Chameleon Poop 101
- Thread starter ferretinmyshoes
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KapitalJ
Avid Member
Only around here would you hear that!! yea!!
Haven27
Member
Right?! Speaking of poop and urates, I just fed my little zenomorph 3 hornworms to hydrate him because his urates haven't been beautiful. He's got a dripper and is misted several times a day. How can I better encourage drinking? I've moved the dripper several places. Any ideas??
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LindsayG
Avid Member
Right?! Speaking of poop and urates, I just fed my little zenomorph 3 hornworms to hydrate him because his urates haven't been beautiful. He's got a dripper and is misted several times a day. How can I better encourage drinking? I've moved the dripper several places. Any ideas??
Do you hand mist or have an automatic? The best solution would be to get an automatic and have it go off longer and more often.
Haven27
Member
I hand mist so far. Getting an automatic mister is on my list of things to do in next week or two! Until then?
LindsayG
Avid Member
Until then I would just keep misting as much as I could and maybe set up a couple more drippers in different places. You could use plastic cups and poke a hole in the bottom. I used to put ice cubes on top of my screen and those would drip and last a while. The automatic mister will do the trick once you get it though and a week isn't too far out.
He does bend a lot. I will try and get him to the vet asap
Virgil1972
Avid Member
He is bendy because he does not have enough calcium in his bones because he is not getting enough or is not getting the D3 to process it. The vet will be able to help you out.
Bush baby
Avid Member
Yeah, this Veiled definitely looks like it has MBD. Take him outside for some UV and up his calcium intake. Veiled's grow fast, so they're more susceptible to this disease.
nimax67
Member
Wow
information and graphic thank you!I love a good poop thread!
Excellent info Dayna.
Kclarke02
Avid Member
This is so very helpful and thank you for sharing!! I never thought I'd be monitoring bowel movements of a Cham, but I'm prepared now!! Awesome infoOne way we can monitor the health of our chameleons is monitoring their bowel movements (poop) for any problems. To be able to identify problems, first you need to be able to recognize what is or is not normal. There are two parts to a bowel movement in chameleons - a brown part (feces) and a white part (urates).
Feces
The brown part is feces from digested food like any animal will make. It should be brown or almost black, soft but firm, and have a well formed shape. Generally chameleon feces do not smell very much, if at all. If undigested insect parts are seen in the feces temperatures may not be appropriate or intestinal parasites may be altering digestion (see below). If many soft bodied worms are fed it may cause runny feces due to the extra hydration from the worms.
Image compliments of Trace
Urates
The white part of a bowel movement is called 'urates' and represents a more solidified version of urine. Reptiles have evolved to use water more efficiently so instead of urinating, they only excrete a concentrated solid waste and retain most of the fluid. This is especially useful in regions when water is not plentiful to prevent dehydration. Urates should be white, soft but firm and may have a chalky texture. A yellow tinge is okay but orange urates indicate that your chameleon may not be getting enough water. If your chameleon defecates infrequently the end of the urates may be more orange but the rest still looks white. The longer the urates sit in the body the more fluid is reabsorbed from them back into the body. A small amount of mostly clear fluid with the urates is true urine and indicates good hydration, but is not always present.
Image compliments of Trace
Frequency
How often your chameleon defecates depends on how often it eats, how much it eats and how long it basks. Basking is necessary for good metabolism and digestion of food, so low temperatures can delay digestion. Each chameleon can have a different pattern. Some will defecate every day (especially when younger) while other may be once every few days, once a week or once every two weeks. Most adult chameleons defecate once or twice a week generally.
Sperm Plugs
With the bowel movement of male chameleons you will usually see sperm plugs. These are a pair of white soft waxy deposits that dry out quickly.
Hemipenes
Sometimes you will see a red organ come out during a male's bowel movement for a short time and then to back into the body. That organ is a hemipene - the male reproductive organ. As long as it goes back in then it is nothing to worry about.
Parasites
Intestinal parasites can alter digestive processes as well as the bowel movement consistency or smell. Very soft, liquid or smelly feces could indicate an intestinal parasite problem. Only rarely with a large parasite burden will you be able to actually see the worm in the feces. For almost all intestinal parasite infections the only way to detect them is to look for the microscopic ova (eggs). The worms remain in the intestines and periodically shed ova that come out of the body in the feces where it can infect other animals if given the opportunity. Most parasites are not contagious to humans but always wash your hands well when you come into contact with fecal material.
Fecal exams
To detect parasites in feces collect some of the fresh feces (brown) portion with a tissue or paper towel and keep it in a sealed ziplock bag. If the feces are dried out wait for a fresher sample. You can store the fecal sample in a cool place for up to eight hours before delivering it to the vet. You can store it overnight in the refrigerator if you need to. Since excess heat or cold can kill the organisms in the feces, thus defeating your purpose for collecting it to begin with, don't freeze it or leave it in your car. Urates are not needed for fecal testing.
The primary fecal test the vet will do is a fecal flotation to check the feces for the presence of worm ova. A specific mineral solution is combined with the provided feces so that the ova separate from the feces and float to the top where they can collected and looked at under the microscope. Some intestinal parasites like protozoans are microscopic and can be seen in the feces themselves by performing a direct smear, where diluted feces are placed on a microscopic slide immediately for examination. Medication will be administered depending upon the type of organism found.
It is recommended to have fecal exams done on at least a yearly basis to detect parasites.
Some owners may want to do fecal exams themselves and can purchase the microscope and necessary supplies. If a parasite or ova is found the sample should still be taken to the vet for confirmation and to prescribe appropriate medications at the correct dosage. Dez has made a video on performing fecal floats for those interested. https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-do-fecal-float-video-111996/
Examples of bowel movements:
Normal bowel movement
Normal bowel movement and sperm plug on the rock next to it.
Normal feces and urates
Orange urates from inadequate hydration.
Large normal bowel movement
Mostly white urates and normal feces. This bowel movement was about a week after the previous one, so a little orange of the urates is okay.
Diarrhea due to a lot of hornworms in the diet which are very juicy.
LanceLee
Member
Need some advice with my new adult male ambilobe's poo check.
he's a 18-month, fully grown ambilobe male. i got him on the night of 7 August, he was shipped out to me on 7 August morning, i received him at night. Fed him lots of silkworm and honey worm the next morning (8 August)
pls help me take a look at his poo and urates
on 8 August, his urates are pretty solid, looking good.
but on 9 August (this evening), his urates look very watery.
could it be because i fed him too much worms?
he's a 18-month, fully grown ambilobe male. i got him on the night of 7 August, he was shipped out to me on 7 August morning, i received him at night. Fed him lots of silkworm and honey worm the next morning (8 August)
pls help me take a look at his poo and urates
on 8 August, his urates are pretty solid, looking good.
but on 9 August (this evening), his urates look very watery.
could it be because i fed him too much worms?
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nimax67
Member
Worms are pretty juicy, if it stays more fluid and he seems poorly, worry then, but alternate between dusted crickets and worms for variety.Need some advice with my new adult male ambilobe's poo check.
he's a 18-month, fully grown ambilobe male. i got him on the night of 7 August, he was shipped out to me on 7 August morning, i received him at night. Fed him lots of silkworm and honey worm the next morning (8 August)
pls help me take a look at his poo and urates
on 8 August, his urates are pretty solid, looking good.
but on 9 August (this evening), his urates look very watery.
could it be because i fed him too much worms?
melble68
Established Member
Doesn't surprise me either w/ an excess of feeder worms. Staple of the diet should be crickets or roaches. Worms are treats like cotton candy. Just to be on top of things though, IMHO you should at least once a year have a fecal sample taken to your vet. Poop talk is so entertaining, and the 12 year old inside me had to say it at least once.
melble68
Established Member
Best thing you can do for both yourself and your chameleon is stay calm. I wouldn't worry, you just got him a couple days ago, and he's still settling in. Due to the fact that he's new to your home, set up an appointment w/ your vet and have him checked out. Find a vet in your area that has experience w/ reptiles. If you don't know where to start, post a thread in the Health section asking for recommendations from other members. There might be another member in your area. I'm in Tampa btw.
nimax67
Member
Agreeing care wise with melbe68, first few days can be stressful. I think us Brits have a more colourful array of "poop talk"
