What are these?

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what these are and if I should be concerned.

I am looking at the yellow "pebble" looking things. I noticed them with more regularity recently and I haven't seen as many of the dark brown poop that used to be in there.

Thanks.
Terri

Sorry to say but I have no idea...never seen that before. Hopefully someone else will chime in here. You might want to fill out the How to ask for help sticky so we can check out your set up. What kind of cham do you have and how old is it?

I was thinking infertile or premature eggs!!! What kind of chameleon do you have??? Guessing from your location Jackson???

Yes, expelled egg yolks.

I know I should know this, but where is the "How to ask for help" sticky?

In the meantime:
Celia is a 1.5+ yrs old (I think the age is about right) female Jackson. She lives outside on our lanai (we are in Hawaii) and has a drip system with a hibiscus and a ficus tree in her cage. She has shade available in the cage at all times during the day, but can also get into direct sunlight all during the day. When it rains she is also rained on, but not in a direct spot where it is just poured on, she gets wet but not drenched.

She is fed gut-loaded anc calcium dusted crickets and mealworm beetles (after they have grown into the beetle I'll feed them to her sometimes) but the beetles are not a consistent source of food for her. Occasionally when we catch a cockroach out in the yard (I don't use pesticides in the yard) I will give that to her.

She is moving around the cage very well, she eats 3-4 crickets at a time, usually every day. Sometimes she misses the crickets but she does get them, sometimes just grabbing them off the branches or cage. I know she's eating because she has the calcium dust around her mouth when I go back out to check and there are no crickets...plus I see her get them sometimes.

Does any of this help? Thanks for the help everyone.

Expelled egg yolks? I thought Jackson's gave birth to live young and didn't lay eggs? There isn't a male around and I've never see them before.

everyone else beat me to it, i was going to suggest egg yolk as well. this is from a jacksonii? im not sure how a baby develops in chameleons, but like other animals, and humans, there must be an embryo that starts it all. the jacksonii may have never been able to develop the young. .. this may sound dumb, and rude, but i have no intentions of it to be either.. but i will ask anyways,, please do not take offence *breaths in* are you sure its a jacksonii?

No offense taken! Please, I am about as novice as they come around here. I have taken her to the vet and she said Jackson, but just in case what I think is a Jackson and what may be correct, here is a pic of Celia. I took this when I was taking the pics of the "yellow rocks". She is just finishing a molt or shedding.

yup. that looks to me like a female jacksons. she looks very tired, her eyes arent sunken, but in the pic she deffinately looks exhausted from something. like i said is my guess would have been she never had what it took in her diet or nuritment to develop the yolks into babies, the risks of having infertil clutches with live barrers are eliminated but that doesnt mean complications of development or even being birth bound disappear.

if you could fill out the help form that would be great. also, forgive me if ive missed it, but have you stated how long you have had her for? anyways. all that will be taken care of in the help form.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful

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Annum said:

Expelled egg yolks? I thought Jackson's gave birth to live young and didn't lay eggs? There isn't a male around and I've never see them before.

Click to expand...

The way I understand it is that due to cooler ground temps in there native habitat the eggs won't develop in the ground...So female Jacksons will incubate there eggs "inutero".

Jackson's give live birth but all that means is that they retain developing embryos inside uncalcified egg cases and the neonates "hatch" immediately at or following oviposition. Having a female jackson's drop a clutch of slugs (infertile eggs) has nothing to do with not being healthy or fed properly. They will drop infertile clutches without a male, just like egg laying chameleons lay infertile clutches, and chickens lay infertile eggs.

Chris

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Celia is a female Jackson and we have had her since June of ’09. We were told she was about 6 months old when we got her. Someone was just going to get rid of her and the cage-mate (assume it was a sister, but unsure).
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We don’t handle her very much at all anymore. When we first got her, we used to bring her out every few days, but not anymore. She is pretty fast and most of the time just sticks tight to the trees and I don’t want to just pull her out. So unless she climbs onto my hand, not at all.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
We feed her crickets and meal-worm beetles. (When the mealworms morph into the beetles, we will give them to her occasionally). Infrequently we find a cockroach in the yard ( I do not use pesticides in the yard) and will give that to her. I feed her 3-4 crickets daily or if we miss a day, she will get 4-5 the following day. I purchase medium crickets because they tend to grow as I keep them. I put the ReptoLife directly onto the carrots, strawberries and potatoes that I feed the crickets.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Dust all insects given to her with Repticalcium and sprinkle ReptoLife plus on the veggies I feed the crickets.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have a drip system that slowly drips water constantly onto the trees in the cage. I don’t mist very often since she is outside and gets rained on and gets the dew from overnight.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Dark brown pellet looking fecal matter. Has some spots of white in it occasionally. Not been tested for parasites, but has been seen by a vet and at that time I was told she was healthly.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. She was brought home with a cage-mate that I thought might be a male. They were immediately separated and lived in separate cages, but they cages were close to each other. The other chameleon was Mike and you might have seen my postings about her before. She unfortunately was still living but was having to be force-fed and watered. After 2 rounds of antibiotics and vet checks, I had her put to sleep. Celia was determined to be in good health at the time. (this was in July)

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
16”x13”x22.5” are the dimensions of her screen cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? She is outside and does not have artificial lighting.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? The temperature is in the upper 70’s to mid 80’s during the day and gets down to mid to low 70’s at night. The cage sits on our lanai and is open to the sun and the shade from our house and the trees outside.
Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Outside temps are from the news sources, I don’t have a temperature gauge out there.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity is what is outside, I don’t know that.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I have a potted hibiscus and ficus tree in the cage.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Cage is on the lanai, there is some traffic, but I would not call it heavy. It is behind the house, so the only people she sees are my family. The bottom of the cage is about 2 feet off the ground on a stand.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Oahu, Hawaii.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Was wondering what the “yellow pebbles” in her cage were. But I am OPEN to ANY and ALL advise and/or suggestions.

Here is one pic, but I'll post more.

The white stuff on the bottom of the pots is the calcium powder that gets sprinkled out when I put the crickets into the cage....I put the crickets into a bag and dust them with it, then let them go in the cage.

There is a side view and then a closer shot of the cage with Celia in the pic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC-3bqBzs-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uXlZcxE2lU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfmbbMCMdM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXUVeRdmFqM&feature=related

Not a Jackson's...but still live birth...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynXnIQXMhf8&feature=related

I would put some sticks in there for her to have more things to climb on. She might appreciate a larger cage also. Since you have had her for over a year I am guessing she is in an area that gets plenty of shade through the day? I would be concerned about the amount you are dusting if it is that heavy in the cage. They need very very light dusting. Jacksons are prone to over supplementation issues.

The location gives both sun and shade, she can go into either whenever she wants. So I think that is ok, isn't it?

The dusting is done with a ziplock bag. I put the calcium powder into the bag, about 2 tablespoons at a time, and then put the crickets into the bag. Shack it up so that they have the powder all over them and then let them crawl out of the bag into the cage for Celia. Most of the time when I put the crickets into the cage, the powder doesn't fall off them, it falls out of the bag when I am trying to "coax" the crickets out. There is enough powder in the bag to last about 2-3 weeks, which is about 1-2 batches of crickets. Is this wrong? Is there a better way to do it? Please let me know! Thanks!

I will add some sticks to the cage, should they go to the bottom of the cage? I thought that she would just hang out in the plants, she wouldn't want to go down to the floor of the cage.

Chris Anderson said:

Jackson's give live birth but all that means is that they retain developing embryos inside uncalcified egg cases and the neonates "hatch" immediately at or following oviposition. Having a female jackson's drop a clutch of slugs (infertile eggs) has nothing to do with not being healthy or fed properly. They will drop infertile clutches without a male, just like egg laying chameleons lay infertile clutches, and chickens lay infertile eggs.

Chris

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this post! I prefer live bearers, but did not know they could drop slugs. I thought "slugs" referred to underdeveloped, or dead babies.

I will just tell it the way I see it, and this is just my opinion. Your little girl could use a larger cage, I use 18x18x36 for my female jackson. She looks a tad dehydrated so she needs a bit of misting in addition to the dripper.


Last but most important, you are using WAY TO MUCH CALCIUM. Get a cup and lid at McDonalds, put only a tiny pinch of calcium in. Put the lid on and shake, the crickets should not look like ghost crickets. Clip the cup to a branch and see if she will learn to eat out of the cup. Then you won't have calcium all over and you will know what she eats. Made sure the crickets don't have extra calcium in the cup. Too much is as bad as too little so you really need to lighten up. Try only dusting the feeders every other time you feed her. I know you answered this but I don't remember, you are using calcium without d3 aren't you? If not change asap.

If you have any questions feel free to pm me and I will try to help. I don't mean to sound awful, I am trying to offer help.

My calcium came with a tiny little spoon. I doubt it's a 1/16th of a teaspoon. While leads me to: most rings of measuring spoons come with 1/8th of a teaspoon measure. You could use that but don't fill it completely. Less is more. It will be better for your chameleon and it will save you money.

Laurie, you don't sound awful at all. I'll start misting her during the day and see if that will help out. I will also cut waaaaaaay back on the calcium. Yes, I am using ReptiCalcium withOUT D3. I was told to put a bunch of calcium in the bag and shake the crickets in there. I just got that from the pet store I was buying the crickets from. Good to know that I should cut back, bad to know that I am waaaay overdoing it.

As for feeding her in a cup, the crickets aren't getting out and there aren't any left over in the cage when I go to feed her, is there a specific reason why I should train her to eat out of a cup? I will be happy to try and do that but it seems like she is doing ok with them free crawling in the cage.

Also, since I am overdosing on the calcium, what is the recommended dosage on the ReptoLife Plus. It says to put on the food I feed the insects, but not how much.

I will check into a bigger cage too. Would it work if I were to put the two cages I have together so she has plenty of room to go from one cage to the the other? It wouldn't be super tall, but it would be twice as wide. Would that work?

Thanks for the help, and don't worry, you don't sound awful, I appreciate the help.