Constipated Cham relieved by warm bath! Whew!

[elissameck]

Our male veiled cham, Spike, has been eating normally but a bit less active recently. We started getting worried when he hadn’t pooped in a week and then 2 and then when it had been 3 I did some research. Thankfully the idea I found of putting him in a warm bath and massaging towards his vent did the trick. We watched him and massaged him on and off for about 10 minutes in a warm bath and then put him back in his enclosure. A few minutes later, sure enough he left us an enormous poop!
Sorry for the disgusting photo but as you can see it was super mucousy. His poop and urate have been quite normal up until now. We got him from a friend who was moving overseas when he was about a year old and have had him since Easter, so he’s around a year and a half old now. All has gone fairly smoothly up until this. Just wondering if I should worry about this or do something more for him. He seems to be acting quite normally now.
Anyone had anything like this?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Do you know the age of his uvb bulb? What are his basking temps? What feeders and supplements have you been giving?

 

[elissameck]

The bulb is about 6 months old but I just checked it with a UV card last week and it’s still fine. Our set up isn’t so fancy to know the temp but we’re in a warm climate and his basking spot seems warm to me. He gets mostly crickets and some mealworms. Last week he had some bits of grape as I had read that might help with his constipation. He gets some sort of supplements that our friend passed on to us, but honestly they’re in a plastic baggie and I don’t know quite what. She had him all set up based on what the reptile shop where she got everything recommended and we have kept it all pretty much the same.
We definitely aren’t experts and aren’t looking to invest heavily. But trying to keep the guy happy and healthy and he has seemed to be so far. He’s grown since we’ve had him and seems pretty active. He happily comes out to sit on the window sill on a sunny day but also happily goes back in to his cage when we move him back.
My daughter is his primary caregiver, but she’s 13, so I do oversee things a bit.

 

[MissSkittles]

Ok. It is important to know and give correct supplements, temps, humidity and all in order to keep him happy and healthy. Chameleons are very good at hiding that anything is wrong until very and often, too late. Not knowing what the supplement is in the baggie, I’d say don’t use it. Supplements aren’t terribly expensive at all and I’ll tell you an easy regimen. You need a phosphorus free calcium without D3 to lightly dust at every feeding except one every other week. Then you can get/use Reptivite with D3 or Repashy calcium plus LoD, which you’ll dust the feeders for that one feeding every other week. I’m hoping your uvb is a correct T5HO with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb bulb. The screw in uvb lights don’t provide adequate uvb levels any farther away than 2-3”. All uvb bulbs need to be changed every 6-12 months as they lose effectiveness. For feeders, mealworms aren’t recommended and may be contributing to your guy’s constipation. Attaching both feeder and gutloading graphics for you. I’m also hoping that you don’t have any fake plants as those can be serious risks for impaction. Veileds like to nibble their plants and it only takes one bite to cause a problem. Attaching safe plant graphic too. A great place for the most accurate and up to date care guidelines is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ You can also check out Neptune the chameleon on YouTube for great info. Of course, if you have any questions feel free to ask away.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I've heard of—and used—that technique with my bearded dragon, but I've not heard of it in relation to a chameleon before. Their skeletal structures are somewhat different.

Can you post a link to where you found it suggested for chameleons?

 

[Thatwizard420]

I've heard of—and used—that technique with my bearded dragon, but I've not heard of it in relation to a chameleon before. Their skeletal structures are somewhat different.

Can you post a link to where you found it suggested for chameleons?

Yeah I trained my BD to only poop when he got a bath, every other day.
It was nasty, but his cage never smelled. You know how stinky BD can get

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Yeah I trained my BD to only poop when he got a bath, every other day.
It was nasty, but his cage never smelled. You know how stinky BD can get

I do. My beardie is paper trained... 80-90% of the time.