fischers chameleon sleeping all day

[Chameronthechameleon]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Fischers chameleon, MALE, about 5 months, three days
Handling - I've had to take him out of the cage to adjust branches, and my concern with him not eating to make the food visible
Feeding - crickets, he's only ate two crickets, tried feeding calciworms and mealworms, wont eat anything, was thinking of feeding twice a day with at least 4 crickets each feeding, I have the flukers orange cube for the crickets
Supplements - Flukers calcium with vitamin D and no set schedule since he wont eat
Watering - Fogger and spray bottle, keeping the fogger on and misting 4 times, only seen him drink the first day
Fecal Description - white and runny, actually seen his vent bubble when dropping, and no test for parasites yet
History - Visited the little guy a couple times before i bought him from the petstore and ususally seen him crawling on top of cage in the corner or asleep in a high corner

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Mesh cage, 16"x16"x20"
Lighting - All living things UVB 5.0 compact tropical, daylight bulb from zoomed, trying to use natural light by keeping him near a window without direct light, set for the lights to go on at 6am and off at 6 pm, tried a night black light basking bulb for the first night but figured he was too hot
Temperature - Basking spot is around 80 F, ambient is about 75-80 F, floor is around 70 F, lowest overnight is 70, looking at in cage thermometer
Humidity - 50%-70% Using a fogger and some misting, inside cage hygrometer
Plants - Devils ivy and some dead/baked branched
Placement - In a quiet room near a window on a metal racking, sort of near a vent but i directed the airflow the oposite way even though the vent is closed, and it is about 5' off the ground
Location - Rio Rancho NEW MEXICO

Current Problem - Runny stool, wont eat, wont move, sleeping all day
There are a number of things I'm considering being the issue
1. Im afraid that he just doesnt like his new environment because of the humidity and heat change(store's temps read 30-40%, 70 F)
2. He ate the first day but also looked like he swallowed some of the coconut husk from the ground, almost like a small thin stick, I fear he must not be getting air now, as i might mention that when he is sleeping, it doesnt look like he is breathing, when i woke him he took a gasp of air
3. thinking that the UVB light might be too strong since his urate was runny and now now eating and he would keep rubbing his eyes on the branches, saw that there was a bit of shedded skin on his eyelid and I carefully with a wet q-tip rubbed it off.. More than anything I think he is stressed by his eye iritation and because he wont move or eat, I've woke him up a couple times to figure out the problem but the interaction must be stressing him more.. Im frustrated cause i just got him and everything seemed fine and I dont want to leave him in this state.. What do i do before taking him to the vet??

 

[Jay Sick]

NO SUBSTRATE SHOULD EVER BE USED coconut dirt whatever it is all dangerous . From what you say the stool being runny does it smell like super bad !!! worse than any other time ??? i would go to vet for x rsy could be parasites or blockage i am assuming he is wild caught ???

 

[Lathis]

Eye irritation is often a symptom of either too low humidity or not long enough misting sessions to give the cham time to clean his eyes. With the fogger, humidity is probably okay. You spray 4 times a day but for how long? 1-2 minutes as a minimum would be better. Some chams take longer than others to react to the water.

Smelly fecal is a classic sign of parasites. If he's sleeping during the day as much as you say, it is time for a vet visit but you need to take fresh poo with you for a fecal check. It's not something you can treat at home. He may very well be wild caught - they often come with a heavy parasite load and the stress of capture and moving prevents the chameleon's natural immune system from keeping them in check.

Chameleons go down hill very quickly - their only defense is to not look sick, so by the time symptoms appear, the illness is often far along.

Best of luck and don't wait.

 

[Chameronthechameleon]

NO SUBSTRATE SHOULD EVER BE USED coconut dirt whatever it is all dangerous . From wha

I was told by one of the store employees from petco to use the subrate to keep the humidity in
I have a feeling its parasites too, but I dont know if he was wild caught. When i would go look at him in the stores, there was a female in there as well but she looked worse than he did, she was dark like how he was and sleeping
and how much would an x ray be?

 

[Chameronthechameleon]

The urate is sort of stinky, I will take out the coconut stuff and should I repot the plant since that has been sort of exposed or just get a new plant that has no chemicals

 

[Trace]

Apart from some exceptions, there aren’t many people breeding Fischers Chameleons so the chances of you having a wild caught animal are great. Unfortunately wild caught animals are difficult to get established in captivity, particularly for a newcomer to the hobby.

I will echo the need to see a veterinarian. While some of us have vast amounts of chameleon expertise, we are only guessing at what could be wrong. A doctor can assess your animal and get you on a proper treatment course. Don’t wait to do this. In the meantime, I have written a blog on how to deal with a wild caught animal; perhaps some of these tips will be beneficial.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/trace/776-dealing-wild-caught-chameleon.html

Here are some reptile specific vets in New Mexico. I don’t know if they are close to you or not.

http://arav.allenpress.com/arav/findavet#stateHeadNM

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Yes, most likely wild caught.

I think a vet visit is in order but there are a couple things you can change with your husbandry.

Calcium without D3 a couple times a week
Calcium w/ D3 monthly
Multivitamin monthly

Since you have only had him three days, stress is likely a culprit for why he is not eating. I usually give my chams 4-6 weeks to settle in. He prob is sick too but cant hurt.

The flukers orange squares are garbage! Use fresh fruits and veggies to gutload.

No light at night, complete darkness. I would get a reptisun 5.0 linear bulb, I like it much better than the compacts and gets more coverage.

I would also adjust your lighting schedule to keep the lights on later, maybe 8am to 8pm since it is summer. Keeping him near the window will not help him get UVB, it wont pass through glass. The sun may just make it harder to keep constant temps.

I would up the basking temp to 85 degrees and see if you can get a 10 degree drop in temp at night, like the low 60's. That will help a lot.

Is Devil's Ivy on the safe plant list? I know some Ivys are poisonous to chameleons. This could be a possible reason for closed eyes.

 

[Mike Fisher]

I have a few general things I've found with WC Fischers. Buying one is like playing the lottery.

IMO runny stool = parasites. By the time you notice this, it is probably too late, especially if they are sleeping during the day. They don't tolerate the treatment well either.

You are going to have to take him to the vet, but hate to say, your odds are not very good at this point. One good thing is you mentioned that he is recently feeding, so you might have a shot at it.

 

[Chameronthechameleon]

UPDATE..
Still sleeping and tried feeding twice, once in the morning at 9 and once just now at 1.. Luckly petco has a 15 day garranttee for vet visits, taking him tomorrow at 10am..
When I saw him this morning, he looked to have his eyes sunk and still closed, when i tried to feed, his eyes looked healthy.. later after he ignored me for some time he walked just a bit forward then stopped and slept again..

Likely I believe the whole experience of the little guy has been way too stressful from the begining (mentioning that i saw another fischers cham in the small enclosure which she was a dark color, asleep during the day) as well as having runny urate before i took him home being that the only urate he has given was runny..and his new environment was too much of a change from having a dim lit display to a lot of light, and I only had time to buy a compact uvb light instead of the tube, which helped to know that the compact arent that great..

I feel that this guy is going to pass with the amount of time he has been in this state, 3 days now and no movement no matter the changes I've made..Sad to say because I know that he was in a bad state already being that i saw him sleeping when i went to pick him up..only when i interacted with him is when he seemed more active..Im hoping that this is not the case and that some treatment with the vet will help him but I dont know how long he's got, and i cant fix any husbandry issues at the moment besides getting another plant or changing light timing which would require moving him and i dont think that is even an option at this point of his state..

 

[Chameronthechameleon]

Just seen him up and drinking water, lets hope he keeps moving and i can feed him

 

[Kath44]

Is Devil's Ivy on the safe plant list? I know some Ivys are poisonous to chameleons. This could be a possible reason for closed eyes.

It's another name for pothos. Here in uk it's called devils Ivy

Kath.

 

[Lovereps]

Poor little cham.
Hopefully, it isn't too late for him and the vet can kill the parasites and save the cham.
What a stressful start to chameleon keeping you're having.
Wishing you and your cham the best!

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Most of the time the Petco and petsmart vets do not specialize in reptiles and especially chameleons and don't have much insight.