Female 6 months old Veiled is severely sick needs help

[deathemperor]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Her name is Lily she's a Veiled chameleon. She was more than one month of age when I adopted her 4 months ago so she's about 6 months old.
• Handling - Not at all. She's very shy, always try to hide from me when I look at her. She runs away when I clean up the cage or feed her.
• Feeding - I feed her with crickets, often 3-5 moderate crickets from 9 to 11 AM. I don't gut load the crickets.
• Supplements - I'll provide the calcium brand later.
• Watering - I made a water drop myself that drops water every 2 to 3 seconds to a certain place in the cage. I mist 2 times a day. I see them drinking although very rare
• Fecal Description - It's been black and white. She's not tested for any parasites.
• History - She's been actually in a cage with another male that is about 4 month older while I was preparing for another cage. This was my mistake from the start because I didn't know each has to have their own cage.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Glass and screen. dimension: 50cmx50x80
• Lighting - Daily schedule is 6AM to 6PM
• Temperature - About 28 to 31 census at basking spot.
• Humidity - I dont measure humidity.
• Plants - Pothos and a big tree in the center. This one I do not know its English name: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Lá_và_hoa_mai_chiếu_thủy.jpg
• Placement - It's inside my office, in the corner. Height is about 1 meter
• Location - Vietnam - South.

Current Problem - She's been sick for almost 2 weeks. She started having problem while she was in with another male. When she started looking weak the male kept attacking her so I had to move him out. She looks dark and her stomach looks bigger than normal. Her legs are weak she can't hold into tree branches.

This image is one week ago:
https://goo.gl/photos/TRpxFwHbyPp5huV28
https://goo.gl/photos/pkJwpNjCe3FyqukC8

She also gets very angry. When I took her out to take that picture she gave me a very hard bite. Right now I'm keeping her inside a bucket because she is easy to fall otherwise. She has lighter colors when she rests but whenever I'm nearby feeding her or look at her she becomes angry (black).

 

[Gwendalyn.brock]

Do you know if she could be gravid? How long were they housed together?

 

[jpowell86]

How long did you have here in with the male? Did you house them together or were you introducing them for breeding? Under lighting above you just put the times you run the lights...not what kind. Do you run UVB?

 

[deathemperor]

@jpowell86: I use both UVB and heat light. I had to put them in the same cage while I was preparing for another. Like I mentioned above I didn't know beforehand that they cannot be housed under one cage unless breeding.

@Gwendalyn.brock: I'm wondering the same. Is there anyway I could find out?

 

[Gwendalyn.brock]

She does seem bigger. I believe that if you feel her belly, you should be able to feel the eggs but since she is weak and sickly she could be eggbound and you may want to take her to the vet just to be safe. Do you have a laying bin in her enclosure?

 

[kinyonga]

Your photo links don't work for me.
Can you post some recent photos please.
It's possible she is producing eggs and possible she's developing MBD if you haven't been gutloading or your supplements have been incorrect....but we need photos to see.

 

[deathemperor]

@Gwendalyn.brock : I am putting her in a basket, I'm not sure if she has eggs I can do a laying bin. Is there any good advise on how do I check if she has eggs by myself?

@kinyonga: what's MBD? I have attached photos here.

It's worth mentioning that there's no vet for chameleons in my country. They only do dogs and cats. It's very rare that somebody has a chameleon in my area.

This is Lily taken today



This is her when she just got sick

 

[Gwendalyn.brock]

@Gwendalyn.brock : I am putting her in a basket, I'm not sure if she has eggs I can do a laying bin. Is there any good advise on how do I check if she has eggs by myself?

@kinyonga: what's MBD? I have attached photos here.

It's worth mentioning that there's no vet for chameleons in my country. They only do dogs and cats. It's very rare that somebody has a chameleon in my area.

This is Lily taken today
View attachment 149253


This is her when she just got sick
View attachment 149254

Feel around her belly, you should be able to feel little lumps a laying bin should be a large opaque container with at least 12 inches of clean playsand or dirt. MBD is ametabollic bone disease and be caused due to not enough supplementing, lack of calcium. In the pictures I can't say that she does have MBD but you should probably wait for another opinion.

 

[deathemperor]

Hey, thanks guys for helping me out. She actually was having egss! I just made her a laying bin, I came home from work this evening and saw she laid eggs, a lot of them!

I'm so happy, at least I know she's alright.

The next question is how do I check if the eggs are fertile. I hope they are but on the very least I need to make sure.
I googled and a few suggestions come up, still wanna hear your advices.

 

[brownie64]

Put them in some vermiculite in a Tupperware, or rubber made type container. Keep it moist and humid. Be carful to keep them oriented in the position she laid them in. Keep the temperature around 72-78 degrease consistency is the key. after a few weeks you should know if they are fertile if they don't shrivel, or get all moldy they should be good to go. At around 6-7 months I believe they should hatch.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Based on your picture, DeathEmperor, she didn't lay them in a "normal" fashion, which is to did a deep hole, turn around, lay the clutch all tightly packed together and then cover them up and pack the dirt down over top. Just based on the way the eggs are scattered, she is possibly quite exhausted and drained. They can die from laying eggs, even after they lay them successfully.

Give her a lot of water and really good food that is dusted with calcium. Giver her calcium-dusted food throughout the day, not just once a day. She probably needs a lot of supportive care for at least a week just to keep her alive. Don't underestimate how much this took out of her.

 

[JaniP]

Also, please look in to correcting your husbandry. Especially when you are planning to bring more chameleons in to this world. Gut loading is not optional, it's necessary. There are a lot of great resources on here about gut loading

 

[kinyonga]

The eggs in the big with her look fertile. To incubate them as was said...Take a shoeboxed sized plastic container and fill it about half full of moistened vermiculite. To test the vermiculite for correct moisture...Take a handful of it and squeeze it...no more than one or two drops of water should come out of it. Lay the eggs in dents made with your thumb on the vermiculite about an inch apart in all directions. Be careful not to turn the eggs when moving them. Put the lid on the container and put it in a dark place where the temperature will stay around 72F.

Concerning your husbandry...
You can use a regular household incandescent light bulb for a basking light. basking temperature should be in the low 80'sF for a female veiled. Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in the nutrient absorption.

You need a source of UVB so the chameleon can produce the D3 it needs to be able to use the calcium in its system. The majority most often recommended bulb is the reptisun 5.0 long linear tube. Sunlight that does NOT pass through glass or plastic is a good source too of course.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its important to dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings.

Its recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

It's important to dust the insects twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

Crickets, locusts, superworms, roaches can be fed/gutloaded with greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Of course watering the chameleon well and cage setup are important too.

 

[deathemperor]

Thanks guys for your very supportive replies. I'm giving her a special care right now.

I'll also adjust how they are taken care after all these.

 

[carol5208]

She looks alot older than 6 months. Keep a close eye on her. I am glad that you came here for advice. She would have become eggbound and died. It is always good to do research before you buy an animal.