getting her to drink and eat again on her own?

[mom2lilnick]

I have a female Veiled. We are guessing she is around 8 months old.

Long story short, she got dehydrated. Took her to the vet, they kept her for 6 hours or so and syringe fed and watered her. We brought her home again and were told to continue doing this until she ate again on her own.

That was Thursday, it is Monday and she is totally relying on my to get her out and fed her 1 cc of a/d cat food mixed with water and following it up with 1cc of water from a syringe. I attempted to give her a chance to eat and drink on her own this am. Put a baby cricket in and she walks away from it. She refuses to drink whether I am spraying the leaves or just leaving a dripper to drip in front of her. She will just move to another part and sleep.

I am at a loss. I am home with my kids for summer vacation but will be working again in a month and I am terrified that she is going to still need me to feed and water her several times a day.

Any info will be appreciated.
Amy

 

[Sepioteuthis]

How often and for how long do you mist the cage normally? Does she drink while (or after) being misted?
How is her behavior / activity level?

Unless she's really skinny, I would not forcefeed her for a day or 2 and just put a little cup with a few crickets in her cage within view. It's not going to kill her if she doesn't eat for a day and she may have to work up an appetite before she'll start eating on her own again.

Some more information about how she became dehydrated and what her set up is like might help us as well.

- Suzanne

 

[spatulars]

I dealt with dehydration by spraying my chameleon's cage much more frequently (when he gets water on his face he will open his mouth and drink it), and I dealt with his hunger strike by waiting until he started eating again on his own. The dehydration was mild and abated quickly. It took at least 3 weeks for him to eat on his own, but he was fine in the end. I wouldn't give my chameleon cat food.

 

[mom2lilnick]

She gets misted 2 to 3 times a day normally for about 3 to 5 mins. Her cage setup is not ideal but she is a reptairum and needs to be moved to a larger one asap.

She became dehydrated because she was digging in the dirt and I assumed she was getting ready to lay eggs and that is why she stopped eating. I didn't realize she wasn't drinking until it was pretty bad and she was dehyrated and emaciated. She is pretty shy and doesn't like to eat or drink with anyone in the room.

Her behavior has been fairly normal up since returning from the vet. Which is why I thought it would be a good time to try and let her eat on her own. About 1pm tho I noticed she was sleeping on the ground (which isn't normal for her) and that is when I decided to feed her myself.

She will drink from the syringe in her cage. I wonder if I should just water her for a day or so and then try the crickets again???

 

[spatulars]

So did she end up laying her eggs?

 

[mom2lilnick]

no.. the vet didn't think she actually had any to lay. I took her to the only herp vet in our city. She has been down in her dirt again, but not digging, just laying there.

I am pretty confused on the whole thing. Is there anyway to tell if she is ready to lay eggs?

 

[kinyonga]

First of all...cat food contains preformed vitamin A. It can build up in your chameleon's system. Too much preformed vitamin A can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.

Secondly...from her behaviour (you said she was digging but isn't now, you said that she is just laying on top of the dirt, you said that she isn't drinking or eating on her own) she may be eggbound. I'm seriously concerned for her.

 

[mom2lilnick]

What should I be feeding her? I am just using what the vet sent home with us. I am supposed to call tomorrow and give the vet another update. Do I demand that he see her again?

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Could you post a picture of her? Does she look fat? What is her color like - any different from before this all started.

I would not feed her for a few days, just make sure she keeps drinking.
Has she pooped lately?

I agree with Kinyonga that is is sounding very serious.

- Suzanne

 

[mom2lilnick]

I will try to get a pic of her asap. She hadn't pooped for a few days before she went to the vet but now she seems to be a couple of times a day at least. Starting white and ending grey/brown. (never thought I would have to explain that)

Thanks you all for your help and advice. Obviously we are new to this as we have only had her for 6 months and she was doing extremely well.

 

[chamlover]

I triple that. What kind of dirt bucket or whatever do you have in her cage? When she was digging, did you cover her cage at all? She does sound like she might have eggs to lay and if she doesn't she will die. How good of a cham vet is he/she? Mine was posted as a reptile/exotic and then i found out he didn't even realize that you can't put 2 together. If you gently pulpate her stomach sometimes you can actually feel the eggs. Has she gained alot of weight lately? Sorry for all the ? but i am concerned for her as well. YOu don't have alot of time with this before it is TOO LATE. Keep us informed.

Debby

 

[mom2lilnick]

Thanks Debby. She actually looked quite thin and did get pretty soft and bloated looking after her vet visit when they put about 4 cc's of water in her pretty quickly. She is now just back to looking normal. I will get a pic up of her.. I will try tomorrow aft. My youngest son has an all day IVIG infusion in the am. I don't think she looks too big and I have felt around softly and can't feel anything.

I have no idea how good our vet is. He is listed on some site that I was searching on for herp vets. He was the only one in my city but there are two listed for a city an hour away.

The dirt is in a tupperware type container.. I am not sure what the dirt is.. my dh brought it from work. He runs a pet store.

Thanks for all the advice. Still wondering what I should be feeding her instead of the cat food if she won't eat in a day or two?

 

[kinyonga]

The thing is that if she is eggbound and the problem doesn't get solved quickly you will likely lose her. I only know of a couple of times that a veiled chameleon survived eggbinding without help. I wish I didn't have to say this, but I don't want you to think it is less serious than it is. I would love to be proven wrong about it.

Here is some information about egglaying difficulties and binding...
http://www.adcham.com/html/veterinary/egglaying-fatigue-kramer.html
http://www.swanimalhospital.net/html/chameleon.html
http://www.smso.net/Egg_bound

As for feeding her, here is a recipe for "bug juice"...
http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/bug-juice.html

Good luck!