New here and worried

[louisaCham]

Hi, my 6mo panther chameleon has had a very yellow section of urate in amongst the white of his urate for the last couple of days and one very organe one. Im getting worried because he has always had very white urates up until this point. i usually mist his screen cage 3 times a day and have a mister set to go off 30 seconds every hour im not home. two days ago i uped it to 45 seconds every hour and have been hand misting him more. He has a humidifier which also drips constantly. I have a little dripper but dont use it because he doesnt drink from it from what i can tell hence the hourly mistings. I have also given him a warm shower every day since this started and i have seen no change. Is there anything i can try before taking him to the vet ?

 

[louisaCham]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male panther,5/6 months old aprox.
Handling - small amounts daily
Feeding -crickets, mealworms, caliworms and wax worms. tired dubias he wouldnt take them and have order silk, hornworms and a few other feeders for variety but they havent arrived.
Supplements - Calcium with d3, twice a month. repticalcium without d3, every feeding. Multi vitamin twice a month.
Watering - I have a humidifier with a tube leading it into the cage. I also mist whenever i can. Usually 3-5x a day.
Fecal Description - brown and usually white
History - none
Cage Info: reptibreeze medium (upgrading to extra large soon)
Cage Type - screen cage 1 ftx 1ft x 2 ft
Lighting - arcadia Jungle uvb bulb. powersun basking bulb 25 wt
Temperature - Floor temp is 71, basking spots range from 79-85. Lowest overnight is about 68. I use a digital thermometer.
Humidity - My humidity varies from 50-75 depending on how high i put my humidifier on. I measure with a digital humidity gauge
Plants - one live plant.
Placement -The cage is on a wall with no vents but is in view of a window. the cage top is 5 feet from the ground.
Location - England
Current Problem - slight yellow in ruate even after my exhauistive efforts to hydrate him

 

[squeekz1992]

Are you letting the cage completely dry between mistings?

Yellow means dehydrated, but it might take a couple days for it to be purely white again depending on how orange/yellow it was.

 

[louisaCham]

yeah i make sure the cage has dried before misting again. He seems fine and is eating okay and he's going to the bathroom like clockwork today it had only a tiny bit yellow in it so i'm hoping your right and he will go back to normal soon. Thanks for the reply

 

[squeekz1992]

No problem they like making us worry.

 

[louisaCham]

i know tell me about it , i feel like im over reacting and getting worried and he's sitting laughing at me lol im sure since i got him ive become an overbearing parent and am worrying myself silly about every little thing but better to be safe than sorry

 

[deadhd5]

I think a little yellow in the urate is nothing to worry about really. The orange urate would give me concern, but if it is does not repeat, it could just be a one time problem (he could have held it too long). I wouldn't take him to the vet unless I had repeated orange urates, or a cominbination of an orange urate with sunken eyes or lethargy.

The only suggestion I would have is to reduce the number of mistings and increase the length. Many chams need a few minutes of misting to trigger their drinking instinct. I have my mist king set to go off 4 times a day, first one 10 minutes, second one 8 minutes, third one 5 minutes, and finally 3 minutes.

 

[Andrew27]

It may tak a few day like the other person said. Sounds like you are doing a good job. ANother thing you could do if your cham is eating ok is you can lightly soak an insect with water before you feed it to the chameleon, and he gets water just by eating.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Yes, don't worry about it too much.........welcome to the forum Lots of Chams prefer to drink in secret (especially when young) so if I were you I would set up his dripper again. It won't do any harm, maybe he was drinking from it without letting you see.