low energy,low food intake

[moriahliveson]

my little one is not very energetic at all and i have not seen her eating much..she does stay up in the trees and is drinking very well but just does not move around a lot,
here is the answer's to the health questions.
• Your Chameleon - gracious, unknown think female, unknown,i have had her for four days but she was at the pet store i work at for about a month
• Handling -everyday for about ten mins
• Feeding - she gets crikets there are always at least two in her cage How are you gut-loading your feeders...i give them cricket food?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use..i spray her about five to ten times a day with a hand pump auto sprayer? Do you see your chameleon drinking..she drinks every time i spray?
• Fecal Description - have no seen any yet and no she as not been tested
• History - she i wild caught from florida

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - she is in a eco terra cage all glass with a screen top
• Lighting - i have zoo med lights and her lights go on at eight am and off at ten pm
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? 69 How do you measure these temps.. thermometer?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels...about 80 to 100 during the day about 45 at night? How are you creating and maintaining these levels i watch them and spray when needed? What do you use to measure humidity..a humidity meter?
• Plants - Are you using live plants..no?
• Placement - Where is your cage located...in our family room? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas..not near anything but she is in a high traffic area? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor..five feet from the floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located..illinois?

Current Problem - she is not as active as my veiled and does not move around a lot she has been in the same cage for about a month now and was move active before i brought her from the store to my house and she does not really eat that much but she is still small...i was also wondering how big she should get

 

[mychamtini112012]

Welcome to Chameleon Forum! This is a great place to come and learn and we will gladly help you. What part of Illinois are you from.? I am around there too and it's hard to find others. I high lighted in red some problems I found with your husbandry.

my little one is not very energetic at all and i have not seen her eating much..she does stay up in the trees and is drinking very well but just does not move around a lot,
here is the answer's to the health questions.
• Your Chameleon - gracious, unknown think female, unknown,i have had her for four days but she was at the pet store i work at for about a month You'll need to find out for sure whether she is a female or male. If she is a female, you'll need a laying bin.
• Handling -everyday for about ten mins You might not want to handle her so much. It could stress her out.
• Feeding - she gets crikets there are always at least two in her cage How are you gut-loading your feeders...i give them cricket food? What kind of cricket food.? A proper gut load for them will better help your chameleon.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Do you not dust her feeders with supplements.? You will need a regular calcium for every feeding, calcium with D3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month as well.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use..i spray her about five to ten times a day with a hand pump auto sprayer? Do you see your chameleon drinking..she drinks every time i spray?
• Fecal Description - have no seen any yet and no she as not been tested
• History - she i wild caught from florida

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - she is in a eco terra cage all glass with a screen top Is this like a fish tank or does it have holes for ventilation.? If it's a fish tank, that is not proper for her. Most of us use screen cages, but a terrarium with proper ventilation would be good as well.
• Lighting - i have zoo med lights and her lights go on at eight am and off at ten pm Is the zoo med a UVB light.?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? 69 How do you measure these temps.. thermometer? Is sixty nine her basking temp.? If so that needs to be uped, 80-85. Could be why she is not eating.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels...about 80 to 100 during the day about 45 at night? How are you creating and maintaining these levels i watch them and spray when needed? What do you use to measure humidity..a humidity meter?
• Plants - Are you using live plants..no? Live plants are always helpful with humidity, not a must, but very helpful.
• Placement - Where is your cage located...in our family room? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas..not near anything but she is in a high traffic area? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor..five feet from the floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located..illinois?

Current Problem - she is not as active as my veiled and does not move around a lot she has been in the same cage for about a month now and was move active before i brought her from the store to my house and she does not really eat that much but she is still small...i was also wondering how big she should get She could very well being acclimating still. But the low temp could also be contributing to her not eating. If she is in fact a female she could be gravid, since they can produce eggs without a male being around. Since you don't know, you might want to put a lay bin just in case. I'll attach a blog with that soon.

 

[moriahliveson]

thank you here is the info you highlighted

I live in rockford illinois what about you.
-I am not sure how to tell if she is male or female...the other one that was in the cage with her had a spur on his back feet but what i have read that does not indicate where or not it is a girl or boy do you have any advise on how to tell
-the crickets get feed zilla gut load cricket food
-i dust the crickets with rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium with vit.d3 ultra fine powder. i dont know what kind of vitamins there are for chameleons
-it is a eco terra terrarium. it is made for chameleons..it is glass with a screen top and holes in the front for ventilation ill send a pic.
-yes it is a uvb
-69 is her night time temp during the day her basking is about 80 and the pther part of the cage is about 73-75
-she has been in the same cage for over a month i just took the whole cage home with me.she seems to like to come out when ever i go to spray her she climps to me and then when i take her out she rubs her neck on me and then falls alseep..i try not to take her out to much but she is always trying to climb on me unlike my veiled who hates me but likes my husband at times..and do you have any idea how big my gracious should get she is about the length of my middle finger and i was told she is full grown and at least a year old cause of that fact but i have heard they get much bigger. thank you for all your help cant wait to hear from you again

 

[kinyonga]

It doesn't sound like she is full grown and if the other one had a spur and this one didn't and they are the same species then this one is likely a female. If you post a photo of her from the side so I can see the whole chameleon including the base of the tail I might be able to tell you for sure.

If you bump the basking temperature up a bit to the mid 80's F it might solve the problem although some WC's are hard to acclimate....assuming that she is WC.

Does she sit with her eyes shut during the day?

Make sure she is well hydrated...and you may want to get a fecal sample tested for parasites.

This might help a bit...
http://web.archive.org/web/20060224...ham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chgracilis.html

 

[Elizadolots]

when i take her out she rubs her neck on me and then falls alseep

As much as we'd like to think this is like a puppy falling asleep in our laps, it's not a good sign.

You should check around for calcium that does not have D3 in it. It's becoming much more common in stores or you can order it online. You should use that daily. You should use the D3 only twice a month. You should find a reptile multivitamin and use that twice a month as well.

Do you know how old the lights are? It sounds like you just bought the set up as is from the store and it's possible the UVB light is older than 6 months and should really be replaced.

 

[DekuScrub]

the males should have spurs.

i would bump basking temp up to 90, just keep an eye on here and make sure she isnt gaping. thats a sign shes trying to cool off. if shes a good drinker she should be fine with the temperature increase.

but make SURE your temperature readings are accurate.

the increase in heat should give a nice little jump start to her metabolism, so she should be more interested in food and become more active if only to regulate her temperature.

i always recommend a screen cage as i think most of us do. if there is no source of air flow you may need to take care of that with a small fan. blow it indirectly, you dont want all that moist air in there getting stagnant.

she looks a bit skinny as well, offer her something other than just crickets. butterworms or super worms should help her put on weight. it may also help incite her appetite.

 

[moriahliveson]

thank you all

thank you all for the advise i am going to go and get her a better basing light tomorrow and some worms from the store....during the day she has her eyes open unless i take her out and when i do take her out she does not want to go back. when i got home today she was closer to the ground which worried me so i put her on the bottom of the cage she walked right up the branches so that is good and the uvb 5.0 are a month old i worked at the pet store i got her from she came in not looking the best that is why i brought her home to make her my little angel we dont normally sell chameleons but someone brought her in and we were not going to say no and let her die so im doing the best i can but thank you all so much elle really thanks you....i just wish my veiled was a nice as elle is...lol...

 

[moriahliveson]

pic of her from the side

here is a pic of her from the side and the pic i put up before was the cage she is in

 

[Elizadolots]

She's adorable. I bet she likes those fingernails. Be careful, I've read stories of them trying to eat green nail polish.

Despite the fact you kept her in the same enclosure, she did go through a move and it's not uncommon for them to be disturbed after a move.

As she was housed with a male, you need to prepare for the probability that she's going to lay eggs. Even without the presence of the male, I think it's a good idea for any female that's 5 months old and if you don't know...well, better safe than sorry.

How big is the enclosure? It would be great if you could get a laying in there with her.

 

[kinyonga]

The color is bothering me.

 

[moriahliveson]

She has been the same color since since w got her at the store over a month afo and what do I put in for her to lay eggs