Help Yoshi is sick!

Y

Yoshi and Spike

New Member
I woke up this morning and my chameleon yoshi was sitting at the bottom of his cage last night je was hanging upsidown from branches and now his back end isnt working very well his feet are week and his tail is completely limp...any ideas i think he may have fallen and hurt himself. He hasnt ben eating lately and is getting skinny i have to constantly spray him to keep his eyes from getting goopy and he seems dehtdratedt o i am dojng all i can to keep the habitat to standards but im womdering if this is a health issue i may not b able to fix...? Any advice is greatly appreciated im worried about him.
 
Hello,

So sorry to hear your cham Yoshi is sick. Let's try to help him feel better:)

First off, I really encourage you to fill out this form:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Weak legs and tail could be from many things. A fall, he broke something. Dehydration. Vitamin deficiency. Need to know about your set up to pin point any errors. If his eyes are getting goopy he has an infection, he could also have a respriratory infection. He needs to go to a vet, you will need medicine for him. When you go to a vet, try a bring a fresh fecal for testing for parasites(pick up with a paper towel and put in a baggie, the sample needs to be kept cool until it's tested, no longer than 24hrs old, that's the max time).

Can you get any pictures on here?
 
Yoshi is a male veiled chameleon 2 1/2 yrs old. I have had him sence he was a baby 2 yrs ago. I don't handle him very often maybe once a week. I buy him crickets from work...Petco so they are gut loaded he has never been a huge fan so I also feed him meal worms once a day with reptivite on them once a week. I spray him twice a day with a mister bottle and he gets sprayed till the bottle is gone each time 20oz or more... normally I do c him drink. He hasn't been as much lately and he isn't eating as of a week at least. I have been taking him into the bathroom and steaming it once a week also. Yoshi had a growth on his nose that I had surgery on when he was about a yr old it is still there but it doesn't grow anymore like it did. I have been spraying him extra lately because his eyes have been goopy. I also have meds from the vet from his surgery that he recommended on his eyes also gentamicin/ terramycin. I used that for a week and his eyes started to clear up my other chameleon has one eye he has a hard time keeping lubricated and it always clears it up for him very we'll. Yoshis eyes still look like they are sunken in, a sign of dehydration. last night he seemed to b doing fine he was hanging upside down on his branch and this morning he was sitting on the floor of the cage and that's when I realized his back end was weak and his tail is limp he seems to b holding himself funny there as u can c in the pics I will upload. The cage is a 40 gallon tipped up with a screen front I just bought a new UVB UVA bulb for him it's a zoomed brand and the heat is always on and the UVB UVA is on during the day off at night. He shares a zoomed 100 watt heat lamp with my other chameleon but I am going to up the temp and get a second lamp cause he is sick. Usually about 80 degrees I have a gage in the tank I check. I check the humidity with a gage and spray as needed. I have a live plant it's a reptile plant from Petco. The cage is located in my bedroom at the foot of my bed away from all doors and vents. The bottom of the cage is probly 3 ft off the ground and the top is 5.5 ft from the ground. I live in gj co it's considered a desert.
 
Does the reptivite have D3 or prEformed vitamin A in it? Do you dust at most feedings with a phosphorous - free calcium powder?
 
You have a 40g tank tipped up on its side, with a screen front...so the lights are sitting on the glass end, which is now the top? Glass filters out all UVB, so your lights are of no benefit if this is where they are placed. Or are the lights inside the tank? That's not good either as it can cause burns from the cham sitting too close or climbing on it.

And the heat is always on? If your room doesn't get below mid 60's to 70F, night time heat is not needed. Has Yoshi shown any signs of over heating, like open mouth gaping for extended periods of time? Is the 80F temp you are measuring at the top of the tank at the basking spot? Or is that an overall temp?
 
I only dust once a week with the calcium pouder and yes with d3 and vitamin a the crickets are vitabugs and like i said they arent his favorite over worms like my other one but he does eat them also. the lights hang down so they hit the inside of the tank from the screen side i remove them to get into the doors. And 80 overall temp when it gets hot enough outside i shut the heat off cause it is a desert so the days are hot and nights cool this time of yr tho its more rainy humid and cooler temps all around so it is on most of the time.
 
I will as soon as I can but I am an experienced reptile owner and know what I am doing I am mostly looking for personal experiences similar to this situation and what helped and what u were recommended by ur vets ect.
 
Could be he has a nutrient imbalance.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous its recommended that you dust at most feedings with a phosphorous - free calcium powder to help make up for it.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system like prEformed sources can and by using the beta carotene containing vitamin powder it leave it in your control to use the prEformed kind when it's necessary.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon has some vitamin D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB.

Appropriate temperatures play a part too because they aid in proper digestion and thus indirectly in the nutrient absorption.
 
Yoshi and Spike said:
I will as soon as I can but I am an experienced reptile owner and know what I am doing I am mostly looking for personal experiences similar to this situation and what helped and what u were recommended by ur vets ect.
Click to expand...

Have you not been giving him calcium since you had him?? Reptivite is a multi vitamin, right?? Gutloading is important and you cannot rely on Petco. All they use are potatoes. That is not nutritional gutloading. Like I said, post some pics. There are plenty of knowledgeable people on here that might detect something wrong that you may not see. If his eyes are "goopy" then he most likely has an infection.
 
...? Did this work?
 

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This is the occward position he keeps sitting in his spine almost seems crooked...or he just can't balance without his tail...
 

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Yes and he has been spending most of the day in the bathroom steaming and under water dripping but I can barely get him to open his mouth enough to get one drink... And then he's done and sits there.
 
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