Veiled chameleon only eats leaves.

[Djborx]

My 7 month veiled stopped eating crickets all of a sudden 2 months ago, now, he exclusively eats leaves from the plants in the cage (pothos). He rejects all other food, I have tried absolutely every kind of feeder available.
He will eat a superworm every other day, but that's as good as it gets.
He drinks fine, he poops fine and he acts fine, it's just very strange that he only eats leaves.
He doesn't have any parasites and his health seems to be fine (vet checked it all), maybe slightly underweight (not even sure), but that's it.
The cage is large and the lighting and temps are spot on. He is not losing weight and in fact, he is putting on weight. These are his stats for the month of January:
11/01/2015 - 83 gr
15/01/2015 - 86 gr
25/01/2015 - 90 gr

Has anyone experienced this with any Veiled? It might just be a winter thing but I worry that he is not getting enough calcium/vitamins as he doesn't eat enough dusted feeders.
2 1/2 months ago he was eating fine, like any other Veiled, and then, from one day to another, he stops.
Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[junglefries]

Both front and rear left leg look a little doughy. MBD? Probably chewing that pothos in an attempt to fix his legs. Might want to make a return trip to the vet.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Get that Pothos out of his cage!

Regardless of the commonly held belief amongst chameleon keeper that Pothos is safe, it is listed as quite toxic to humans, dogs, cats and birds. Do a Google search on toxicity and you'll find Pothos makes all the lists except chameleon lists. That is not because of some innate special quality chameleons have. The lists are not based on testing, but on extrapolation of data from other species. If it is toxic to humans, cats and dogs, it follows it is toxic to other animals.

If you have a veiled that eats that much greenery, give him something known to be safe such as hibiscus.

I wonder if your chameleon is not getting enough to drink, so is hydrating himself with leaves. Veileds come from the south west of the Arabian Peninsula. Water is an issue even though the air might be very humid. They use plant material to hydrate themselves. Perhaps he is filling himself up with plant material, trying to hydrate himself and has no room left for insects.

I have a male veiled who also thinks he is a rabbit and grazes on plants. My vet told me not to put anything in his enclosure except something known to be really safe like hibiscus. (He was the one who explained that those poison lists for exotics are simply extrapolation of known data for other species.)

 

[GrogStudio]

You might also try bumping up the basking temperature. My vet (specialist) suggested this to me and REALLY helped with my hunger striking veiled.

 

[kinyonga]

Many of my females veileds have stripped pothos plants bare and they have lived to be seven years old...so how much harm could it have been doing them?
Just because a plant is toxic to one animal doesnt mean that it's toxic to other animals. Look at the Monarch butterfly and the tomato horn worm for example.

 

[Djborx]

Both front and rear left leg look a little doughy. MBD? Probably chewing that pothos in an attempt to fix his legs. Might want to make a return trip to the vet.

This is what I was worried about since he is not getting enough dusted feeders, however the vet ruled out MBD, we were there last week. I have included some other pics to see if indeed you think he might have MBD.

You might also try bumping up the basking temperature. My vet (specialist) suggested this to me and REALLY helped with my hunger striking veiled.

I have already changed the temperature several times, but nothing, it's at 92 now which he seems to enjoy.

Get that Pothos out of his cage!
I wonder if your chameleon is not getting enough to drink, so is hydrating himself with leaves

I never had any problems with Pothos and they are included in the safe list here https://www.chameleonforums.com/plants/
I really trust the information provided in this forum.
I also thought that maybe he was trying to hydrate himself, but he drinks regularly, I have monitored it.

He is obsessed with eating soil/dirt though, I know that some chameleons eat dirt, but this one started eating a lot, and everyday, so I covered the soil with river stones a few months back. He does however spend time in the bottom of the cage everyday trying to find some soil to eat. Eventhough he knows that it's only stones in there now.
Do you think that there might be some kind of connection?

 

[JamesBryan]

His eyes look slightly sunken to me.

 

[zlew]

He does look a little dehydrated. How much are you misting him? Does he have a dripper? If he seems more into plants right now, you could definitely incorporate some of the healthy fruits and veggies that veileds can eat. Are you free roaming your feeders or cup feeding? If you're cup feeding, he could be getting bored.

 

[Djborx]

He has a dripper and I mist three times a day. I have already offered fruits and greens but he doesn't eat anything that I offer.
He has been cup fed all his life, but now he only eats the feeders that run free in the cage, quite annoying when the only thing he eats are worms.

 

[Decadancin]

As stated, he does appear to be a bit dehydrated around the eyes, but its tough to tell for sure. you may want to increase your misting time (duration) but if your guy is anything like mine all you do is waste water. Try to vary the feeders, offer carrot strips, kale, romaine and other greens in the feeder cop. My veiled eats them and will occasionally stop eating for up to a week or more. As for the pothos, if they were that bad for chameleons, 3/4 of the forum would have had issues with their chams due to the fact that so many of us use them! (Including me...)
Sometimes it will take something like a blue bottle fly or a big juicy moth to get things rolling again.