Not Eating at all...

[Dani1418]

I own a Veiled Chameleon, we've had him since he was about 8 weeks old and he's now over 5 years.. A few months ago he stopped eating completely and we took him straight to an exotic vet who told us he needed vitamin D.
Letting him sit in the sun on weekends didn't help..
We have to force feed him now as he won't use his tongue at all..

Please tell me I can help him! It's breaking our hearts to see him like this..
I hope I haven't missed something.. What can I do for him??

 

[pascalowner]

He might be going on a food strike depending on what you feed him. I've seen some chams go on strike because they got fed superworms too much and would simply not eat when offered anything else, I've also heard of chams going on strikes when they are fed only crickets for a long amount of time. I'm no expert on chameleons, but it's a thought.

 

[kinyonga]

Please answer the questions inthehow to ask for help thread in he health forum. It could be hat he has a calcium imbalance.

 

[Kate]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Here is the thread. Can you fill it in please?

 

[Dani1418]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon – Madagascar Veiled Chameleon, Male, He’s just over 5 yrs old and we've had him since he was 8 weeks.
• Handling – He’s now handled once every two days due to his condition, he was being held everyday for +- half an hour a day
• Feeding – We fed him medium crickets and meal-worms dusted with calcium. He’d get about 6 of these (mixed) every morning (Mom would put them into his bowl). And about every second weekend he’d eat a baby baby pinkie as we were told he’d love them as a treat and he did!
• Supplements – The supplements we use are ‘Reptile Resort Calcium’ or ‘Reptimed Iguana Cal’ and it was just dusted lightly over his food but now a small dose is mixed into the soft dog food that we feed him.
• Watering – There is a small water feature in his cage that runs 24/7 and is cleaned once every two weeks – it doesn't get dirty quickly – but we topped it up with new water when ever we noticed the water level was low. He got misted every morning. I used to see him drink a lot. I notice every now & then that he still drinks water.
• Fecal Description – His droppings of late are pale and firm; they used to be a brown/yellow when he used to eat by himself. He’s never been tested for parasites :/
• History – His condition of not eating started late 2011 when he wouldn't eat his pinkies, then in 2012 he stopped all together and we took him to the exotic vet. The vet suggested feeding him high protein dog food (soft type) until he comes right. Our cham hasn't come right and we feed him every second day because if we try every day he will not co-operate at all.

Cage Info:
• Cage Type – His cage is the glass type and is 23 x 17 x 23 inches.
• Lighting – We have one red light for night time and a basking lamp for daytime. I’m not sure of brand as my mom buys them but they come highly recommended buy the pet stores around here. His daylight lamp stays on for about 11 – 12 hours a day.
• Temperature – His cage reaches 27 degrees Celsius and then once it reaches this temp there is an auto switch which switches his daytime light off to prevent the cage getting too hot. During the night the lowest temp I have seen is 23 but that’s in winter. The temp is usually regulated at around 27. There is a thermometer attached to his cage that records all of this.
• Humidity – I’m not sure about the humidity, we were advised that misting him every morning and his water feature would be enough for him. We don’t have anything to actually measure his humidity.
• Plants – He has live baby ferns in his cage that he likes to sleep near as well as fake vines that he always climbs.
• Placement – His cage is in our dining room, away from most traffic in the house, he is about 10 meters away from an open window during the day. His cage is about 1.5 meters from the ground.
• Location – We live in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Current Problem – He just stopped eating and wouldn't even go near his food bowl. It’s been over a year now that we've had to force feed him. I sometimes see him looking really closely at a cricket or meal-worm in his bowl – we put only one in a day now to try encourage him to eat – and he gets up really close to the bowl and opens his mouth but he doesn't ever use his tongue. I can note that his tongue did look very purple when I saw it about two weeks ago. All the exotic vet suggested was more vitamin D but sunshine hasn't seemed to help at all.

That is all the info that I know.. Thank you

 

[Dani1418]

My apologies for the very late update!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum Lots to take in here. First sorry to hear your guy is not so good. He is quite old now but we hope he can last a bit longer for you
Do you have a picture please? Veiled chams are not Madagascan.........

Just from what you say I think to stop feeding dog food and pinkies. Force feed him crushed up gutloaded insects from a syringe, it should be better for his health - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
More feeder ideas - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

A dripper of some sort would maybe be good - the water feature you have is a fountain? These can be difficult to keep clean of bacteria. If he poops in it and then drinks later in the day he might get sick. How long do you mist him for everyday?

Here is a great all-round caresheet I recommend to all people with Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
I hope this helps!

 

[Dani1418]

Lol, I feel a bit silly... We were told he's from Madagascar and just believed it...
All right we'll take him off the dog food, and he hasn't eaten pinkie's for a long time - that's when he stopped eating, he stopped eating those first.
Thank you for the advise so far.. We'll see how it goes..

Any idea why he's like this though? For so long?
He's very skinny..

 

[Dani1418]

The best I can do for a photo of him is the profile pic I have...

 

[crocky]

Hopefully others will chime in as well but you mentioned that his poop use to be brown/yellow when he was eating. Yellow is a sign if dehydration, his urates should be white.

Seems to me that the one misting in the morning would not be enough and I certainly would not rely on the water feature for him to drink out of. I would suspect that even after a day it would hold bacteria of some sort and I would hate to think what it is harboring after two weeks (since you mentioned you clean it out every two weeks. I would take that out and mist him several more times a day for a few minutes each. And as David mentioned a dripper would be good, just make sure that there is not water standing in the cage.

I am also pretty new to chams but that was my first thought when I read your info. As I mentioned I am sure others with more knowledge will chime in as well

 

[crocky]

Another thing i noticed in your info is you have a red light, I wouldn't use that at night. Are you running that for a particular reason? Is your basking light a combo light with UVB?

 

[Kate]

Hi there. I'm not seeing uv light there. Also he doesn't need the red bulb at night. Chams benefit from darkness at night and they can see the red light. If it is there to provide heat at night, chams benefit from a drop in temperature to as low as 55. It slows down the metabolism and allows sleep. I would ditch the waterfall as they are a breeding ground for bacteria if not cleaned daily. I would also increase his misting. As David said no dog food . Too much protein. Mashed crickets are better. I'm not sure of your supplements but a good schedule is plain calcium without d3 daily. Calcium with d3 twice a month and a multivit twice a month. Your cage dimensions are a bit small. They do well with hight of around 48 inches.

 

[Dani1418]

Thank you everyone,
Will change his water arrangement asap and mist him more often..

The red light was for heat at night but we'll use that less and his daytime light is one with uv - sorry I didn't mention that

Will use everyone's advise as we really hope for him to stay with us a lot longer if possible

 

[Kate]

Thank you everyone,
Will change his water arrangement asap and mist him more often..

The red light was for heat at night but we'll use that less and his daytime light is one with uv - sorry I didn't mention that

Will use everyone's advise as we really hope for him to stay with us a lot longer if possible

If you are worried about low temps at night you could use a ceramic heat emitter. I use one with a thermostat which only kicks in whe temps drop below 60 which it rarely does. Chams have a parietal eye on there heads which detect light. Veileds originate from Yemen so it would be interesting to see what the temps there are at night.