Let us know how it goes.
His fecal wasn’t back but they decided to give him a medication that kicks most parasites and got a powder food for syringe feeding (just in case he may need it.) She said that other than his eating a poop, he looked pretty healthy! He is a bit underweight, as I suspected, but he should eat more soon! They also gave us some tips to get some shed off of him and other basic things for the future as well as a full husbandry review.
What exactly were the tips to get the shed off of him?
I (personally) tried a bit of a warm, damp a-tip and rubbed it. The information that gave me seemed more like if it was a far more serious situation, since they said soak him. They also told me about reptile shed sprays, though I would probably get the arcadia supplements before taking drastic measures.
So honestly the information they gave you would be totally wrong for a chameleon. They are dry shedders and when you force the shed off with water and it is not ready to totally let go it just sticks far worse to their skin.
I agree with it being wrong. Bathing them seems like a big stressful no-no. I think they meant if more got stuck she’d though? I’m not sure that makes it any better.
Water and shed is a hard pass. I have seen people cause issues trying to remove shed that had not released fully. It comes off it just comes off slower. Generally shed issues are linked to husbandry issues.
I tried using one for him but he never was interested. I might try it again since he’s been eating more.
So he is young and teaching them to only hand feed can be dangerous because they rely entirely on you. If you ever have to travel this can be a really bad thing. Also at this stage he should be eating a ton of feeders and a variety. Trying to hold crickets in a hand just does not work well. You want them to learn to eat from a feeder. To do this you want the right type of feeder. One that they can see all of the insects moving in it. You want to load it up in the morning with 2 dozen or so feeders so they see the consistent movement. The feeder should be somewhere higher in the cage so they can see it from basking level. It should also be easily accessible so they can walk right up to it and target insects.
I put a cup in earlier today in hopes he will eat out of it. I have been trying a few ways to get him to eat since I got him and the worms on a hand (any hand, really) is his favorite and the only way he has eaten enough. Now that he is willing to eat, I want to try to get him into cup feeding and feeder runs, but he also needs to gain weight. If he doesn’t eat with the cup/run, should I still hand feed him until he’s a healthier weight?
Can you post a pic of this cup your using in the cage? A lot of them will not just start cup feeding and if it is not done in a way they can fully see them or access them they wont bother.
Yes! sorry, I had not seen the message until now, so I am sorry for the late reply!!
You will be better off with something that is not see through. They can back off using these if they start targeting through the plastic... They can not figure out that they can access from above. I still prefer feeder runs though.
i’ll try the feeder run again! he started eating off of branches recently, so i hope he will pick up the run in no time!
The reason why a feeder run is better than free feeding in the cage is due to any future issues with Parasites. If they learn to eat from a feeder run the insects are contained and they are not eating off of surfaces that they poop on. If you deal with a parasite issue then you end up dealing with a cham that may not eat because you can not turn insects loose in the cage while you are medicating the chameleon. This is due to the oocysts of the parasites being shed in the fecal. If they eat from a place where the oocysts were they reinfect themselves with the parasite.
