Shannongagnon3
New Member
Thank you! I have a female so I guess I won't be seeing these.
Chameleon Poop 101
- Thread starter ferretinmyshoes
- Start date
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
One 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.
it is absolutwly not true that orange part of rhe urates is a sign of good hydration and totally white sre sign of good one. In the wild, chameleons have orange part of the urates comprising 15-60% per cent based on my decades of field research and in no case they are all dehydrated.
This info should be updated and corrected as it is misleading. Pushing for white urates causes overhydration which is same dangerous as dehydration. Moreover, the orange urates can be also artefact of diet composition and supllementation (eg some Repashy supplements cause this)...
attaches fewsb poop of wild adult male T.j.xantholophus from Chogoria, Kenya, during the rainy season plus rhe second is its author
no dehydration absolutely
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
No, she is overhydrated
AnamCara
Chameleon Enthusiast
it is absolutwly not true that orange part of rhe urates is a sign of good hydration and totally white sre sign of good one. In the wild, chameleons have orange part of the urates comprising 15-60% per cent based on my decades of field research and in no case they are all dehydrated.
This info should be updated and corrected as it is misleading. Pushing for white urates causes overhydration which is same dangerous as dehydration. Moreover, the orange urates can be also artefact of diet composition and supllementation (eg some Repashy supplements cause this)...
attaches fewsb poop of wild adult male T.j.xantholophus from Chogoria, Kenya, during the rainy season plus rhe second is its author
In Ferret's original post they showed many photos of orange in the urate and said they were healthy. They look very similar to the Urate you posted above. Here, I learned that orange at the end of a urate is fine. I don't think there is an issue with over hydration in the posts Ferret posted -- outside of the super runny one.
it is absolutwly not true that orange part of rhe urates is a sign of good hydration and totally white sre sign of good one. In the wild, chameleons have orange part of the urates comprising 15-60% per cent based on my decades of field research and in no case they are all dehydrated.
This info should be updated and corrected as it is misleading. Pushing for white urates causes overhydration which is same dangerous as dehydration. Moreover, the orange urates can be also artefact of diet composition and supllementation (eg some Repashy supplements cause this)...
attaches fewsb poop of wild adult male T.j.xantholophus from Chogoria, Kenya, during the rainy season plus rhe second is its author
Did I miss something here? I don't see where she has said this. Yellow tinge is fine. Not pushing for white urates, but giving the explanation for how it looks. She actually says "mostly white" and shows a picture of orange at the end.
Looks good to me...
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
there isnothing like HEMIPENE
The male copulatory organ is called HEMIPENIS (it is a word in Latin translating like “half-penis” indicating there are two of them)
The pliralmis NEMIPENES (but you can nit build a sungularnif it calling is hemipene. Ecause such wird simoly does not exist).
cyberlocc
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hemipene is a word, it's the plural of Hemipenis...
A hemipenis (plural hemipenes) is one of a pair of intromittent organs of male squamates (snakes, lizards and worm lizards).[1][2]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemipenis
Any reply to Dec's comment above? Or is the plan to start criticizing wording of things instead?
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Hemipenes section edited to reflect more correct terminology.
Sometimes yes the caterpillars/hornworms can mildly overhydrate them enough to cause some watery stool or urates. The picture looks okay to me so I would not be concerned. Better to be a bit overhydrated than underhydrated. Btw, that was a post from 2014.
Sometimes yes the caterpillars/hornworms can mildly overhydrate them enough to cause some watery stool or urates. The picture looks okay to me so I would not be concerned. Better to be a bit overhydrated than underhydrated. Btw, that was a post from 2014.
Twells92
Established Member
So Leonard’s poop has always been normal. Up until just now. He has Been on dubias for months but this past week I switched to crickets that I got for a deal and raised them for a couple weeks. Needless to say but it takes a bunch of small/medium crickets to compensate for large dubias. Wondering if it’s all the excess moisture maby?
His first sperm plug cane with that.
His first sperm plug cane with that.
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FunkyJungle
New Member
IMO no it is not. I would take that in to a reptile Vet for a fecal.
Are you feeding a lot of hornworms?
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FunkyJungle
New Member
He’s never ate hornworms. Seems to be scared of them. He’s had alot of black soldier fly larvae over the weekend. Other than that he’s he’s been drinking a lot from a dropper that I drop strait to his mouth and been eating crickets and dubias and one silkworm yesterday.
So then if that is the case I would take that fecal in to get tested for parasites just to be sure.
Be extremely careful dropping water into the mouth as their airway is right in the front and they can aspirate the water. Misting their plants leaves down or having a dripper dripping on leaves during the day are both great ways to provide hydration.
If you would like to post a thread we can go over husbandry questions you may have and make sure you got all the correct info when you got him.
FunkyJungle
New Member
He’s finally learning to drink from the leaves. I usually let him drink of the dropper in the AM like 30min-60min after lights on. I plan to keep doing this but not feed him water from the dropper through the day. He’s had solids poop and urate when I got him. I have pictures of them and after he ate a lot of soldier fly larvae and after he got used to drinking water from the dropper his poop turned like this. He is almost a month with me and it’s only this week that poop be are watery. No distinct smell or some room clearing smell but there has to be a reason for this. He can’t to me really healthy from an awesome breeder. The only thing that changed starting last week was he started to drink a lot from the dropper and he’s been eating black soldier fly larvae. Then watery poop showed up...So then if that is the case I would take that fecal in to get tested for parasites just to be sure.
Be extremely careful dropping water into the mouth as their airway is right in the front and they can aspirate the water. Misting their plants leaves down or having a dripper dripping on leaves during the day are both great ways to provide hydration.
If you would like to post a thread we can go over husbandry questions you may have and make sure you got all the correct info when you got him.
So what I would really like to do is have you post the help form in a new thread. I do not like giving pieces of info when it is a potential health issue. My worry about the dropper is that its not all that natural for them to drink this way. Over hydration is a thing just like dehydration. When you post the new thread or even if you like I can post the help form in your other thread you did, we can get a complete look at his husbandry.
FunkyJungle
New Member
Done!So what I would really like to do is have you post the help form in a new thread. I do not like giving pieces of info when it is a potential health issue. My worry about the dropper is that its not all that natural for them to drink this way. Over hydration is a thing just like dehydration. When you post the new thread or even if you like I can post the help form in your other thread you did, we can get a complete look at his husbandry.
