Chameleon Poop 101

[dhm198555]

Hey, great thread! This was really helpful and I actually have a question about the cham I've been rehabbings' poop.

You had mentioned about when there's undigested bugs in the poop. This is a pic of what his poops usually look like (this isn't a whole poop, just a piece I found to take a pic cuz I just cleaned his cage all over yesterday and threw out whatever was in there, this I found hiding in the dirt of the potted plant)

Coming for someone who had had him for quite sometime, it hadn't occurred to me that he may be carrying a parasite load, his temps anr spot on and so is the humidity, would you reomend me getting him wormed? Sry, my cameras zoom button is broke so it's a bit fuzzy but you can see the bugs in it. I thought in the beginning that maybe his poops were like this cuz of his obviously compromised immune system, thought his digestive system just wasn't working at 100%, but now that hes thriving I'm getting concerned it may be something else. Thanks!!!

 

[dhm198555]

Oh, and I forgot to mention they don't ALWAY look like this, some are nice and poop normal, but maybe 60% of the time theyre like this

 

[italian chameleon]

very interesting thread, a bit gross but kinda funny anyway! last time I took my little female to the vets she dropped a huge poo and the vet was so surprised by the size of it coming from such a tiny animal that he immediately took a picture of it and posted on his facebook page

 

[Decadancin]

Awesome information for all of us! I can barely get a picture of my guy just standing on a branch, but some of you have trained your chams to pose in the middle of defecating . I am doing something wrong. Thanks for the thread Dayna! (and the pics Trace!) Now I'm gonna look at some pics of the other end of chams!!!

 

[billrlogan]

Hmmm

Never to old to learn something. Very nice interesting 'need to know" info. Thanks

 

[Ivan321]

Thanks very much for taking the time to post this! Very informative.

 

[Psychobunny]

Cant get enough poop pictures

That is one of the most frequent questions new owners ask; 'does my chams poop look normal'?

We do talk a lot about poop here, but it's one of the best ways to tell your cham's health

 

[melble68]

Luke Poop...

Cant get enough poop pictures

That is one of the most frequent questions new owners ask; 'does my chams poop look normal'?

We do talk a lot about poop here, but it's one of the best ways to tell your cham's health

Poop talk is definitely very entertaining. My cham really "entertained" me a little bit ago. He just arrived this morning, and had a B.M. right in front. It was like he was saying "look at me daddy, i'm such a big boy." Ok maybe that's not what he said, but even after his plane ride last night his bowels appear to be working pretty good. Ladies and Gentlemen: Luke's first poo in FL.

Its look pretty normal, right?

 

[luvbug237]

I love this thread I can't believe I haven't seen it yet! Very educational. Thank you ferretinmyshoes

 

[Miss Lily]

Monty's 'man bogeys' are famous! ROFL! Love my green boy!

 

[Kath44]

Glad this thread is here. George has just pooped in front of me. First one I've seen, and thankfully looks normal
Kath.

 

[maryanne27]

Thanks!

This was extremely helpful!! I've had my 8.5-month-old chameleon for about ten days now, and he only pooped once... I was starting to worry. This made me feel a bit better, but I will still be on the lookout for good, healthy poo!

 

[Trace]

Came across this series tonight and I know how much Decadancin appreciates these action shots. Look, it glistens too!

 

[Decadancin]

Nothing like a good poop to get your morning going!

 

[melble68]

There is most definitely a standard routine that happens around here. a drink from the dripper, a movement in his favorite spot, and then its onto to breakfast.

 

[melble68]

I've recently been in some discussions on a new member's thread about poop indicators. One member that has given some input has referred to a calcium absorption indicator w/ a 50/50 poo to urates. He's saying that there should be as much urates as poo if your chameleon is getting the right amount of calcium. Can anyone give any more input on this? To me that seems like for some reason to much urates?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

More fantastic pictures Trace!

Melble - thanks for bringing that up. I responded on the other thread as well:

This is the first I've heard of a 50/50 ratio of poop to urates or any indication of calcium levels or supplementation by just looking at feces. The ratio thing is like people measuring the volume of how much they pee each day compared to size of the logs they leave. Amount of urine depends on how much you drank that day and some components of food will have diuretic effects to make more urine, or the opposite. And the size of feces depends on what you ate, how much you ate, and how well it digested. Two different body systems - urinary vs digestive, so really not comparable. I have never used that type of ratio for guidelines. Sometimes the urates will be more than the feces, which indicates to me the animals aren't eating very well. Or if urates are significantly less then the animal ate a good meal. I really wouldn't put much more thought into it than that. I observe a ratio of the urates being 1/3 of the total BM most often in all my chameleons and other reptiles.

As for the calcium thing...while urates are white and may sometimes look like calcium they are not directly correlated. Calcium is needed for muscular contraction to move things through the GI tract and absorb nutrients, yes. But it is not controlled on such a specific scale that fluctuations actually change any of that. You see changes with severe MBD when calcium has been severely depleted for a solid period of time causing some constipation, but even then it usually works still. And MBD chameleons do not have severely smaller urates despite their lack of calcium. So unless there is some scientific evidence to support that correlation (in any reptile or bird species) then I'm going to say that's a myth and let's not perpetuate that further and cause confusion.

 

[melble68]

We're all so lucky to have such incredible experts and professionals here on the Chameleon Forum. Or should I really say our chameleons are so lucky to have the wonderful knowledge base. Sometimes we just need to "Ask a Pro". Thanks again for chiming in w/ some very valuable "$0.02" worth. Being a "breeder" doesn't always mean being an "expert".

btw, Poop talk is always fun and entertaining.

 

[Mr A]

Thnx for this thread!

 

[flowapowagirl]

Ow, Just about to post a thread with a question about poop so thought I'd do it here instead of starting a new one.

How Long is too long for a panther to go with pooping? He had a hard week and a half where he was shedding and he wasn't doing much moving and wasn't eat, since the shed he's been back to his normal character, coming out of his cage, eating, drinking and generally been having fun, hes super colouful the majority of the time... but he hasn't pooped in like 3 weeks... each day which is another day since the last time I get more and more worried...... He's still eating though... I've checked his cage everyday for a possible sneeky one but there is no signs. Do I need to get him to the vet???