please help i think she’s dying

[Echo98]

I’ve had my little bev since may 4th 2021. she’s been doing great after i learned a lot about raising chameleons. she’s been eating 2-3xs a week. we feed her crickets, and super worms. we dust her crickets with calcium powder probably 1x to 2xs a month. we buy her crickets through flukers farms and we always gut load them before feeding them to her. she has a waterfall in her enclosure that we change out and clean every week. we also mist her enclosure so she can drink from her plants as well. she has live plants and fake ones. she’s laid eggs 3x that we know of. at first it was our fault for over feeding her. we corrected that. she does have a heating lamp that’s at 60 since our house gets warm already. we have a Arcadia UVB light T5 forest. and we have changed it within the last year. we have another female chameleon right beside her cage (they can’t see each other) but our other chameleon is doing great she’s friendly eating drinking normal so i don’t know if this is a genetic thing or not? i just want to know what to do she’s been like this for about a week. we’ve been force feeding her and making her drink because we don’t know what else to do. no one in our area see reptiles only 1 place does and they don’t have an opening until 1 week from monday. any and all help would be appreciated. i find her on the ground light green with her eyes closed. i’m really scared she’s in pain and is dying.

 

[Echo98]

 

[lurker9090]

"we dust her crickets with calcium powder probably 1x to 2xs a month"

 

[Tkrd69]

@MissSkittles can give you a lot more knowledge that I can.

 

[Echo98]

"we dust her crickets with calcium powder probably 1x to 2xs a month"

that probably was a typo but i try not to over do it because i used to do it to much

 

[elizaann2]

I’m so sorry this is happening. I am not too familiar with this so I won’t be much help. What are her temps at during the day? Is she by a window?

My best suggestion for now is just help her be as comfortable as possible. You may want to consider putting her in a hospital bin for now. Let me know if you have questions about that.

Sending you lots of love. It’s so hard to see our beloved animals sick.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. I’m so sorry that your little lady is not looking good at all. With her eyes so sunken in she is likely very dehydrated and usually when they start looking like this, …. Your very best action would be to get her to a good vet immediately. Most of us have to travel a bit for our good vets who are experienced with chameleons.
To look at the limited info you’ve given, your supplements are greatly lacking. I’m not a vet and can’t say if this is what has caused your girl to be failing or not, but I can say that it surely hasn’t been of any help to her. You should be dusting lightly with a phosphorus free calcium without D3 at every feeding. She also needs the D3 and multivitamins and there are different ways to do those. The easiest is to use either Repashy calcium Plus LoD or Reptivite with D3 lightly dusted on one feeding every other week. The other way is to use a calcium with D3 one feeding every other week and alternating with a multivitamin for one feeding every other week. I can also say that the use of water fountains is a potential risk and not advised. Even if you were to clean it daily, they become reservoirs for growing bacteria. We can go over all aspects of your husbandry and see if there’s anything else, but I’m not sure if it will change much for this little lady. Your other chameleon will benefit though. Sadly, there’s so very much old or just bad info out there about keeping chameleons and too many fall victim to it. I wish I could be of more help. Adding the vet list in hopes that you’ll find one not too far from you that can help your sweetie.

 

[Echo98]

Hi. I’m so sorry that your little lady is not looking good at all. With her eyes so sunken in she is likely very dehydrated and usually when they start looking like this, …. Your very best action would be to get her to a good vet immediately. Most of us have to travel a bit for our good vets who are experienced with chameleons.
To look at the limited info you’ve given, your supplements are greatly lacking. I’m not a vet and can’t say if this is what has caused your girl to be failing or not, but I can say that it surely hasn’t been of any help to her. You should be dusting lightly with a phosphorus free calcium without D3 at every feeding. She also needs the D3 and multivitamins and there are different ways to do those. The easiest is to use either Repashy calcium Plus LoD or Reptivite with D3 lightly dusted on one feeding every other week. The other way is to use a calcium with D3 one feeding every other week and alternating with a multivitamin for one feeding every other week. I can also say that the use of water fountains is a potential risk and not advised. Even if you were to clean it daily, they become reservoirs for growing bacteria. We can go over all aspects of your husbandry and see if there’s anything else, but I’m not sure if it will change much for this little lady. Your other chameleon will benefit though. Sadly, there’s so very much old or just bad info out there about keeping chameleons and too many fall victim to it. I wish I could be of more help. Adding the vet list in hopes that you’ll find one not too far from you that can help your sweetie.

thank you so so much. i had no idea that waterfalls were bad for my chameleons. i thought that they were fine at least, that’s what i was told. i feel like a terrible mamma. i’m going to see if the hot spring one is open today if so i’m taking her today. i will also get the supplements you mentioned and take out their waterfalls for sure. i will definitely correct that and hopefully i’ll be a better mother towards my other girl. i hope my bev pulls through but she looks so bad i just don’t want her to be in anymore pain

 

[MissSkittles]

thank you so so much. i had no idea that waterfalls were bad for my chameleons. i thought that they were fine at least, that’s what i was told. i feel like a terrible mamma. i’m going to see if the hot spring one is open today if so i’m taking her today. i will also get the supplements you mentioned and take out their waterfalls for sure. i will definitely correct that and hopefully i’ll be a better mother towards my other girl. i hope my bev pulls through but she looks so bad i just don’t want her to be in anymore pain

It’s very difficult when you find info that you believe to be correct and good and makes you believe that you are doing the very best for your chameleons and then only find out it was wrong when one of your little sweeties falls ill. You honestly had no idea and can’t blame yourself. So many of us were the same until we found either the forum, Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube or Chameleon Academy. There are vets out there that while they may know the medical aspects of chameleons, they are terrible when it comes to knowing husbandry. I’m going to guess that whatever vet you go to will tell you to put your sweet girl into a shower or bath to hydrate her. It’s a common mistake made by many vets. What you can do to hydrate her is get your night time temps below 68F and then run a cool mist humidifier or fogger thru the night to boost humidity as high as possible. This simulates the natural hydration cycle that wild chameleons get. Offer some small sized hornworms or silkworms. If you are giving her fluids in her mouth, do be very careful as the airway is in the front of the mouth. Aim for the back of the throat and go slow. I really hope your girl pulls thru and will be praying for her and sending good vibes your way.

 

[Echo98]

It’s very difficult when you find info that you believe to be correct and good and makes you believe that you are doing the very best for your chameleons and then only find out it was wrong when one of your little sweeties falls ill. You honestly had no idea and can’t blame yourself. So many of us were the same until we found either the forum, Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube or Chameleon Academy. There are vets out there that while they may know the medical aspects of chameleons, they are terrible when it comes to knowing husbandry. I’m going to guess that whatever vet you go to will tell you to put your sweet girl into a shower or bath to hydrate her. It’s a common mistake made by many vets. What you can do to hydrate her is get your night time temps below 68F and then run a cool mist humidifier or fogger thru the night to boost humidity as high as possible. This simulates the natural hydration cycle that wild chameleons get. Offer some small sized hornworms or silkworms. If you are giving her fluids in her mouth, do be very careful as the airway is in the front of the mouth. Aim for the back of the throat and go slow. I really hope your girl pulls thru and will be praying for her and sending good vibes your way.

i will go and pick up a fogger and use it tonight. i will pick up some hornworms today as well and i do have her in a hospital bin right now to keep her from hurting herself. i just hate to see her like this. i definitely feel like it’s my fault, not on purpose but i still feel terrible. thank you for all of your info and i’ll correct what i can and just hope and pray she pulls through.

 

[Echo98]

i will go and pick up a fogger and use it tonight. i will pick up some hornworms today as well and i do have her in a hospital bin right now to keep her from hurting herself. i just hate to see her like this. i definitely feel like it’s my fault, not on purpose but i still feel terrible. thank you for all of your info and i’ll correct what i can and just hope and pray she pulls through.

is there anyway you could post pictures of the calcium and vitamins you use for your babies? i just want to be sure i’m getting the right items for my babies

 

[Gloriawood]

is there anyway you could post pictures of the calcium and vitamins you use for your babies? i just want to be sure i’m getting the right items for my babies

The reptical is every feeding except twice a month. Use either the repashy or reptivite for those two. I prefer repashy as it sticks better

 

[kinyonga]

So sorry you’re having this issue. She is definitely not doing well.

How many eggs did she lay in each of the 3 clutches? When were the clutches laid?
Did she dig holes each time, chose a hole and lay all the eggs at one time in the hole, cover it over and tamp it down and return to the branches?
No eggs dropped anywhere else in the cage? No unusual behaviour after the last clutch?

What species is the chameleon next to her?