male veiled still fasting

Justin Carl

Justin Carl

Avid Member
my put up a thread about a week ago or so about my veiled not eating. well he is still being this way. i cant get him to eat. the hornworms are huge now, but I know he can still eat them. i tried crickets, suppers, mealworms, and Phoneix worms. Im getting worried. its been about two weeks since he ate his normal routine. any suggestions? how long can they go w/o food. he still has a lot of mass on his body and i wish i could weigh him. help...lol
 
sorry about that brad, but most all of the details are there. it has been 2 weeks since he has eaten anything. i went to the pet store and saw an electrolyte and appetite stimulant. it had the basic calcium and vitamins and probably 15 other things. would this work just to keep him healthy when not eating?
Cage Type - full screen 50x20x22
Lighting - Mercury Vapor 100 watt and regular 100 watt
Temperature - both bulbs are at the back"basking area" 95 at back and top. front top 88 bottom 77
Humidity - minimum 60 percent
Plants - shefflera A. and Ficus
Location - in my room by the window.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - veiled male one year
Feeding - all feeders are gut loaded
Supplements - flukers calcium, rep-cal vitamin, T-Rex chameleon-when he is eating. i dust every thing almost. not silkies or hornworms. suppers crix and meals etc.
Watering - dripper all day and mist 3 times daily
Fecal Description - dark and the white spot
Current Problem - not eating
 
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he pooped this morning i cleaned his cage yeterday and saw a new one. mercury vapor since day one, about a year. he drinks every day, his eyes look great. as far as vets go i have never looked into it. i did talk to a reptile expert and he said it is the time of the year. all the reptiles in his shop arent eating very much. even his own, some have stopped completely.
 
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

I see you are in Florida. How warm is it where you are? Any chance of getting him in some real sun to stimulate appetite? How often is he pooping? You said he pooped today. If he pooped than he ate. He must be eating something in order to be pooping. I'm not sure I would trust what that person said about it being the time of year. This may be true if your cham was being kept outside all year round and had seasonal temperature and light fluctuations. I don't think this would apply to inside chameleons to any great extent. At least for the variety of cham you have. I also have to comment on your mercury vapor light. Those are usually only used for large zoo like cages or cages like my big iguana cages. The Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 tube flourescent tube lights are the standard for chameleon keepers. I recommend you use what most other keepers use. Well, I hope you get things figured out with your guy. It must be frustrating to wonder what is going on with him.
 
thanks for all the replys i do leave my widow opern now that it is cold at night 65. lol so this might have some effect. the overall temp has changed a few degrees inside but not much.
 
PardalisGirl said:
I see you are in Florida. How warm is it where you are? Any chance of getting him in some real sun to stimulate appetite? How often is he pooping? You said he pooped today. If he pooped than he ate. He must be eating something in order to be pooping. I'm not sure I would trust what that person said about it being the time of year. This may be true if your cham was being kept outside all year round and had seasonal temperature and light fluctuations. I don't think this would apply to inside chameleons to any great extent. At least for the variety of cham you have. I also have to comment on your mercury vapor light. Those are usually only used for large zoo like cages or cages like my big iguana cages. The Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 tube flourescent tube lights are the standard for chameleon keepers. I recommend you use what most other keepers use. Well, I hope you get things figured out with your guy. It must be frustrating to wonder what is going on with him.
Click to expand...

After clearing teh impaction in scooter he ate one cricket, after that he did not eat for an entire month.

He is healthy now and eating, however he did lose alot of weight and is still not eating very much. This is definately due to the time of year, if you read around on the forums alot of chams are slowing down and a few are having impactions.

The impactions may be due to tempurature, the slowing down is seasonal. my snake has slowed down and scooter is eating, but not much. I am confident that he will return to his fat overly pigy self in the spring.

Just watch him and count the number of bugs you put into his cage in the morning (or when ever feeding time is) and come back a while later and recount. You may find that one or 2 are gone. This would be somewhat normal for this time of year, If it is seasonal.
 
hey guys!
i just figured i would update everyone on my Veiled Igor.
i have done almost everything possible for my guy.
i have tried every single feeder available. Crickets, mealworms, supperworms, silkies, hornworms, a dragonfly, and now today DUBIAS!
he didnt eat a single one. they were very active and moving and he didnt want a single one.
i took him to the vet aswell. let me quote him, "wow he is beautifull, i dont see anything wrong and his stool came back negative.""i dont know why he isnt eating maybe it is just the season."
waste of 55 dollars!!!!
 
well, if he's pooping, that mean he's eating..
he probably has been eating behind your back.
did he still retain his body mass?
weigh him at least when you need to take him out to clean the cage.
 
he eats like one every other day, and if i am lucky once a week he will eat two in a day. i force feed to help give him vitamins and calcium
 
JustinIgor said:
he eats like one every other day, and if i am lucky once a week he will eat two in a day. i force feed to help give him vitamins and calcium
Click to expand...

One every other day, and 2 a day every once in a while should be fine for an adult veiled. We feed ours every other day, 1 or 2 items depending on size. Are you saying that you are force feeding him in addition to his eating on his own? Calorie intake, and continuous calcium intake is not as critical for an adult male as it is, say, for a baby, juvenile, or breeding female. I agree with Brad Ramsey that you should discontinue the force feeding.

I know it's frustrating, but we try not to consider a trip to the vet a waste of money. It's probably like a silly mind game, but we try to find something positive and worthwhile about the vet visit- some new thing that we learned, or a new way to deal with a certain issue, or just a stronger relationship with the vet. All those are valuable. I'm talking about the 1 or 2 times that I took a cham to the vet simply because I overreacted to its behavior. BUt, even so, we considered the trip, and the cost, worthwhile. We ask a lot of questions when there, even about unrelated issues and procedures. A good herp vet is a wealth of knowledge. Our vets' office is 1 1/4 hours away. It's a husband and wife team and they're both great.
 
ok so let me get the straight. he can eat 3-4 suppers a week.
this is enough to live on? how will he get his supplements?
yes i gut load all of my feeders, but i am a bit worried.
his appetite completely shut off. he went from 8 crickets a day to nothing.
if his eating was to slow down i figured it would be more gradual than this.
 
is he shedding? when my veiled was shedding he would not eat at all..maybe a cricket here and there..now that he stopped shedding..he eats 20 small crickets a day..and won't stop unless I don't give him more.he stopped eating as soon as the shedding started..I was going nuts about it because I didn"t see the shedding at first..but the shedding started..I could be wrong but that could be the problem..I hope thats the problem.. I use the repti sun 5.0 18" uvb light..mercury vapors get hot and most don"t recommend them..
 
Justin, Sorry for my memory lapse, but aren't you the one that has been having this problem for like a month or six weeks? If so, and you can't tell if he's lost weight or not, there would seem not to be a problem. My first veiled starting doing this at about ten months and it was driving me nuts. I went through every feeder you have and after about two months, I bought a digital scale and started keeping up with his weight. Was actually gaining a few grams here and there. He eats about two or three items about every other day now and is healthy. LLLreptile sells a neat little digital scale for about twelve bucks. It was worth a hundred to me for the peace of mind it gave me. Yours is about that age. Mines appetite also shut down very quickly. Let me know your thoughts on this. David
 
yes that is me! this guy is a trouble maker. i dont have my paperwork on me know. im to lazy to get out of bed. its 3 o'clock right now. ill let you know what he weighs in at tomorrow. he is 1 year old.
 
JustinIgor said:
ok so let me get the straight. he can eat 3-4 suppers a week.
this is enough to live on? how will he get his supplements?
yes i gut load all of my feeders, but i am a bit worried.
his appetite completely shut off. he went from 8 crickets a day to nothing.
if his eating was to slow down i figured it would be more gradual than this.
Click to expand...

Yup.
You dust the worms, right?

-Brad
 
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