Jacksons Acting Sick

[Hadeesh]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Jacksons, Male, 1 Year Old. I have had him for about 6 months.

Handling - I handle him only when necessary. I.e. cleaning, to give medicne

Feeding - I feed him 4-6 Dubia Roaches a day. I gutload them with chicken feed.
Supplements - I dust the dubias with Exo-Terra calcium every other day and a multivitamin once a month.

Watering - I mist a couple times a day for about 30 seconds at a time. I also have a drip system. I see him drinking every now and then, but I tend to leave the room after I mist.

Fecal Description - Normal feces, normal urates. Has been tested for parasites and is currently being treated.

History - N/A


Cage Info:
Cage Type - 1/2 Inch Homemade Screen cage. 3ftx2.5ftx2ft
Lighting - Two heat lamps to switch back and forth from as needed, and a uvb strip light.

Temperature - Top Temp ~82 Degrees. Bottom Temp ~70 Degrees. Measured by two analog thermometers.

Humidity - Humidity ~65-70%
I use a fogger.

Plants - No live plants.

Placement - Cage is in my room. The highest point from the floor is 4 feet.

Location - Washington State.




Current Problem - So this is a tad extesnsion from my post yesterday, but I have recently started to give my Jax an antiparasitic, and he is to be on them for two weeks. Today I go to check up on him and he is towards the bottom of the cage laying on a branch, but his eyes were open looking around. I kind of brush it off to go run errands, but when I get back he has completely hidden himself in a shady area and isn't really moving around too much. Usually he is up at his basking spot all day. He doesnt seem like he is feeling too well, and I can't really afford another vet visit right now. So should I keep giving him his meds? Should I skip today just to see how he is tomorrow?
Thank you for any input.

 

[kinyonga]

Not that this might be the problem but it's worth mentioning I think....is there formaldehyde in the chicken feed?

 

[Hadeesh]

There is no formaldehyde, and I actually just starting feeding them the chicken feed today, so no transference would have happened yet.

 

[Lovereps]

Hi Hadeesh,
Sorry your Jackson's isn't feeling well.
While most of what you're doing looks good, there are a few things that could benefit your cham if they were changed.

Please read this thread for important info about chicken feed.
Some chicken feeds contain antibiotics and that may be a part of what is troubling your cham.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gutload-chicken-feed-123804/

While you mention Exo-Terra calcium, you haven't specified whether it contains D3 or not.
If you have been using calcium with D3 several times a week, then you must stop doing that immediately.
If D3 is in your almost daily calcium, then please discontinue the D3 for a month to 6 weeks so he can try to clear the excess from his system and increase the length and frequency of his mistings (which is alos a good idea whenever a cham is on medications.)
Too much D3 is known to cause problems in chams and Jackson's are even more sensitive to an excess of D3 than many other types of chams are.
Plain calcium without D3 is the one to use most often.
Calcium with D3 should only be used 1x a month with Jackson's
A multivitamin 1x a month is fine.

Although Dubias are definitely nutritious, chams benefit from having a variety of foods in their diets.
Crickets, Phoenix worms, superworms, silkworms, pillbugs, can all be added to his diet.
Jackson's especially love land snails (water snails are too often loaded with parasites).
It is amazing to watch a gentle Jackson's excitedly crunch on a snail--shell and all!

Your misting isn't really enough to stimulate a Jackson's to drink. They really require several minutes of misting before their brains seem to tell them to drink.
It's the reason I use an automatic misting system with my Jackson's.

The drip system is certainly a good idea and the fogger can keep humidity levels up but that doesn't provide drinking water.
It is important to ensure that the cage dries out in between, so that unhealthy molds and fungi don't grow.


I am wondering how he isn't getting too hot with 2 heat lamps on a cage of that size.
Perhaps when room temps were lower during the winter when you set his cage up the temps were OK but now that the US is heating up, he may be being overheated without you realizing it.

It sounds like your cage is nearly on the floor. Chameleons get stressed when they're not kept at eye level or higher.

If your weather is nice enough, somewhere in the 60s to 70's, you can bring him and his cage outdoors for some real sunlight basking time.
I always partially cover the cage in order to ensure that the cham can move into shade if he wants to or needs to.

As far as the antiparasitic drug goes, it may be a good idea to contact the prescribing vet to let him know that your cham seems to be worsening and ask for his/her advice.
It is possible that an overdose was accidentally written down by mistake or that the medicine doesn't agree with your particular cham or it may be that he actually needs a stronger dose---really your vet is the one who should know about that.
It can also be that there is a very high parasite burden and the die-off of the parasites is making your cham feel ill.

Your vet may not even ask that you come in again and if it is suggested, mention that finances are tight and ask if another visit is absolutely necessary.

Your cham has only you to rely on for his needs.

I suspect that it is a combination of each of the things I've mentioned.
I hope that you find this helpful and I truly hope your cham gets better and soon.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Hi Hadeesh,
Sorry your Jackson's isn't feeling well.
While most of what you're doing looks good, there are a few things that could benefit your cham if they were changed.

Please read this thread for important info about chicken feed.
Some chicken feeds contain antibiotics and that may be a part of what is troubling your cham.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gutload-chicken-feed-123804/

While you mention Exo-Terra calcium, you haven't specified whether it contains D3 or not.
If you have been using calcium with D3 several times a week, then you must stop doing that immediately.
If D3 is in your almost daily calcium, then please discontinue the D3 for a month to 6 weeks so he can try to clear the excess from his system and increase the length and frequency of his mistings (which is alos a good idea whenever a cham is on medications.)
Too much D3 is known to cause problems in chams and Jackson's are even more sensitive to an excess of D3 than many other types of chams are.
Plain calcium without D3 is the one to use most often.
Calcium with D3 should only be used 1x a month with Jackson's
A multivitamin 1x a month is fine.

Although Dubias are definitely nutritious, chams benefit from having a variety of foods in their diets.
Crickets, Phoenix worms, superworms, silkworms, pillbugs, can all be added to his diet.
Jackson's especially love land snails (water snails are too often loaded with parasites).
It is amazing to watch a gentle Jackson's excitedly crunch on a snail--shell and all!

Your misting isn't really enough to stimulate a Jackson's to drink. They really require several minutes of misting before their brains seem to tell them to drink.
It's the reason I use an automatic misting system with my Jackson's.

The drip system is certainly a good idea and the fogger can keep humidity levels up but that doesn't provide drinking water.
It is important to ensure that the cage dries out in between, so that unhealthy molds and fungi don't grow.


I am wondering how he isn't getting too hot with 2 heat lamps on a cage of that size.
Perhaps when room temps were lower during the winter when you set his cage up the temps were OK but now that the US is heating up, he may be being overheated without you realizing it.

It sounds like your cage is nearly on the floor. Chameleons get stressed when they're not kept at eye level or higher.

If your weather is nice enough, somewhere in the 60s to 70's, you can bring him and his cage outdoors for some real sunlight basking time.
I always partially cover the cage in order to ensure that the cham can move into shade if he wants to or needs to.

As far as the antiparasitic drug goes, it may be a good idea to contact the prescribing vet to let him know that your cham seems to be worsening and ask for his/her advice.
It is possible that an overdose was accidentally written down by mistake or that the medicine doesn't agree with your particular cham or it may be that he actually needs a stronger dose---really your vet is the one who should know about that.
It can also be that there is a very high parasite burden and the die-off of the parasites is making your cham feel ill.

Your vet may not even ask that you come in again and if it is suggested, mention that finances are tight and ask if another visit is absolutely necessary.

Your cham has only you to rely on for his needs.

I suspect that it is a combination of each of the things I've mentioned.
I hope that you find this helpful and I truly hope your cham gets better and soon.

Really good info!

Jackson's require lower temps and more humidity. I aim for 68 degrees for ambient temp and 84-86 basking.

As stated, chicken feed is not a good gutload. You said you just switched to the feed, what did you use before? Cricket crack and bug burger are decent readily available gutloads. I also make a veggi puré in the blender and then freeze the mix in ice cube trays.

Much more misting!

Good luck!