PLEASE help

[voxxom]

I just recently purchased 2 veiled chameleons (6 weeks old i think, or around the age) and one is male, and one is a female. They both eat regularly until fruit flies and crickets no longer interest them. i water them about 4 times a day and watch them gulp water until their thirst seems quenched. but yesterday i was gone for an entire day, my friend said he watered them a few times and i think he was lying. now my male chameleon is constantly sleeping, his grip is really weak and ive seen him fall off his perching place a few times, luckily i caught him every time. sometimes he wakes up and moves around VERY quickly with his eyes closed, grasping for random things. i was able to get him to drink quite a bit.. but now he is still sleeping and i think this case of dehydration is pretty advanced.. does anyone know what a vet bill for this type of situation would cost? anything or any alternatives i can take? thank you

 

[Jam]

I think that it sounds like you have more than just dehydration going on, and that a vet certainly is in order.
What sort of temperature gradient do you have for their cage?
Are they being kept together?
Is there a UVB light?
can you tell us more about their set up?

One thing that you can do is get some pedialyte and try to syringe it in their mouths, but sub Q fluids administered by a vet can do SOOO much good that i would just use it in the mean time.

 

[voxxom]

I keep the temperature around low-mid 80s and around 87 in the basking area. yes i use 2 uvb light bulbs, both also have 30% uva output. i use a tube (long rod like) uvb bulb and one squiggly sort of bulb that fits into a typical reptile lamp. their setup is "perfect" as said by the chameleon breeder which i got everything from. but im really worried about the little guy. he turned almost a pale brown color. i got a plastic syringe (of course with NO needle) and fed him some water which he gulped down. im planning on taking him to the vet ASAP.

 

[Brad]

Your basking temperature is too low. A chameleon behaving as you describe is in very poor shape and needs immediate help from a qualified veterinarian.

[THREAD=67]Veterinarian Resources[/THREAD]


Here is a list of setup details that you may want to include for more accurate advice. However, at this point I doubt any setup changes alone will be enough.

[THREAD=66]Setup Details[/THREAD]

 

[Will Hayward]

Move the basking temperature up to ~95.
UVA, is fine, but you'll need UVB to make a difference.
Seperate the two chameleons into two cages.
Use a cup with a hole in the bottom as a dripper during the day.

Good luck at the Vets.

 

[Jam]

have you noticed them pooping lately?

One common problem wtih too low temperatures is getting an impaction. When my old chameleon corey had an impaction she also became dehydrated and light brown colored.

 

[zinc99]

You wont dehydrate a cham by not watering the cage for one day. Its not like there is a constant 5 min rain 3 times a day in the wild. Your problem is something else.

 

[voxxom]

darn.. well 95 degrees for a baby? its at 87 right now and im worried that its too hot, can they develope thermal burns easily? also Odysseus (the cham) died last night, all the vets were closed. the only one which was open had no one in there that knew about chameleons, let alone any reptiles.. i became very upset and took him to the vet today (it wasnt dehydration). i noticed when i got the ficus plant, that the soil had those white balls which absorb everything wet, and retain it. so i took as many as i could out, and covered the soil up with coconut bark. somehow Odysseus managed to eat one.. thats what killed him. the white capsule retained his body fluid and absorbed everything.. its quite horrible actually. his (in lack of a better word) pooped earlier that day before he died (didnt find it until now) and there was blood and other strange things.. this really upset me.. i feel like an abusive owner now and its my fault that he died, due to my ignorance

 

[Jam]

I'm very sorry for your loss ... I lost my first chameleon too.

For the one that's still alive (there is one correct?) you really DO need to have a good temperature gradient. What most people do is set up a "basking" spot where the temperature reads 95+ degrees (mine varies as high as 102) but then have at least one other thermometer set up as far away as possible from the basking spot, and it should read 70-75ish. This way your chameleon can go to whatever temperature he needs to be at. For my first chameleon corey, I didn't keep the temperatures high enough -- had them right around yours in fact -- and after a few months she died.

It's devastating to loose a chameleon, especially when you feel guilt for it. It's obvious that you didn't mean to, and you did try to find a vet. What's a good thing to do now is find one ahead of time and see if there is an after hours emergency vet clinic near you that knows how to treat exotics. I know that I have to drive 45 min. to get to our emergency center that is willing to treat chameleons. I try to keep their phone numbers and directions located right by Hermie's cage.

 

[Frank Castle]

Sorry

I know how you are feeling. My first Lizard was a Water Dragon. I had purchased some of those King/Super Meal worms, the ones that are about 3+ inches long and fiesty as hell. She loved to eat them. I woke up one morning and she was stiff as a board. I took her to the vet to see why she had died, it turns out that she did not kill one of the worms all the way and the head ate through her stomach and she bleed to death internally along with the stomach acid entering her body. I felt Like i killed her also, ignorance on my part about the feeders I was giving her. It wasnt intentional on your part, we all make mistakes. Live and learn I guess. I hope you are doing better. Thanks for posting that thing about the Ficus Tree, I will keep my eye out for those. Your loss may save some of ours. Thank you.

Frank

 

[Chamomile T]

I took her to the vet to see why she had died, it turns out that she did not kill one of the worms all the way and the head ate through her stomach and she bleed to death internally along with the stomach acid entering her body.
Frank

WOW! I thought that was an urban legend!!??

 

[Frank Castle]

Nope

WOW! I thought that was an urban legend!!??

I have personally seen it happen to my Water Dragon, and 2 Beardies Also. I have/will never buy or use those things again.

 

[Heika]

Well, I will continue to feed them. They add variety to my chameleon's diet, and they are finally breeding pretty well too. It seems to me that stomach acid would do a number on the worm before it could ever get to eating its way out, even if it wasn't chewed up. I would love to see your vet report if you could post it. Maybe it will educate my doubt away.

Heika

 

[Frank Castle]

As far a their nutricious content I would only recomend that you cut the heads off befor giving them to your lizard. I dont have the vet report anymore this was about 5 years ago, but that is what the vet told me after the fact is that the heads should be cut off prior to feeding.