My chameleon has a ton of problems suddenly:(

[xshadyxbabyx]

Your Chameleon - almost 1 yr old female Veiled
Handling - close to never, only when cleaning and "showering"
Feeding - 5 to 6 crickets a day also mealworms and waxworms occasionally.
Supplements - Repti-cal with D3 (weekly) and multivitamin supplement (daily)
Watering - waterfall that she ocassionally drinks from but mostly misting.
Fecal Description - It's been almost a full week since her last poo..
History - bought her when she was EXTREMELY little at PetSmart.
Cage Info:Screen cage approx. 2 1/2 feet long and im not sure how wide. I'll measure later for specifics.

Cage type - Screen
Lighting - UVB Reptisun 5.0
Temperature - ~80 F in basking area. Nightime is 70-75.
Humidity - 70
Plants - Not sure of the brand but i bought a few at Petco specifically for reptiles?
Placement - living room corner.
Location - Bismarck, ND


I have owned my chameleon Yoshie for almost a full year. She has been perfectly fine up until a week ago. She began to shed and quit eating which is unusual for her. I kind of let it go for a couple days and then I noticed after the 3rd day she starting turning dark from her usual bright green. I also quit seeing her poo which is also unusual for her.Well today she is not putting any pressure on her back left leg and I am unsure what is going on.
I live in ND where the temp has reached 0 in the past two weeks. I dont want to kill her by freezing her outside but I also don't want her to die because I'm not a vet! Any tips for me would be helpful!
thanks- Pam

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Your Chameleon - almost 1 yr old female Veiled
Handling - close to never, only when cleaning and "showering"
Feeding - 5 to 6 crickets a day also mealworms and waxworms occasionally.
Supplements - Repti-cal with D3 (weekly) and multivitamin supplement (daily)
Watering - waterfall that she ocassionally drinks from but mostly misting.
Fecal Description - It's been almost a full week since her last poo..
History - bought her when she was EXTREMELY little at PetSmart.
Cage Info:Screen cage approx. 2 1/2 feet long and im not sure how wide. I'll measure later for specifics.

Cage type - Screen
Lighting - UVB Reptisun 5.0
Temperature - ~80 F in basking area. Nightime is 70-75.
Humidity - 70
Plants - Not sure of the brand but i bought a few at Petco specifically for reptiles?
Placement - living room corner.
Location - Bismarck, ND


I have owned my chameleon Yoshie for almost a full year. She has been perfectly fine up until a week ago. She began to shed and quit eating which is unusual for her. I kind of let it go for a couple days and then I noticed after the 3rd day she starting turning dark from her usual bright green. I also quit seeing her poo which is also unusual for her.Well today she is not putting any pressure on her back left leg and I am unsure what is going on.
I live in ND where the temp has reached 0 in the past two weeks. I dont want to kill her by freezing her outside but I also don't want her to die because I'm not a vet! Any tips for me would be helpful!
thanks- Pam

AS far as your care goes i'd fix a few things. You should be dusting her feeders with plain calcium every day to every other day, calcium with D3 twice a month, and Multivitamin twice a month as well. Waterfalls are very frowned apon in the Cham community because they harbor lots of bacertia and can make your Cham very sick if not disinfected properly. It can be a numerouse amount of reasons and one her being egg bound. Do you have a laying bin for her? Do you use substrate, she could have accidentally ingested something and she could be impacted which explains the lack of poo.

 

[carol5208]

Everything prettyinink said. You did not mention a basking light but you mentioned a basking temp so I guess I gotta assume you have one??? Has she ever laid eggs before? You are aware they can lay eggs without being mated, correct? You should not be feeding her everyday. You want to cut back on her feedings to avoid her becoming gravid, although she may be already. Does she look like she has gained weight and could be carrying eggs? Why dont you post a picture of her so we can see what she looks like. You definitely have been oversupplementing her with a multivitamin. that should be used sparingly a couple of times a month and you have not been giving her enough calcium either it looks like. I am hoping that she does not poop in her waterfall and drink from it. Bacteria!!! Get rid of that! There are alot of possibilities of what can be wrong with your cham including being egg bound. Please get some pics up.

 

[jessica]

I wouldn't be too worried about her not defecating for a week, honestly that's not an alarmingly long time at that age IMHO.

My concern is the back left leg, is it the actually leg or foot? Does it look swollen? Is she gripping with the foot at all or is it limp and she just lets it hang? Trauma or a little abscess on her foot would cause her to not want to eat. When her lights are on you should take her out and get a good look at her leg. Look for small lacerations or puncture wounds, (even if it looks healed or like an old scar it could have closed in bacteria) or obvious breaks.

 

[kinyonga]

As was already said...your supplements need to be corrected. The imbalances that you may have caused could be part of the problem.

Do you have a substrate? Does she have a place to dig in the cage so that she can lay eggs when needed? Veileds do not need to mate to produce eggs and will often become eggbound if there is no place to lay them.

Are there any signs that she has eaten any of the plants?

You said..."then I noticed after the 3rd day she starting turning dark from her usual bright green"...this could be a sign that she is non-receptive/gravid.

You said..."she is not putting any pressure on her back left leg and I am unsure what is going on"..it could be for a number of reasons. Pictures might help. Is the leg swollen? Crooked in any way? Is she showing any signs of MBD...crooked legs, casque, flexible jaw or casque, what looks like another elbow above the real one, inability to lift her body off the branches (not including the last day or so due to the leg)?

Why would you even consider freezing her?? Its said to cause a lot of pain as the blood freezes....and you don't even know if what is wrong with her is something simple that can be fixed easily. If you don't want her any more, then there a reptile rescues in many areas that would take her...or maybe even members of the forum.

 

[xshadyxbabyx]

I'm going to try to clarify any questions previously asked
I do not have substrate in her tank,I do have reptile carpet. What are signs of being eggbound? She's not digging or near the bottom of her cage..
Also, I will get pics up ASAP tomorrow as she is sleeping right now.
And I am NOT trying to kill her by freezing her, she is my baby, i guess I should have said, I am scared to take her out in the cold to the vet as it is has not been above zero since she's begun this behavior. I would NEVER intentionally harm her!
I do have a basking lamp and a UVB lamp. Sorry for not putting that up!

 

[Elizadolots]

You probably do want to put a laying bin in for her, or at least a container of moist sand so she can show you if she needs to be moved to a laying container. She probably won't try to dig at something like a carpet.

Pics will help those knowledgeable people decide if she has eggs, so yes, take picture and post. However, if you notice her looking "bulgy" around the middle, or maybe even lumpy shapes under the skin, that's a good sign she might have eggs.

Don't be afraid to take her to the vet. Put her in a bag with a well wrapped heat pack for the trip if your car doesn't have a heater.

 

[kinyonga]

Oops...totally misunderstood that...I thought that you meant you were going to take her outside so she would die. Sorry about that.

Signs of eggbinding include but are not limited to...lethargy, sitting low in the cage, sleeping during the day, etc. Sometimes they dig a hole, act as though they laid eggs, fill it in and return to the branches.

 

[xshadyxbabyx]

I actually called my vet today and they recommended me waiting until the temps rise to above zero at least.
I tried getting pics this morning before I left for work, but she was behind her plants, so tonight I'll try taking her out so I can show you guys a clear picture.
I am removing the waterfall although I do regularly clean it. What is the best option for keeping her hydrated other than misting, I work all day and she refuses to drink still-standing water. I've seen automatic misters but unfortunately, I have NO clue where to buy those here.
I was looking at MBD pictures and she does not appear to be this way, but I will post pictures because I am not an expert. She is still not using her back leg but it doesn't appear swollen or to have any cuts. Like stated, I'll post pics tonight of her foot and her as a whole.
I did have a deep bowl of substrate in her cage about a month ago because I read females could become egg-bound but immediately took it out once she decided to try eating it.
She has not recently been eating her plants, She has been doing nothing but drinking when I mist her.
She has been urating (or however you spell that) but still no fecal matter.
I'll post more tonight with the pictures but I am trying to give a clearer picture than my previous post.

 

[coffeeguy89]

probably the most effective and cheapest way to give a chameleon water is a dripper. You can make one by poking a small hole in the bottom of a papper or plastic cup. just make sure the water drips onto some leaves in an easily reached spot, and you may need something to collect the extra water, like a small tub with a sponge in it.