New Male Veiled not eating :(

[Rush]

Hi, i recently purchased a baby veiled chameleon from big apple herpetological, and he seems very healthy and happy other than the fact that he has not eaten a single feeder in the 3 days that i have had him.

Cage - All screen, 19inx19inx36in DIY cage
Lighting - 150 watt zoo med daylight blue reptile bulb during the day and 60 watt zoo med nightlight reptile bulb
Temperature- Basking area 93F and ambient 78F
Humidity- 60%, room humidifier and regular mistings
Plants- No live plants, fake greens.
Placement-no fans, or vents close. Directly on floor.
I am located in midlands south carolina.

My cham- male veiled, 4 weeks old, had for 3 days.
Handling- hardly ever handle him
Feeding- this is the problem, i have offered him crickets, superworms, and wax worms. all are ignored.
Supplements- dusting of ignored insects and also have given him an appetite stimulant and a stress reducer.
Watering- Drip system and regular misting. Never see him drinking either.
Feces- None, no food= no poop

Please help i am very worried.

 

[Julirs]

Temps are way too hot. You will cook him. You should have a basking spot at 80. Are you offering small enough feeders? At this age I would only offer very small crickets and possiby fruit flies. 4 week old babies are really not old enough to go to homes-there is a high stress rate. You should have NO nightime light and only heat if your temps are dropping below 70. Do you have a UVB bulb?
What in the world is the appetite stimulant and stress reducer? At this age you should only lightly be dusting with calcium-no D3.

 

[Syn]

Oh goodness! If it weren't for Julirs post I would have read that as 4 months not 4 weeks.

Is there any way you can exchange your veiled for an older one (if you were comfortable doing that)?

 

[Rush]

oops sorry i meant 83 for the basking. hed be dead if it was 93. the feeders are definitely small enough for him hes more than 4 in long. im not sure if hes really 4 weeks old ill check. okay on the website it doesnt say how old they are, but im sure hes more than 4 weeks now that i think about it. and no i dont have a uvb bulb in there with him right now, the local rep expert said he wouldn't need it with the bulbs i was giving him. but i will turn off his night light from now on.

 

[Rush]

oooo i just found it, hes 2 months old, sorry.

 

[Julirs]

Wow-no offense to you but whoever sold him to you is an IDIOT if they say he did not need UVB. At this age they certainly need it as they are at great risk for developing MBD-metabolic bone disease. The cause of this is no UVB and/or no or improper calcium supplementation.

 

[Rush]

thank you, i have had veileds before and i have never had this problem. i know they need their calcium supps, but its not the local guy i bought him from. its a respected herpetelogical society. on their website it said they would need a uvb bulb , i guess i should have listened. but when the guy here said i didn't need it i just listened to him. I contacted big apple and they said that they make sure that all of their chams are eating normally for at least a week before they ship them and that he probably just needs to get acclimated to his environment. i did have a cham once with mdb and his jaws and limbs were very weak, but this one seems very strong and active, he just has no appetite.

 

[Julirs]

Babies should eat like little monsters. Chams also like to be above your head, so the floor is stressful placement. Get a UVB and calsium supplements ASAP. Double and triple check your temps using a digital thermometer-analog is junk.

What Herp Society are we talking about?

 

[Rush]

Thank you, i just moved his cage up on my desk. so now hes almost to the ceiling. ive already got his calcium but ill go pick up a uvb tomorrow.

its called Big Apple Herpetelogical

 

[kinyonga]

Appropriate temperatures aid in digestion. A regular incandescent household bulb of a wattage that provides the appropriate temperatures in a domed hood is all that is needed for heat/basking.

Your chameleon needs exposure to UVB so that it can produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system. There should be no glass or plastic between the chameleon and the UVB source. Sunlight is the best source of UVB but the most often recommended UVB light is the Repti-sun 5.0 long linear fluorescent tube light.

To make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus found in many of the feeder insects, its important to dust the insects with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings.

I also dust with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder twice a month. D3 from supplements can build up in the system...so don't overdo it.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in the system but there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert it...so some people give their chameleons a little bit of prEformed vitamin A once in a while. Excess prEformed vitaminA may interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD.

Gutloading/feeding the insects a nutritious diet is also important. You can feed crickets, superworms, roaches, etc. a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, celery leaves, etc.).

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are all important players in bone health and other systems and need to be in balance. When trying to attain a balance you need to look at your supplements, what you feed to your insects and what you feed to the chameleon.

Here are some sites for you to read...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://adcham.com/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[Julirs]

I am pretty sure that it is just a store.

 

[Rush]

Thank you all very much for your help. I hope to get this problem solved.

 

[Julirs]

Pictures of the cham and cage are helpful in helping us help you!

 

[Rush]

ok one sec, ill snap some

 

[Tomtom]

yeah that was what i was going to say. maybe hes just getting used to his environment right now. its not like hes going to die or anything. they eat when they are hungry. and if the place you got it from said that they wait for a week and make sure that they are eating properly, my guess would be that hes just adjusting. maybe trying to figure out how to hunt in his new home. yeah and you def need uvb, calcium with d3 and without. oh and yeah nightlights no bueno bro...they need to have simulated environments particular to theyre natural habitat. the sun doesnt shine at night and temps usually drop pretty dramatically as well. and like earlier stated, only do that if it reaches below 70 in your room. AND NO HEATING PAD!! haha.

 

[Rush]

it wont let me upload on here? but heres the photobuket link to them. i took out the fake plants and put in a magnolia branch in case he might like it better for some reason.

http://s745.photobucket.com/albums/xx94/rushmorris/?newest=1

 

[Julirs]

That is a very young baby-and I see the feared analog thermometer. I fear your little fellow is not long for the world unless you get some quick fixing done. First-remove the substrate. AS much as you need to mist (3+ minutes of constant spraying) that stuff will turn to soup. If you can I would partition that cage off-way too big for a tint baby. My babies that big are still in baby tubs. Next get rid of that branch. Fake plants are OK for a baby-but you need enough to fill alot of the cage. OR-get a schefflera or Pothos, wash it up, and put it in there. Next-get your UVB TUBE-no compacts, and get rid of the red light (unless you will need it on cold nights). YOU NEED A DIGITAL THERMOMETER> I think you would be suprised to find that your temps could be well over 100 with the wattage of the light you have-and that baby will cook and dehydrate quickly.

 

[Rush]

I just used a radar thermometer, and the readings are identical to the analogs. so the temp and humidity are fine, i gave him a misting shower for about 15 minutes, and he seems a little brighter, but still no hunger. when i finish my classes ill go pick up a uvb. any other tips?

 

[pssh]

Are the crickets too big? They can't be bigger width wise that the space between his eyes. He may be afraid if they're too big.

 

[Rush]

nope theyre very small, they fit in between his eyes. but i did think that was a possibility and got smaller ones, still no results.