Dehydrated or just skinny?

[Dame of Thrones]

Hello.

EDITED TO FILL THIS OUT:

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Was tagged as a "Juvenile Veiled Chameleon". Male and had him for 5 full days.
  
• Handling - He's always wanting to come out of his cage and climb onto our hands/arms. He tries to climb up my face to my head.
  
• Feeding - When he DID eat, it was crickets dusted with the calcium and the other supplement (forgot name). But he only ate 2 on Sunday, one on Monday and one Thursday.
  
• Supplements - Repti Calcium without D3
  
• Watering - The Little Dripper on all day. We've seen him drink everyday except today. He wouldn't drink from what we've seen.
  
• Fecal Description - Droppings we've seen once a day. Today it was a shrivel-y looking yellowish/orange
  
• History - We've only had him 5 full days.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Zoo Med medium mesh cage
  
• Lighting - Rep Med mini compact 5.0 UVB (switching to T5 hood with 10.0 UVB this weekend)
  
• Temperature - Day temp: approx 76°, basking approx 84°, night temp goes to around 71°
  
• Humidity - Humidity 40-50%. Dripper and spraying cage 3x a day
  
• Plants - One live ficus and fake leaves. One big branch, twisty "vine" branch (adding more branches soon)
  
• Placement - Cage middle of wall in warmer room of home
  
• Location - Southern California. Closer to mountain/desert region. Average temp 76°

Current Problem -

New veiled chameleon owner here. We got Tillman last Sunday (1/21). He's eaten twice since then and was drinking everyday. He's not shy about climbing onto our hands (and trying to climb up my face to get to my head). But when we got home today my husband studied Tillman and said that his eyes were sunken in. I've read up on it and most information points to dehydration.
Is there something more we should be doing? I thought juveniles were supposed to eat every day.

*He was in his "carry case" in the photo. I sprayed the whole thing down in hopes of helping him re-hydrate

in case he is dehydrated.

 

[DarinD]

He looks a little dehydrated. Personally, I'm of the opinion that an automatic misting system is an absolutely essential piece of equipment. Before I got my MistKing, I noticed that my hand misting sessions weren't enough to trigger my Veiled's drinking response. Misting sessions need to be long enough to trigger the animal's drinking response, as well as provide enough time for the cham to clean their eyes and other hygienic tasks. Not sure if you're looking into an automatic mister, but I definitely saw a positive difference in my chameleon's health after adding my auto mister. Just my 2 cents on water. Also, if your enclosure is 36" tall or less, you can do a 5.0 for the UVB, depending on the foliage. Make sure your supplementation is on point as well. Enjoy your chameleon!

 

[Dame of Thrones]

He looks a little dehydrated. Personally, I'm of the opinion that an automatic misting system is an absolutely essential piece of equipment. Before I got my MistKing, I noticed that my hand misting sessions weren't enough to trigger my Veiled's drinking response. Misting sessions need to be long enough to trigger the animal's drinking response, as well as provide enough time for the cham to clean their eyes and other hygienic tasks. Not sure if you're looking into an automatic mister, but I definitely saw a positive difference in my chameleon's health after adding my auto mister. Just my 2 cents on water. Also, if your enclosure is 36" tall or less, you can do a 5.0 for the UVB, depending on the foliage. Make sure your supplementation is on point as well. Enjoy your chameleon!

Thanks for the advice!! I did a hand misting and kept it going until I saw him start drinking. After that he started drinking. We redid his cage and he now goes to where the dripper drops on the leaves. But we will be looking into a mister soon.