Sick veiled 6 months old

[Brandanawitz]

Hi. My chameleon seems very sick and weak. She is not moving well and appears to have no strength. Until yesterday she shared a terrarium with another female who has gotten considerably larger. I feed them crickets 2-3 times a week and dust them with zoo med repticalcium. I have isolated the sick one and am giving it direct light and food source. She doesn't seem to want to eat or drink anything. Last time I saw her eat was yesterday and she ate a cricket. Any suggestions you have for rehabilitating my chameleon would be greatly appreciated

 

[Brandanawitz]

Additional info

When she moves her tail wags from side to side instead of regular stiffness. Occasional tremor.. She will just shake her head. Hanging tightly to branches. Uninterested in hornworms. Regularly receives direct sunlight and reptifogger drips water into the cage so they should have been drinking water although I have not seen them drink in a long time.

 

[carbyville]

Do you have a laying bin set up for her? She's looking a bit puffy and does have her receptive colors. Also, it's really not a good idea to house two chams together. Please fill out this how to ask for help form in a reply...

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?

 

[Carlton]

Hi. My chameleon seems very sick and weak. She is not moving well and appears to have no strength. Until yesterday she shared a terrarium with another female who has gotten considerably larger. I feed them crickets 2-3 times a week and dust them with zoo med repticalcium. I have isolated the sick one and am giving it direct light and food source. She doesn't seem to want to eat or drink anything. Last time I saw her eat was yesterday and she ate a cricket. Any suggestions you have for rehabilitating my chameleon would be greatly appreciated

Based on the information we have so far, there were problems in how you were keeping these girls unfortunately. If the husbandry information you used was what you were told by a pet shop that would explain a lot. Anyway, she's a sick cham and the other one may also be sick soon unless a lot changes.

First, they shouldn't share living space for longer than a month or so as babies. They are now much too old to share, will constantly stress each other, and one definitely became the dominant cham. You will need to separate enclosures for them in future.

Did you mean that they only ate 2-3 times a week? That's not sufficient and I suspect one got most of the food.

Feeders need to be gutloaded well in order for your chams to be healthy. What were you using? Most commercial pet shop gutloads are terrible. Your supplement dusting schedule needs to change ASAP. Both chams probably have nutritional deficiencies now. The correct dusting schedule should be:

Daily: light dusting with plain calcium (NO added vit D3)
Every 2 weeks: one dusting with calcium with added vit D3.
Every 2 weeks: one dusting with a herp multivitamin.

What type of UV lighting were you using? Brands matter!

Finally, she looks gravid or possibly eggbound. She may be unable to expel her egg clutch due to nutritional problems so she'll need vet care now. Females can produce infertile egg clutches even if not mated.

 

[Brandanawitz]

Do you have a laying bin set up for her? She's looking a bit puffy and does have her receptive colors. Also, it's really not a good idea to house two chams together. Please fill out this how to ask for help form in a reply...

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?

Veiled chameleon, Aprox 6 months old. Female. Been in my care since June
I handle them once per week.
Feed them mealworms daily, 25 dusted crickets 2-3 times per week.flukers gutload cricket food.
Using zoo med repticalcium without d3 2-3 times per week.
Using reptifogger for humidity. Misting daily. I have not seen them drink lately.
Feces is black/Brown. Sometimes white. Never been tested for parasites.

Screen cage, 1x1x3'
Zoo med light fixtures. Deep dome with reptisun 5.0 and 75 watt basking. 12" hood fixture with reptisun 10.0. 14 hours day light and nightlight.
Temp stays around 75-85 degrees and lowest possible temp is 60. I have a zoo med thermometer and humidity gauge. Should be about 50% humidity on average.
Live ficus and hibiscus
Placement by window to allow for natural sunlight. No fans. Cage sits about 5ft above floor.
Live in ft Collins Colorado. Pretty dry climate.

Should I buy a glass enclosure to keep humidity in? As well as ventilate? Thanks for the support!

 

[Carlton]

Veiled chameleon, Aprox 6 months old. Female. Been in my care since June
I handle them once per week.
Feed them mealworms daily, 25 dusted crickets 2-3 times per week.flukers gutload cricket food.

Mealworms aren't a great feeder...not very nutritious and a lot of chitin content. Flukers gutloads are pretty much filler. Again, poor nutrition.


Using zoo med repticalcium without d3 2-3 times per week.

See my previous response. Basically they haven't been getting vit D3 or other vitamins for quite a while.


Using reptifogger for humidity. Misting daily. I have not seen them drink lately.
Feces is black/Brown. Sometimes white. Never been tested for parasites.

Screen cage, 1x1x3'
Zoo med light fixtures. Deep dome with reptisun 5.0 and 75 watt basking. 12" hood fixture with reptisun 10.0. 14 hours day light and nightlight.

Get rid of the "nightlight". Chams need darkness to rest, so if there is any visible light at night they are kept awake. Also, chams need at least 10 degree temp drop at night. If your room doesn't get below 55F at night you don't need any added heat.


Temp stays around 75-85 degrees and lowest possible temp is 60. I have a zoo med thermometer and humidity gauge. Should be about 50% humidity on average.

You live in a dry climate...are you sure about the humidity readings? Many humidity gauges sold by pet shops are inaccurate. I would bet the cage is drier a lot of the time. From your pic of the sick cham, she looks dehydrated (her casque is thin).

Live ficus and hibiscus
Placement by window to allow for natural sunlight. No fans. Cage sits about 5ft above floor.
Live in ft Collins Colorado. Pretty dry climate.

Should I buy a glass enclosure to keep humidity in? As well as ventilate?

I would double check your humidity readings...I've lived in CO and know their cages should be drier than 50% unless you are humidifying the entire room.

Again, I suspect she's gravid and has some nutritional deficiencies.

Thanks for the support!

 

[Brandanawitz]

Can you suggest a gut loader that you use? The nightlight is purple and pretty dim but I will stop using it. Any vitamins you can suggest? It's limbs seem very soft I think it must be metabolic bone disease. How long should the recovery be if I get them more vitamins? And he's not eating. Is there a technique to get them nutrients any other way than by them hunting?

 

[carbyville]

Do you have a picture of the other cham for a comparison? I'm no vet and I'm fairly new to this whole cham rearing thing, but I agree with what Carlton said about poor nutrition. Mealworms aren't a good staple. I avoid mealworms entirely and go for the somewhat softer Superworm, but only occasionally. Have you tried Dubia roaches, silkworms, hornworms, or phoenix worms? You can get a nice assortment of cham feeders for about $18 at Rainbow Mealworms. It comes with Superworms, Phoenix worms, Dubia Roaches, and Hornworms. That'll give you the opportunity to change up their diet.

This is just a hypothesis on my part but it sounds like not nearly enough calcium has been given and even less has been beneficial to this cham since it seems that she was -- or is currently -- producing eggs. They should have their feeders gutloaded properly (see below) and dusted with calcium WITHOUT D3 for every feeding. Calcium WITH D3 twice a month. You also need to buy a multivitamin which you give twice a month (I usually do it on the same day as I do the Calcium with D3).

For gutloading, you can buy something like Cricket Crack or make your own gutload from fresh greens, fruit, and veggies. There is all kinds of information on gutloading here.

 

[Brandanawitz]

Okay thanks for the advice. I will make sure to get new vitamins and gut loading food. I wasn't aware of the need for vitamin d3 so I hope once I get that in her I will see some improvement.

 

[kinyonga]

She looks gravid. You need to provide any female egglaying veiled chameleon with an opaque container at least 12" deep by 12" by 8" full of moistened washed playsand in her cage so she has a place to dig to lay eggs. Veiled females can produce eggs without having mated. It's important when a female is digging that she doesn't see you watching her.

If she has MBD (and I can't be sure) she needs to see a vet so she can be. Given an injection of calcium and then receive proper doses of a liquid calcium such as calcium sandoz or gluconate until the bones are strong again. When a chameleon has MBD not only are the bones affected but also the muscles and other systems in the chameleon...so often it affects the female's ability to lay the eggs.

We recommend dusting the insects with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to help make up for the poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. Vitamin A from prEformed sources can build up in the system and lead to overdoses but prOformed won't build up so this leaves it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs reformed vitamin A or not.

It's important that the basking temperature is right so the chameleon can digest its food properly and thus absorb the nutrients properly.

Insects should be fed/gutloaded properly too. Crickets, locusts, superworms, roaches can be fed a wide range of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Definitely not a good idea to keep two veiled chameleons in the same cage once they are over three months old. Even if they don't appear to be affected by it one will eventually go down hill and die as a rule.

Both these issues need to be dealt with ASAP.

Hope this helps.