mirrinias
Member
I apologize for being so lengthy in advance.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, turned 3 years 4 days ago, I have had him since he was 4 months old.
Handling - Most days.
Feeding - Recently switched back to crickets after several months where he would ONLY eat superworms and nothing else. Crickets are gutloaded with T-Rex Calcium Plus food (at the vet's recommendation) and extra pieces of fruit, mostly apple. Also Dinofuel.
Supplements - None for calcium without D3, instead giving it through gutload (thus the T-Rex) at the recommendation of my veterinarian. I occasionally dust with Calcium with D3 and Reptivite.
Watering - I spray his cage daily, more on days I'm not working (I work 11 hour days and he is asleep when I leave and only 2 hours from bed when I get back) and I will also use a syringe and drop water on the tip of his mouth because he gets a lot more that way. He drinks enthusiastically.
Fecal Description - Urates ranging from yellow-white, normal feces. Never tested for parasites. P defecates only once EOD to every three days, he used to go every day.
History - In summer of 2014, I took Jean-Luc to the vet because the spikes on his back were turning black. As it turns out, some clear shed was "capping" them, and something (bacteria or fungus) started living beneath and cut off the blood supply. He ended up losing a fair amount of spikes on his back, but it healed well with clorhexadine cream and monitoring. The vet said I would have to assist him when he sheds there in the future by massaging the area with warm water and a washcloth. The vet gave my chameleon's joints/bones a clean bill of health, and recommended the gutload above rather than constant dusting, as dusting can coat the tongue and there is not a lot of evidence that calcium is well-absorbed in this manner (as in, some is absorbed, but not like it is if a gutload with the correct phosphorus/calcium ratio is used.)
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 18 x 18 x 36
Lighting - Plain white 75 watt light for heat, Reptisun 5.0 18" for UVB. Last changed in December.
Temperature -Fahrenheit -- 95 in basking area to room temperature at the bottom of the cage (typically 67-73 this winter, in the summer usually 70-80). Overnight temperatures are typically 65-67
Humidity - Unknown. I live in a micro apartment and the room typically feels humid to me, but I do not measure it.
Plants - Large Umbrella tree
Placement - Corner of my room away from the door, top of cage is 5 feet up.
Location - Seattle, WA
Current Problem - I intend to take Jean-Luc to the vet soon, because I am concerned about him. Unfortunately, due to a hospital stay and two surgeries at the beginning of January, I am truly broke and hope to bring him at the end of the month. It is an unfortunate situation that took up all the savings I had that would have allowed me to take him in right away. I could afford the exam fee now, but I suspect he needs bloodwork at minimum, and the visit would be a little useless without it.
My main concern now is that I am having difficulty getting him to eat. He has recently become more aggressive toward me (just within the month), has been slowly (over the course of 4-5 months) losing weight. I struggle to get him to eat anything besides superworms, and he seems less enthusiastic about those now, too. I want him to eat gutloaded crickets or dubias, and while he's not completely not eating, he's not eating more than a few crickets a day that I can observe. Today, I put crickets in his "cricket feeder", a bottle with the front cut out and a piece of plastic mesh in the back for the crickets to climb, and he looked at them for a little while. Then the crickets escaped, and he sort of walked around the cage, and noticed them, and then decided he would take a bite of his plant instead. Last week I offered him lettuce, thinking he'd like that, and he didn't eat it. He also has slightly less energy than he used to; He'll climb around his cage and happily come out of his cage and climb a large fake tree I bought for him, but...idk, something just seems "off". He does not sleep during the day and has no difficulty climbing; no falling, no trouble gripping, nothing like that. His tongue is nice and sticky.
He is also going through a shed right now, and I am worried about his back again, because he is reacting more violently toward me when I try to get the shed off than he has before. I think it must be painful, and I am scared for him.
Like I said, I plan to take him to the vet, but in the meantime (hopefully not a long meantime, I'm eating rice and ramen this month for his sake), I want to know this: do you think it would be worth offering superworms, despite their relative lack of nutrition, to keep his weight up and keep him eating? Do you have any tips about getting picky chameleons to eat? (He's always been kind of a back-and-forth tired of this, tired of that, give me something else kind of chameleon, but this is the first time he's lost weight).
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, turned 3 years 4 days ago, I have had him since he was 4 months old.
Handling - Most days.
Feeding - Recently switched back to crickets after several months where he would ONLY eat superworms and nothing else. Crickets are gutloaded with T-Rex Calcium Plus food (at the vet's recommendation) and extra pieces of fruit, mostly apple. Also Dinofuel.
Supplements - None for calcium without D3, instead giving it through gutload (thus the T-Rex) at the recommendation of my veterinarian. I occasionally dust with Calcium with D3 and Reptivite.
Watering - I spray his cage daily, more on days I'm not working (I work 11 hour days and he is asleep when I leave and only 2 hours from bed when I get back) and I will also use a syringe and drop water on the tip of his mouth because he gets a lot more that way. He drinks enthusiastically.
Fecal Description - Urates ranging from yellow-white, normal feces. Never tested for parasites. P defecates only once EOD to every three days, he used to go every day.
History - In summer of 2014, I took Jean-Luc to the vet because the spikes on his back were turning black. As it turns out, some clear shed was "capping" them, and something (bacteria or fungus) started living beneath and cut off the blood supply. He ended up losing a fair amount of spikes on his back, but it healed well with clorhexadine cream and monitoring. The vet said I would have to assist him when he sheds there in the future by massaging the area with warm water and a washcloth. The vet gave my chameleon's joints/bones a clean bill of health, and recommended the gutload above rather than constant dusting, as dusting can coat the tongue and there is not a lot of evidence that calcium is well-absorbed in this manner (as in, some is absorbed, but not like it is if a gutload with the correct phosphorus/calcium ratio is used.)
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 18 x 18 x 36
Lighting - Plain white 75 watt light for heat, Reptisun 5.0 18" for UVB. Last changed in December.
Temperature -Fahrenheit -- 95 in basking area to room temperature at the bottom of the cage (typically 67-73 this winter, in the summer usually 70-80). Overnight temperatures are typically 65-67
Humidity - Unknown. I live in a micro apartment and the room typically feels humid to me, but I do not measure it.
Plants - Large Umbrella tree
Placement - Corner of my room away from the door, top of cage is 5 feet up.
Location - Seattle, WA
Current Problem - I intend to take Jean-Luc to the vet soon, because I am concerned about him. Unfortunately, due to a hospital stay and two surgeries at the beginning of January, I am truly broke and hope to bring him at the end of the month. It is an unfortunate situation that took up all the savings I had that would have allowed me to take him in right away. I could afford the exam fee now, but I suspect he needs bloodwork at minimum, and the visit would be a little useless without it.
My main concern now is that I am having difficulty getting him to eat. He has recently become more aggressive toward me (just within the month), has been slowly (over the course of 4-5 months) losing weight. I struggle to get him to eat anything besides superworms, and he seems less enthusiastic about those now, too. I want him to eat gutloaded crickets or dubias, and while he's not completely not eating, he's not eating more than a few crickets a day that I can observe. Today, I put crickets in his "cricket feeder", a bottle with the front cut out and a piece of plastic mesh in the back for the crickets to climb, and he looked at them for a little while. Then the crickets escaped, and he sort of walked around the cage, and noticed them, and then decided he would take a bite of his plant instead. Last week I offered him lettuce, thinking he'd like that, and he didn't eat it. He also has slightly less energy than he used to; He'll climb around his cage and happily come out of his cage and climb a large fake tree I bought for him, but...idk, something just seems "off". He does not sleep during the day and has no difficulty climbing; no falling, no trouble gripping, nothing like that. His tongue is nice and sticky.
He is also going through a shed right now, and I am worried about his back again, because he is reacting more violently toward me when I try to get the shed off than he has before. I think it must be painful, and I am scared for him.
Like I said, I plan to take him to the vet, but in the meantime (hopefully not a long meantime, I'm eating rice and ramen this month for his sake), I want to know this: do you think it would be worth offering superworms, despite their relative lack of nutrition, to keep his weight up and keep him eating? Do you have any tips about getting picky chameleons to eat? (He's always been kind of a back-and-forth tired of this, tired of that, give me something else kind of chameleon, but this is the first time he's lost weight).
! Be creative with feeders chams love all kinds! 
