Jalapeno stressing me out.

[dominitri]

Jalapeno has been looking so so happy recently after renovations, I took him to the vet and everything was fine, I just need to get a stool sample from little dude for a parasite check, but his eyes looked slightly off for the past few days. The one photo it looks AWFUL. It's a bit better now but do you think I'm going crazy or should I be concerned?

 

[elizaann2]

The top photo the eyes look sunken in but the bottom two look normal to me. Are the eyes always sunken in or just sometimes?

 

[dominitri]

The top photo the eyes look sunken in but the bottom two look normal to me. Are the eyes always sunken in or just sometimes?

His eye has only been sunken in once, in that picture but it's worrying because I've never seen his eyes sunken before.

 

[Gloriawood]

Was that photo taken right after the vet visit?

 

[elizaann2]

They will sink their eyes in when highly stressed. I'm just curious if maybe that is what happened with your darling veiled.

 

[MzLaurie]

Well a vet visit is traumatic for a Cham. So stress can cause that and there is debate on this but I feel dehydration can cause it too. Sometimes after a vet visit they will go on hunger strike or drinking strike. Probably to let you know he is not a happy camper. Don’t freak out. Stay with your routine and give it some time in hopes he will resume normal activity and normal appearance. Getting a stool sample isn’t too difficult even if you have a bioactive setup. Cover the area where he usually goes with Saran Wrap or wax paper and wait. Mine usually goes early afternoon. But all routines are individual.

 

[dominitri]

Was that photo taken right after the vet visit?

No, I don't think I made it specific enough but it was taken about a week after the vet.

 

[dominitri]

They will sink their eyes in when highly stressed. I'm just curious if maybe that is what happened with your darling veiled.

Maybe. This happened pretty soon after my brother in law met him because he was curious.. I don't think he liked being on a new person.

 

[Beman]

So a few things... I do not see that you have ever had a husbandry review. This is always a good idea when you are new just in case you were misinformed about anything that you are implementing. I would especially be interested to know about the supplements you are using and what the frequency is. If you are interested in a full husbandry review let me know and I will post the info for you. Sunken eyes can be an indication of a lot of things. If both sides are sunken then this can be anything from stress reaction to illness. If only one side it can be a stress reaction or something is wrong with the turret like something got stuck in the eye and they are not able to clean it out.

Next I really do not recommend letting anyone hold your chams unless they actually have cham experience and the cham in question is willing with other people. Chams know their people. My boy for example has never tolerated my daughter (who is a young adult) but for some reason would tolerate my mother. If someone new comes into the room he immediately goes into posturing and shows he does not want anything to do with them. Also someone that is not familiar with a chameleon will have different reactions. If a cham decides to target them or bite them then they are going to first try to get that cham off. We have seen where this means shaking them off etc. So now you have injury to your cham. And finally these guys typically just are not the type to like interaction. Especially Veileds as they mature. They can become territorial of their enclosure making them even more aggressive.

 

[dominitri]

So a few things... I do not see that you have ever had a husbandry review. This is always a good idea when you are new just in case you were misinformed about anything that you are implementing. I would especially be interested to know about the supplements you are using and what the frequency is. If you are interested in a full husbandry review let me know and I will post the info for you. Sunken eyes can be an indication of a lot of things. If both sides are sunken then this can be anything from stress reaction to illness. If only one side it can be a stress reaction or something is wrong with the turret like something got stuck in the eye and they are not able to clean it out.

Next I really do not recommend letting anyone hold your chams unless they actually have cham experience and the cham in question is willing with other people. Chams know their people. My boy for example has never tolerated my daughter (who is a young adult) but for some reason would tolerate my mother. If someone new comes into the room he immediately goes into posturing and shows he does not want anything to do with them. Also someone that is not familiar with a chameleon will have different reactions. If a cham decides to target them or bite them then they are going to first try to get that cham off. We have seen where this means shaking them off etc. So now you have injury to your cham. And finally these guys typically just are not the type to like interaction. Especially Veileds as they mature. They can become territorial of their enclosure making them even more aggressive.

My brother in law use to have a few reptiles but so I thought it was ok
Jalapeno takes repti calcium without D3 on two crickets twice every two weeks if that makes sense, one week he won't get any and then the next week on Wednesday and Thursday he'll get two crickets with some on. He also once a month gets repti vitamins WITH d3

 

[Beman]

My brother in law use to have a few reptiles but so I thought it was ok
Jalapeno takes repti calcium without D3 on two crickets twice every two weeks if that makes sense, one week he won't get any and then the next week on Wednesday and Thursday he'll get two crickets with some on. He also once a month gets repti vitamins WITH d3

So your supplementation is off. We use supplements to not only give them vitamins they need but to also balance the phosphorus to calcium level of the insects we feed. Most insects have high phosphorus levels. Issue with this is high phosphorus levels make it so they can not absorb needed calcium to have strong bones. You can start to see issues of MBD and very fragile bones. There are other risks to this as well but its a lot of info. So to combat this we use calcium without phosphorus and Without D3 at every feeding on all insects fed. Then two times a month say the 1st and the 15th you will instead use a multivitamin that has D3 and A in it. Again on these feeding all insects are supplemented. You will always lightly dust with your supplements.

Additionally your supplement types matter as they are not all created the same. And not all of them have what you want in them not to mention some have levels that are too high. This becomes particularly important when it comes to a multivitamin.

Chams are not like all other reptiles. They have extremely specific husbandry or they can end up with some pretty major health issues.

Post pics of your supplement containers please.

I highly recommend reading through this husbandry program https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
IF you like videos also watching Neptune the Chameleon on Youtube.

 

[dominitri]

So your supplementation is off. We use supplements to not only give them vitamins they need but to also balance the phosphorus to calcium level of the insects we feed. Most insects have high phosphorus levels. Issue with this is high phosphorus levels make it so they can not absorb needed calcium to have strong bones. You can start to see issues of MBD and very fragile bones. There are other risks to this as well but its a lot of info. So to combat this we use calcium without phosphorus and Without D3 at every feeding on all insects fed. Then two times a month say the 1st and the 15th you will instead use a multivitamin that has D3 and A in it. Again on these feeding all insects are supplemented. You will always lightly dust with your supplements.

Additionally your supplement types matter as they are not all created the same. And not all of them have what you want in them not to mention some have levels that are too high. This becomes particularly important when it comes to a multivitamin.

Chams are not like all other reptiles. They have extremely specific husbandry or they can end up with some pretty major health issues.

Post pics of your supplement containers please.

I highly recommend reading through this husbandry program https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
IF you like videos also watching Neptune the Chameleon on Youtube.

Odd that it's off, my vet told me to do it this often it says sample for the repti calcium bottle but I bought a pack of several because it was cheaper than a big bottle

 

[Beman]

Odd that it's off, my vet told me to do it this often it says sample for the repti calcium bottle but I bought a pack of several because it was cheaper than a big bottle

So unfortunately you are going to see that what a vet recommends is not accurate most of the time because they do not actually know the up to date and current husbandry for them.

The supplement types are right. You can use both of those. But you want to adjust your schedule and supplement all insects that day to the info I gave you above.

 

[dominitri]

So unfortunately you are going to see that what a vet recommends is not accurate most of the time because they do not actually know the up to date and current husbandry for them.

The supplement types are right. You can use both of those. But you want to adjust your schedule and supplement all insects that day to the info I gave you above.

Thank you for your help