first chameleon. i dont know much

he wasn't in a deep sleep but he fell asleep like this at 10 am
 

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his eyes dont look right to me. he has been eating lately and i gave him his first hornworm and he liked it. but he still is sleeping a little during the day. he has a little purple around his eyes also and usually he barely even opens one of them
 

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Hmmm... Did you try the uvb thing? Turning it off and seeing if he opened his eyes? He's relatively young so I wouldn't be a surprised if it was bothering him.
 
Andee said:
Hmmm... Did you try the uvb thing? Turning it off and seeing if he opened his eyes? He's relatively young so I wouldn't be a surprised if it was bothering him.
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yes i did and it didnt help much. i was holding him and as i said earlier he doesnt completely trust me or like me yet and he still fell asleep on my hand in the middle of the day. then i took him outside and he got dark but i still think he liked it he was very curious and his eyes looked normal. then when i put him back in his cage he just sat at the top and fell back asleep.
 
Ethan brickey said:
yes i did and it didnt help much. i was holding him and as i said earlier he doesnt completely trust me or like me yet and he still fell asleep on my hand in the middle of the day. then i took him outside and he got dark but i still think he liked it he was very curious and his eyes looked normal. then when i put him back in his cage he just sat at the top and fell back asleep.
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Sleeping during the day is not a good sign. When you hold him and he closes his eyes that is a sign of extreme stress.
 
I agree, if he only closes his eyes when he sees you or you open cage etc, it is likely you stress him. If not it could be he has other issues. What have you changed in all your care? Can you fill out the form again, with all the changes you did just so we can check to see?
 
Chameleons tend to shut down when they get EXTREMELY stressed out, so I would quit picking him up/ and or handling him and see how that helps. Also, keep us on the forum posted, and if needed we will let you know if he needs veterinary care. We are here to help, after all. :)
 
Is there still a way to earn his trust if he already gets stressed around me?
  • Your Chameleon - sex: male. Age: about 4 months. 4 weeks in my care
  • Handling - 4 times a week about
  • Feeding - he is offered small crickets, meal worms, super worms and occasionally a hornworm. I feed them carrots and potatoes , he only eats like 1 cricket a day that I can tell.
  • Supplements - repticalcium with d3 and reptivite every 2 months. Plain repticalcium ever feed
  • Watering - I have a dripper in the top of the cage. I mist like 3 times a day. He drinks all the time
  • Fecal Description - mostly looks like bird poop white and brown but a few other times it was a cloudy white log. I bought him from the pet store so he probably has been tested for parasites
  • History - he rarely does anything but sleep

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - screen 30×20×20
  • Lighting - reptisun 5.0 uvb and 70w house bulb on from 7am to 7 pm
  • Temperature - basking area is 84 bottom is 73 at night 66
  • Humidity - I have a dripper and I mist and I have a humidifier by his cage
  • Plants - two life plants hoping to add more
  • Placement - on my desk in my room. Top is about 5 feet tall semi close to a window
  • Location - syracuse utah

Current Problem - he sleeps a lot and I'm worried he isn't well but he looks very healthy to me
 
Are you cup feeding him? I would be more worried since he is relatively small and you have a 30"x20"x20" cage that he may not be finding food well if it's free ranged (sorry if you have already explained this just passing through and want to make sure I answer as soon as possible). You need to get a better gutload for your insects, that could be causing issues with his vitamin and other micronutrient intake. A huge amount of his nutrition should be coming from the insects and their gutload. They need both a dry gutload, which if you are buying high quality commercial stuff such as repashy bug burger etc. You should buy some like Repashy Superload and mix some of it with a less potent dry gutload which I would use something like bug buffet or cricket crack. You also need to offer better veggies/fruits. Offer carrots, sweet potatoes, winter or summer squash, zuchinni, tuscan or dino kale, radicchio, apples on occasion, papaya, mango, figs... there is so much you can offer. You need to offer a huge amount variety to make sure you get all that you can into your insects.
 
I would actually strongly doubt if he's been tested for parasites if you have bought him from a pet store, if you bought him from a breeder that is a different story. Pet stores are very unlikely to test their reptiles for parasites unless they are amazing and very few of those exist sadly.
 
Andee said:
I would actually strongly doubt if he's been tested for parasites if you have bought him from a pet store, if you bought him from a breeder that is a different story. Pet stores are very unlikely to test their reptiles for parasites unless they are amazing and very few of those exist sadly.
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Can I just take him to a vet for q check up
 
I feed the crickets carrots and lettuce and they eat the lettuce like crazy but I will be sure to get gutload. I don't cup feed him but the crickets are always hanging out at the top of the cage where he is and even when they are right in front of his face he won't eat them.
 
Ethan brickey said:
Can I just take him to a vet for q check up
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I almost always recommend check ups, if you have the money and are worried do it ^^ (there are few situations where it's not helpful and will make things worse) If you are doing parasites you will need to bring in fresh poop. If he poops the day before you bring him in, while it is still moist, you can collect it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge. I would strongly recommend training him to cup feed. You could keep track of his crickets better and he may have less trouble with eyes and such. Too keep the crickets in the cup I recommend taking off the back jumping legs.

As far as the veggies you use, lettuce is pretty much useless other than to provide moisture and plenty of other things do that while still being healthy. I wouldn't rely on carrots most of the time either.

When you go to the vet, don't expect the vet to know what to do about the eyes honestly. Depending on what's wrong they won't know, especially with just a check up. The first thing will be a fecal check, the next thing might be a blood work up if your vet is anything like mine. But your guy is tiny and it's hard some time to take blood safely form a small guy especially if they haven't been eating well. You might want to talk about getting a vit A combo shot done, just to see if it helps? If it's a vit A deficiency and you get a shot done you should see almost immediate improvement (at most 1-2 days), also they might talk about flushing his eyes. All of which should be done before blood work up.
 
Andee said:
I almost always recommend check ups, if you have the money and are worried do it ^^ (there are few situations where it's not helpful and will make things worse) If you are doing parasites you will need to bring in fresh poop. If he poops the day before you bring him in, while it is still moist, you can collect it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge. I would strongly recommend training him to cup feed. You could keep track of his crickets better and he may have less trouble with eyes and such. Too keep the crickets in the cup I recommend taking off the back jumping legs.

As far as the veggies you use, lettuce is pretty much useless other than to provide moisture and plenty of other things do that while still being healthy. I wouldn't rely on carrots most of the time either.

When you go to the vet, don't expect the vet to know what to do about the eyes honestly. Depending on what's wrong they won't know, especially with just a check up. The first thing will be a fecal check, the next thing might be a blood work up if your vet is anything like mine. But your guy is tiny and it's hard some time to take blood safely form a small guy especially if they haven't been eating well. You might want to talk about getting a vit A combo shot done, just to see if it helps? If it's a vit A deficiency and you get a shot done you should see almost immediate improvement (at most 1-2 days), also they might talk about flushing his eyes. All of which should be done before blood work up.
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Okay thank you I am going to try and take him in as soon s possible. Even if I don't suspect parasites should I bring in fresh poop
 
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