Solid Snake
Avid Member
Current Problem - Donahue has always been doing great. Very active, and no issues. I keep a very close eye on him, and even had him out yesterday, for his regular "looking over/close inspection", he seemed great. This morning was no different, nice and perky, looking great. Around noon I went out to mist, and he had his eyes closed, and was a deathly pale color. He was very weak, in his grip, and movements. Seeing how it was such of a sudden onset, and so severe in nature, I could only think that he may have eaten something poisonous, or maybe even been bit by something poisonous(not sure if thats an actual possibility, can spiders and such penetrate there skin?)
Anyhow, I thought the best thing I could do at the time is try and put as much water through him as possible, so he went into the shower. He seemed like he could barely hold onto the branch, but started drinking tons, more than Ive ever seen him drink period. After 15 min or so, he defecated the largest chameleon poo Ive seen, with a nice pure white urate. He stayed in there appr. 15 more min. He seemed much better after this, and I took him back outside. His color returned to normal, and he was more active, and keeping his eyes open. He still seemed somewhat weak though, but not as weak as he was before. I gave him a long shower outside about an hour later, and again he drank more than Ive ever seen him drink. I had to leave for about two hours after that.
When I returned, he was perfect. Im still very concerned though.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 10 mo male Furcifer pardalis, in my care for 7months.
Handling - Very sparingly, once a week maybe for a close inspection.
Feeding - His main diet is dubia, gutloaded with cricket crack, turnip greens, dandelion greens, butternut squash, and oranges. Other fruits and veggies are rotated, but they get that all the time. I would say that the dubia make up 50% of his diet. He eats a lot of wild feeders, crickets, spiders, and whatever else dare squeeze into his cage. A lot of times I see him eating, but I have no idea what it is.
I also give him crickets that are gutloaded, the same as the dubia, but less often than dubia. I dont feed him everyday, he is on a two on, one off schedule.
Supplements - I dust his feeders with calcium, rep-cal brand. I give him repashy calcium plus once a week, for the vitamin content, but not sure if this is enough I guess.
Watering - He gets misted/rained for 5+ min at a time, at least three times a day. If its hot, he gets more mistings. I rarely see him drink.
Fecal Description - All poo has looked good, until this last one, that was very large. His urates are always pure white. Hes never had a fecal done.
History - He has always been kept inside, until about a month or so ago, I have kept him outside since then.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Larger homemade screened enclosure.
Lighting - Sun.
Temperature - I measure his skin temp with a temp gun, and the outside ambient temp with a digital unit. The lowest temp hes been exposed to is 55F at nite, but its been a while since it was that cold. Its usually around 60F at nite. During the day, the ambient temp rarely goes over 87Fish, and he seems to keep his skin temp at 87-88F all the time during the day.
Humidity - I dont measure this much. Its fairly humid here, always above 50%, Im about 10 miles from the coast.
Plants - Parlor palms, grass on the bottom of enclosure.
Placement - Far side of yard, very low traffic, he can go from ground level, to 6' up.
Location - East NC, about 10 miles from the coast.
Like I said, he seems perfect now, but if anyone has any ideas/recommendations Im all ears.
I have decided to prevent him from eating any wild insects for now. I should be able to keep them out, with some minor tweaking to the enclosure.
I did not get any pictures of his "deathly" state, but it was just that. I honestly thought he was about to pass. As soon as I saw him, from about ten feet away I instantly knew something was not right.
Sorry thats so long, thanks for reading.
Anyhow, I thought the best thing I could do at the time is try and put as much water through him as possible, so he went into the shower. He seemed like he could barely hold onto the branch, but started drinking tons, more than Ive ever seen him drink period. After 15 min or so, he defecated the largest chameleon poo Ive seen, with a nice pure white urate. He stayed in there appr. 15 more min. He seemed much better after this, and I took him back outside. His color returned to normal, and he was more active, and keeping his eyes open. He still seemed somewhat weak though, but not as weak as he was before. I gave him a long shower outside about an hour later, and again he drank more than Ive ever seen him drink. I had to leave for about two hours after that.
When I returned, he was perfect. Im still very concerned though.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 10 mo male Furcifer pardalis, in my care for 7months.
Handling - Very sparingly, once a week maybe for a close inspection.
Feeding - His main diet is dubia, gutloaded with cricket crack, turnip greens, dandelion greens, butternut squash, and oranges. Other fruits and veggies are rotated, but they get that all the time. I would say that the dubia make up 50% of his diet. He eats a lot of wild feeders, crickets, spiders, and whatever else dare squeeze into his cage. A lot of times I see him eating, but I have no idea what it is.
I also give him crickets that are gutloaded, the same as the dubia, but less often than dubia. I dont feed him everyday, he is on a two on, one off schedule. Supplements - I dust his feeders with calcium, rep-cal brand. I give him repashy calcium plus once a week, for the vitamin content, but not sure if this is enough I guess.
Watering - He gets misted/rained for 5+ min at a time, at least three times a day. If its hot, he gets more mistings. I rarely see him drink.
Fecal Description - All poo has looked good, until this last one, that was very large. His urates are always pure white. Hes never had a fecal done.
History - He has always been kept inside, until about a month or so ago, I have kept him outside since then.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Larger homemade screened enclosure.
Lighting - Sun.
Temperature - I measure his skin temp with a temp gun, and the outside ambient temp with a digital unit. The lowest temp hes been exposed to is 55F at nite, but its been a while since it was that cold. Its usually around 60F at nite. During the day, the ambient temp rarely goes over 87Fish, and he seems to keep his skin temp at 87-88F all the time during the day.
Humidity - I dont measure this much. Its fairly humid here, always above 50%, Im about 10 miles from the coast.
Plants - Parlor palms, grass on the bottom of enclosure.
Placement - Far side of yard, very low traffic, he can go from ground level, to 6' up.
Location - East NC, about 10 miles from the coast.
Like I said, he seems perfect now, but if anyone has any ideas/recommendations Im all ears.
I have decided to prevent him from eating any wild insects for now. I should be able to keep them out, with some minor tweaking to the enclosure.
I did not get any pictures of his "deathly" state, but it was just that. I honestly thought he was about to pass. As soon as I saw him, from about ten feet away I instantly knew something was not right.
Sorry thats so long, thanks for reading.
