Help Please!!!

[Ness01]

I was going to get me daughter a leapord geico and done the research for it. however when we went to the pet store we ended up with a Veiled Chameleon which I had not researched. The pet store made it sound so easy to care for them. They sold me a 10 gallon tank with a blue bulb for day and a red for night. After about a week I had researched and went to a different pet store for a UVB light. they sold me a little curly 5.0 and told me that was all she needed. Well after about 5 days I noticed she was not opening her eyes. She does not eat on her own and is very clumsy not grasping well. I have looked and looked and now built her a screen enclosure 2ft in all directions. I have a humidifier close, a zilla tropical T8 5.0 light and a 100wt basking light. I mist the cage several times a day. We have got her to take a few crickets from us in the past 2 days that I am dusting with the vitamins. I am very worried that I am only prolonging her death. I am trying so hard to save her. Any suggestions would help so much. Think its female and very young. about 4in long.

Thanks

 

[Sinfulintent]

starting you off
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/linzeecooperpanther/626-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

Edit: Wanted to get you that link before I commented. It's good that you got some of the necessary eqipment to house your cham, it's just unfortunate you got it AFTER you got her.

Can you fill this out for us please.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

it will help is in seeing what you can improve on in her cage system and where you stand health wise. Chams are not an easy animal in my opinion. Make sure you get her vitamins going on a good schedual, and try feeding more, since you came and asked for help we should be able to help you and your new cham pull through

 

[Ness01]

Veiled, young about 4in long, think its female, had it 4 weeks
didnt handle at all but have to now to feed her and soak her
Crickets is all she would eat. Was eating 5 small a day. now nothing
using Repti Calcium
I have a little dripper and mist 3 times daily soaking everything. she was drinking but not any more.
Have not saw any Fecal in about 5 days

Cage (built yesterday) Was in 10gal aquarium
Screen, 2ft in all directions
Zilla Tropical T8 5.0 strip light (just got it yesterday)
Zoo Med Repti Basking Lt 100wt (got yesterday)
I have digital thermometer. Cage staying about 78 with basking of 95 but she is not going to it and she falls allot so I am scared for her to be high.
I have bought 2 humidity readers and I dont think either are working right. I do have a humidifier under her.
There is live Ivy in the cage. And branches.

I think the stuff now may would be fine but she is already so sick. She did open one eye this morning but she just falls off limbs cause she blindly tries to go higher. Not drinking or eating. There are times she gasps. I first noticed that she would try to catch crickets and miss them a few times before catching them.

Sorry this is so sloppy. I am new to this site and could not get a form to come up.

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[Sinfulintent]

I have a thread on eye problems and it got pretty lengthy so lots of good information in it and I like to give it to people that are having eye issues

https://www.chameleonforums.com/eye-bulging-closed-100440/

Eyes being closed does cause chams to fall a lot, blindly reaching around.. put a towel on the bottom of your chams cage so if she does fall she's not hitting a hard surface. They can take falls and do a suicide jump think if they feel threatened so it's not completely harmful if she does fall but repeated probably not the best thing in the world.

On the back feet does he/she have a little spur on the back? If there is it's a boy, if not, you gotta a little girl.

Size can vary on them, 4 inches is pretty young.. maybe only a few months old, no good way to tell this that I know of.

Have you taken her to a vet yet? Eyes being closed is probably a vitamin deficiency or a lighting issue, especially with the night time light (not sure if you got rid of it but there should be no light at night) If that's the case your vet can give her a shot of liquid calcium or vitamins under the skin which could help her out a lot along with give you liquid calcium to force feed her. There are also gel capsules you can guy at GNC or other health stores for Vit A that you can throw into the force feed.

 

[Ness01]

Thanks so much I will read this and do what it says. There are no spurs that I can see. There is no vet anywhere close to me that will see Reptiles. I live in So IL. I will try the new stuff I have and if she dont get better than I will let you know. I hate that places sell these poor little things to people and give them all the wrong info.

Thanks so much!!

 

[Sinfulintent]

Are any of the vets here near you?

http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/#Illinois

Or look at some of the others listed here

https://www.chameleonforums.com/veterinarian-resources-67/

It seems a lot of us get our first one from pet stores and get loads of incorrect information, which is the reason I had issues as well. It may help to get some natural sunlight if you can (not sure the temperature where your at) but if it's warm enough to get some outside time in the sun it may help loads, I had a breakthrough when I did this with my cham.

 

[carol5208]

If she is not drinking and eatingt she will dehydrate easily, especially if she is getting no moisture from her feeders. Dehydration can also cause her to close her eyes along with other illnesses including parasites. It is hard to say what is going on right now. Try taking an eye dropper and keep slowly dripping the water on her nose. It make take several minutes but she should start drinking. Sorry you were given all the wrong info. The majority of pet stores have no business selling chameleons.

 

[Ness01]

This evening she is acting much better. Hope she will be ok. She did open both eyes and is moving and holding on. Still hand feeding but it looks hopeful. It is snowing here so no chance of sun. I think I will go inform this big chain store of their ignorance. I have read everything I could find online. My whole family is trying hard to save her. Thanks for the help.

 

[carol5208]

good luck and keep us updated on her condition. Yes, I would say something. Maybe you can save a few chameleon's in the long run. Tell them to come to this forum and we can teach them everything they need to know so they can pass the correct info onto their customers. With the current advice they are giving out now, no chameleons sold in their store have a chance for survival.

 

[Meloman]

just wanted to let ya know we are praying for her!

 

[kinyonga]

First of all...welcome to the forum! This is a great forum for chameleon owners!

Glad to hear she is a little better. Hopefully you can bring her back to good health.

Since you are new to this I will try to give youbadded much information as I can. Hope it won't be overwhelming.

I usually keep the basking temperature.perature in the low to mid 80's F for baby veileds. I use a regular incandescent household bulb in a domed fixture as a basking light. It should only be on during the day time. There is no need for heat at night unless the temperature drops below 65F...and no need for light at night.

The chameleon does need exposure to UVB light so that it can produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system. The most often recommended bulb for this is the long linear Repti-sun 5.0.

A wide variety of insects is recommended but crickets are a good staple since they are easy to obtain, keep and to gut load/feed. Insects should be of an appropriate size for the chameleon.

You can feed/gutload crickets, roaches, superworms, locusts with a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc.

Since most of the feeder insects we use have a poor ratio of calcium to phos its important to dust them at most feedings before feeding them to the chameleon with a phos - free calcium powder to help make up for it.

I also dust twice a month with phos - free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues.

I also dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources are converted as needed by the body but prEformed sources can build up in the system. However...here is controversy as to whether or not all/any chameleons can convert it....so it's up to the owner to decide whether to use any prEformed in addition to the regular vitamins. I have never had to use prEformed vitamin A for veiled chameleons....but its only my experience I'm speaking from.

Calcium, D3, phos and vitamin A are all important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon and need to be in balance. Appropriate temperatures also play a part since they aid in digestion...thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Also...it's important to know that female veileds can produce eggs without having mated so it's important once they reach sexually maturity to provide them with an appropriate place to lay them so they won't become eggbound.

Hope this helps and that your little one will recover.

 

[ReptileLove18]

im glad to hear she appears to be doing a little bit better!

and im sorry that this is how things are going with her, as others have said its a really common thing for petstores to not have the knowledge to care for chameleons properly and therefore dont give new owners good information either..

here is a great caresheet for veileds that has accurate information on their care and husbandry. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

please keep us updated on how she is doing! thank you for trying so hard to bring her back to a healthy state, that says a lot about you

 

[Godzillakeeper101]

There is a lot of research to be done and a lot of different preferences so chose wisely these are awlsome creatures handle carefully and gently if all grew well your pet will be happy as can be just do your home work think of it as like a fish out of water you don't pet your fish but admire now on the out her hand if you offer it a hand and it comes willing you have a rare and awlsome animal