Brookesia Stumpffi - Eyes Closed

N.O.S.

New Member
- Brookesia Stumpffi, 1 male & 1 female, ~<1 yr, 3 months
- In three months I think I've handled them on 2 occasions including today
- Hydei fruit fluies, and banded crickets, ~ 10 crickets or 20+ fruit flies. Every other day, Mainly carrots and broccoli
- ZooMed Repti Calcium Without D3, Exo terra Calcium + d3, Exo Terra multi vitamin, Repashy vitamin A plus. Calcium without d3 every feeding except for every 2 weeks I give vitamin A + Calcium w/d3+ multi vitamin
- I use an automatic humidifier that is triggered by the enclosures humidity. I change the water and change the wick of the humidifier everyday. As well as manually misting until there are water droplets everywhere in the enclosure once a day. I use dechlorinated water. I have only seen them drink once.
- Urates were white and clumped together but become powdery when crushed. The rest of the droppings looked dark brown, dense and slightly damp and looked like it was made of bugs in the way it came apart when crushed

- 12x12x18 exo terra (glass enclosure with screen top).
- exo terra 26 watt uvb bulb (Still in the first 6 months of use)
- 20-24 C during the day, 18- 20 at night measured using a hygrometer that gives reports to an app on my phone.
- 60-70% during the day, 70-80% at night using a humidifier.
- pothos, ficus elastica, fatsia japonica
- In indirect light, about 5 feat from a window but there is no direct line of sight from inside the cage to the window, there is nothing else of note. The enclosure is about 3 feet from the floor
- Canada

Recently they are not very active and their eyes are closed during the day for a couple of days. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and get an appointment. But if you guys could possibly give any insight, it would be greatly appreciated. Going to call the vet first thing in the morning tomorrow.

attached are some photos of the enclosure and the male and female

Should probably mention the whiteness on them are because I have extremely hard water, not sure if this would be an issue
 

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I'm sorry to hear about this!!! Had she been putting her head up, + gaping? If she has, I would take her in to your local exotic vet to get her checked out. I hope your little chammie gets better soon!! 💕
 
Hi and welcome to the forum! I am not experienced by any means but have been researching a little on these. If you are dusting all those supplements every feeding that may be too much. Also I’ve read if you are keeping them together minimum is 18x18x18, preferably 18x18x24 is better for pairs. Though small they still need space to thrive. Hopefully an experienced keeper can help!
Sorry you dealing with this. Where did you get them if I may ask? Wild caught are also very tricky.
 
The bi weekly one I meant, not the plain calcium. I think I said that incorrectly originally. That one may be too many if they are all at one time.
Sorry for the confusion in my response
 
Hi and welcome to the forum! I am not experienced by any means but have been researching a little on these. If you are dusting all those supplements every feeding that may be too much. Also I’ve read if you are keeping them together minimum is 18x18x18, preferably 18x18x24 is better for pairs. Though small they still need space to thrive. Hopefully an experienced keeper can help!
Sorry you dealing with this. Where did you get them if I may ask? Wild caught are also very tricky.
I wish I could help more with this chammie! I don't know a lot about the breed either, so it is hard!! Maybe @Bemancan help or knows someone who can help?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum! I am not experienced by any means but have been researching a little on these. If you are dusting all those supplements every feeding that may be too much. Also I’ve read if you are keeping them together minimum is 18x18x18, preferably 18x18x24 is better for pairs. Though small they still need space to thrive. Hopefully an experienced keeper can help!
Sorry you dealing with this. Where did you get them if I may ask? Wild caught are also very tricky.
ok, that's good to know, I'll move them into my spare ten gallon then asap. I wasn't sure about the enclosure size since i heard they need more vertical space. I got them from Chameleons Canada WC.
 
Also, is your substrate bioactive? That is a necessity due to them hovering low. Just trying to think of things I’ve read from Mike Nash I believe his name is.
 
thank you for your help, as for the
Also, is your substrate bioactive? That is a necessity due to them hovering low. Just trying to think of things I’ve read from Mike Nash I believe his name is.
yes sorry I should have mentioned that! I have white spring tails, blanking on the propername
 
The bi weekly one I meant, not the plain calcium. I think I said that incorrectly originally. That one may be too many if they are all at one time.
Sorry for the confusion in my response
so like could it be and overdose of vitamin A maybe? cause im supplementing too often? and Bi-weekly meaning every 2 weeks, not twice a week right? just to make sure im being clear. thank you so much!
 
@Mendez @javadi So sorry to bother you both, if you can help me out. I should also mention they both are still eating. Could it be something with the calcium in the water of the fogger messing with their eyes maybe? my water is very very hard.
I don’t have any relevant experience to chime in on this one at all.
Maybe @Beman and/or @MissSkittles can possibly point you in the right direction.
I doubt this is causing the issue but the only recommendation I can give is for you to use spring water or RHO water for your systems. My local Walmart charges 50 cents per gallon. This would prevent buildup in your machines/keep unwanted additives and chemicals from getting in the terrarium. I personally use the gallons of spring water they have a bit more naturalistic taste/aroma it does cost a lot more but both RHO and spring water are completely safe.
 
Hi. The only thing I know about this species is that they are adorable. For general husbandry, I do wonder about all of the supplements you’ve been giving. Each species has its own requirements and some are extremely sensitive and require infrequent D3 and such. As has been said I believe, the vitamin A is preformed and fat soluble and without knowing this species requirements, it’s very possible they have been getting too much A and D3. I am also curious about the type of uvb you have. Do you have a screw in uvb or a long tube? If it is the screw in type, that is an additional problem. The standard for most chameleons (as I’m aware of) is the linear T5 with a 5.0 or 6% bulb. Our two experts on the tiny chameleons have already been summoned, but it may be some time before they check in. Perhaps @kinyonga can offer some help. I’m also wondering where you got your animals from. Were they captive bred or wild caught? If wc, have they been checked/treated for parasites? I’ll take a look for what I can find on husbandry on chameleon academy and in the archived posts.
 
- Brookesia Stumpffi, 1 male & 1 female, ~<1 yr, 3 months
- In three months I think I've handled them on 2 occasions including today
- Hydei fruit fluies, and banded crickets, ~ 10 crickets or 20+ fruit flies. Every other day, Mainly carrots and broccoli
- ZooMed Repti Calcium Without D3, Exo terra Calcium + d3, Exo Terra multi vitamin, Repashy vitamin A plus. Calcium without d3 every feeding except for every 2 weeks I give vitamin A + Calcium w/d3+ multi vitamin
- I use an automatic humidifier that is triggered by the enclosures humidity. I change the water and change the wick of the humidifier everyday. As well as manually misting until there are water droplets everywhere in the enclosure once a day. I use dechlorinated water. I have only seen them drink once.
- Urates were white and clumped together but become powdery when crushed. The rest of the droppings looked dark brown, dense and slightly damp and looked like it was made of bugs in the way it came apart when crushed

- 12x12x18 exo terra (glass enclosure with screen top).
- exo terra 26 watt uvb bulb (Still in the first 6 months of use)
- 20-24 C during the day, 18- 20 at night measured using a hygrometer that gives reports to an app on my phone.
- 60-70% during the day, 70-80% at night using a humidifier.
- pothos, ficus elastica, fatsia japonica
- In indirect light, about 5 feat from a window but there is no direct line of sight from inside the cage to the window, there is nothing else of note. The enclosure is about 3 feet from the floor
- Canada

Recently they are not very active and their eyes are closed during the day for a couple of days. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and get an appointment. But if you guys could possibly give any insight, it would be greatly appreciated. Going to call the vet first thing in the morning tomorrow.

attached are some photos of the enclosure and the male and female

Should probably mention the whiteness on them are because I have extremely hard water, not sure if this would be an issue
Hi and welcome to the forum. You mentioned tour using a 26w uvb bulb. Is this the compact flourescent unit or the linear tube. What type 5.0?
You will want to measure the amount of uvb near the basking area.
 
This is what I’ve been able to find so far. @BleuSaphir you were looking into getting some Pygmy chameleons…had you by chance researched this species husbandry?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/brookesia-introduction.2480/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...leons-brookesia-stumpffi.191171/#post-1780837
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-academy-podcast-archives-season-1/
This is for Rhampholeon but I believe their habitat is quite similar and I might think their husbandry would be as well. If so, the calcium without D3 is given only twice a week and D3 and multivitamin are each given only once per month. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/pygmy/
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. You mentioned tour using a 26w uvb bulb. Is this the compact flourescent unit or the linear tube. What type 5.0?
You will want to measure the amount of uvb near the basking area.
Hi. The only thing I know about this species is that they are adorable. For general husbandry, I do wonder about all of the supplements you’ve been giving. Each species has its own requirements and some are extremely sensitive and require infrequent D3 and such. As has been said I believe, the vitamin A is preformed and fat soluble and without knowing this species requirements, it’s very possible they have been getting too much A and D3. I am also curious about the type of uvb you have. Do you have a screw in uvb or a long tube? If it is the screw in type, that is an additional problem. The standard for most chameleons (as I’m aware of) is the linear T5 with a 5.0 or 6% bulb. Our two experts on the tiny chameleons have already been summoned, but it may be some time before they check in. Perhaps @kinyonga can offer some help. I’m also wondering where you got your animals from. Were they captive bred or wild caught? If wc, have they been checked/treated for parasites? I’ll take a look for what I can find on husbandry on chameleon academy and in the archived posts.
thank you for replying! from the research I've done I'm under the impression they do not require a traditional basking spot, or a lot of UVB since they dwell on the forest floor. (? Feel free to correct me on this) I have a spiral UVB bulb but i can definitely buy the long bulbs pronto since you guys say so also the basking bulb. thank you again
 
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thank you for replying! from the research I've done I'm under the impression they do not require a traditional basking spot, or a lot of UVB since they dwell on the forest floor. (? Feel free to correct me on this) I have a spiral UVB bulb but i can definitely buy the long bulbs pronto since you guys say so. thank you again
This will show the effectiveness of the various types of uvb. It’s a bit old, but still very relevant.
 
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