chameleon wont eat

Veild Cham Owner

Avid Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - veiled, male, 1 1/2 ish . ever since he was 2 months
  • Handling - basically everyday, he walks out of his cage on his own and goes to his mini free range. I dont hold him i carry him on a stick. he enjoys it, he will often fall asleep on my bed or on his freerange
  • Feeding - i usually feed him 8-10 crx everyday. I will also buy horn worms, supers, wax and catch the occasional dragon fly for him.On Sundays he gets fruits and veggies, carrots, romaine lettuce, celery, broccoli, apples, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe ext. His feeding days are Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will gut load the crx with any veggies or fruit i can find in the house, romaine lettuce, carrots, broccoli, strawberries, apples, grapes.
  • Supplements - i use repti-cal for both his calcium w/o d3 and his multivitamins. he gets natural sunlight almost everyday (if its sunny and warm out) and calcium w/o d3 everyday with feedings, but on Sunday when he gets his multivitamins
  • Watering - I have a mistking set up for him which goes off every hour for 1 min. i have never seen him drink before but he often just gets hit in the face with the mister and will drink from there. If i see that he is severely dehydrated i will get my syringe and fill it up with water and drip it near his mouth and he will drink like that too.
  • Fecal Description - last time i saw him poop was a week ago (not normal) and it was small and brown i saw him pee a couple days ago and it was half white and half yellow. Yes, he got tested at the beginning of this summer and last summer, both came back negative.
  • History - i bought him from a petsmart when he was a tiny baby. He is very very moody but i love his personality. He general is pretty friendly, doesn't mind the dogs and everyone touching him he just doesn't like to be held, which is why i carry him on a stick. I had this problem with him last summer but not for this long. He likes to look out my window which i find to be absolutely adorable, and he will often fall asleep in his freerange after an afternoon of roaming around my room.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - He is in a 4ft tall by 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep screen cage. there are some fake plants in his cage but most are real. I have 3 golden pothos in there and all his sticks i have found from my back yard.
  • Lighting - There are 3 lights in his cage, 2 heat lamps (both are 74 watt) and 1 10.0 uvb bulb which i change out every 6 months. His lights turn on at 6am and they turn off at 8pm.
  • emperature - his basking spot is abt 85 and my room is always about 68-70 (which is what the bottom of his cage is). We dont let the house get cooler that 60 at night. I have a thermometer i bought at a petstore.
  • Humidity - I never let the humidity get below 50% The mistking raises it and plus the live plants help keep it up. on the thermometer it has a humidity gauge.
  • Plants - yes, golden pothos.
  • Placement - his cage is in my room, my fan is on the other side of my room and his cage is on a 2 foot high table.
  • Location - I live in Massachusetts

Current Problem - my chameleon has not properly eaten a full meal since the beginning of august. i will put 10 crx in his bucket and will come home to there being 7 left and that all he will eat for the week. he will only eat some worms at a time (like 2) then think thats all he will need for food. I thought that not giving him food for a couple days would make him hungry... nope just made him eat less. he wont even eat his favorite fruits anymore he just looks at it and runs out of the cage. I just recently had him at the vet 2 months ago for a healt check and the vet said he is the healthiest chameleon he has ever seen. I have almost given up im not sure what to do anymore he just refuses to eat :( if anyone has any idea please reply.
 
here are some pics of him from today. He is super active he just wont eat :(
 

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Do you have a substrate in his cage? Do you free range the insects?
How long is he out of the cage every day?
Has anything changed in his habitat around the time he slowed down on the eating?
Is he active? Does he sleep during the day?
 
Have you tried going longer without feeding?Like longer than just a few days?Also, how is his aim when he shoots?I was starting to go through trouble with mine eating for a while. He would only take supers and then he was starting to have problems aiming. As soon as I started getting him outside into natural sun, changed up my gutloading, and giving a gel cap Vit A supplement at 8,000 UI twice a month he really really perked up and is shooting really far and is taking anything and everything I offer. He even tried eating a small tree frog a few days ago. He sheds like crazy good now too. He use to have alot of little "off" things thats have really changed.
 
Do you have a substrate in his cage? Do you free range the insects?
How long is he out of the cage every day?
Has anything changed in his habitat around the time he slowed down on the eating?
Is he active? Does he sleep during the day?
No I do not have substrate in his cage. I do for some of them. His crickets I do not but the hornworms, silkworms and dragonflys I do. Occasionally I'll let his superworms crawl up the screen but mainly feed from tweezers. It really depends on how long he wants to be out of the cage. I'll open the door and if he doesn't come out in 5 mins then too bad for him. Sometimes he will be out for 5 mins, sometimes he will come out for 2 hours, sometimes he won't even come out. Yes, he is super super active which is why I can't figure out why he won't eat. No he does not sleep furring the day.
 
Have you tried going longer without feeding?Like longer than just a few days?Also, how is his aim when he shoots?I was starting to go through trouble with mine eating for a while. He would only take supers and then he was starting to have problems aiming. As soon as I started getting him outside into natural sun, changed up my gutloading, and giving a gel cap Vit A supplement at 8,000 UI twice a month he really really perked up and is shooting really far and is taking anything and everything I offer. He even tried eating a small tree frog a few days ago. He sheds like crazy good now too. He use to have alot of little "off" things thats have really changed.
No I have never gone longer than a day w/o eatting. Should I try it?? His aim is fine but he does tend to like to shoot closer to his target then he used to when he was a baby. What is that Vit A supp u were talking abt? Maybe I can try that!!
 
No I have never gone longer than a day w/o eatting. Should I try it?? His aim is fine but he does tend to like to shoot closer to his target then he used to when he was a baby. What is that Vit A supp u were talking abt? Maybe I can try that!!
Yep, bec I had this problem. He would only shoot at it if it was very close and he started missing alot. I bought my supplement off ebay. I can attach a picture later. The brand is called Radiance and you can get a bottle for 8$ shipped I bleive. Make sure its 8,000 IU. You just poke a hole in the gel cap. First month give him two doses. After that maintenance of once a month. and just one drop. Not the whole gel cap. Get some good gutload. Super load by repashy you can serve dry or pour hot water and mix-it will turn to a gel(this will hydrate and nourish your bugs.) Also bug buffet or cricket crack has some good nutritional content that all organic. And STOP feeding him everyday. Resist the urge lol!!It took me a good month to get him to eat roaches again. He aims nice and far again and takes just about anything I offer. He will even aim for my fingers if he THINKS I have a bug. But right now wait at least 3 days to feed(keep him hydrated) and then offer something small to wet his appetite,offer him a decent meal again in 2 days. And dont give him superworms either.
 
Yep, bec I had this problem. He would only shoot at it if it was very close and he started missing alot. I bought my supplement off ebay. I can attach a picture later. The brand is called Radiance and you can get a bottle for 8$ shipped I bleive. Make sure its 8,000 IU. You just poke a hole in the gel cap. First month give him two doses. After that maintenance of once a month. and just one drop. Not the whole gel cap. Get some good gutload. Super load by repashy you can serve dry or pour hot water and mix-it will turn to a gel(this will hydrate and nourish your bugs.) Also bug buffet or cricket crack has some good nutritional content that all organic. And STOP feeding him everyday. Resist the urge lol!!It took me a good month to get him to eat roaches again. He aims nice and far again and takes just about anything I offer. He will even aim for my fingers if he THINKS I have a bug. But right now wait at least 3 days to feed(keep him hydrated) and then offer something small to wet his appetite,offer him a decent meal again in 2 days. And dont give him superworms either.
I don't usually feed him everyday but abt every other day, how did u give ur Cham the pill? Just squeez if into his mouth? And I will look into the cricket food. I bought some hornworms a couple days ago so maybe he will gain an appetite and eat them!! I'll feed him next Friday after I get home from school.
 
I don't usually feed him everyday but abt every other day, how did u give ur Cham the pill? Just squeez if into his mouth? And I will look into the cricket food. I bought some hornworms a couple days ago so maybe he will gain an appetite and eat them!! I'll feed him next Friday after I get home from school.
You do one dose on a feeder. Just one drop(not the whole pull) once a month.
 
You still wnat to feed fresh fruits and veggies to your insects though. That is where you get your preformed Vit A. The PrO formed comes from poultry, fish, and other meats. You need a balance of both in small amounts. That's why it's good to gutload your insects with as much variety as you can. That's why I use several organic plant based dry gutloads ON TOP of my fresh greens.
 
@kelly_girl199 said..."You still wnat to feed fresh fruits and veggies to your insects though. That is where you get your preformed Vit A. The PrO formed comes from poultry, fish, and other meats. You need a balance of both in small amounts. That's why it's good to gutload yourinsects with as much variety as you can"....greens and fruits and veggies provide beta carotene (prOformed vitamin A). PrEformed (retinol, retinol, etc) comes from meats and some vitamin powders. You can't overdose prOformed but you can prEformed. The issue with chameleons is that it's not proven as to whether all or any can convert the prOformed sources....and thus may need prEformed.
 
@kelly_girl199 said..."You still wnat to feed fresh fruits and veggies to your insects though. That is where you get your preformed Vit A. The PrO formed comes from poultry, fish, and other meats. You need a balance of both in small amounts. That's why it's good to gutload yourinsects with as much variety as you can"....greens and fruits and veggies provide beta carotene (prOformed vitamin A). PrEformed (retinol, retinol, etc) comes from meats and some vitamin powders. You can't overdose prOformed but you can prEformed. The issue with chameleons is that it's not proven as to whether all or any can convert the prOformed sources....and thus may need prEformed.
Ah I just realized I accidentally mixed the Pro, and Pre hahahah!
 
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