Need a little reassuring :/

[ashleyroxyou]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Veiled. Purchased in March '13 (5 months). Estimated to be around 10 months-1 year
Handling - Interaction daily (i.e. when cup/hand feeding, misting, etc.) Rarely bring her out of enclosure. Gets out when she wants to.
Feeding - Dusted crickets, meal worms, super worms. gutload w/ flukers yellow gel liquid and high calcium diet enriched vit and min concentrate
Supplements -flukers calcium w/ d3 dust (just purchased today, used on all crickets, fed her 5 dusted)
Watering - Drip and mist. Mist several times a day (6-10 depends if working) for about 10-20 seconds. Usually until humidity is around 60-70%
Fecal Description - White urates. Runny feces w/ strong odor.
History - Has always been very active, strong, good hunter. Never any fecal issues like this. Moved to new apt recently but has settled in okay other than being sick (3 weeks ago) Color is good. Looks a little thin now. Ribs showing when purched on level vine. Hunger strike per too weak to hunt I presume. Started cup feeding and is eating much more now(from 0 crickets to 5 crickets today). Very good temperament. Never angry or territorial with me. Sleeping too much during the day right now

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass zoo med cage with screen top. Bar uvb on top. Double dome on top. Dripper on top. lots of vines and branches. Recently removed substrate coconut husk. has a pot w/ dirt (dead hibiscus) used for draining now. Put aquarium rocks in bottom today per water build up. (Assumed very bad for bacteria per feces falling in and dead bugs and cannot drill hole) Larger river rocks on top of small rocks so no accidental ingestion.
Lighting - double dome zoo med night/day. Zilla uvb bar. dont know wattage on either, recommended by petsmart assoc. at time of purch. lights on every morning around 7 am off around 10 pm. Always been on same schedule. No issues. Sometimes falls asleep before lights out. Cham and turtle on same schedule
Temperature - Temp as of right now, mid to upper cage is around 65-70 f. Usually higher than this but AC is on as well as have been moving lighting around for best position recently. Temp usually drops to around 60? Will have to check this evening. Measured with stick on humidity and temp thermometers
Humidity - When misting, around 60-70 %, around 40 when dry. stick on wall therm.
Plants - All fake since hibiscus died. all cleaned with soap and water and soaked in boiling hot water upon purchasing
Placement -Cage located on bar between kitchen and living room. Not high traffic per im mostly in bedroom of 1 br apt. Window unit on other side of room. Wondered if this may cause issues but doesnt act cold. good mint green color and stays around middle of cage. do not run ac while gone to work and rarely run it while home unless to quickly cool down apt for a few mins
Location - Northeast Tennessee

Current Problem - I am worried she may have parasites. Never had an issue like this before. If need be I am going to take a fecal sample to vet on Monday. Called around this morning and found a vet who will do sample w/o seeing her for $18.

Do you see anything I could change to improve her condition?? I have been working tirelessly to try and make things more convenient for her. I am hand and cup feeding her because she is weak. She has lost weight. Her ribs show now and it's worrying me!! She has always been so healthy. She is eating much more now that I am helping her to eat but what can I do to keep/put more weight on her? Please help. No harsh criticism. I love my cham and don't want anything to happen to her!!!

Please any suggesstions, reassurance, insights, other possible issues.
Thank you guys!!

 

[SaintJimmy]

She does look a little sickly to be honest. As well as getting a fecal done I would take her to the vet just in case. usually they do not sleep during the day like that.

Time is important in these situations. I would get her to a check up to be safe. I am sorry you are having problems.

 

[jmacphee9]

Does she have a basking spot hotter then 65-70? Or did I miss that..

 

[ashleyroxyou]

thank you for your response. she actually looks a little better today. but she is sleeping :/ she perked up for food and is only up there because she didnt like the branches being moved around when i was putting the rocks in this morning. didnt get aggravated at me she just didnt feel secure there. this is her normal aleeping spot and its right under her uvb bar.

i wish i could have taken the sample today but im having to wait until monday unfortunately. i am really scared of getting her out and taking her somwhere for that long honestly. i am afraid it would stress her and make her feel dven worse. her bones look fine and her skin andh mouth look fine so i guess taking her is last resort.

just based on the info given, do you have any possible idea of what it could be?

 

[SaintJimmy]

thank you for your response. she actually looks a little better today. but she is sleeping :/ she perked up for food and is only up there because she didnt like the branches being moved around when i was putting the rocks in this morning. didnt get aggravated at me she just didnt feel secure there. this is her normal aleeping spot and its right under her uvb bar.

i wish i could have taken the sample today but im having to wait until monday unfortunately. i am really scared of getting her out and taking her somwhere for that long honestly. i am afraid it would stress her and make her feel dven worse. her bones look fine and her skin andh mouth look fine so i guess taking her is last resort.

just based on the info given, do you have any possible idea of what it could be?

I don't really know what it might be other than maybe parasites like you mentioned but usually chams recover quite nicely when given right care.

She does not have MBD and she does not look dehydrated or anything but she is a little skinny.

Just keep working with her and keep her warm until the vet/fecal.

And keep her basking spot around 80 degrees if you can, just to keep her temp up. If she is not basking then maybe just make sure she is warm.

 

[ashleyroxyou]

As of right now, her basking spot is around 70 degrees im assuming but its kinda hard to say for sur. It is probably a little warmer than that its just hard to tell because her thermometer is just stuck on the wall of her cage and its not directly under her light

 

[SaintJimmy]

As of right now, her basking spot is around 70 degrees im assuming but its kinda hard to say for sur. It is probably a little warmer than that its just hard to tell because her thermometer is just stuck on the wall of her cage and its not directly under her light

Yeah I would maybe make it a little hotter. 5-10 degrees hotter.

And then just make sure she gets to soak up some heat part of the day. heat is important.

 

[ashleyroxyou]

I don't really know what it might be other than maybe parasites like you mentioned but usually chams recover quite nicely whegiven right care.

She does not have MBD and she does not look dehydrated or anything but she is a little skinny.

Just keep working with her and keep her warm until the vet/fecal.

And keep her basking spot around 80 degrees if you can, just to keep her temp up. If she is not basking then maybe just make sure she is warm.

this has been sooo stressful because she was so healthy. I only have one cham. I have no idea where parasites would even come from. Unless through feeders. I am gonna test on Monday though.

Is this something that could become fatal very quickly?

 

[ataraxia]

I have a couple questions and suggestions.
1. What have you been dusting with for the last 5 months? If you have been using D3 this whole time this could be the reason for the bumps on the ribs.
2. What size is the cage?
3. Why are the temps so low and how are you measuring them? Temps need to be higher so she will have an appetite, metabolize and over all activity.
4. They truly only need 10-12 hour of light. This could be the reason for her falling asleep before lights off.

This is a great read for anyone wanting to learn a bit more. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

 

[Oliviabryant]

I strongly suggest ditching the plastic plants and giving them a real plant. Im not sure why you want a glass terrarium for a veiled Unless you have a really hard time keeping the humidity up?
If so the live plant will help and from there you can switch to a mesh cage. Glass is fine for expirenced keepers,smaller species, or Jackson's but there's really no need to put a veiled in one.
I would also suggest ditching all flukers products and use rephasy for gut loading plus fresh veggies and fruit- you can find many threads on gut loading on this site. Same for the supplements- use rephasy, rep-cal or sticky tounges.
Flukers products always seem to create issues for chameleons.

 

[ashleyroxyou]

I have a couple questions and suggestions.
1. What have you been dusting with for the last 5 months? If you have been using D3 this whole time this could be the reason for the bumps on the ribs.
2. What size is the cage?
3. Why are the temps so low and how are you measuring them? Temps need to be higher so she will have an appetite, metabolize and over all activity.
4. They truly only need 10-12 hour of light. This could be the reason for her falling asleep before lights off.

This is a great read for anyone wanting to learn a bit more. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

I never dusted before today. Thought she could use extra calcium where she is feeling bad. always used a high calcium diet and was told that was good enough.

I don't have the exact cage dimensions. I'd say at least 3 ft tall. Its the largest one they sell at pet smart.

I usually just wait until close to time for me to sleep. Not always that late though.

I don't think mesh would be a good thing to use. Considering thee temp issues