Help! I don't know what else I can do!

Queen Yarbo

New Member
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Isn't she cute?


Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - Jacksons chameleon, female, 3 years old. We've had her for 6 months.
  • Handling - Not very often. Only during deep cleans. We attempted having her bask outside on a hibiscus, I think that handling was too stressful.
  • Feeding - she gets a variety. We have Dubia roaches, crickets, superworms - her fav - silk worms, and horn worms. We live near a national park and will occasionally provide a grasshopper, moth, cicada, ect. We feed the insects, oranges, carrots, kale, potatoes, apples, etc. In the past we have used the orange and blue cubes. I recently started feeding them Repashy Superload in gel form
  • Supplements - reptivite once a month, calcium with D3 twice a week, without d3 all other feedings. Apparently, my boyfriend had been dusting only with D3, he has fed her the past few weeks because she does not care for me. That has been remedied, and he now knows where all the supplements are located.
  • Watering - We have a dripper and mistking. We use reptosafe and have a spray bottle for our other reptiles and "just in case." I stupidly managed to get the mistking's timer wet, for awhile we were using a unreliable plug in timer. Our mistking is back to running perfectly.
  • Fecal Description - Urates alternate. Sometimes orange, sometimes white.
  • History - She has had 1-3 clutches before from her previous owner. She might be pregnant or gravid. The kid got her as a hatching and she spent her first 2 years in a custom enclosure with a 29 gallon aquarium as a base.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - She just moved into a Exo Terra 36x18×36 I had her in a custom built enclosure for 4 months, it was 38x38x40 and she only moved on certain vines. We also struggled with maintaining heat and humidity. Hence the downgrade in size.
  • Lighting - UVB 18", 4 months old. We were using a 100 watt bulb for her big enclosure the past few weeks. Back to just a regular 80 watt
  • Temperature - I no longer trust the thermostat and hydrometer. On Friday we'll have a infrared thermostat gun and high end hydrometer. Shouldn't be lower than 50 at night and higher than 80z
  • Humidity - see above, if I can trust the current hydrometer, it's tropical.
  • Plants - YES! Hibiscus, two scheffleras, pathos, ferns, orchid, sweet potato plant.
  • Placement - in my bedroom. She almost only has to deal with me and my boyfriend that moved in the day after we got her. I have a drainage system and I am trying to keep her away from, the lights. I'd say 30"?
  • Location
Current Problem -
View media item 46341My boyfriend, Gabriel, wrote this:

Our 3-year old female Jackson's hasn't eaten in over a week. She sees food but doesn't move her head to grab it. Additionally, she leans sideways when her heat lamp is on. She can and does move around the enclosure, but is not terribly active. She does not appear to be underweight, she may have been overweight she began her hunger strike.

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The O.G. Enclosure
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View media item 45249She's often found sideways or upside down. Her colors are dark or she's sleeping. It does not appear that she has MBD. I haven't noticed any symptoms for hour, respiratory infection, nor any other common illnesses.

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The refusal to eat has been incredibly worrisome. Since coming into our care, she's never been a picky eater.

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We have done so much. We've read so many posts on this forum, we've studied so many books, we've completely thrown out the enclosure that came with her. I for the first time in my life, as a 24 year old female did carpentery. For the sake of making her a new enclosure. Recently I spent way too much money on a. Screened Xl Tall exo terra.

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My readings show that female jacksons live to be 4-5 years old. I feel like the kid we got her off Craigslist may have used her as a breeding project. She may in fact be pregnant. We didn't know this until a couple weeks after her joining our family. I want her to live as long as possible and have as much comfort we can provide. If anyone has any better advice than our vet, I would appreciate it.

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I joke that Gabriel loves her more than me, but we love the little Cham equally.
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Do you have a lay bin for her? If not my suggestion is getting her one asap, she needs a place to lay or she will get egg bound.
 
You can try some flying insects such as blue bottle flies (order as larvae) or some green banana roaches. If anything gets her to eat those two items will.
 
I'm not ruling out problems from over supplementing D3 but a change of cage can bring on a hunger strike while they settle in. I suspect her turning sideways on the branch at 45˚ angle is to better absorb heat. If it's at a 90˚ angle she's hiding because she doesn't feel secure yet.
I have read about keepers treating over supplementation by fasting the cham and doing everything in there power to hydrate them. I have no personal experience with this. I tried to find the treads I've read on this . I will keep looking.
 
I'm not holding the animal so all I can go off of is your post and pics.

One, she looks old. That could be all this is and that's that. She doesn't look gravid to me.

Two, have you looked inside her mouth for any indication of infection? They will look at food when hungry but won't eat because it hurts depending on the location and type of infection. A cham not eating but looking interested, basking a lot, sleeping when the lights are on, is always going to get me to look inside.

Three, might be a simple internal infection. I'd take her the Herp vet, let him/her look inside, and depending on the thoughts of that vet maybe put the critter on a general antibiotic with lots of water. It the meds help you should see her eat in few days. Always offer smaller than usual prey items to a recovering cham.

Good luck
 
Yarbo's boyfriend here. Farosh still hasn't eaten, but she is alive and seems active. She stopped leaning on her branches so much. She seems like she's actually getting fatter, which makes us believe from our outside research that she is in fact gravid and that we can expect a clutch soon. Can you link us to any resources regarding care for baby Jacksons and their mothers?
 
Do you have a lay bin for her? If not my suggestion is getting her one asap, she needs a place to lay or she will get egg bound.

Boy this makes me so mad still, I know that they are live bearer’s too which makes it even worse, nothing like having a complete brain fart and posting for everyone to see, it still makes me feel like such a ding-dong!
 
We all have brain freezes...don't worry. Well only tease you about it as often as we can! :)
(Don't worry...we don't usually do that!)
 
You will need to have small feeders ready for the babies. Get cultures of D. hydei and melanogaster going. Buy bean beetles to use while your cultures get going. Then you can move to 1/8 in crickets later. All of this is available online.
Your female will need privacy. Most clutches are born while people are at work. You can cover the cage if you are home. She may not eat immediately after the birth but should be thirsty. Give her a long misting session and offer juicy worms but don't be surprised if she doesn't eat for a day.
Jackson's babies do best when they are raised separately. You can start them together but the stress of being with their siblings will lead to losses. They can be together for a few days then they should be reduced to pairs(better) or individual caging(best). Keep up the humidity and provide lots of cover. Glass cages work well at this stage but need good ventilation.
This link has breeding information near the bottom of the article. http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulManchen.html
 
Thanks, you are so super nice:)

You can totally tease me, I can handle it, since it was such a ding-dong move;)

Thanks for the compliment. Sometimes I'm very stern on here too...when I feel it's needed! :)

@Queen Yarbo you said you use calcium with D3 twice a week...this should be used twice a month. @JacksJill mentioned overdosing D3 already. Excess D3 can play a part in bone health and may affect muscle contractions.

I agree with OldChamKeeper about possible infections.

I hope you can solve her problems.
 
I live in Minneapolis and there's a great reptile store that has everything I need for potential babies. And I have a small exo terra and a 10 gallon set up.

Still hasn't eaten... but she's moving around cage a lot. More than she ever has. I might be overly hopeful, it seems to me she's either going to pass away or we'll have Cham babies.

She's awake but doesn't open her eyes often, they look a little sunken? Though, In the past I was worried they were too swollen. I've seen her watching me or my dogs, so I'm sure she's not blind.

We've never checked out her rear, so maybe that spot is normal?

A few updates photos:
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