Strange Poo- Parasites?

[emilybier]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female panther, ~4-5 months old, had her for a little over 2 months
Handling - Once a week or less
Feeding - 5-7 medium crickets every morning, supplement with wax worms; 3 twice a week or so. Crickets on Repashy Bug Burger since a few days ago. Was using dry gutload, apples, carrots, squash, romaine.
Supplements - Repashy Calcium Plus every day on all crickets
Watering - Little Dripper + 3-4 30 second misting sessions per day, I have seen her drinking from the dripper and leaves after mising
Fecal Description - Runny, sandy with mucous, intact white urates (pictured) It was a lot more wet before I took the picture.
History - Bought her from a show.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2'x2'x4' mesh with wood frame, dowels with foliage provided for basking gradient
Lighting - 50w basking light reptisun 5.0 uvb, on 12 hours off 12 hours.
Temperature - 85-88 at top, 75 at the bottom, 65-70 low at night.
Humidity - 40-60%
Plants - synthetic from pet store
Placement - In my bedroom- low traffic, about 2 feet off of the ground
Location - San Marcos, Texas

Current Problem - I noticed that Perl had an abnormal poop today. It is runny and mucousy and a little smelly. I have a picture of her and her fecal.


poopie:

her:

her again, fired up. She just got angry as I was trying to take a second picture, she hates the camera:

She is active, still drinking and eating, eye turrets are full, mouth is clear, breathing is fine and silent. I was just thinking it is probably parasites if anything. Could I just treat her with panacur or should I definitely get a fecal done?

 

[Pilotman800]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female panther, ~4-5 months old, had her for a little over 2 months
Handling - Once a week or less
Feeding - 5-7 medium crickets every morning, A chameleon that young needs around 15-20 crickets or feeders per day. supplement with wax worms; 3 twice a week or so. Waxworms should only be used as a treat. If I were you, I would feed no more than one per week. Crickets on Repashy Bug Burger since a few days ago. Was using dry gutload, apples, carrots, squash, romaine.
Supplements - Repashy Calcium Plus every day on all crickets
Watering - Little Dripper + 3-4 30 second misting sessions per day, I have seen her drinking from the dripper and leaves after mising
Fecal Description - Runny, sandy with mucous, intact white urates (pictured) It was a lot more wet before I took the picture.
History - Bought her from a show.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2'x2'x4' mesh with wood frame, dowels with foliage provided for basking gradient
Lighting - 50w basking light reptisun 5.0 uvb, on 12 hours off 12 hours.
Temperature - 85-88 at top, 75 at the bottom, 65-70 low at night.
Humidity - 40-60%
Plants - synthetic from pet store
Placement - In my bedroom- low traffic, about 2 feet off of the ground
Location - San Marcos, Texas

Current Problem - I noticed that Perl had an abnormal poop today. It is runny and mucousy and a little smelly. I have a picture of her and her fecal.


poopie:

her:

her again, fired up. She just got angry as I was trying to take a second picture, she hates the camera:

She is active, still drinking and eating, eye turrets are full, mouth is clear, breathing is fine and silent. I was just thinking it is probably parasites if anything. Could I just treat her with panacur or should I definitely get a fecal done?

My answers are in red. As for the poop, I would get a fecal done ASAP. That is not normal at all.

 

[emilybier]

Thanks so much! I collected it and put it in a ziplock and I'm calling my vet now.

 

[emilybier]

Vet can't see me today but he said he would do a fecal today between his appointments. I am going in with the sample right now. I'll let yall know the results asap.

 

[lindawaz]

Good that you are getting that in for a check!

IF clean, do you have any exposed substrate they could be eating too?

 

[emilybier]

I do not use a substrate, just a white board.

 

[lindawaz]

any news from the Vet??

 

[emilybier]

Just got home from class
Her fecal was clear, no parasites. I'm going to quarantine her so I can see her next couple of poops better and watch her eating and drinking carefully. Could it just be a weird poo or do you guys have any other guesses?

 

[Pilotman800]

Im wondering if it can possibly be a bacterial infection?

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Could I just treat her with panacur or should I definitely get a fecal done?

Get a fecal done. You need to know what it is your dealing with, before you can treat.

 

[ataraxia]

have you tried any new feeders recently?

if she has another poo like that i would take it to another vet for assurance.

 

[emilybier]

Get a fecal done. You need to know what it is your dealing with, before you can treat.

Fecal came back negative for parasites.

 

[emilybier]

have you tried any new feeders recently?

if she has another poo like that i would take it to another vet for assurance.

I have not. She has only had crickets from two different mom and pop pet shops and the last time I used the second shop was weeks ago. The wax worms are from one shop only. If she has another poop like that I will take her in.
I have been gearing up to buy some silk and horn worms but I lost my debit card so I've been waiting for the replacement to come in so I can order!

 

[emilybier]

Well, I just remembered that I started using Repashy Calcium plus instead of Rep-Cal calcium powder last Saturday. Do you think that could give her stomach trouble?

 

[Pilotman800]

Well, I just remembered that I started using Repashy Calcium plus instead of Rep-Cal calcium powder last Saturday. Do you think that could give her stomach trouble?

I don't think so. Many of us (Including me) use Repashy Calcium Plus and have not seen any trouble with it yet. You can try to go back to the Rep-cal powder and see if his poop turns normal again.

 

[emilybier]

She had a more normal poop today. It was all intact without mucous and had white, intact urates but still a light sandy color and smelly. There was a dead cricket next to it (touching it). It didn't look like it had been in her system at all as it was completely intact but looked wet. Options seem to be: a) cricket was regurgitated right on top of poop very shortly after eating it b) normal poop and untouched cricket pooped out c) cricket just died next to the poop. Puzzling. Since it was way more normal and she isn't showing any more symptoms I'll check up on her poop again tomorrow and see if it gets even better.
She ate about 5 other crickets today without regurgitating so that makes me think it just died there. I am giving her a few more now.

 

[lindawaz]

wow a bunch of maybes.... I think you should scout around, look for any poops or dead crickets and see what happens tomorrow just like you plan on doing

Hopefully everything is back to normal then!

 

[emilybier]

I found a regurge today and she had another bad poop. I don't think she is eating anymore.

I'm going to be honest, which I was afraid of because I've seen so many people bashed because of this on forums. I am having financial problems. It happened after I got my chams and I was really wishing and praying that they would stay healthy until it was resolved. I'm going to call the vet and see if they can do a payment plan. Otherwise, I feel completely stuck and miserable because it's my fault I can't do anything for her. Do you think a course of Baytril would help? I have a friend who has offered me some. Or do I need to find a way to get some money together? I just don't know if I can get it fast enough...

 

[emilybier]

FANTASTIC news everyone!!! Perl had two very healthy stools today, no regurges, and she is chomping down crickets as we speak!!!!!
I will be monitoring her weight daily. I feel so grateful that she is doing better. I really was not expecting her to get better on her own.

The only things I changed were getting rid of the repashy calcium and increasing her water availability. I started misting her 5 times a day and made sure a dripper was running 24/7.

It is puzzling, my veiled is doing very well on the repashy calcium. Maybe Perl just could not take switching powders so suddenly. Not sure at all.
Thanks for your help everyone

 

[UrbanChameleon]

I don't have much advice on the poop situation. But I wanted to comment on the plant you have in her cage. It looks like you have artificial silk plants for her. You should try some of the other artificial plants that are more plastic based. I've noticed that the silk just soaks up the water, instead of letting it sit on top so the cham can drink it. If you're happy with the plants and her urates look fine then don't worry about it! I feel more comfortable with the plastic plants. It's just preference I guess.