Bloo needs to bulk up!

[zigzagzug]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Nosy Be Panther Chameleon, Male, 2-3 years old, he is wild caught. Bloo has been in my care for 10 months
• Handling - once or twice a week, I bring him outside or let him roam around in my bedroom (I supervise him)
• Feeding - He is eating 6-7 large crickets a day. I gut load with carrots, sweet potato, and repasy bug burger.
• Supplements - recently switched to repasy calcium plus.
• Watering - He gets misted for 1 minute every 2 hours for a total of 10 hours (5mins of total misting). I do see occasionaly see him drink.
• Fecal Description - His poops look normal, he was tested for parasites before and came back clean.
• History - He is wild caught.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptibreeze XL
• Lighting - Arcadia 6% 22inch bulb, on at 8am and off at 8pm
• Temperature - basking is around 85-86, ambient is 75-76. lowest overnight temp is 65. I measure with two digital thermometers.
• Humidity - humidity is always between 40-99%? I use a mistking. I use 2 digital hydrometers.
• Plants - no live plants.
• Placement - located on top of a desk in my bedroom. It is not close to any fans or air vents, the top of the cage sits 7.5ft above the floor.
• Location - I am located in Ottawa, Canada

Current Problem - When I first got Bloo, he was a healthy 125-130 grams (he is 14 inches long from STV). he went on a very long hunger strike that lasted a few months. He lost a lot of weight because of this and he is 95-100 grams now. He doesn't appear sick or ill, he's well hydrated but he does look fairly skinny. I would like to know what the best way to bulk him up would be. I want to get him closer to that 120 gram range. Would it be ok to feed him lots of super worms until he fattens back up? I will post some pictures tomorrow as he is sleeping now. Thanks!

 

[Harley510]

I’m thinking maybe aim for 10+ crickets a day, a few super worms a week maybe even a few wax worms, and maybe a CHUNKY horn worm once or twice a week to add some meat on his bones

 

[janjan20]

IMO if he has been in your care for 10 months and has not gained the weight back with daily feeding he may have an underlying issue. Can you send pics? Also, I saw he had a negative fecal but if that was 10mo ago I would get another one just to rule out parasites.

 

[nightanole]

Cant you get an internet poop in a bag check for $25? My vet will do them for 10 bucks if they seen the animal before.

 

[janjan20]

Cant you get an internet poop in a bag check for $25? My vet will do them for 10 bucks if they seen the animal before.

Not sure about the internet check but 10 bucks is cheap! I had to pay 30

 

[nightanole]

Not sure about the internet check but 10 bucks is cheap! I had to pay 30

Yea, my vet is $100 for first poop (initial checkup +float) + $10 for any additional floats for life after they have seen the animal.

 

[zigzagzug]

IMO if he has been in your care for 10 months and has not gained the weight back with daily feeding he may have an underlying issue. Can you send pics? Also, I saw he had a negative fecal but if that was 10mo ago I would get another one just to rule out parasites.

His hunger strike lasted from april to june, during this time period he was only consuming 1-2 crickets a WEEK. His hunger strike "ended" 4 days ago and he's been eating 6-7 large crickets a day, today he ate 9 large crickets. Also, I will post some pics of Blood tomorrow, I had a really busy day and I wasn't home much.

 

[janjan20]

Ok this paints a better picture...it’s good to hear he’s eating a normal amount now. You are on the right track with the feeders, just keep the crickets fed well. Not sure if this is an option for you but have you tried silkworms? I know they are very nutritious. Here are some care sheets on gut loading and bugs to feed.

 

[zigzagzug]

I COULD try silkworms, the closest place to me that sells them is a 2 hour bus ride away though, and I don't drive. I get horns at petsmart a 15min walk from my home, and yes the crickets are always well fed thanks.

 

[Dave85731]

Sometimes they can go on big hunger strikes but hunger strike means stops eating 100% for weeks but your saying he he still ate a few from then till now so to be safe do another fecal test you don’t need a exotic vet for a fecal test they all get sent to the same place so a dog and cat vet is fine and way cheaper now considering he’s wc those are never out of the woods they can take over a year to completely cure and accumulate so fecals Atleast once every other month to check and get some panacur

 

[zigzagzug]

he didn't always eat 1-2 a week, there were definitely several 2 week long periods when he didn't eat anything, but yes, I think i will try and get a decal done soon.

 

[zigzagzug]

he literally had a "hunger strike" for 13 weeks total, i am pretty sure he would have died if he didn't eat for 3 months, i think he only ate a cricket here and there to stay alive.

 

[CamoChameleonsHuman]

he literally had a "hunger strike" for 13 weeks total, i am pretty sure he would have died if he didn't eat for 3 months, i think he only ate a cricket here and there to stay alive.

This usually means they are sick of that feeder. You need to switch it up. Order online. My Ambilobe is on a cricket strike right now too. So I switched it up to roaches.

 

[zigzagzug]

I can't get roaches here in Canada :'(. The only feeders I can get my hands on are silks, horns, supers, and crickets

 

[zigzagzug]

This usually means they are sick of that feeder. You need to switch it up. Order online. My Ambilobe is on a cricket strike right now too. So I switched it up to roaches.

during this time period I tried horns and supers when he stopped eating crickets but he wasn't interested.

 

[janjan20]

he didn't always eat 1-2 a week, there were definitely several 2 week long periods when he didn't eat anything, but yes, I think i will try and get a decal done soon.

He is gorgeous! He does look thin but not sick.

This usually means they are sick of that feeder. You need to switch it up. Order online. My Ambilobe is on a cricket strike right now too. So I switched it up to roaches.

OP is from Canada do you know anyone that lives there? I suggested some silks but they may be hard to get.

 

[zigzagzug]

He is doing much better now, I just want to know what I could do to plump him up a little ya know? Is there a specific kind of vegetable or other gut load ingredient that would plump him up faster? I mentioned in the initial post on this thread, would it be okay to feed him more super worms, like a temporary staple until he plumps up? From what I understand, supers aren't great staples because of the high fat content, but in this case, wouldn't that be a good thing? I don't know im just shooting shit, let me know what you guys think. Thanks! (If I did follow through with this "temporary super worm staple" I would still gut load the supers with different veggies + sweet potato + bug burger)

 

[zigzagzug]

He is gorgeous! He does look thin but not sick.

OP is from Canada do you know anyone that lives there? I suggested some silks but they may be hard to get.

silks are hardER to get, but I could still get my hands on them. A few of the places I checked out that ship feeders won't ship silks right now because of the high temps and RH we have right now.

 

[zigzagzug]

Side Note: I bet he misses those Hissing Roaches he had back on the Nosy Be Island haha (he is wild caught)

 

[Dave85731]

He don’t look bad in the pics but if you want you can get your self some probiotics it’ll help boost his hunger you have to also remember that crickets aren’t something a wc is used to a cricket comes out at night in the wild they’re used to things they see in the day like flies bees bugs we can’t get on hand but the probiotics can help with wc chams