Ecotect
New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon – Killian, Male Furcifer Pardalis, 10 months old been in my care since 3/17
Handling - Once or twice per day depending on the time of year ie, going back and forth from outside enclosure or simply reminding him where his heat lamp is.
Feeding - The staple feeders are dubia, he usually eats one 1" dubia every morning by hand, I do offer more but he rarely takes them. Any extra I leave in a container for him to graze upon but he never goes for them. Then a few worms at the end of the day, usually supers but I also give trevos and horn worms regularly. Rarely a wax worm if he's being super stubborn. Dubia are gut-loaded with zoo-med natural Cricket care, grainberry antioxidant cereal, raw almond, sun flower seed and pumpkin seed, millet, fresh bee pollen and repashy super pig for the dry. I'll add some calcium dusts to the mix depending on the time of month to correspond with the dusting schedule. For the wet I’ll mix together carrot shavings, Naked Juice "green machine", flukers orange cubes, and water crystals. For fresh foods I commonly use dandelion leaves, kale, and mustard greens as a staple then any other random left over fruits and veggies.
Supplements - I dust zoo-med repti-calcium w/o D3 everyday regardless of time of year. Then every Saturday during colder months I'll rotate between rep-cal herptivite, sticky tongue farms miner-all O, and rep-cal calcium w/D3. During the summer I cut out the D3 due to the fact that he spends the majority of the day outside and alternate between herptivite and miner-all O every other Saturday.
watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? My cham hates water...I have a mist king, that run’s multiple times a day, longest in the morning for 10 mins to try and stimulate his drinking response, he usually avoids it like the plague and I end up hand misting him instead twice a day, which he also hates. I never see him drink on his own ever so I will spray a little extra water in his mouth from the side while he is chewing up a roach. I never spray directly down his throat just when his tongue tip comes out, this is done everyday. I have not set a dripper yet since moving back inside, still trying to figure out the logistics there. Previously while outside he had access to an area that was constantly misted. Despite his mystery drinking habits he does not look dehydrated.
Fecal Description/History- Recently within the last 2 weeks his fecal frequency has dropped to once a week. This was my first indication that something was amiss. They are much larger than normal around 4” total with the urate being at least an inch. The waste is normal colored, no excessive undigested parts with liberal mucus coating, not runny. The urate, and I know I’m going to catch flack for this is also normally colored a whitish orange. So really fecals are normal except for size and frequency. I had him tested for parasites in July by Jonathan Mehlrose (http://www.vmcli.com/veterinarians-dr-mehlrose.html) He found one pinworm cyst and gave me 5 doses of panacur to administer myself every 7 days. I gave him one dose and by the next week the medication had dried out because he gave it to me as un-capped syringes in a bag. I originally made the appointment with him to get fecals done because I was concerned about the orange urate coloration.
He has always had orange urate since day one, I tried everything to amend this. When he was younger and in his old cage I would see him drink frequently and never showed any other signs of dehydration, still I would shower him, mist him 8 times a day, make sure his feeders were swollen with fluids and even resorted to injecting feeders with Pedialyte. Ultimately this probably led to his water phobia today.
When the Dr. asked why I thought he was dehydrated I explained to him that as far as I knew orange urates was an indication of dehydration and was common knowledge around the forums. He told me that my cham is very well hydrated and he had never heard of this as a clear indication of dehydration. He told me my cham was very healthy and my husbandry was excellent. He also commented on how well behaved he was lol. So as you can see I am still very perplexed by this. I have made another appointment for this Thursday to get a fecal done so I can continue the Panacur and to address some other more pressing medical issues which I will explain now.
Starting around the same time that I saw his fecal frequency drop he began to close one eye in apparent discomfort. I purchased pure eye-wash (no additives) and 10,000 iu vitamin A softgels in the form of retinyl palmitate derived from fish oil. I flushed his eye twice daily or whenever it seemed to bother him. I used a 3/10 cc syringe to remove the fluid from the pill and put 2 drops onto the back of a one dubia, and fed. I did this for 4 days strait then did one drop every other day for an additional 5 days. His eye has improved greatly, I still catch him closing it and rotating it around every so often and it is still slightly more sunken than the other. I do know his vision is still good as he can spot a plane fairly far out in direct sun glare, I can only hear them. He thinks they are giant chameleon eating birds and promptly flattens his body out laterally and points towards them as they fly past.
Lastly and the most concerning of issues is his now excessive gaping. Again this started in the same 2 week period and has gotten progressively more frequent. Every time he gapes I take his temperature with a laser gun to confirm it is not a response to heat. Commonly he is around 75-81 F during these events. When he was younger I noticed he would gape at exactly 90 F. If adults can tolerate higher basking temps than juveniles, one can infer this is not in response to excessive heat. I have been checking inside his mouth with a flashlight for mucus and/or bubbles. While I do notice on occasion some strands of saliva sticking from upper to lower teeth and once a large bubble in the back of his throat it does not look like most pictures I’ve seen of clear URI’s. Today there is no indication of mucus and he continues to gape. There is no distinct popping or crackling present, but I have heard an odd squeal or two while handling. Like it was supposed to be the normal pffft noise but came out as a squeal instead...I was quite surprise by this lol. Also after feeding and tongue spraying today I did notice him holding his head up for longer in the “I’ve had enough water thank you” position. I suspect this is an indication of some slight breathing difficulty.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that I noticed he is taking longer to move out of his tree where he commonly sleeps and move towards the basking light…then again so have I. He isn’t sleeping during the day or anything; in fact he appears very healthy otherwise. He is still active, doing the rounds through the branches, eating regularly, and has an amazing death grip. He has very thick muscular arms and legs no extra knees or anything.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Since he out grew his old cage I free range him most of the time unless the weather is nice enough to keep him outside; like today. It is a “vine tree” I put together, approximately 7’ tall and has about 50’ of vines sprawling across the ceiling. It sits in a large 2’ diameter ceramic pot which has a 5’ tall tropical hibiscus. He uses every inch of it.
Lighting - For lighting and plant growth I use a 150w 6500k compact fluorescent mogul base with power wing. For heat a 40w incandescent, these are switched out frequently to maintain proper temperatures...I think I have every wattage they make lol. For UVB I use a repti-sun 5.0 compact fluorescent, 3 months old (yes it’s of the new pre-burned generation and its safe). I do have plans for a 48” linear tube to cover more of the free range at a time for the winter. The incandescent and uvb are place together so I know he is getting uvb while basking for the time being, although I’m sure it’s nominal compared to the amount of sun he gets daily. Lights come on at 7:30 and go off at 6:30
Temperature - Top of free range gets to 82, bottom is 72 during the day. The basking spot is 87, temps at night drop to about 70. I measure temps with Fluckers duel thermometer/hygrometer and a Ryobi laser temp gun.
Humidity - Daily ranges between 58% (morning) and 81% after prolonged misting, the normal is 65%. Between the Mistking, the plants, and the fish tank I maintain theses measurement fairly consistently. For the worst of those dry winter days I will bring him into the bathroom for a steam while I shower, and I just built an ultrasonic humidifier, which seems to be good for about an 8-10% increase. I measure with the same Fluckers duel thermometer/hygrometer.
Placement - Free range is in my bedroom, I keep a small fan on the floor for circulation. Other than that no vents, drafts, light pollution, or high traffic.
Location – Long Island
Current Problem - Being long winded…thanks for baring with me guys. Really I would like the input from some of the more experienced members on my chams current condition and an assessment of my husbandry. I will be seeing the same vet this Thursday and would like to be armed with the best information possible. Also concerning the possible URI is there anything I can do for him in mean time?
Your Chameleon – Killian, Male Furcifer Pardalis, 10 months old been in my care since 3/17
Handling - Once or twice per day depending on the time of year ie, going back and forth from outside enclosure or simply reminding him where his heat lamp is.
Feeding - The staple feeders are dubia, he usually eats one 1" dubia every morning by hand, I do offer more but he rarely takes them. Any extra I leave in a container for him to graze upon but he never goes for them. Then a few worms at the end of the day, usually supers but I also give trevos and horn worms regularly. Rarely a wax worm if he's being super stubborn. Dubia are gut-loaded with zoo-med natural Cricket care, grainberry antioxidant cereal, raw almond, sun flower seed and pumpkin seed, millet, fresh bee pollen and repashy super pig for the dry. I'll add some calcium dusts to the mix depending on the time of month to correspond with the dusting schedule. For the wet I’ll mix together carrot shavings, Naked Juice "green machine", flukers orange cubes, and water crystals. For fresh foods I commonly use dandelion leaves, kale, and mustard greens as a staple then any other random left over fruits and veggies.
Supplements - I dust zoo-med repti-calcium w/o D3 everyday regardless of time of year. Then every Saturday during colder months I'll rotate between rep-cal herptivite, sticky tongue farms miner-all O, and rep-cal calcium w/D3. During the summer I cut out the D3 due to the fact that he spends the majority of the day outside and alternate between herptivite and miner-all O every other Saturday.
watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? My cham hates water...I have a mist king, that run’s multiple times a day, longest in the morning for 10 mins to try and stimulate his drinking response, he usually avoids it like the plague and I end up hand misting him instead twice a day, which he also hates. I never see him drink on his own ever so I will spray a little extra water in his mouth from the side while he is chewing up a roach. I never spray directly down his throat just when his tongue tip comes out, this is done everyday. I have not set a dripper yet since moving back inside, still trying to figure out the logistics there. Previously while outside he had access to an area that was constantly misted. Despite his mystery drinking habits he does not look dehydrated.
Fecal Description/History- Recently within the last 2 weeks his fecal frequency has dropped to once a week. This was my first indication that something was amiss. They are much larger than normal around 4” total with the urate being at least an inch. The waste is normal colored, no excessive undigested parts with liberal mucus coating, not runny. The urate, and I know I’m going to catch flack for this is also normally colored a whitish orange. So really fecals are normal except for size and frequency. I had him tested for parasites in July by Jonathan Mehlrose (http://www.vmcli.com/veterinarians-dr-mehlrose.html) He found one pinworm cyst and gave me 5 doses of panacur to administer myself every 7 days. I gave him one dose and by the next week the medication had dried out because he gave it to me as un-capped syringes in a bag. I originally made the appointment with him to get fecals done because I was concerned about the orange urate coloration.
He has always had orange urate since day one, I tried everything to amend this. When he was younger and in his old cage I would see him drink frequently and never showed any other signs of dehydration, still I would shower him, mist him 8 times a day, make sure his feeders were swollen with fluids and even resorted to injecting feeders with Pedialyte. Ultimately this probably led to his water phobia today.
When the Dr. asked why I thought he was dehydrated I explained to him that as far as I knew orange urates was an indication of dehydration and was common knowledge around the forums. He told me that my cham is very well hydrated and he had never heard of this as a clear indication of dehydration. He told me my cham was very healthy and my husbandry was excellent. He also commented on how well behaved he was lol. So as you can see I am still very perplexed by this. I have made another appointment for this Thursday to get a fecal done so I can continue the Panacur and to address some other more pressing medical issues which I will explain now.
Starting around the same time that I saw his fecal frequency drop he began to close one eye in apparent discomfort. I purchased pure eye-wash (no additives) and 10,000 iu vitamin A softgels in the form of retinyl palmitate derived from fish oil. I flushed his eye twice daily or whenever it seemed to bother him. I used a 3/10 cc syringe to remove the fluid from the pill and put 2 drops onto the back of a one dubia, and fed. I did this for 4 days strait then did one drop every other day for an additional 5 days. His eye has improved greatly, I still catch him closing it and rotating it around every so often and it is still slightly more sunken than the other. I do know his vision is still good as he can spot a plane fairly far out in direct sun glare, I can only hear them. He thinks they are giant chameleon eating birds and promptly flattens his body out laterally and points towards them as they fly past.
Lastly and the most concerning of issues is his now excessive gaping. Again this started in the same 2 week period and has gotten progressively more frequent. Every time he gapes I take his temperature with a laser gun to confirm it is not a response to heat. Commonly he is around 75-81 F during these events. When he was younger I noticed he would gape at exactly 90 F. If adults can tolerate higher basking temps than juveniles, one can infer this is not in response to excessive heat. I have been checking inside his mouth with a flashlight for mucus and/or bubbles. While I do notice on occasion some strands of saliva sticking from upper to lower teeth and once a large bubble in the back of his throat it does not look like most pictures I’ve seen of clear URI’s. Today there is no indication of mucus and he continues to gape. There is no distinct popping or crackling present, but I have heard an odd squeal or two while handling. Like it was supposed to be the normal pffft noise but came out as a squeal instead...I was quite surprise by this lol. Also after feeding and tongue spraying today I did notice him holding his head up for longer in the “I’ve had enough water thank you” position. I suspect this is an indication of some slight breathing difficulty.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that I noticed he is taking longer to move out of his tree where he commonly sleeps and move towards the basking light…then again so have I. He isn’t sleeping during the day or anything; in fact he appears very healthy otherwise. He is still active, doing the rounds through the branches, eating regularly, and has an amazing death grip. He has very thick muscular arms and legs no extra knees or anything.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Since he out grew his old cage I free range him most of the time unless the weather is nice enough to keep him outside; like today. It is a “vine tree” I put together, approximately 7’ tall and has about 50’ of vines sprawling across the ceiling. It sits in a large 2’ diameter ceramic pot which has a 5’ tall tropical hibiscus. He uses every inch of it.
Lighting - For lighting and plant growth I use a 150w 6500k compact fluorescent mogul base with power wing. For heat a 40w incandescent, these are switched out frequently to maintain proper temperatures...I think I have every wattage they make lol. For UVB I use a repti-sun 5.0 compact fluorescent, 3 months old (yes it’s of the new pre-burned generation and its safe). I do have plans for a 48” linear tube to cover more of the free range at a time for the winter. The incandescent and uvb are place together so I know he is getting uvb while basking for the time being, although I’m sure it’s nominal compared to the amount of sun he gets daily. Lights come on at 7:30 and go off at 6:30
Temperature - Top of free range gets to 82, bottom is 72 during the day. The basking spot is 87, temps at night drop to about 70. I measure temps with Fluckers duel thermometer/hygrometer and a Ryobi laser temp gun.
Humidity - Daily ranges between 58% (morning) and 81% after prolonged misting, the normal is 65%. Between the Mistking, the plants, and the fish tank I maintain theses measurement fairly consistently. For the worst of those dry winter days I will bring him into the bathroom for a steam while I shower, and I just built an ultrasonic humidifier, which seems to be good for about an 8-10% increase. I measure with the same Fluckers duel thermometer/hygrometer.
Placement - Free range is in my bedroom, I keep a small fan on the floor for circulation. Other than that no vents, drafts, light pollution, or high traffic.
Location – Long Island
Current Problem - Being long winded…thanks for baring with me guys. Really I would like the input from some of the more experienced members on my chams current condition and an assessment of my husbandry. I will be seeing the same vet this Thursday and would like to be armed with the best information possible. Also concerning the possible URI is there anything I can do for him in mean time?
) it could just be that. Looking at the photo I think he just looks a little chubby, not like there's anything like gout or anything going on. Perhaps it's time to take him down to just a couple insects every day/every other day. Daedalus is only getting one or two food items a day now, or every other day if he gets something kind of large. 
