Not trying to freak out, please help

[nasi8one]

hello all, just got back from work and noticed my female jackson left a good sized orange ball looking thing at the bottom of the enclosure. Im not trying to worry about it but would like some info. I know yellow or orange in her urate would mean she is dehydrated, but i have seen her drink plenty of water. I mist frequently about 4-6 times a day. When gone for larger amounts of time i leave ice cubes to melt on top of her enclosure wo provide moving water. Can this just be what some refer to as "slugs"?

sorry for the bad quality of the picture.

 

[Dtmalvinni]

It looks like she had an unferutilized egg but Jackson's are live bearers so it may just be the unferutilized baby

 

[Lovereps]

Regardless of how much you've seen her drink, it looks like a typical, rather orange urate.
No need for panic but the likely cause should be determined.
Not having any clue as to the specifics of her care, nobody can really give you an idea as to why--other than to say she isn't hydrated enough .
If you copy, paste and fill in the answers to the How to Ask for Help questions, maybe something will stand out that can be causing this.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Elizadolots]

It looks like a slug. I know people like to say they are rare, but just this week we've seen a couple of cases.

However, I'm not the expect on Jackson's so you might want to wait for someone like Xanthoman or Trace to offer insight.

 

[Lovereps]

Here's one of Trace's pictures of a slug / unfertilized egg sac for comparison.
Quite frankly I fail to see any resemblance.

 

[nasi8one]

Thank you all for responding. the picture posted of the "slug" does look different to what i found. I will keep an eye on her when misting to make sure she is drinking. again thanks for giving me insight and educating me to what this could be, she is my first chameleon and I have alot of learning to do.




Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female jacksons chameleon, in my care for about a week.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?once a day to taje her out to the sun
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? meal worms, wax worms, small and medium sized crickets. I put about 9 crickets in her feeder cup in the morning(8am) and about another 8 in the evening around 5pm, and have a dish with mealworms , Waxworms are more of a treat.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? i can not find calcium without d3, so i have only given her calcium with d3 once and am planning on giving her this again every 5 weeks
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I mist heavily about 5-6 times a day for a duration of a minute. I also place ice cubes on top of her cage when i head off to work. She has a constant source of water.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown, jelly bean sized. I have seen her urate have a small bit of yellow once. but after that it has been white. I purchased her from petsmart ( i know not the best place, but i fell in love and wanted to rescue her from that place.), and they said that all animals, birds, and reptiles are checked by a vet before they are sold. Could just be another lie though
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. .........she was just placed in her new enclosure 3 days ago


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? screen enclosure that is 36"x 18"x18".
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? As of now i have a exoterra solarglo 125w at a distance of 14".( highest branch)
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Cage floor stays about 68-70f, middle stays around 70-75f, and basking spot is around 78-82f
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? i use a humidity gauge, before misting it reads 50, and after misting it goes to about 80-90. I just purchased a humidifier today so i am also planning on having that turn on for a hour about 4 times a day
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? not yet, but will soon
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?In my room, not near any fans or vents, I do leave 2 small windows open when gone. Cage is about 3' off the ground.and top of cage measures about 6' to the floor
Location - Where are you geographically located? Venice, CA ( los angeles)


Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Orange gooey ball i found at bottom of cage

 

[carol5208]

Regardless of how much you've seen her drink, it looks like a typical, rather orange urate.
No need for panic but the likely cause should be determined.
Not having any clue as to the specifics of her care, nobody can really give you an idea as to why--other than to say she isn't hydrated enough .
If you copy, paste and fill in the answers to the How to Ask for Help questions, maybe something will stand out that can be causing this.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

I agree with you that is looks like a partial orange urate.

 

[Trace]

I need a better picture but I agree that it looks like an orange urate opposed to a dried up unfertilized egg sac. Slugs usually aren't expelled during a poop or are accompanied by urate.

Lovereps: Did you ask my permission to use my photo? No you didn’t. So please refrain from that in the future.

 

[chameleongirl2]

it looks like an unfirtilized egg

 

[Lovereps]

Thank you all for responding. the picture posted of the "slug" does look different to what i found. I will keep an eye on her when misting to make sure she is drinking. again thanks for giving me insight and educating me to what this could be, she is my first chameleon and I have alot of learning to do.

You're quite welcome. Here is my take on your present setup, offered in the spirit of wanting your cham to thrive and for you to be a happy cham owner.

There are plenty of things right with your setup but there are also a few very important things that do need to be changed to keep her healthy.

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female jacksons chameleon, in my care for about a week.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?once a day to taje her out to the sun

Might be too often or too soon to handle her but that depends on the cham.
If she is exposed to unfiltered natural sunlight daily, then her body may produce enough D3 on its own. Natural sunlight is excellent.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? meal worms, wax worms, small and medium sized crickets. I put about 9 crickets in her feeder cup in the morning(8am) and about another 8 in the evening around 5pm, and have a dish with mealworms , Waxworms are more of a treat.

Females will eat until they are nearly round balls of fat with legs. Obese chams can develop serious health problems.
Depending on the size of the crickets and age of your cham, she is probably overeating.
As a rule, stores selling crickets don't feed them nutritious food, if they feed them at all.
An important source of nutrients for your cham is well-fed feeder insects. They call it gutloading your feeders on the forum.
Here is great info about this , written by a vet and fellow cham keeper:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? i can not find calcium without d3, so i have only given her calcium with d3 once and am planning on giving her this again every 5 weeks

Regardless of her age, that is not going to keep her healthy.
You can get calcium without D3 to use every other day and a multivitamin to use once to twice a month from these websites:
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/food-nutrition/supplements-color-enhancers/rep-cal.html
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...d-cage-cleaners/reptile-calcium-and-vitamins/
http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/dietary-supplements/calcium-supplements.html
Sometimes sellers through Amazon sell these.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I mist heavily about 5-6 times a day for a duration of a minute. I also place ice cubes on top of her cage when i head off to work. She has a constant source of water.

You can hand mist if you prefer but you should increase the duration so that she can drink until she no longer wants to drink. Typically about 3-5 minutes per misting. Warm water is often better appreciated by chams.
That's one reason why I got a misting system. The other main advantage is that you can go away for a weekend and know that she will be getting enough water.
Mistking and Aquazamp are highly regarded by forum members. Other systems have not received such positive reviews as these.Use the search button to see what I mean.
Mistking makes a starter system if the ultimate value doesn't appeal to your wallet and here are a few places that have the systems:
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/misting/mistking-misting-system-parts.html
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...ers/-/mistking-ultimate-value-misting-system/
http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/...systems/mist-king-misters-and-accesories.html
http://www.aquazamp.com/store_front/

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown, jelly bean sized. I have seen her urate have a small bit of yellow once. but after that it has been white. I purchased her from petsmart ( i know not the best place, but i fell in love and wanted to rescue her from that place.), and they said that all animals, birds, and reptiles are checked by a vet before they are sold. Could just be another lie though
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. .........she was just placed in her new enclosure 3 days ago


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? screen enclosure that is 36"x 18"x18".

The vet thing seems unlikely for the reptiles--aside from a cursory glance perhaps but who knows--maybe they're as caring as a pet store should be.
Maybe your Petcsmart has someone knowledgeable taking care of their reptiles and is a cut above those retailers about whom horror stories are told.
She has a good enclosure of the proper type.

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? As of now i have a exoterra solarglo 125w at a distance of 14".( highest branch)

The problem with an all in one bulb is the improbability of to ensuring enough UV without either overdoing the UV or overheating the animal.
The usual solution is separate UV and basking bulbs.
A 40 watt household incandescent in a dome fixture is often enough to keep a Jackson's basking site between the preferred 80 to 85 degree range, depending on distance from the basking area.
A UV bulb often suggested is the Reptisun 5.0 which emits safe levels of UV for chams. Too much UV in a confined area like a cage actually leads to eye troubles.
In addition to the sources already mentioned http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/ has nice lighting solutions

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Cage floor stays about 68-70f, middle stays around 70-75f, and basking spot is around 78-82f
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? i use a humidity gauge, before misting it reads 50, and after misting it goes to about 80-90. I just purchased a humidifier today so i am also planning on having that turn on for a hour about 4 times a day
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? not yet, but will soon
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?In my room, not near any fans or vents, I do leave 2 small windows open when gone. Cage is about 3' off the ground.and top of cage measures about 6' to the floor
Location - Where are you geographically located? Venice, CA ( los angeles)

You already have plans to up the humidity, which is in need of an increase. Live plants will help to stabilize humidity levels and provide hiding places for your cham to feel safe. In the wild, they drink droplets of water off plant leaves, rather than other sources.
Any plants you do get must have the pesticide/fertilizer residues washed off the leaves before use.
A couple of thorough washes with ordinary dish soap followed by thorough rinses should work well.


Minor tweaks for perfection would be a little lower night temperature and cage placed a bit higher--neither of which is likely as important as increasing hydration, proper supplementing, improved lighting and increasing humidity.
Of course if there's a dog, cat, small children, etc. who may lurk at her cage and stress her, that would be different.

It's worth mentioning only because too many petstores erroneously recommend thes, but no substrate should be on the cage bottom (coconut husk, moss etc.) the dampness holds too much moisture (mold/bacteria growth ensues) and chams can accidentally eat it and get intestinal blockage (cham medical emergency).
Any rocks used on the plant soil to prevent access to fertilizer balls, bits of sticks, etc. must be much larger than your cham could accidentally swallow for the same reason.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Orange gooey ball i found at bottom of cage

More water needed.

I hope this helps you out and everyone loves to see pictures of chams, so feel free to share them

 

[nasi8one]

Thank you for the helpful links and information. I will mist for longer amounts of time, to give her more time to drink .I did forget to mention how i gutload. I feed my feeders, carrot, lettuce, celery, orange, apples, and oats as of now. I will read the gutloading link you sent me to compare. I read somewhere that chameleons should be fed every other day. Is this true? i do want a healthy chameleon, not one that can barely walk. I will post a picture up soon! thank you again for your help

 

[Lovereps]

Adult chameleons can eat every other day.
It all depends on age.