help my baby

spook80

New Member
i have a small 2-3inch rudis chameleon wild caught i purchased from reptile depot i did not think they would be that small i thought i would be getting an adult,anyway i have not seen him eat yet,i have offered tiny crickets,tiny mealies and evan wax worms but nothing.he eyeballs the crickets like he wants them but he does nottake them.he is housed in a screen enclosure 18x18x30 or somthing like that,substrate is cypress mulch and moss,temp is 75-80 and 70 at knight.uvb10.0 the main problem i see ishe just does not seem to have any strength.he stays on the floor of his cage all day and he only moves when i start the drip,perified water,ozark and a little pedealite.humidity is the only thing i can think of i can get it up to60% when i drip and mist then it goes back down to 30% i live in amarillo so humidity just is not high, any help would be appreciated thanx:confused:
 
Howdy,

Will he stay up on a branch if you put him there? You can try to increase the humidity by placing a towel(s) on up to 3 sides of the screen enclosure. You can even wet-down the towel. It might even make a difference if the towel is green colored but probably no that big a of a deal.

I think you should remove all of the substrate for various reasons that can be found by searching "substrate on this forum.

If he can't stay-up in the branches and continues to be found on the bottom then you don't have much time to turn things around. This can be a problem with ANY WC chameleon. The fact that he is small is at least a good sign that he isn't too old but being that small means you'll need to keep after hydration. If you can get him to stay up on a branch, try using a handheld pump-up sprayer ($7 at Home Depot) with warm water (90-100F) and carefully mist him and his surroundings on and off over a 20 minute session. You may go through a quart of water so be prepared with proper drainage. It can take that long to trigger a drinking response. He can go longer without food but hydration is the big concern.

Post photos of him and his setup.

Checkout this link for any missing data about things that you'll want to post along with the photos.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/


Funny coincidence, I had dinner sitting next to Steve from Reptile Depot just last night after the big Reptile Show in San Diego. He seems to be pretty knowledgeable about chameleons although we didn't "talk shop" too much :D.
 
rudis

thanx,well i am trying you're method so ill be busey 4 a while. i did take a couple photo's downloaded them and i am unable to post'em cause their too big.well i cut them doanwn to proper size but still unable to post them.when i take him out he is just so limp.does not really move and he urinated on me i think.i know i gotta be stressing him out but i wanted to put some food up to him but nothing.i whipped some water on his mouth but nothing,he just closed his eyes.so i put him back on a little perch and he just lay's their.well i took the chance of getting a wild caught i new what i was doing so,i can only hope he pulls through for me.
 
The fact that he is so limp is very concerning. I don't think it's something that the correct humidity levels would be able to remedy.
You're best off taking him to a vet as soon as possible.

You said: "does not really move and he urinated on me i think"
Chameleons don't urinate. Urates come out as the moist (but solid) white part of their feces. So if there was some sort of fluid discharge out of the chameleon, it's not natural.
 
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