Early signs of respiratory? Or something else.

Y

yemenchameleons

New Member
our Chameleon - Female yemen 10 Months old. Had her from a baby
Handling - Varies daily. Sometimes just out on a plant in the house.
Feeding - Locusts/Crickets wax worms.
Supplements - Calcium Every other feed. Multivits bi-monthly
Watering - Has a waterfall which is cleaned out several times a week and has a daily shower and drink from bottle.
Fecal Description - None for a few days. Before perfectly normal.
History - no known problems

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Large wooden VIV
Lighting - D3 UV tube. 100W basking light . .
Temperature - Basking 28-30. .
Humidity - Humidity 30-40%.
Plants - edible plants

My issue is that this past week I have noticed 1 eye shut. It may be 2 at times but not for very long.

I have also noticed once or twice what sounds like a sneeze/cough/choke. Was a strange noise. Never heard her have it before.

Occasionly she is opening her mouth to breath. Not often just a couple of times a day maybe.

Wasnt sure if this was something else. Potential irritant from the spiny legs of locusts. I know this has happened before so I only buy medium or large ones. Not extra large or adults.

Just wonderin what peoples thoughts are.
I was worried about a potential respiratory infection, not sure if they have colds?
I will go to VET when all this snow has cleared but for now cant get out my drive. Not the best timing in the world.



Help appreciated.
 
Unfortunately, a waterfall is completely unnecessary inside a chameleon enclosure and worsens microclimate a lot. No matter how often you try to clean it, you'll never be able to keep "bad" bacteria from growing. Most bacteria found in respiratory dieseases always live all over the cage. They don't harm the chameleon as long as it's healthy and "good and bad" bacteria stay in balance. But bacteria increase in hours as soon as you offer such a nice breeding ground as a waterfall. Additionally, there's no competitive flora at all to hold the pathogenic ones at bay. The stuffy air downgrades your chameleon's immune system, which will give bacteria a chance to overgrow their normal amount of colonies inside the chameleon's body. Finally, this ends in illness.

Well, that's probably what could have happened to your chameleon, too. If it does close its eyes during day yet and makes "odd noises", I suggest a reptile vet visit within next days. The sooner you can diagnose and treat a respiratory infection, the more chances the chameleon has to recover well. Chameleons have a very special sac-like respiratory tract with sparse blood supply and cant cough up anythying (they don't have a diaphragm as mammals do). That's why succesfull treatment can take a long time and may be real tough sometimes, too.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your help.

I do intend to take her to the vets anyway.

I have heard that about the waterfall. I have thought about taking it out and if after the vet it is a respiratory I think I will.
 
Hello, welcome to the forum :). I agree with Alexl, the waterfall is a bad idea, she is likely to poop in there, and it will drown crickets.
It does sound very much like a respiratory infection. Do you know if your Calcium powder has any D3 in it? What is the concentration?
Here is a great basic caresheet I recommend to new people with Yemen/Veiled chameleons - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
Hope the vet visit goes ok :)
 
No, She did used to. So i moved it and she drinks out of it several times a day. Which is why I kept it in there. But I have always thought about the bacteria in the.

No d3. Just basic calcium dust.
Thanks for your help
 
yemenchameleons said:
No d3. Just basic calcium dust.
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
I know she has the uvb bulb to help metabolise d3, but most on the forum also use a powder with d3 in twice per month. This depends on brands/concentrations of course.
 
Sorry. I mean the calcium doesnt have any d3. The one that I dust every other feed with.

I give Multivits and d3 bi monthly.

Sorry to confuse.
Anything I do can to help her in the meantime breathing as such.

I do have some baytril but I think I must have had it a while as dont know why I have it and so did not want to give her that if A) it was out of date. B) it isnt respiratory.
 
You could do with getting a better variety of feeders to and stop offering wax worms there terrible, just fat no goodness in them
 
Ok, sweet. baytril is antibiotic and sometimes prescribed for resp. infections in chams I think. I don't know anything about diluting the concentration of it, I'm not qualified. I really wouldn't use anything out of date though.
 
chameleonkev said:
You could do with getting a better variety of feeders to and stop offering wax worms there terrible, just fat no goodness in them
Click to expand...

Shes pretty fussy. Shes eats fruit and meal worms occasionally but doesnt realy touch them. Only when there is nothing in the Viv.

I give her them as their nice and juicy.

I dont know what else there is.

I know there are cockroaches and flies. But local petshop doesnt sell those.

Any suggestions on that?
 
DavidBuchan said:
Any eggs yet? Does she have a laying bin in there?
Click to expand...

She doesnt have a laying bin no!

I placed it in last time when she was gravid with infertile eggs but take it out when it is no longer needed. She only laid a month or 2 ago and so as she wont have retained sperm I figured that wasnt an issue.
 
yemenchameleons said:
She doesnt have a laying bin no!

I placed it in last time when she was gravid with infertile eggs but take it out when it is no longer needed. She only laid a month or 2 ago and so as she wont have retained sperm I figured that wasnt an issue.
Click to expand...

That's ok, as long as you have a good idea of when she'll potentially be ready again. I personally prefer to keep a small one in the viv all the time just in case I'm wrong.........Here is the standard 'laying bin info.' on this forum - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
 
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