Gizzy not eating again

[sallyb]

Hi all,
It`s such a shame i have to ask for help again so soon, but little gizzy appears to have lost interest in her food again (two days now) and is spending most of the time hiding in her greenery. She has been out to bask a few times today, but so far i have not seen her eat a thing. She seems quite lethargic.

She is still in her glass viv, but hubby is building a new enclosure right after xmas. I have removed the substrate and now have a reptile carpet, the crickets are now smaller and more managable for her (she ate a lot on Wed when i bought them). We have a drippier in her tank and are also misting 3 times per day for 3-4 minutes. Her temperature is around 28-29oc.

I have tried everything and just do not understand why she is not eating or if she is ill. Is two days too long not to eat ? or is it possible that the changes to her tank have upset her ? I have included a pics from Wed 17th and tonight in case they are helpful.

 

[Sang]

Do you keep any live plants within the enclsoure?

 

[sallyb]

No i don`t at the moment as there isn`t alot of height to the tank, but will be getting some as soon as the new enclosure is ready.

 

[Sang]

pothos is a fairly short plant, and the main reason you'd want this is to catch and maintain some water on the leaves.. the silk plants will make it very difficult to drink off of.



as for the lack of appetite.. crickets probably @ that age shouldn't be bigger then ..... about that , or ........ at the max...

how many did you feed on that first day.

a baby will eat anywere from 10-15 a day. my male panther is kinda slowing down on his apetite.

 

[sallyb]

pothos is a fairly short plant, and the main reason you'd want this is to catch and maintain some water on the leaves.. the silk plants will make it very difficult to drink off of.



as for the lack of appetite.. crickets probably @ that age shouldn't be bigger then ..... about that , or ........ at the max...

how many did you feed on that first day.

a baby will eat anywere from 10-15 a day. my male panther is kinda slowing down on his apetite.

She ate 6 or so the day i bought the small ones, only three a day after that and yesterday and today none at all. I have been showering her a lot and on one occassion she was drinking as i showered her. I am worried that she looks a little bloated tonight.

 

[Sang]

Is she doing anything odd?


lifting her head up when she sleeps? trembly?....anything that you would think odd of an chameleon.

 

[sallyb]

She isn`t really doing anything, just hiding most of the time. She isn`t showing any interest in food at all. I have done everything everyone suggested and hoped she would carry on eating, but i just don`t understand what is wrong. I really appreciate your help i am at a complete loss.

 

[liss]

I am really no expert, but sometimes after eating a bunch of crix all at once my cham doesn't show interest in them again for a day or two.... as for the hiding in the foliage.... is there something stressful in her environment? (I mean, in the same room in your house as your cham) ie. a kid or a loud pet that is showing an interest in Gizzy? My cham likes to hide away if my children are showing too much interest in him, sometimes if my pitbull comes in the room and is loud wanting to play with me, he hides too. When I remove the loud dog and kiddies, he's out and about again.
Hope any of this helped? best of luck!

 

[Dave Weldon]

...lost interest in her food again (two days now) and is spending most of the time hiding in her greenery. She has been out to bask a few times today, but so far i have not seen her eat a thing. She seems quite lethargic.

She is still in her glass viv, but hubby is building a new enclosure right after xmas. I have removed the substrate and now have a reptile carpet, the crickets are now smaller and more managable for her (she ate a lot on Wed when i bought them). We have a drippier in her tank and are also misting 3 times per day for 3-4 minutes. Her temperature is around 28-29oc.

Is two days too long not to eat ? or is it possible that the changes to her tank have upset her?...

Howdy Sally,

If possible, post a couple of photos showing the entire enclosure relative to the room that it is in. Also include a close-up photo of the entire enclosure only.

You mentioned that "Her temperature" is 28C-29C. Is that her body temp or the surrounding area ambient temp or her basking location temp? Exactly what did you use to take the temp measurement and at what location?

Of course, all kinds of things could be wrong that causes her not to eat. Some of those things could have been there all of the time and she is now reacting to them either from a build-up or she is now just becoming aware of them or "sensitive" to them. A couple of thoughts that come to mind are:

1.) Is she really staying hydrated?
2.) Has she pooped regularly since eating all of those crickets?
3.) What is the make/model/brand of that "uvb5" ?
4.) What are the dimensions of the current enclosure and what are the postions and distances of all of the light/heat sources?

I went back through your old posts and realized that we could benefit from detailed answers to: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ even though you've supplied some of it in past posts. Getting the rest of it and updates to things you've already mentioned and putting it in one place will help to more effectively tune our answers .

Photos, photos, photos .

(P.S. Stay away from wearing your RED Christmas sweater ).

 

[sallyb]

Hi there,
LOL - It`s okay i don`t have a red christmas sweater thank goodness. I am actually at my mums at the moment, but when i get home i will endeavour to grab some pictures. Here are some answers to begin with,

Her uvb 5 is Repti-glo tube, she then has a infra-red heat lamp again as suggested by the pet shop. the temperature of 28-29oc is her hot spot temperature taken with the thermometer sold to me buy the pet shop i bought her from which is a small round one.She is in what i note now may be a high traffic area of the lounge, but i am now going to put her in a nice quiet corner.

She has had several changes to her enclosure recently as we realised the pet shop had advised us wrongly and felt it safer to replace and remove certain items. Thankfully we only have a 12 year old boy who is very quiet around her.

Since eating the crickets she has drunk water and has pooped as normal - this looks fine going on descriptions i have read on here.

I think she is staying hydrated and i now have a dripper in her tank and also mist her 2-3 times per day.

Her enclosure is 2` 6" but i am unsure of the depth and height, would have to measure it. My other half is about to build her a tall enclosure as we now know this one is not large enough to last for very long. Her current shyness and eating problem appeared to begin with the enclosure changes last week, i thought it was the vine i added so i removed it which helped slightly as she started to venture out a little bit again, but the eating still is not too good. I am desperate to get things right for her and to see her happy and settled again.

 

[chequepoint]

Sounds like she's in a 20L aquarium if I had to guess.. ick.

I would say the heat lamp is causing some problems.
1) If its a red or black/blue bulb, the chameleon won't recognize it as a heat source, it should be white.
2) It should only be on 12 hours a day, hopefully thats the case, if not please start turning it off at night. Temperature drops at night are important.
3) I don't know how old he/she is but in a 20L or even a 29 gallon aquarium, I don't think you are able to maintain a proper heat gradient, even if your temperatures in the area where your thermometer is are in an acceptable range, the chameleon also needs to be able to cool itself off in other areas of the cage.

Hopefully the new enclosure is a ventilated and not made of glass. Reflections could also be stressing the animal.

 

[sallyb]

Sounds like she's in a 20L aquarium if I had to guess.. ick.

I would say the heat lamp is causing some problems.
1) If its a red or black/blue bulb, the chameleon won't recognize it as a heat source, it should be white.
2) It should only be on 12 hours a day, hopefully thats the case, if not please start turning it off at night. Temperature drops at night are important.
3) I don't know how old he/she is but in a 20L or even a 29 gallon aquarium, I don't think you are able to maintain a proper heat gradient, even if your temperatures in the area where your thermometer is are in an acceptable range, the chameleon also needs to be able to cool itself off in other areas of the cage.

Hopefully the new enclosure is a ventilated and not made of glass. Reflections could also be stressing the animal.

Hi,
Thanks i will remove the red bulb as soon as i get home - will an ordinary light bulb be better or should i buy a different bulb altogether ? I have been turning the lamp off at night as suggested by another member. The lovely pet shop owner had told me to leave it on all the time

The new enclosure will be made up mostly of wood, but with lots of ventilation, real plants etc and hopefully will be ready very, very soon. I cannot believe the poor advice these people give out when somebody purchases an animal.

 

[BocaJan]

A household bulb is what is used. I use a 60w bulb for mine.

 

[chequepoint]

I cannot believe the poor advice these people give out when somebody purchases an animal.

I can. Its easy. The owner of the pet shop sells you an "infared heat bulb" because you can't buy that anywhere but a pet shop, then he tells you to keep it on 24/7 so that it burns out faster and he can sell you another one.

If your animal dies, he'll sell you another one of those as well.

One of my friends runs a pet store, its a business, not a zoo, and not an educational institution. If you have to ask a pet store what you need, you might as well just hand them your wallet. Thats why its important to research first, then purchase.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Sally,

A couple more things to address from the "How to ask for help link":

Temperature - Lowest overnight temp?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand/type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

If you don't have a way to trap the lowest overnight temp, try to give us an idea of what you think it might be .

If you don't have a way to measure humidity, give us an opinion of whether you think your home is a dry or humid overall environment.

Are you feeding and hydrating your crickets before they get fed-off?

The exact brand and type of supplements as well as your schedule is important.

Your chameleon asked for these presents for Christmas :

Infrared temp guns are very handy to determine the chameleon's body temperature:

A cheapie one that works (D:S 1:1):
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93983
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=5233831.15224&p_id=23015&xm=on

A bit fancier one that's nice (D:S of 6:1):
http://www.tempgun.com/order.html#pe2

Example of a typical digital temperature and humidity meter.
Digital Temp/humidity with remote sensors:
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=5233831.15224&p_id=23008&xm=on

 

[Sang]

don't forget she is in the UK... were glass is acceptable for chameleons because of the temperature drops. i am sure there is a sense of fine tuning required for it...

if anyone can help ya, weldon is the guy.

 

[sallyb]

Howdy Sally,

A couple more things to address from the "How to ask for help link":

Temperature - Lowest overnight temp?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand/type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

If you don't have a way to trap the lowest overnight temp, try to give us an idea of what you think it might be .

If you don't have a way to measure humidity, give us an opinion of whether you think your home is a dry or humid overall environment

Are you feeding and hydrating your crickets before they get fed-off?

The exact brand and type of supplements as well as your schedule is important.

Your chameleon asked for these presents for Christmas :

Infrared temp guns are very handy to determine the chameleon's body temperature:

A cheapie one that works (D:S 1:1):
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93983
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=5233831.15224&p_id=23015&xm=on

A bit fancier one that's nice (D:S of 6:1):
http://www.tempgun.com/order.html#pe2

Example of a typical digital temperature and humidity meter.
Digital Temp/humidity with remote sensors:
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=5233831.15224&p_id=23008&xm=on

Hi Dave,
Thank you for the link i`ll check it out now.

Her lowest overnight temperature is 19oc, i do not have a way of reading the humidity (something i need to address), but her tank is pretty humid. She has the dripper and i mist her frequently.

We have handled her every two or three days as we have had to make alterations to her tank, but she has seemed very relaxed and on an evening has fallen asleep in my hand.

I am dusting her crickets with Komodo cricket dust for live food which the man in the shop gave me - he didn`t actually tell me she needed anything else, but the lady in my pet shop gave me the calcium plus food for crickets in a pellet form for me to gut load them with. I have also been hydrating the crickets before feeding them to her. I tend to feed her in a morning as she is usually looking as soon as she wakes up (well when she is in the mood to eat).

I only arrived home a short time ago and am thrilled to find that 4 of the 6 crickets i put in before leaving have been eaten, It`s a start. I am going to buy a white bulb in the morning and have turned her off for the night now. I will also order the suggested items asap and hopefully she will soon be feeling happier

 

[millionsofchameleons]

when you put her in a quite corner see if you can elevate her cage abit. they feel more comfortable being higher and may explain the hiding alot also.

 

[sallyb]

Will do, thanks for that. She has actually come out of hiding again this morning and looks a nice green colour - i`ve included some photos. One is the tank she is in, one her this morning and one of her heat lamp which is actually coming out today.

 

[sallyb]

Update - I have just changed her bulb for an ordinary white bulb and she emerged from the greenery within second, perched herself under the light and began chomping crickets, 3 so far, yipee !!!! Thanks so much.