tips on re-hydrating my cham

[Reptar88]

So I noticed to day that my 6-7 month old ambilobe panther chameleons eyes are a little sunked in and rarely do I ever see him drink but his urates are always nice and white but to me it seems he hasn't been drinking because the way his turrets look he has a dripper and an automatic mister. So what can I do besides a shower treatment? I'm all for taking him to vet if it's necessary please help I don't want him to die

 

[ataraxia]

Silk worms and horn worms.

Inject other feeders with water

Mist feeders before putting them in

 

[carol5208]

I agree with John. I have a great method for my one guy who is a finnicky drinker...I drip water from the dripper on a branch, stick a worm like a silk right under the water and he eats the worm and gets water at the same time. Works like a charm!!! The silks don't move too quick so I find them to be the best feeder to use.

 

[Reptar88]

No silkies or other worms but I'll try moving his dripper. I've seen him run to the misting nozzles when it turns on but clearly it's not enough. I'm gonna try to get him to drink from my hand sprayer by making little drops come out instead of spray and see if he drink from that. If not can I gently drop some of the water just above his nose to see if he will drink that way? I know not to spray his nostrils.

 

[Elizadolots]

Dripping water right onto his nose is an excellent way to get him to drink. I wouldn't actually worry about the nostrils. With these guys, the thing you want to avoid is spraying water into their mouths....that has potential to be very bad.

Every time I've dripped on a nose the chameleon has licked or smacked his lips...which counts as drinking that drop of water!

 

[Reptar88]

I'm gonna get up before the lights switch on and try that as soon as he wakes up

 

[PantherEnvy]

Any chance for a pic of the eye turrets?

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm gonna get up before the lights switch on and try that as soon as he wakes up

I'd suggest doing it whenever you happen to be around the cage. Don't make it a one time a day thing, make it a "whenever" thing. You'll enjoy it and he'll benefit from it.

 

[Reptar88]

@ Pantherenvy: No pic of the turrets he's sleeping and I don't want to wake him.
@ Elizadots: Okay I'll make sure to do it more frequently. I usually refill his dripper, empty & refill the reservoir water for my misting system,then feed him and lastly wipe out the presents he leaves on the bottom of the cage. So as not to bother him too much throughout the day.

 

[Elizadolots]

Trust me...dripping water onto your chameleon's nose and having him accept it is a great feeling. You'll like it, it's good for him...it's a win all around.

Also, keep a dropper bottle full of water handy..if he gets on the side of the cage you can push water through a few inches above his head and he might just drink it. Again, that is a great feeling.

 

[Calypso]

You can soak him in a pedialyte bath for a little while, but throw away the bottle as it's only good for 24 hrs

 

[juniorsmommy]

cucumbers work well since they are full of water- I just found success this week with junior- make sure to take skin off and cut in small pieces- he loved them

 

[Reptar88]

Okay I'll give it a try and update you on how it goes. Hopefully he will. Should I get pedialite or am o jumping the gun here? I'm just worried because I can definitely tell the difference between what his eye turrets normally look like and what they looked like today. It's not a drastic difference but they just don't look as full as they normally do.

 

[Calypso]

I haven't seen the pictures, but if it's getting to the point of getting significantly worse than it already was I would.

 

[Echoezra]

Try hand misting with warm water for several minutes (mini in-cage shower)
Also, how are you gutloading your feeders (I assume only crickets, since you said "no worms"?) Gutloading the crickets with fresh juicy vegetables and fruits could help a little, but I highly recommend some juicy horn or silkworms too if you can get your hands on some.

 

[Reptar88]

Okay I'll give it a try. I uped the timing for every misting interval on my mistking. Tryed dripping some water over his nose. His urates look nice and white but I'm still worried about how his turrets look. I gutload them with flukers dry gutload, flukers complete cricket bites, apples and I use water pillows with water crystals in them. I'm trying to get some dubias and could use some advice on which is the best worm to off. If you go to my profile look at my member gallery (images 7/25/12-1 & 7/25/12-2) let me know what everyone thinks about how his turrets look.

 

[Calypso]

I just got my butter worms, and calypso looooves them. I was worried she might be getting hooked on super worms, but after her first buttery victim is was all over. The only thing is she wants to see her worms wiggle before she eats them, and with keeping them in the fridge in hibernation mode they barely move for the first couple minutes out. Butter worms also have some of the best nutrition you can get with huge calcium numbers. Check out Sandra's blog. She has all the side by side comparisons of different feeders.

 

[kinyonga]

How are the pads on its head?

 

[Reptar88]

If you go to my profile look at my member gallery (images 7/25/12-1 & 7/25/12-2) let me know what everyone thinks about how his turrets look. Does it look bad or am I paranoid???

 

[sandrachameleon]

If you go to my profile look at my member gallery (images 7/25/12-1 & 7/25/12-2) let me know what everyone thinks about how his turrets look. Does it look bad or am I paranoid???

doesnt look too bad to me, in this photo

But extra watering and well hydrated or juicy prey wouldnt hurt anyways!