Rescued a chameleon

[lallalaura]

Hi everyone
2 days ago I rescued a chameleon from some people that were not properly caring for him.
He had the wrong bulbs small tank and was being fed about every 3 weeks.
I don’t know much but I did a lot of “quick research”
I have him set up in his new take with live plants lots of sticks and added a mister and a uvb bulb and a basking bulb. The top of the tank is reading aroun 86° and 55% humidity
The bottom of the tank is reading around 69°
The first night I had him he ate 10 crickets. Yesterday a giant crickets came out of one of the plants and he snatched it up. I tried feeding him this morning but he didn’t eat anything (is that normal? He seems very skinny)
I turned his lights off last night and I am trying to get him on a normal schedule.
He is having a problem with one of his eyes (scheduled a vet appointment) he is moving it around but doesn’t seem to have any vision in that one.

He appears to be sleeping during the day is this normal? I’m doing my best to try to save him
Attached are some photos of the new tank and him

Any ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated

There is a shower curtain around the tank to catch the excess water from the mister lol

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi, welcome to the forum and bless you for saving this sweetie. I’d like to see some more pics of ‘it’ and especially of the backs of the back feet. From coloring, I think you may have a ‘she’. Males have prominent nubs sticking out of their back feet, called tarsal spurs. Females generally have nothing there or some may have a tiny nub. If you indeed have a girl, bless you even more than you know for saving her from a short and miserable existence.
Before I go on, where exactly did you get your information from? There are tons of places with old or just bad/wrong info out there and only a few that have it right and current.
If poor sweetie was being fed only every 3 weeks, you’ll need to go slow on building him/her up to ‘normal’ eating. I know the urgency you feel, but slow down a bit with the food to avoid stressing the body. Offer maybe just a few (3) healthy well fed buggies, like silkworms, roaches, bsfl, etc. Feed early in the day just once, so there’s plenty of time to bask and digest. If not hungry daily, that’s ok. Try the next day. Adults and especially female chameleons are not fed daily, but every other day or even 3 days a week. Once you get sweetie in healthy condition, you’ll only be feeding about 3-4 feeders with that frequency.
What supplements are you planning on using or have bought? I would guess that sweetie is greatly deficient in everything. You want to use a phosphorus-free calcium lightly dusted at every feeding. Then a multivitamin and vitamin D3 is needed every other week (or twice a month) each. I recommend the easy way of a combination product for these two needs, such as Repashy calcium Plus LoD or ReptiVite with D3. Both of these have preformed vitamin A, which is for eye health and that form of it we know chameleons can use. In some cases, it is a lack of vitamin A that can cause vision problems so that may account for lack of vision in one eye. Having eyes closed during the day is a vague symptom and it just means the chameleon is quite sick and feeling terrible…has closed its eyes and is waiting for a predator to eat it.
I do see some improvements that can be made with the enclosure and set up, but let’s get your sweetie healthy first. You need to make sure to have a fecal parasite test done. You need a fresh poo, or one done within less than 24 hrs of your vet visit. (Keep in the fridge) If sweetie has certain types of parasites, you need him/her to be fully cleared of them before making the improvements that I would suggest. So, we can address enclosure improvements later. You did pretty good setting up…much better than what I did when I got my first cham.
I’m adding the help questions, but more than having those answered, I’d like to see more pics of your sweetie and from different angles and with the enclosure door open for clarity.


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• 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?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[lallalaura]

Hi, welcome to the forum and bless you for saving this sweetie. I’d like to see some more pics of ‘it’ and especially of the backs of the back feet. From coloring, I think you may have a ‘she’. Males have prominent nubs sticking out of their back feet, called tarsal spurs. Females generally have nothing there or some may have a tiny nub. If you indeed have a girl, bless you even more than you know for saving her from a short and miserable existence.
Before I go on, where exactly did you get your information from? There are tons of places with old or just bad/wrong info out there and only a few that have it right and current.
If poor sweetie was being fed only every 3 weeks, you’ll need to go slow on building him/her up to ‘normal’ eating. I know the urgency you feel, but slow down a bit with the food to avoid stressing the body. Offer maybe just a few (3) healthy well fed buggies, like silkworms, roaches, bsfl, etc. Feed early in the day just once, so there’s plenty of time to bask and digest. If not hungry daily, that’s ok. Try the next day. Adults and especially female chameleons are not fed daily, but every other day or even 3 days a week. Once you get sweetie in healthy condition, you’ll only be feeding about 3-4 feeders with that frequency.
What supplements are you planning on using or have bought? I would guess that sweetie is greatly deficient in everything. You want to use a phosphorus-free calcium lightly dusted at every feeding. Then a multivitamin and vitamin D3 is needed every other week (or twice a month) each. I recommend the easy way of a combination product for these two needs, such as Repashy calcium Plus LoD or ReptiVite with D3. Both of these have preformed vitamin A, which is for eye health and that form of it we know chameleons can use. In some cases, it is a lack of vitamin A that can cause vision problems so that may account for lack of vision in one eye. Having eyes closed during the day is a vague symptom and it just means the chameleon is quite sick and feeling terrible…has closed its eyes and is waiting for a predator to eat it.
I do see some improvements that can be made with the enclosure and set up, but let’s get your sweetie healthy first. You need to make sure to have a fecal parasite test done. You need a fresh poo, or one done within less than 24 hrs of your vet visit. (Keep in the fridge) If sweetie has certain types of parasites, you need him/her to be fully cleared of them before making the improvements that I would suggest. So, we can address enclosure improvements later. You did pretty good setting up…much better than what I did when I got my first cham.
I’m adding the help questions, but more than having those answered, I’d like to see more pics of your sweetie and from different angles and with the enclosure door open for clarity.


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• 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?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

Thank you so much for your response.
I watched a few videos from Neptune the chameleon.
Like I said totally new to this I just knew I couldn’t leave her like that.
I believe you are right I think she is a girl I don’t see any numbs or spurs on the back feet.
I have not handled her much as I can imagine she is under a lot of stress right now. I haven’t seen any fecal yet but also I would assume from lack of nutrition.
Right now she is in a mesh enclosure with one side closed off to help retain heat and humidity. I believe it’s 24x24x36. She has real branches 2 fake vines and several real plants( they are smaller though hoping I can get them to grow) I m not sure of the names off the top of my head but while I was buying them I was researching all of them to make sure they were safe.
I have a mister set to spray ever 3 hours for 15 seconds (I have been adjusting this) I also spray the leaves a couple times throughout the day to make sure she has water (I have seen her drink a couple times) . I also have a fogger coming which will be used at night. Humidity is reading a little all over the bottom of the tank says 99% where the top is reading 57% I ordered the fogger to go at the top for night time.
Top of the tank is reading around 86° and the bottom is 69° I have two thermometers in one at the top one at the bottom. I also used my thermal heat gun around various parts of the cage today.
I have two light one is the uvb t5 and the other is a 75w heat bulb. (I leave them one for about 12 hours and shut off at night) at night the tank drop to around 65 °. I believe she has her days and nights confused because they kept the old lights on 24/7.
Currently I am feeding crickets with just calcium without d3 so any supplement suggestions you have would be great.

I will attach a few more pictures with the door open. I’m trying not to open it too often because I want her to feel safe and secure which I don’t think she has ever felt before.
I am so worried she won’t make it but I am trying my absolute best so anything else you feel I should be doing please let me know. Also when I try to upload photos of the tank close up it tells me the photo is too large so if there is anything you want to see more closely please let me know.

 

[MissSkittles]

Poor baby with that bad eye. I’m not sure what is going on with it. It could be caked with icky drainage, or the eye could be all dried and dead or anything in between. I’m hoping it’s just dried and caked goo. Yes, I believe she’s a she. She hasn’t yet developed her big girl colors, which is very very good. For future reference, here’s my blog for our little ladies and their care for egg laying. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/veiled-chameleon-laying-101.2488/ Right now the main focus is to get her back to good health, and I believe her chances are very good to recover. I’m so relieved that you found and have been following Neptune the Chameleon’s videos. She is one of the few very reliable resources out there and is just fantastic. The other source is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ The link is for the husbandry program, but there’s tons of stuff on the site - podcasts, videos, e zine and always evolving and growing. Of course, we are here too and love helping others.
For supplement, your vet might want her to have a special calcium. While she looks pretty good considering what the sweetie has been thru, I highly suspect she’s got some mbd going on. Do be careful in handling her as she may be fragile. I like and use for my own, Repashy Supercal NoD at every feeding and Repashy Calcium Plus LoD one feeding every other week. I forgot before to attach the feeder and gutloading graphics. For feeders, variety is best. Many on line vendors sell variety packs tailored to different species. Do check out the forum sponsors for feeders. If you’re in Florida, we can’t have dubia roaches, but we can have discoid which are very similar. Right now, I think you’re off to a good start. I would advise reducing basking temp to 80 and make sure daytime humidity stays between the ideal range of 30-50%. I didn’t ask about the strength of your uvb and that is important. You should have either an Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0. Do be cautious with cheaper off brands. The fixtures are ok, but the bulbs are not.

 

[lallalaura]

Poor baby with that bad eye. I’m not sure what is going on with it. It could be caked with icky drainage, or the eye could be all dried and dead or anything in between. I’m hoping it’s just dried and caked goo. Yes, I believe she’s a she. She hasn’t yet developed her big girl colors, which is very very good. For future reference, here’s my blog for our little ladies and their care for egg laying. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/veiled-chameleon-laying-101.2488/ Right now the main focus is to get her back to good health, and I believe her chances are very good to recover. I’m so relieved that you found and have been following Neptune the Chameleon’s videos. She is one of the few very reliable resources out there and is just fantastic. The other source is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ The link is for the husbandry program, but there’s tons of stuff on the site - podcasts, videos, e zine and always evolving and growing. Of course, we are here too and love helping others.
For supplement, your vet might want her to have a special calcium. While she looks pretty good considering what the sweetie has been thru, I highly suspect she’s got some mbd going on. Do be careful in handling her as she may be fragile. I like and use for my own, Repashy Supercal NoD at every feeding and Repashy Calcium Plus LoD one feeding every other week. I forgot before to attach the feeder and gutloading graphics. For feeders, variety is best. Many on line vendors sell variety packs tailored to different species. Do check out the forum sponsors for feeders. If you’re in Florida, we can’t have dubia roaches, but we can have discoid which are very similar. Right now, I think you’re off to a good start. I would advise reducing basking temp to 80 and make sure daytime humidity stays between the ideal range of 30-50%. I didn’t ask about the strength of your uvb and that is important. You should have either an Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0. Do be cautious with cheaper off brands. The fixtures are ok, but the bulbs are not.


View attachment 359233View attachment 359234

Thank you so much!
The one I have is the reptisun 5.0.
Yeah I hope it’s just some caked on goo. We have an appointment on the 7th to have it looked at the only dr in the area that sees them is about 45 mins away and that was the first available. They do have an emergency hospital attached if she takes a turn. I will read on females. They got her about 7-8 months ago so I’m not certain on her age. I would say maybe a year?
How do you suggest getting the baskening temps down currently the light I have it almost touching the ceiling. So I don’t have room to raise it. I could get a lower stand if I need to but she also is about 11 inches under the light so the basking spot
The top of the tank reads higher but is not directly under the light

And we are in Pennsylvania so not sure about the roaches I’ll have to look it up