How to hydrate?

[armando]

Chameleon Info:
7 month veiled chameleon.. I have had him since he was a baby
How much do I handle it? Only when he jumps on my hand, but I usually dont grab him.
Feeding - I have most crickets, some dubias, superworms, hoppers.. I gutload them with oranges, carrots, jam, dandelion, sandrachameleon´s dry gutload recipe
Supplements -
plain calcium: monday tuesday thursday friday
calcium plus: wednesday
repcal vitamin and calcium d3: I switch between them on sundays
Watering - I never see him drink.. he has 3 sessions of mistking mistings of 7 minutes each, and a big dripper dripping on leaves.
Fecal Description - they are not soft, and dont look hidrated
History - He used to eat a lot, and his feces looked really good on the small cage... now he is on a bigger cage and he doesnt seems as hidrated as he used to be

Cage Info:
Cage Type - its the bigest reptibreeze ... I forgot the size..
Lighting - basking spot, reptisun 5.0, and a regular incandecent house bulb for aditional light... he is also next to an open window for some natural light.
the go on at 6 am and are down at 6 pm just like otside (winter)
Temperature - temperature is around 20C in the cold sides, and about 30C in the basking area... in night temperature drops to 16C
Humidity - its usually around 40... it goes up and down with the misting sessions.
Plants - I have two beatiful schefflera, and a Dracaena fragans
Placement - its in my room.. next to an open windon
Location - im located in Hermosillo, sonora mexico... right down the state of arizona
Current Problem

Hey everyone... Im having some problems here...
He has been on hunger strike for about a month...
He does eats, but Im having so much trouble doing it...
He only eats 2 bugs daily (2 circkets) .. or 1 cricket and roach... (He would go for all the superworms that I offer...) but I just give them every other day..
His urates doesnt look hydrated at all!!! urates are solid and color goes from light yellow to orange
Feces are solid and dryish too..
I have heard that veield chams dont eat much when they are not well hidrated.. Im guessing this could be a problem...
What else should I do to boost up hydration?? I have tried everything!!
He runs away from the mist and he doesnt seems to be using his dripper..
(note: water on the mist king reserviour is warm, so it doesnt comes out cold)

 

[Lovereps]

Several things lead to dehydration in chams.
Excessively hot temperatures.
Too little available water to drink
Too little moisture in the air
Internal parasites
Kidney disorders
Excessive supplements

With fresh urates not being a nice snowy white, then he isn't hydrated enough.
If the feeders look more like ghosts than bugs, it's too much supplementation at one time.
With the other supplements that he gets, I'm not sure that the Calcium plus once a week is a good idea.
Here are excerpts from a page by veterinarian Kenneth Lopez:
I commonly have chams brought in with obstipation, decreased appetites, wasting away, and severe dehydration despite vigilant misting or watering.
and
Are we over-supplementing our chams? Here is my reasoning behind the question. 1. Excess calcium causes muscles to become sluggish and weak. It causes decreased appetite and causes obstipation (intractable constipation) due to decreased contractility of the intestinal walls. 2. Excess Vitamin D actually causes ABSORPTION of bone. It actually mimics hyperparathyroidism. 3. Vitamin D causes calcification of bone. Excess Vitamin D causes inappropriate mineralization of organs such as the kidney or soft tissue. Excess Vit D3 and Calcium has been implicated in mineralization of large blood vessels, causing cardiac disease.
The full article is found here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html

Ideally, humidity in the air around a veiled cham should be 55-65% and you mentioned 40% is where his humidity is.
You can increase the humidity by adding additional mistings throughout the day or lengthening the current mistings.
Put plastic sheeting on 2 or 3 sides of the cage.
Add more live plants to his cage.
Is it breezy near the window, so he gets too dry?

A good way to hydrate a cham is to put a plant into a warm, not hot, shower, aim the shower spray at the wall so it splashes a bit onto the plant, and put your cham onto the plant.
A half hour shower session should help him to catch up.

I should have also added this link about hydration by Dr Kenneth Lopez:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=3.Hydration.html


Parasites are an often overlooked reason for seemingly inexplicable health problems, including dehydration.
A fecal check can reveal the culprit.

 

[MCSEB]

Listen to what Armando is saying. Also, some chameleons don't drink in front of people. Not sure why. Here's a little tip. Make sure you have plants in your cage. Maybe 2 if you could fit them. Also, make sure you have branches and lots so he could have pathways to get to different levels of the cage. Make your basking spot in the highest point of the cage but not touching the roof more like about 3-4 inches away from the roof. Put your lights and basking lights on the spot and make sure your chameleon has ways to get up and down to it and from it. Chameleons will bask when they eat so they could digest their food. Have some vines and leaves around so they could hide and get shade. Make sure to mist the cage for about 3-4 minutes and get everything. Chameleons remember do not drink flat water because they don't know that it's water. They drink from drops produced from leaves and from the branches after a good misting. Make sure you mist the cage at least 3 times a day 3-4 minutes each. Put the crickets in the cage and let them be. He might be shy and may not eat in front of you now. The crickets will go up to the light to get heat so he will see them if he is in his basking spot. Make sure he is getting 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. I hope this helps.

 

[Chamguy89]

Sounds like he stuck on those meal worms. Those are like dessert to him. You have to keep offering him crickets. It's like having a spoiled kid whim just wants cake and candy for breakfast lunch and dinner. It's happen to my male veiled akihiko. But about the hydration try spraying him for three minutes with warm water not too hot or not to cold. He will eventually not run but sit there and drink. Don't mist to fast( this is what I noticed) try misting very slow like a light rainfall and he will eventually start to lick. Don't mist too much because u can create a bacteria that may give ur veiled a respitory infection. When the respitory affection occurs, you will notice when he's basking under the heat lamp he will gasp and start to open him mouth. When you do that humididty levels are to high and misting is to much. See. If the information is correct. If I'm not correct someone please correct me. I'm just giving info based on what I learned. Hope I helped thanks

 

[Chamguy89]

Oh I forgot mealworms have a hard exo skeleton u may know this. But if givin to much meal worms it can cause him to to digest his food properly and may damage his insides eternally. And if u happen to see ur cam gasping try reduceing the amount of misting. I normally most his setup Like 3 squirts and that's it. I won't mist him directly for about a week.

 

[armando]

Great !
Thanks everyone!
lets see....

Lovereps:
weather is not too hot or cold right now... actually its lovelly.. warm during daytime, and drops to 16 C during night... he has plenty of water to drink (dripper and mistking) , but somehow he is not drinking it... I can see that In his urates. And about the excesive supplements, I just lightly coat them... And I wouldnt know about parasites... I will do a check up.

MCSEB:
HE does have many humbrella plants inside... actually they are big and beautiful, and the background is covered by a big cork... Im guessing that all this keeps a good humidity level inside. I will check this up too tough..
I will let some insects freerange.

Chamguy89:
I will stop offering superworms... Actually I didnt use to give him, just one or two each week... but now im doing it so he gets something to eat.
I will stop, and see if he really gets hungry and finally eats real food

 

[Decadancin]

All good advice so far. The best part is to get the fecal done. This should be done periodically anyway, but whenever there is a change in behavior it is the first thing that should come to mind. The superworms could be a big part of the issue. I would stop the feeding of them until things are back to normal. Is your cham maintaining weight? If so, then I would concentrate on the hydration for now. Try a syringe with water. Slowly drip some onto the mouth and see if he will drink. (One drop at a time as long as it doesn't freak him out too much) Another way to hydrate is through the feeders. Get some hornworms or silk worms and try them! You may want to try and bump the humidity up a bit for now. Cover two sides with plastic and get the levels to rise a bit and this may help your cham maintain more fluids. Lastly, I would think about cutting back the supplements a bit. I don't think this is the issue, but many supplement less, especially with such a good gutload! Good luck hydrating !

 

[armando]

Ok... now he is drinking with syringe
I will quit superworms, and will stop supplements....
And also raise up a bit more humidity

 

[MCSEB]

Great !
Thanks everyone!
lets see....

Lovereps:
weather is not too hot or cold right now... actually its lovelly.. warm during daytime, and drops to 16 C during night... he has plenty of water to drink (dripper and mistking) , but somehow he is not drinking it... I can see that In his urates. And about the excesive supplements, I just lightly coat them... And I wouldnt know about parasites... I will do a check up.

MCSEB:
HE does have many humbrella plants inside... actually they are big and beautiful, and the background is covered by a big cork... Im guessing that all this keeps a good humidity level inside. I will check this up too tough..
I will let some insects freerange.

Chamguy89:
I will stop offering superworms... Actually I didnt use to give him, just one or two each week... but now im doing it so he gets something to eat.
I will stop, and see if he really gets hungry and finally eats real food

Hey no worries, you're doing a good job so far so keep it up.