Veiled Chameleon acting strange

[michelenbrad04]

Our female veiled chameleon has been acting strange the past few days. Basically since we cleaned her terrarium. We have been checking on her consistently as she has been acting strange. Not eating as much as usual, no fecal matter that we have seen. Usually her poops are quite large and easy to find. We have found her hanging upside by just her hind legs for hours. We have also noticed that she doesn't seem as active. I have tried to do a small warm bath in her cage for her with only a inch of water as I don't want to stress her out. Thinking maybe she is constipated? Would love any feedback. Thanks

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, I believe female as no spur on back feet, have had her for 2 months. Not sure of age-bought at pet store
Handling - Never, unless cleaning cage
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? She eats crickets and meal worms What amount? lately only 3 crickets and 3 meal worms, was eating 5-6 crickets and 7-9 meal worms What is the schedule? every morning How are you gut-loading your feeders? we use flukers orange cubes and fresh fruit peelings for crickets
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? again we use flukers calcium with vitamin d3 once a week
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? we have a humidifier, we mist at least 5 times a day, and always have an ice cube dripping.How often and how long to you mist? 5 times for a minute or two Do you see your chameleon drinking? yes
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? We have not seen her poop since Friday when we cleaned her cage-no testing of parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. N/A

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Glass, wood, and screen, 5 ft tall 3 feet wide and 2 1/2 ft depth
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? We have a blue day light 100 watt, a red light 75 watt, 10.0 repti-sun, 12 hours on 12 hours off. we do keep the red light on at night as we live in New England and it gets cold at night.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? basking is 80-85, rest of cage is around 75-80 Lowest overnight temp? 70 How do you measure these temps? digital thermometers
Humidity - What are your humidity levels?80-90% How are you creating and maintaining these levels?Humidifier What do you use to measure humidity? humidity gage
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No all fake
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No in our bedroom At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 5 1/2 feet
Location - Where are you geographically located? New England

 

[michelenbrad04]

Sick Camilla??

Photo of my girl taken tonight...

 

[Ulrich]

At a glance your setup sounds ok.

I personally think that 10.0 UVB is way too strong. I am not sure about your foliage, but from the close up it looks like your enclosure is not too dense. 10.0 might irritate her eyes especially if she has no way to hide.

Your humidity is rather high. Veiled are used to the lower end of humidity (40-70).

It is recommended that you dust feeders plain calcium at every feeding, d3 and vitamins twice a month. I myself don't give mealworms too often due to the hard chitin. At least less than crickets. Although Chams love worms.

I am concern about the picture. She should not sleep in the puddle.

 

[michelenbrad04]

Thanks for the suggestions...I too thought maybe 10.0 was a little high but my husband insisted Humidity level is not that high at all times...I would say 50-60 on average but when misted it goes up.

I do not think she was "sleeping" just trying to avoid me

 

[michelenbrad04]

I will take a photo of total enclosure

 

[michelenbrad04]

Entire enclosure

 

[ReptileLove18]

possible cause + info

Our female veiled chameleon has been acting strange the past few days. Basically since we cleaned her terrarium. We have been checking on her consistently as she has been acting strange. Not eating as much as usual, no fecal matter that we have seen. Usually her poops are quite large and easy to find. We have found her hanging upside by just her hind legs for hours. We have also noticed that she doesn't seem as active. I have tried to do a small warm bath in her cage for her with only a inch of water as I don't want to stress her out. Thinking maybe she is constipated? Would love any feedback. Thanks

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, I believe female as no spur on back feet, have had her for 2 months. Not sure of age-bought at pet store
Handling - Never, unless cleaning cage
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? She eats crickets and meal worms What amount? lately only 3 crickets and 3 meal worms, was eating 5-6 crickets and 7-9 meal worms What is the schedule? every morning How are you gut-loading your feeders? we use flukers orange cubes and fresh fruit peelings for crickets
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? again we use flukers calcium with vitamin d3 once a week
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? we have a humidifier, we mist at least 5 times a day, and always have an ice cube dripping.How often and how long to you mist? 5 times for a minute or two Do you see your chameleon drinking? yes
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? We have not seen her poop since Friday when we cleaned her cage-no testing of parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. N/A

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Glass, wood, and screen, 5 ft tall 3 feet wide and 2 1/2 ft depth
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? We have a blue day light 100 watt, a red light 75 watt, 10.0 repti-sun, 12 hours on 12 hours off. we do keep the red light on at night as we live in New England and it gets cold at night.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? basking is 80-85, rest of cage is around 75-80 Lowest overnight temp? 70 How do you measure these temps? digital thermometers
Humidity - What are your humidity levels?80-90% How are you creating and maintaining these levels?Humidifier What do you use to measure humidity? humidity gage
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No all fake
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No in our bedroom At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 5 1/2 feet
Location - Where are you geographically located? New England

first, based on her size i believe she may be old enough to be carrying eggs. this could be causing her odd behavior, she looks rather chubby and may need to lay eggs. do you have a lay bin in her enclosure? i see you are unsure of her age, after 4-6 months females can begin producing infertile eggs without any male. if unable to lay eggs, females can become eggbound and need surgery to remove the eggs. the only way to be completely sure she has eggs is taking her to the vet and getting xrays to look for eggs. i suggest doing so if you are able. i highly suggest putting a laying bin in her enclosure as it is recommended to have one in there 24/7 after they reach 4-6 months. here are some links for how to set up a lay bin:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

as for your feeders, it is not recommended to feed mealworms very often as they are hard to digest and fatty. they are best used as treats, a couple a week at most. crickets are a great staple food! this blog has the breakdown on different feeders for chams and how much they can make of your chams diet and be healthy. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html this blog has a great recipe for gutloading your feeders so that they provide the most nutrition possible for your cham, the flukers cubes arent the best https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

for supplements, the recommended schedule for veileds is calcium with no d3 at nearly every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month. i highly recommend getting a calcium without d3 as soon as possible as she needs calcium more often then once a week but you cant give her the calcium with d3 very often as over supplementation could occur.

i would suggest a heat emitter to provide heat for her at night if she needs it as the light at night will seriously disturb her sleep. if the temp is not dropping below 55 degrees at night there is not a need for a heat source at night.

all of the info i have provided and much more is on this caresheet for veiled chams! https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[michelenbrad04]

Laying Bin

Going to add a laying bin today....wish us luck!! This is our first chameleon. We owned a Chinese water dragon for 3 years that we rescued! He unfortunately passed away and I was too heart broken to get another water dragon. This little girl caught my eye...she was so friendly and had been pretty friendly until recently. She has just started hissing at us even when we go to feed her. I assume she's just uncomfortable and doesn't want us to disturb her. Thanks for all the advice and I will keep everyone posted as how she is doing.

 

[ReptileLove18]

Good luck! im sorry to hear you water dragon passed, its always hard to lose any pets..
I really think it sounds like she may need to lay eggs as soon as possible, so its great you are putting the lay bin in today! i am no expert but decreased appetite and increased irratibility are common in females getting ready to lay. the lethargy could be that she has been needing to lay and hasnt had a spot to. have you read anything on eddbinding? is she sleeping during the day? basically eggbinding is when a female is unable to lay her eggs, it then starts causing serious health issues very quickly and a surgery is needed to remove the eggs for her to survive. if possible i would take her to the vet for an overall check up and to confirm if she has eggs.

definitely keep us updated on how she is doing!

 

[michelenbrad04]

Laying Bin update

As of right now she has shown no interest in the laying bin. My husband and I put her in and left her. My husband went back in a few hours later to check on her and she had climbed back out of the bin. No sign of digging at all. Thinking about giving her another warm bath tonight but with a deeper container. I hope she just has to poop

 

[okiroo]

first, based on her size i believe she may be old enough to be carrying eggs. this could be causing her odd behavior, she looks rather chubby and may need to lay eggs. do you have a lay bin in her enclosure? i see you are unsure of her age, after 4-6 months females can begin producing infertile eggs without any male. if unable to lay eggs, females can become eggbound and need surgery to remove the eggs. the only way to be completely sure she has eggs is taking her to the vet and getting xrays to look for eggs. i suggest doing so if you are able. i highly suggest putting a laying bin in her enclosure as it is recommended to have one in there 24/7 after they reach 4-6 months. here are some links for how to set up a lay bin:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

as for your feeders, it is not recommended to feed mealworms very often as they are hard to digest and fatty. they are best used as treats, a couple a week at most. crickets are a great staple food! this blog has the breakdown on different feeders for chams and how much they can make of your chams diet and be healthy. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html this blog has a great recipe for gutloading your feeders so that they provide the most nutrition possible for your cham, the flukers cubes arent the best https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

for supplements, the recommended schedule for veileds is calcium with no d3 at nearly every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month. i highly recommend getting a calcium without d3 as soon as possible as she needs calcium more often then once a week but you cant give her the calcium with d3 very often as over supplementation could occur.

i would suggest a heat emitter to provide heat for her at night if she needs it as the light at night will seriously disturb her sleep. if the temp is not dropping below 55 degrees at night there is not a need for a heat source at night.

all of the info i have provided and much more is on this caresheet for veiled chams! https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

she doesn't look gravid to me. Are you taking her to a vet? More pictures of her could help us decide if eggs are a problem. You would be able to see them poking out of the sides and she will show gravid coloration. Its also possible mealworms have her impacted. Last poop?--- try doing shower treatments. Set a plant inside the shower(warm water) and allow the drops to hit half the plant- not the actually shower stream but like drops the rick shay of the wall. Feeding pears would be helpful aswell if she takes fruit.

 

[michelenbrad04]

Warm Bath

Gave her a warm bath for about 15 minutes. She seems lethargic...but the bath seemed to wake her up.

 

[michelenbrad04]

Vet

I will call a vet in the morning. Unfortunately with my husband and I's schedule I won't be able to take her to a vet till Monday. I can post more pics of her

 

[michelenbrad04]

This was right after I gave her a bath...I use this container top to transport her as she does not like to be handled but doesn't mind the container After her bath I offered her a couple crickets and she ate them immediately. Also this is her "basking" spot that is why there is not a ton of foliage.