may be the best thing, but make sure the vet has experience with chameleons. Bring a copy of the cares heels for veileds, and if the vet is not supporting what you see on the sheets, you may want to ask more questions here before going ahead with the suggested course of action.

This is my first go experience with chameleons, but I raised and rescued iguanas my whole life. We always used warm soaks with coconut oil because the warm water stimulate's them to poop and the coconut oil is a lubricant for the vent. Coconut oil specifically because it is safe to ingest and they always drank some of the mixture so it lubricated their bellies. I don't know if it would help with chameleons but I thought it couldn't hurt. I just want to help her and I don't know what else to do

 

[Decadancin]

Thi


This is my first go experience with chameleons, but I raised and rescued iguanas my whole life. We always used warm soaks with coconut oil because the warm water stimulate's them to poop and the coconut oil is a lubricant for the vent. Coconut oil specifically because it is safe to ingest and they always drank some of the mixture so it lubricated their bellies. I don't know if it would help with chameleons but I thought it couldn't hurt. I just want to help her and I don't know what else to do

Not sure if it would do any good, but I think dehydration is the main concern here, followed by feeding. Can you get horn worms or Silkworms? You could help hydrate and feed at the same time and might see improvement. I'm not sure if impaction is an issue or not.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

I'm suspecting compaction because she was happy and healthy until she ate a superworm 2 days ago, and there's been a sharp decline. They dehydration I'd obvious but I don't understand why because she drinks all the time. This is a picture from monday, can you see how much she's declined and how fast? I'm worried sick and I have done everything I know to do until I can get her into a good herp vet in the morning.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

Big foot didn't make it. She was trying to poop and pushed so hard her poor little butt turned inside out and she passed within minutes.

 

[LindsayG]

O wow, I'm so sorry for your loss

 

[Remkon]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that...

 

[brownie64]

Really sorry to hear this. Weird how one supper worm caused all this I wonder if it was too big for her. Sorry again for your loss.

 

[guanagator]

Very sorry for your loss. I would get a necropsy done, even if it was impaction personally doubt it was a super worm. The chameleon showed signs of severe dehydration and since you just got it so you don't know what issues could have been lingering beforehand. A necropsy should give you a definite answer on what went wrong.

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

She likes warm soaks in the sink with coconut oil to loosen her belly a little. I use an eyedropper and give her lots of sips, she drinks the warm water and oil steadily. I'm trying to let her rest but I have the humidity at 75 in her cage and a constant drip system. I even gave her a belly rub. I just don't know what else I can do to help and it's breaking my heart! I'm going to find an emergency vet first thing in the morning but it's going to be a long night!

That's good that your taking her to the vet... Just don't worry and keep us updated! If something happens just remember that you tried your best I think she'll be fine

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

That's good that your taking her to the vet... Just don't worry and keep us updated! If something happens just remember that you tried your best I think she'll be fine

Sorry i accidentally hit send now I meant to click it last night but I didn't I'm sorry for your loss don't beat yourself up these things just happen someines chams are just very fragile