Please help. It looks like I may lose him..

[sfplayr04]

Your Chameleon - Male, Veiled Chameleon. Almost 2 years old
Handling -Rarely. Only to clean cage.
Feeding - Crickets gut loaded with a gut load blend from local reptile shop and water gel. Wax worms and meal worms
Supplements - daily calcium w/o d3. Usually has calcium w/ D3, once a month. Lately, my fiance has been helping me take care of Hank and I forgot to tell her about the once a month D3 dustings.
Watering - Dripper going all day long
Fecal Description - Droppings have been less frequent. I have not been in to observe him much and my fiance has said that she has noticed a decline in appetite and droppings. There are a few around the cage that have the yellowish coloration, but others have white.
History- Purchased from local reptile store where they have kept veiled chameleons, among others, and all seem healthy.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, 30Height x 18Depth x 30Width
Lighting - 18" ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 UVB light with 60W basking light.

Temperature - High 80s in basking spot and mid to high 70s at other parts of the cage. Night time temps can drop to low 70s
Humidity - I generally observe humidity levels between 50%-80%. Lately, it may have been lower
Plants - None. Just sticks and fake foliage.
Placement - The cage is in a bedroom and the highest part is about five feet high.

My veiled, Hank, is acting as if he may die. He has become lethargic and weak to the point that the only thing that he seems to be able to hold on to are his own legs. When I pick him up to try and separate him from himself, he maintains a formidable grip. His casque is swollen and his eyes are remaining closed for much of the day. This started a couple days ago, and has not gotten any better. My fiance and I are desperate to save him. We live in Gainesville, Fl and do not know of any good reptiles vets. Though I am not opposed, I was hoping there was something that could be done before having to take him somewhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ferrah88]

I'm no vet, so I am not going to pretend I know what is certainly a problem, but I will address some things that might help those who can better diagnose the problem than I.

Do you happen to have any pictures? A visual aid of the setup and of your sick guy will help a lot in determining the cause.

Also I didn't see you mention vitamins at all, does he get any? Those gutload blends usually aren't the healthiest and he MIGHT be lacking vitamins.

Your viv seems a bit short, if you mean 30 as in inches (I'm assuming you are, since 30cm would be REALLY small and 30 feet well.. that's very big). I try and go with 120 cm (around 50 inches) or taller. Width is not as important.

Either I am very tired and missed it while reading or you didn't mention anything about misting. How often? Do you let the viv dry out between mistings?


Something that I might know something about however, regarding the swollen bit... Is the swelling kind of as if it's filled with air, almost like a balloon? Yuki had something like that around her neck which would sometimes affect her eyes (they would blow up like balloons) which was caused by a vitamin A deficiency. If that's similar to your guys problem, that might be the case. Again though, pictures would do a world of help!

I hope someone with more knowledge can help you a bit more. I hope your little guy gets some help from the more knowledgeable members quickly!

::EDIT::
I also wanted to ask how often you were feeding the wax and meal worms. They are none too nutritional and mealworms can cause impaction due to their exoskeleton.

 

[sfplayr04]

Thanks for the quick response, Ferrah88. I do mean 30" tall. I know that may be a little short, but intended to build a larger one in a few months. I typically dust the feeder insects and the gut load the crickets. Here are a few pics to help with the diagnosis. Again, thanks for all of the help.

 

[Carlton]

Your Chameleon - Male, Veiled Chameleon. Almost 2 years old
Handling -Rarely. Only to clean cage.
Feeding - Crickets gut loaded with a gut load blend from local reptile shop and water gel. Wax worms and meal worms
Supplements - daily calcium w/o d3. Usually has calcium w/ D3, once a month. Lately, my fiance has been helping me take care of Hank and I forgot to tell her about the once a month D3 dustings.
Watering - Dripper going all day long
Fecal Description - Droppings have been less frequent. I have not been in to observe him much and my fiance has said that she has noticed a decline in appetite and droppings. There are a few around the cage that have the yellowish coloration, but others have white.
History- Purchased from local reptile store where they have kept veiled chameleons, among others, and all seem healthy.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, 30Height x 18Depth x 30Width
Lighting - 18" ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 UVB light with 60W basking light.

Temperature - High 80s in basking spot and mid to high 70s at other parts of the cage. Night time temps can drop to low 70s
Humidity - I generally observe humidity levels between 50%-80%. Lately, it may have been lower
Plants - None. Just sticks and fake foliage.
Placement - The cage is in a bedroom and the highest part is about five feet high.

My veiled, Hank, is acting as if he may die. He has become lethargic and weak to the point that the only thing that he seems to be able to hold on to are his own legs. When I pick him up to try and separate him from himself, he maintains a formidable grip. His casque is swollen and his eyes are remaining closed for much of the day. This started a couple days ago, and has not gotten any better. My fiance and I are desperate to save him. We live in Gainesville, Fl and do not know of any good reptiles vets. Though I am not opposed, I was hoping there was something that could be done before having to take him somewhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

How old is your UV light? If its older than 6 months replace it, as it's no longer producing much if any UVB.
Does he ever get outside in "real" sunlight? This might help a lot.
A diet of waxworms and mealworms isn't great. Neither feeder is easy to gutload and neither is very nutritious.
You didn't mention a multi vitamin dust that is necessary in addition to the plain calcium daily, the calcium with D3 TWICE a month.

Probably has an ongoing vitamin deficiency going on.