1-yr-old Veil hasn't grown big for 6 months

olala · May 24, 2015

Hi All,

My original post can be found here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/9mo-cham-not-eating-much-growing-shedding-3mo-139153/

My veil stopped eating since December, 2014, for about half a year already.
Before December, 2014, he would have 20 small crickets. And all of the sudden he stopped eating. At most he would have 2-3 crickets every other day.

He has not shred ever since December, 2014.

Does anyone experiencing the same problem?

jannb · May 24, 2015

It sounds like he might have parasites. Have you had a fecal done? If not I highly recommend it. Cocciddia can deffinately keep them from eating and growing and will eventually kill them.

carol5208 · May 24, 2015

I have a chameleon who was not growing at all either. I found out from a fecal test that he had a parasite called Coccidia. It was the main cause of why he is not growing. We also think he may be genetically small on top of the parasite. He is 9.5 months old and weighs only 66 grams. That is really small, but he is now steadily growing and I hope he one day catches up or atleast will be close to an adult size panther. I suggest like Jann said, getting a fecal done on him. Also, he had little appetite while he had the parasite. When they do not eat, they do not grow.

olala · May 30, 2015

jannb said:
It sounds like he might have parasites. Have you had a fecal done? If not I highly recommend it. Cocciddia can deffinately keep them from eating and growing and will eventually kill them.

Thank you so much, Jann!! I will get his fecal test out asap!

Our breeder told me his parent has done the same thing due to the breed of chameleon originated from. They experienced cold winter, so they would stop eating. But it is already spring/summer time and he is still not eating/growing. We have gone to few breeders we worked with regarding the problem, and none could figure out what the problem was. Thank you for your advice.

olala · May 30, 2015

carol5208 said:
I have a chameleon who was not growing at all either. I found out from a fecal test that he had a parasite called Coccidia. It was the main cause of why he is not growing. We also think he may be genetically small on top of the parasite. He is 9.5 months old and weighs only 66 grams. That is really small, but he is now steadily growing and I hope he one day catches up or atleast will be close to an adult size panther. I suggest like Jann said, getting a fecal done on him. Also, he had little appetite while he had the parasite. When they do not eat, they do not grow.

Thanks so much, Carol! Oh my gosh. Finally!! Someone who has the same experience. Mine at 1 year old is same size as a 6-month old. I am going to find a good vet to diagnose the problem, hopefully this baby can recover soon!

Blink · May 30, 2015

When I got my Veiled, he was super tiny for his age. I was worried that he had parasites, but after getting a fecal done, it came out clean. He stayed runty for a while (eating like there was no tomorrow

), then, all of a sudden one day he just had a growth spurt. He's still a little smaller than the average adult Veiled, though. I think that some chameleons are just born smaller. I don't think it happens often, though. I definitely suggest hat you get a fecal done.

olala · May 30, 2015

Blink said:
When I got my Veiled, he was super tiny for his age. I was worried that he had parasites, but after getting a fecal done, it came out clean. He stayed runty for a while (eating like there was no tomorrow ), then, all of a sudden one day he just had a growth spurt. He's still a little smaller than the average adult Veiled, though. I think that some chameleons are just born smaller. I don't think it happens often, though. I definitely suggest hat you get a fecal done.

Thank you, Blink! It has been too long and his appetite dropped all of a sudden. Since he is eating soooo little, I am trying to make him eat so I can get his poop.

Blink · May 30, 2015

olala said:
Thank you, Blink! It has been too long and his appetite dropped all of a sudden. Since he is eating soooo little, I am trying to make him eat so I can get his poop.

I'm not saying that this is a solution or anything, and if he is sick he may not want to eat anything at all, but maybe if you try to vary his diet, he might be more interested in eating. Have you ever tried anything besides crickets?

jannb · May 30, 2015

I agree with Blink that chameleons need a large variety of well gut loaded feeders. Worms always put weight on my guys. They love hornworms and silkworms.

If you just have the one chameleons you might want to try lindasgonebuggy.com. Linda has value packs for like $20 and you get a small amount of 4 or 5 different feeders. If you email Linda she will even let you mix and match and make up your own variety.

I still highly recommend the fecal.

Suzapalooza · May 31, 2015

www.lindasgonebuggIE.com is the website

Blink · May 31, 2015

Oh... and if you're really desperate and all other feeders fail... my guy never turns down a superworm...

olala · May 31, 2015

Blink said:
I'm not saying that this is a solution or anything, and if he is sick he may not want to eat anything at all, but maybe if you try to vary his diet, he might be more interested in eating. Have you ever tried anything besides crickets?

Oh yes~ His breeder suggested that, so we got him all kinds, horn worms, meal worms, roaches and crickets. His favorite was cricket. After his appetite dropped, he had at most one or two small horn worms every 3-4 days. He used to eat little pieces of fruit too, but not at all these days.

olala · May 31, 2015

jannb said:
I agree with Blink that chameleons need a large variety of well gut loaded feeders. Worms always put weight on my guys. They love hornworms and silkworms. If you just have the one chameleons you might want to try lindasgonebuggy.com. Linda has value packs for like $20 and you get a small amount of 4 or 5 different feeders. If you email Linda she will even let you mix and match and make up your own variety.

I still highly recommend the fecal.

This is an awesome suggestions! I will buy a value pack from Linda asap. We did try different bug feeder for him as his breeder suggested. Only thing that caught his attention was hornworm, and he would at most consume 1-2 every 3-4 days...His favorite is still crickets, so we try not to keep uneaten crickets in his sight so he can catch his attention when he feels like eating...

Talking about fecal, I am watching him every hour, because he eats so little, it's soooo hard to get fluid fecal from him. Once I have, I will run to vet.

olala · May 31, 2015

Suzapalooza said:
www.lindasgonebuggIE.com is the website

Thanks so much for the link!!!

I am impressed, we got the 30 hornworms from ebay for $25...and Linda has them at such cheap price!

olala · May 31, 2015

Blink said:
Oh... and if you're really desperate and all other feeders fail... my guy never turns down a superworm...

tears...he didn't move his head when we showed him superworm...
Since he eats so little and it's rare we can catch him having fluid poop. Once I get that, I will run to vet!

Thanks for everything, Blink

olala · Jun 13, 2015

jannb said:
It sounds like he might have parasites. Have you had a fecal done? If not I highly recommend it. Cocciddia can deffinately keep them from eating and growing and will eventually kill them.

I am soooooooooooooooo glad it turns out to be pinworm instead of Cocciddia, yaypeeeeee

olala · Jun 13, 2015

carol5208 said:
I have a chameleon who was not growing at all either. I found out from a fecal test that he had a parasite called Coccidia. It was the main cause of why he is not growing. We also think he may be genetically small on top of the parasite. He is 9.5 months old and weighs only 66 grams. That is really small, but he is now steadily growing and I hope he one day catches up or atleast will be close to an adult size panther. I suggest like Jann said, getting a fecal done on him. Also, he had little appetite while he had the parasite. When they do not eat, they do not grow.

I am so relieved! It is pinworms, instead of Coccidia!

DragoLikesReptiles · Jun 13, 2015

Don't be excited about pinworms either! Pinworms are deadly to chameleons too! I recommend to bring him to a vet soon. Get a treatment and hope you have good luck with him.

carol5208 · Jun 13, 2015

Sounds like he went to the vet and had him diagnosed already???

olala · Jun 13, 2015

carol5208 said:
Sounds like he went to the vet and had him diagnosed already???

Yes

When I was doing research, I saw many horrible things about Coccidia and was very scared for the longest time.

I searched for a very good-reputation vet in the bay area and brought both of my cham's fecal sample. She sent them to lab, and got the result in 5 days that although 2Pee's fecal was too little, there were still high number of pin-worm ova. And 2Pee already passed it to my 3Pee - panther. (as attached)

So I will start medication for both immediately.

1-yr-old Veil hasn't grown big for 6 months

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