My Chameleon Vomited

[kk1020man]

I was watching my Chameleon Gus climb around his cage this afternoon. He was on the ceiling crawling underneath the heat lamp. He started moving a little sparadically and then his front legs let go from the top so he was hanging upside down. He stayed like that jolting around a bit. I thought he was trying to find a way back down. After about 45 seconds of being upside down, some bubbly, water/spit/maybe vomit poured out of his mouth. He shook his head a bit and then climbed down and he has been hanging on the back wall of his cage ever since. Does anyone know what this might be, or what may have caused it and how to fix it?
P.S. He still won't eat on his own. Can his tongue be permanently damaged to where he will never be able to shoot it out again? I intentionly did not feed him yesterday hoping he would be hungry enough to eat on his own. I will feed him by hand again today.

 

[Jordan]

Well there are only three things I have heard suggested on vomiting reasons.

One he ate to much at once. Bigger food then he could handle, perhaps not chewing it enough, not in your case but sometimes chameleons can actually catch more then one insect at a time. I read over some of your past post because of the tongue comment. I guess I was curious if you feed him by hand before this happened?

Another would be drinking to much to fast, especially cool water. Not sure if this is a possability or not. I guess I am not sure how some chameleons might respond to something like the repti-aid (? sorry could not remember what you said from the other post). Probably not.

The other is death rattles. You would know this if it dropped dead right afterwards.

I really do not know otherwise. I have seen this question posted before. Normally after some questioning it comes to light that they just switched to a larger feeder or they had been being feed more then they normally do, something like that. With multiple variables involved here you may never know.

I guess another question I had was whether or not you have tried to free range his food? I tried to cup feed a jackson before. He ate out of it a couple of times. The rest of the time he just stared at it. Almost like he was confused by it. I kind of felt bad about it because I left him like this for a little under a week. I guess I never realized how confusing it was for him until I let them run wild.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

bubbly water/spit?
Is he making any crackly or popping noises when he's breathing?
Is there mucus in the back of his throat?
Possible URI?
Just speculating, but it may be worth checking out.

-Brad

 

[Eric Adrignola]

I learned when I Was young not to use ice cubes melting on the cage for water. They'll drink a lot of cold water - but they almost always puke it up. Did he just drink?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Interesting.
Having never offered cold water ... I do not have this experience.
Thanks Eric.

-Brad

 

[kk1020man]

Well, none of the possibilities listed seem likely causes. He hasn't eaten on his own in about two weeks and he hasn't ever thrown up the repta-aid and he is pooping regularly. The water he drinks come from a mister and is room temperature. The URI may be likely but, he doesn't really show any other symptoms of it. We put his crickets in a bowl because his habitat is so large and he is only about 5-6 inches without his tail. I didn't want them free range because I figured they would go to the bottom and he wouldn't be able to eat them. Some of the crickets do jump out of the bowl and he did eat them. Is there anyway to attract the crickets to one paticular area of the cage? I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I just don't know what to do with our little guy. I just want him to be better, especially before we leave on our business trip!

 

[DecepticonVTX]

regurgitate

I fed my veiled some mealworms for the last couple of days. when I came home today I noticed a big wad of half digested and half full worms on the floor of her cage...

about 4 days ago I saw her eat a cricket of the bottom of her cage and she also caught some wood chips with it... I was able to take one of them out but I she swallowed one... idk if this is due to that? hopefully not... I noticed some poop that looked more like a small piece of wood today though. also a drop of liquid that looked kinda pink-ish in color... hopefully not blood...

 

[carol5208]

If you have not removed the wood chips, please do so NOW. This is why we tell people not to use chips, stones, or any type of substrate that can be injested.

 

[ilovezeke]

stone out of cage?

If you have not removed the wood chips, please do so NOW. This is why we tell people not to use chips, stones, or any type of substrate that can be injested

Are you referring to the bottom of the cage or anywhere inside of the cage? In an attempt to cover the soil of my plants that are inside the enclosure, I put pebbles ontop to try to prevent the free range insects from getting into the soil. Is that unacceptable practice?

 

[MamatoElvis]

The stones need to be large enough that your Cham can't swallow them. Mine are river stones. The smallest is about an inch.
You should not have any substrate of any kind on the floor or anywhere else in the enclosure. You don't want your Cham to injest anything that might stick to his tongue while shooting at insects.