Chameleon's Health Seems to be Declining?

[Kris_and_Terry]

Hi,

I am new to the forum. I've read a lot of posts and am trying to figure out what might be wrong with my little guy. I've had him for two years but in the last few weeks he just seems to be doing poorly, and I worry that I did something wrong long-term and have screwed him up. We live in a place without a lot of vet resources but have finally (in the last couple of days) found a vet that takes reptiles. We will take him soon for a check up but haven't been able to get an appointment yet, and I'm worried, so I thought I'd post.

First, here is my form:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Veiled chameleon, male, 2 years old, been in our care since he was a few months old.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Every day we take him from his cage to an open ficus tree and let him hang out for a while and then take him back. Sometimes we will walk around with him a bit but mostly we’re handling him to transfer to his tree. The tree is too big to put in the cage.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Mostly crickets, some super worms and butter worms. He gets about 8-10 crickets a day and a super worm or two each week. Butter worms are a rare treat. Crickets are gutloaded with Fluker’s orange cube cricket diet. Super worms get carrots although to be honest we don’t gutload them properly because we buy the big containers and we often forget to add new carrots. We mostly cup feed although occasionally we just toss some crickets in. He will feed from tongs but we are not very good at it and often end up losing the bugs.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Crickets are dusted daily with Repticalcium without D3. Every 3-4 days we add a bit of Repashy calcium plus which has D3.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
We mist twice a day and will also mist the fichus tree when he is in it. We see him drinking every other day or so. Sometimes he will not drink from the leaves but he will come right up to the mister and drink from the spout.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Up until recently had not been a concern. He is not pooping much lately that we can find. Last dropping had some orange in the urate which had never happened before. He has not been tested for parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Used to be a great eater and now if he misses a cricket he will often not try again. His tongue comes out a little crooked and seems like it’s lost its stickiness a bit.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Screen. Dimensions: 18x36x36. Maybe it is too small? He does get restless and often comes to the front when we feed him wanting to get out. He is very active in and around his cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Lights on timer, come on at 7:30am and off at 7:30pm (8:30 when the clocks change). UVB light plus basking light on top of cage pointing downward. Brand and model: Exoterra UVB 100 and Exoterra solar glow 80watt.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
We have a thermometer but it keeps falling off so it is hard to get the temp range at the top. At the bottom it is 60 degrees F. I will measure tonight to see what it is tonight and will try to get the thermometer to stay up top to get a top reading too.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Yikes. We haven’t been measuring humidity, just temp. Please don’t crucify me, we are doing our best.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
When we bought him the cage set up contained a live plant that we have kept. I think it is a scheffera although I don’t know for sure. It came from the breeder. We haven’t put another live plant in the cage yet. We bought a fichus thinking we’d be able to fit it in but it was too tall, so we take him out to it instead.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
It is in the corner of the room, not in a high traffic area. It is near a window. There is a base heater by the window. The height of the top of the cage relative to the floor is five feet.
Location - Where are you geographically located?
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Current Problems:
We have two problems. Our first problem is that we just got in a lot of trouble from our landlord about the crickets that have escaped, because apparently they made their way to the apartment downstairs and the neighbour complained. So problem number 1 is that we may need to find an alternative to crickets as a staple because we might get told that we can't have crickets anymore. We live in Canada so NO ROACHES. They are illegal. So I would love advice about a good diet that doesn't include roaches. We have fed him some veggies before and sometimes he eats them and sometimes he doesn't. Nothing extravagant, just cucumber (he did not like cucumber) and collard greens. We tried a bit of kale once and that was a big nope.

Second, I am worried that he isn’t eating much and hasn’t pooped for a few days. Today I tried to feed him a super worm from his feeding cup. He missed it like six times and dropped it back into the cup twice. When he finally got it down, he cranked his head way up which is not something I’ve ever seen him do before. It really freaked me out.

Also about a week ago he fell and I think he hurt his foot. It is all swollen. We will take him to the vet as soon as we can but in the meantime any advice on what might be going on and what we should be doing differently would be most welcome.

Here are some pics: Him before I fed him the worm, him after, and a close up of his foot, the best I could do. He is shedding just FYI.

To be honest I think we were misled a little bit by the breeder who sold him to us because she was so reassuring about how easy he would be to care for and how all we needed to do was throw a few crickets in his cage, etc. We have a crestie as well and she led us to believe that he'd be just as easy. We did buy a book and do some research and we followed what the book said but having come onto the forums I am now realizing that the book was too basic - devil's in the details, and all that. We are trying our best to learn.

 

[Gingero]

Welcome to the forums. Chameleons are in a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEAGUE than a creastie. Shame on your breeder for misleading you like that :/ That being said, you and your cham are in good hands.

1. He definitely needs a bigger cage. A 2 feet x 2 feet x 4 feet is recommended for a male chameleon.
2. I don't feed my chams crickets for a multitude of reasons so I feed roaches, hornworms, hawkmoths, silkworms, black solider fly larvae, black solider flies, wax worms, wax moths, and superworms. You can get all of those feeders online.
3. Biggest concern for your cham is his UVB. Hard to tell from the pics... is it a compact bulb? Or is it long and skinny? Being under a compact bulb for that could be causing his issues.
4. I wouldn't be too worried about him not eating as much. Adults usually only eat every other day with around 5 feeders depending on the cham.
5. If they're eating less, they'll be pooping less. They go hand-in-hand.
6. Definitely see a vet ASAP about the foot.

 

[Gingero]

Meant to drop this here too. Carrots and the orange cubes aren't great gutload.

How to gutload bugs:

 

[Syreptyon]

First of all, absolutely gorgeous boy you've got there! Secondly, thanks very much for posting the form. It really shows you care and are interested in learning more. Now I'll comment on the red flags I see in your husbandry. Please keep in mind this is constructive criticism and not in any way meant unkindly. Have to point out flaws to make improvements

Gutload: Fluker's orange cubes are useless and lack pretty much any substantive nutrition that your chameleon can use. If you want a pre-made gutload, then I recommend purchasing Cricket Crack. Unfortunately, Fluker's products are pretty much garbage all around. Nothing beats fresh produce, however. Dark, leafy greens like collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, and dandelion greens are fantastically healthy, cheap, and readily available. Other options include escarole, papaya, alfalfa, sweet potato, etc. Lots of info on this in the resources section of the forum. I think it would be beneficial for you to read up.

Feeding: He is much too old to be eating on a daily basis. Chameleons will eat themselves obese, so it is up to you to modulate his food intake. 6-8 feeders every other day will be more than enough.

Supplements: D3 should only be provided twice a month, not every week. You are also missing the third essential supplement: a multivitamin.

Cage: Definitely too small. Upgrade to minimum 2x2x4' as soon as you can.

Lighting: I believe you are using the incorrect type of UVB light. Is it a compact "screw-in" bulb? If it is, it is extremely important to change it out for a linear, T5 HO UVB bulb which is as long as the cage is wide. Compact bulbs are highly unreliable and have done many chameleons dirty.

Humidity: This is very important for chameleons. Make sure to invest in a reliable hygrometer.

 

[Kaizen]

Hi,

I am new to the forum. I've read a lot of posts and am trying to figure out what might be wrong with my little guy. I've had him for two years but in the last few weeks he just seems to be doing poorly, and I worry that I did something wrong long-term and have screwed him up. We live in a place without a lot of vet resources but have finally (in the last couple of days) found a vet that takes reptiles. We will take him soon for a check up but haven't been able to get an appointment yet, and I'm worried, so I thought I'd post.Welcome to the forums and thank you for filling out the form, and seeking veterinary help!

First, here is my form:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Veiled chameleon, male, 2 years old, been in our care since he was a few months old.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Every day we take him from his cage to an open ficus tree and let him hang out for a while and then take him back. Sometimes we will walk around with him a bit but mostly we’re handling him to transfer to his tree. The tree is too big to put in the cage. This is a totally case-by-case thing, but you’ll eliminate a ton of variables if you stop handling him for a bit.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Mostly crickets, some super worms and butter worms. He gets about 8-10 crickets a day. At this age, he should probably be fed about 5 large crickets 3 times a week. Fatty liver disease and obesity are real problems—especially for veileds. and a super worm or two each week. Butter worms are a rare treat. Crickets are gutloaded with Fluker’s orange cube cricket diet. This is not typically considered a gutload, but merely a moisture provision. For simplicity, try “repashy bug burger” or “superload” mixed with water as your sole gutload/hydration method. This is super important, so please try here. Super worms get carrots although to be honest we don’t gutload them properly because we buy the big containers and we often forget to add new carrots. We mostly cup feed although occasionally we just toss some crickets in. He will feed from tongs but we are not very good at it and often end up losing the bugs.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Crickets are dusted daily with Repticalcium without D3. Every 3-4 days we add a bit of Repashy calcium plus which has D3. As he is a veiled, and until we get a handle on everything else, just dust with “repashy calcium plus LoD” at every feeding.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
We mist twice a day and will also mist the fichus tree when he is in it. We see him drinking every other day or so. Sometimes he will not drink from the leaves but he will come right up to the mister and drink from the spout. To me, this sounds like a warning sign. Coming right up to the sprayer is atypical of chameleons in general. Trying misting his entire enclosure for at least 5 minutes just before/after lights on, and same for lights off. An additional misting midafternoon too.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Up until recently had not been a concern. He is not pooping much lately that we can find. Last dropping had some orange in the urate which had never happened before. He has not been tested for parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Used to be a great eater and now if he misses a cricket he will often not try again. His tongue comes out a little crooked and seems like it’s lost its stickiness a bit.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Screen. Dimensions: 18x36x36. Maybe it is too small? probably not causing the issue, but a bigger cage wouldn’t be a bad idea. He does get restless and often comes to the front when we feed him wanting to get out. Chameleons that “want to get out” are often telling us that they are not happy with some aspect of their enclosure. He is very active in and around his cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Lights on timer, come on at 7:30am and off at 7:30pm (8:30 when the clocks change). UVB light plus basking light on top of cage pointing downward. Brand and model: Exoterra UVB 100–This is a compact fluorescent bulb, and usually not sufficient for any chameleon enclosure. A linear t5 high output fluorescent is highly recommended...This is really important. . and Exoterra solar glow 80watt. Without know your temps, I can’t really comment on whether this is appropriate.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? More info is required. What you want is an enclosure where the highest part that your Cham can reach—ie his basking branch—is about 85 during the day, with a gradual decrease in temp as you go lower in the enclosure—down to about 70. This way he can choose his temp as he sees fit. Nightime temps can safely drop into the 60s.
We have a thermometer but it keeps falling off so it is hard to get the temp range at the top. At the bottom it is 60 degrees F. I will measure tonight to see what it is tonight and will try to get the thermometer to stay up top to get a top reading too.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Yikes. We haven’t been measuring humidity, just temp. Please don’t crucify me, we are doing our best. Again, this is important, as a natural humidity cycle plays a part in food husbandry. Get a cheap hygrometer and check the levels during a 24 hour period.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
When we bought him the cage set up contained a live plant that we have kept. I think it is a scheffera although I don’t know for sure. It came from the breeder. We haven’t put another live plant in the cage yet. We bought a fichus thinking we’d be able to fit it in but it was too tall, so we take him out to it instead.Personally, I’d just cut the ficus to fit the cage, and stop taking him out until the problem is resolved.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
It is in the corner of the room, not in a high traffic area. It is near a window. There is a base heater by the window. The height of the top of the cage relative to the floor is five feet. Again, this could be a problem or not: if the baseboard heater is cooking the cage, then that’ll need to be fixed. Please provide more info about temps over a 24 hour period.
Location - Where are you geographically located?
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Ah, a fellow Canuck eh?
Current Problems:
We have two problems. Our first problem is that we just got in a lot of trouble from our landlord about the crickets that have escaped, because apparently they made their way to the apartment downstairs and the neighbour complained. So problem number 1 is that we may need to find an alternative to crickets as a staple because we might get told that we can't have crickets anymore. We live in Canada so NO ROACHES. They are illegal. So I would love advice about a good diet that doesn't include roaches. We have fed him some veggies before and sometimes he eats them and sometimes he doesn't. No chameleon has the hardware to process plant matter. Yes, veileds sometime eat plants, but they really are insectivores. Nothing extravagant, just cucumber (he did not like cucumber) and collard greens. We tried a bit of kale once and that was a big nope.

Second, I am worried that he isn’t eating much and hasn’t pooped for a few days. Today I tried to feed him a super worm from his feeding cup. He missed it like six times and dropped it back into the cup twice. When he finally got it down, he cranked his head way up which is not something I’ve ever seen him do before. It really freaked me out.

Also about a week ago he fell and I think he hurt his foot. It is all swollen. We will take him to the vet as soon as we can but in the meantime any advice on what might be going on and what we should be doing differently would be most welcome.
I wish I could give you better advice here, but I too am a Canadian, and unless you’re willing to do roaches, crickets are the only really acceptable staple that can be adequately gutloaded.

 

[The Wild One]

Meant to drop this here too. Carrots and the orange cubes aren't great gutload.

How to gutload bugs:

Check out the entire series while your at it! They are full of detail and down to the point also thanks for filling out the form firsthand!

 

[Gingero]

Check out the entire series while your at it! They are full of detail and down to the point also thanks for filling out the form firsthand!

Thanks for the support on my videos Just trying to spread good info and save a few chameleons along the way.

 

[kinyonga]

Tongue...it sounds like something is going on with the tongue...he shouldn't be missing like that IMHO.

Sprayer...you said he comes right up and drinks for the spout..are you spraying it into his mouth?

Supplements...there are several ways to supplement....some use repashy LoDand some of us use three powders....it's all a matter of choice. I use three powders...have for years...I dust lightly with RepCal phos free calcium powder at all but 2 feedings a month. Those two days I dust with RepCal phos free calcium/D3 powder lightly. I dust two days a month with Herptivite lihghtly. It contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A ...prOformed sources of vitamin A won't build up in the chameleons system like prEformed (palmitate, retinol, retinyl) sources will...but this leaves it to you to decide if/when your chameleon needs some prEformed.
Vitamin D3 from supplements builds up in he system and can lead to health issues so that's why we don't use t often. We leave the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 it needs from its exposure to the uvb light gets.

How long have you been taking him out to the ficus? Is there a basking light in the area with the ficus? What's the temperature there?

I don't recommend keeping the cage near the window...drafts/cold from the window this time of year can lead to respiratory infections.

It looks like the wrist may be broken...only my best guess...I'm not a vet. That and the tongue makes me wonder if something isn't going on with his diet/supplements.

The head raising can be an indication of something being wrong but it can also just be that he was having trouble swallowing. If you look in his mouth does everything look normal? No swelling or anything?

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Hi,

I am new to the forum. I've read a lot of posts and am trying to figure out what might be wrong with my little guy. I've had him for two years but in the last few weeks he just seems to be doing poorly, and I worry that I did something wrong long-term and have screwed him up. We live in a place without a lot of vet resources but have finally (in the last couple of days) found a vet that takes reptiles. We will take him soon for a check up but haven't been able to get an appointment yet, and I'm worried, so I thought I'd post.

First, here is my form:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Veiled chameleon, male, 2 years old, been in our care since he was a few months old.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Every day we take him from his cage to an open ficus tree and let him hang out for a while and then take him back. Sometimes we will walk around with him a bit but mostly we’re handling him to transfer to his tree. The tree is too big to put in the cage.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Mostly crickets, some super worms and butter worms. He gets about 8-10 crickets a day and a super worm or two each week. Butter worms are a rare treat. Crickets are gutloaded with Fluker’s orange cube cricket diet. Super worms get carrots although to be honest we don’t gutload them properly because we buy the big containers and we often forget to add new carrots. We mostly cup feed although occasionally we just toss some crickets in. He will feed from tongs but we are not very good at it and often end up losing the bugs.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Crickets are dusted daily with Repticalcium without D3. Every 3-4 days we add a bit of Repashy calcium plus which has D3.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
We mist twice a day and will also mist the fichus tree when he is in it. We see him drinking every other day or so. Sometimes he will not drink from the leaves but he will come right up to the mister and drink from the spout.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Up until recently had not been a concern. He is not pooping much lately that we can find. Last dropping had some orange in the urate which had never happened before. He has not been tested for parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Used to be a great eater and now if he misses a cricket he will often not try again. His tongue comes out a little crooked and seems like it’s lost its stickiness a bit.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Screen. Dimensions: 18x36x36. Maybe it is too small? He does get restless and often comes to the front when we feed him wanting to get out. He is very active in and around his cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Lights on timer, come on at 7:30am and off at 7:30pm (8:30 when the clocks change). UVB light plus basking light on top of cage pointing downward. Brand and model: Exoterra UVB 100 and Exoterra solar glow 80watt.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
We have a thermometer but it keeps falling off so it is hard to get the temp range at the top. At the bottom it is 60 degrees F. I will measure tonight to see what it is tonight and will try to get the thermometer to stay up top to get a top reading too.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Yikes. We haven’t been measuring humidity, just temp. Please don’t crucify me, we are doing our best.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
When we bought him the cage set up contained a live plant that we have kept. I think it is a scheffera although I don’t know for sure. It came from the breeder. We haven’t put another live plant in the cage yet. We bought a fichus thinking we’d be able to fit it in but it was too tall, so we take him out to it instead.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
It is in the corner of the room, not in a high traffic area. It is near a window. There is a base heater by the window. The height of the top of the cage relative to the floor is five feet.
Location - Where are you geographically located?
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Current Problems:
We have two problems. Our first problem is that we just got in a lot of trouble from our landlord about the crickets that have escaped, because apparently they made their way to the apartment downstairs and the neighbour complained. So problem number 1 is that we may need to find an alternative to crickets as a staple because we might get told that we can't have crickets anymore. We live in Canada so NO ROACHES. They are illegal. So I would love advice about a good diet that doesn't include roaches. We have fed him some veggies before and sometimes he eats them and sometimes he doesn't. Nothing extravagant, just cucumber (he did not like cucumber) and collard greens. We tried a bit of kale once and that was a big nope.

Second, I am worried that he isn’t eating much and hasn’t pooped for a few days. Today I tried to feed him a super worm from his feeding cup. He missed it like six times and dropped it back into the cup twice. When he finally got it down, he cranked his head way up which is not something I’ve ever seen him do before. It really freaked me out.

Also about a week ago he fell and I think he hurt his foot. It is all swollen. We will take him to the vet as soon as we can but in the meantime any advice on what might be going on and what we should be doing differently would be most welcome.

Here are some pics: Him before I fed him the worm, him after, and a close up of his foot, the best I could do. He is shedding just FYI.View attachment 253774View attachment 253775 View attachment 253776

To be honest I think we were misled a little bit by the breeder who sold him to us because she was so reassuring about how easy he would be to care for and how all we needed to do was throw a few crickets in his cage, etc. We have a crestie as well and she led us to believe that he'd be just as easy. We did buy a book and do some research and we followed what the book said but having come onto the forums I am now realizing that the book was too basic - devil's in the details, and all that. We are trying our best to learn.

While I don't really want to weigh in on the "health issue", i can tell you that silkworms are by far one of the easiest, "cleanest", and least escape prone. Now, it is my understanding that they can be hard to come by up in your part of the world, but I believe the eggs can be shipped easier.
It's a bit daunting in the beginning, but it's well worth the price of admission in my book. They're worms, so they double as a good hydration source! (Between silks, hornworms, and roaches my guys and gals very rarely drink)
If you do it right, a few hundred eggs will be enough to feed off plenty to your chams and give you enough "leftovers" to cocoon to moths and start the process on your own. It's as simple as 1 bin, 1 "butterfly" enclosure [or old screened viv, etc], and some time! So very much better for the chams and you. The ONLY time silks escape is when I stick them in a box and don't close the lid proper. I've found a few cocoons under/behind bins and such in my cham room.

Best wishes!

 

[Kris_and_Terry]

Thanks everyone for all your advice! My husband and I both have daunting work schedules this time of year (we work in non-profits and it's everybody-think-of-the-poor-and-needy season) but I have an appointment on Thursday for the vet. I've read through most of your advice. I will have to come back to Kinyonga's comments about dusting powders because to honest I got a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out the different things so I need to re-read that.

So here is what I heard:
- increase cage size
- change UVB bulb to one that goes across width of cage
- feed less often, well that's easy to start doing hahah
- change what we gut load the crickets on for now (until we use up these crickets and/or I can get a more varied diet) - I see from Gingero's video that she gutloads them when they go in the feeding cup; we'd been putting the food into the cricket enclosure/worm container. So that is a practice we can change right away and I also want that super awesome easy to hang feeding cup she had in her video. I think I saw a post on feeding cups before when I was searching through the forums so I will have to track that down.
- reduce the D3 and come back and re-read Kinyonga's post to wrap my head around the multivitamin part.
- thanks also to Gingero and Hashtag Chamlife for weighing in on feeding. I will start searching out all those lovely worms and whatnot.

Kinyonga asked a few more questions. No, I do not spray directly into his mouth. When I am spraying if he approaches the sprayer, I stop. A bit of water always dribbles out and that's what he's been going for. So if I press on the nozzle just a bit it will drip, and he uses his tongue to catch the drips. I try to be really careful never to spray him directly.

We've had the ficus for maybe 4 months? There is no basking light there but there is an outlet nearby so I could hang something above for sure. I don't know what the temp is there but definitely would be colder right now than in his cage. The ficus is about six feet away from his cage. I could move it closer if I rearrange my room a bit. Actually if we change how he's fed then we don't have to worry about crickets escaping and I could leave his cage open to walk directly to it. I will think on that. We have limited space so it takes a bit of reflection and creativity to change up how it's used.

Finally, his mouth looks normal. Nothing swollen or discoloured.

Thanks again guys - I really appreciate all your help. I'll keep you posted (or not, if I'm being annoying feel free to tell me lol).

 

[Gingero]

The cup is actually a bird feeder Here is an amazon link.

Also I made this video about supplements that might help clear things up for you.

 

[kinyonga]

How long do you leave him out in the ficus?

 

[Kris_and_Terry]

How long do you leave him out in the ficus?

It depends on him. When we first got it (Aug/Sep) it was warm and light out and he'd stay for like an hour before he'd start crawling down the plant and we'd take him back to his cage.

Lately though because it's been colder and darker, we take him out only for like 10-15 minutes. I don't want him getting cold. I often spray the ficus before I take him out so that there is water to drink off the leaves if he'd like, so if he is actively drinking then I don't take him back to his cage. In the last few days though I haven't taken him out because I don't want to handle him too much if he's not okay.

 

[kinyonga]

My concern was him cooling off if he was out too long...but you're ok the way you've been doing it...my other concern was not getting enough UVB if he was out too long.

 

[Kris_and_Terry]

Well the vet thinks he might have an infection that is affecting his joints. He has sent the x-ray off to a specialist to confirm because it might also be a bone disorder. He is not sure what might be going on with Zeus's tongue and asked for a video so he can diagnose the issue, and also said that he is severely underweight, which isn't surprising since he hasn't really been eating for the past few weeks. He also wants a sample of his poop to test for parasites, but no eating=no poop so... right now he said to feed him as much as we can however we can. I was able to tong-feed him three super worms which is all we have in the house except for crickets right now (and I cannot tong feed crickets, I can't get a good enough grip and they just hop away).

We also got him a bird feeder cup. I couldn't find exactly the one that Gingero had in her video but I found something similar. So tomorrow we will try crickets in the cup and see whether he goes for it, and if not I will tong-feed more worms. I am going to order horn worms after I get paid next week. The vet pretty much broke me financially.

The vet also gave us a multivitamin to put in the water we spray and also we are to put the worms in the water before they go into the feeder. And we got a different supplement mix for dusting but it doesn't dust very well so I'm not sure what we'll do about that. The granules are quite large (compared to say calcium powder) and don't really stick on the bugs.

I mean it wasn't like the vet was oh my god he's going to die... but if it's an infection it could be really hard to manage.

Oh also we got a proper thermometer and hydrometer or whatever it's called. And it's 80 F in the top of the tank and humidity is at 57% shortly after I'd misted, like within 10 minutes.

Anyway we will keep trying to feed him and getting him to drink water until hopefully we can get a sample of his poop and a video of what's wrong with his tongue.