Baby Veiled needs help

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon*-She is a female Veiled Chameleon, about 3 months old. I adopted her from a store that recived her far to young and needed someone with experience to care for her.
Handling*- Fairly often. She is very friendly and loves to be out.
Feeding*- Currently on very small crickets. She has a container in her tank which I put about 10 crickets in at a time and refill as needed.
Supplements*- Just a cricket gut load.
Watering*- A very good humidifier/fogger. Also a drip. Humidity is very high.
Fecal Description*- Honestly I'm not sure. It us hard to track down her feicies, but when she went on me earlier today it seemed slightly yellow.
History*- Alastor has been in my care for about a month and a half now. She was aent to the pet store far to young ans they did not have the means to take care of her so I adopted her because of my extensive reptile knowledge and experience. I have never had any problem with her before now.

Cage Info:
Cage Type*- She has an all screen tank, I believe it is a 16x16x20.
Lighting*- She currently just has a basic Uvb light, just for health reasons. No heat light until she gets old. Mostly because she is so young that over heating is a high risk, and also it is summer and warm enough in the house that he tank stays between a nice 75 degrees.
Plants*- She ia not old enough to have any intrest in live plants, so for the time being she just has fake vines and branches that wrap around the tank for climbing and hiding, aswell as a tree at the bottom where she sits to eat.
Placement*- She is in the corner of the living room right next to the window for good air flow and pure sun light if she feels like basking a bit.
Location*- Norther California


Current Problem*- Well I noticed the problem this morning around 10. I went to check on her and feed her when I noticed none of her crickets had been eaten, I had given them to her 3 days ago. So I looked around and she was just sitting at the bottom of her tank not moving. I initially thought she was dead. I brought her out and she just sat in my hand. I did not open her eyes, could barely walk, her eyes were aunk completely in, and she was very thin. But last time I had taken her out (just 3 days ago) she was completely happy, healthy, and seemed spunky as usual. I can only assume after my research and general knowledge that she is severly dehydrated. I have no idea how it could have happened or why. Her tank is very humid, nothing has changed (temp, lighting, humidity, extra stress, ect.) Since I last saw her. So I have taken out her tree and placed it into a small box and placed her on it, the tree sticks out of the box and she is sitting at the top. I have has her humidifier on her all day, aswell as her light, and dripping water on her occasionally. I have called all of the reptile specialists in my area but unfortunately since it is Friday the exotic specialists are all booked and will be out for the weekend. I did manage to talk directly to one though who informed me that because of her size and age that he would not fell comfortable giving her injections or tube feeding her, he said most others would feel the same. So per their suggestion I have tried to open her mouth and drip water, I was successful but do not know if she actually swallowed. Also she would not eat so they recommended mashing up some crickets along with apple sauce for hydration. I was able to get it into her mouth but she will not swallow it. She just let it sit in her mouth for over two hours until I finally took it out. I truely do not know what to do. Ahe is very thin, eyes completely sunken, will not open her eyes, can barely walk, and she randomly just falls over onto my hand and lays on her side. Any and I mean ANY advice would be greatly appriciated. She is my baby girl and means the world to me but I am running out of options. It is now 12:39 am and I really don't see any improvment. Or does anyone know what kinds of things to look for to show she is improving. I will not be sleeping tonight as she can't be left unsupervised and I will most likely be calling into work tomorrow. So again any advice would be amazing as I will be up all night worring anyways. Also I am going to try and post a picture if I can get a good one. Thanks in advance!

I think you should have a basking light. 75 degrees is not all that warm. Get a regular housebulb and keep the temp around 85 degrees. Also, you live in Cali so if the weather is good, get her out in the sun if all possible. So good for them as you know. Was the UVB light brand new when you put it in her cage or used before for another reptile? I would not run the humidifier at all especially all day long. Why are you running it all day? What is your humidity without it?

It's an all screen tank so if I don't run it all day then in the matter of about an hour all of the humidity is gone. But I don't run it at night, just the dripper as I don't want her to be to cold. Also she is to young for a basking lamp. I talked to all the specialist that I knew when buying supplies for her tank, I was told the tank shouldn't be any hotter then 80 degrees, or she could over heat very easily. They recommended to get one at around 5 months old. And yes the UVB is new, I've had it a month.

The temperature in the cage should be higher. They can take a basking or warm area in the low 80's at that age. If the temperature is too cool they cannot digest their food properly...the gut slows down...nutrient absorption slows...health issues ensue.

What specifically are you using for supplements? Your supplementing, gutloading are important to your chameleon's health.

I looked at my gauge after the last comment and it was between 78 and 82. However the Uvb light kept it around there. The supplements I used were a cricket gut load, a Chameleon multi vitamin paired with additional D3 and Calcium. Her light which I should have mentioned earlier, was what the vet recommended for her age, it had Uva in it but was mostly Uvb, and was again specifically for her. I went to a specialty store for everything. And followed Exotic vet recommendations mostly. I took her to the vet today as she had not gotten better, aswell as a list of everything in her tank, he said that she was serverly dehydrated but didn't know why. He said that she had chosen not to drink, her tank had perfect humidity levels aswell as a bowl if for some reason she hadn't wanted it off the leaves or dripper. He said no vitamin deficiency. I was told that she was not old enough to be sold. He attempted to "force" feed her, but she would not swallow and he was afriad to tube feed for fear of more damage. She was only an inch long, inch and 1/2 if you count tail. He got her to drink but unfortunately it was not enough. She died on the ride home from thw vets, although he did inform me should would not make it more then an hour. I just don't understand why she chose not to drink, she has the same set up as my other Cham, who I've had for a year without a problem. Although I did not get him as young. I'm very upset about it all, although the vet informed me there was not much I could do since she was refusing everything. I could only do so much but if sge didnt want the help I couldn't make her stay alive. All of my other reptiles (Veiled Cham, 2 Leopard Geckos, Cresked Gecko, Red tail boa, red eyed crock skink, and chubby frog) are all happy, healthy, and their check ups were great. So I don't know what went wrong with my baby girl Alastor, but we all miss her. Thank you for any advice that was given.

-Kia

If she was only 1 1/2 inches long, she most likely was not 3 months old and was sold before she should have been. Sorry that she passed away. UVB lights normally do not give off heat unless you were using a combo uva/uvb bulb specifically, like a Powersun or something. I am not sure what you were using.

It was a combo, unfortunately I don't have the box so I couldn't tell you the brand. And Wow, I went to the store to get crickets and an associate that I knew very well from previous sales told me they had gotten in a baby around 3 month and couldn't take care of it so wanted to know if I would raise her, due to my expertise and love of reptiles. Also I have a veiled already, although I got him at 5 months. Then I took her to the vet and he said she was no more then two month and gave me a list of specific items aswell as a specialist to call. If you believe she was even younger I just, I'm a little pissed honestly. I would have given her to a breeder that knows how to care for babies until she was older, or done more research for younger ages. I researched for months before I made the decision to get my first Veiled. I did everything I could and even spent way more money then I have to try and save her, I wish it had been enough. And although numerous people, vets, specialist, ect. have explained I did more then enough, I just wish it had been enough or that the place I got her from (because I thought they cared about their reptiles) had had the actual knowledge and cared enough to inform me as to what I was truely getting into. Because whether it had cost me a fortune, or ment giving her to someone with more experience I would have done it to save her. Its hard to explain how in only a month and a half I had grown to love her more then words can describe. I have owned over 13 different types of retiles, mosyly exotic and the only one befre this that I ever lost was a Horned Moutain Dragon, how passed away at 16 years old. I mean the only 3 non exotic I own are leopard and crested geckos who are 7, 10, and 12 years old. I've had them since I was a teenager, so loosing a precious, gorgeous, baby girl like Alastor is heart breaking. I mean my boyfriend tried to resuscitate her for almost 10 minutes straight he felt so bad for me. And since I've been in bed for almost 6 hours. This is just so traumatizing, my cats, dog, and chinchillas haven't left my side. This is a huge lose for our family. And I am so out raged T distributors and shops who will disregard an animals life to make a sale.

If you have any pics and can post one we can more than likely tell you how old she is or pretty close to it. Taking a picture on your finger is the way to really tell the size or comparing the chameleon to like a penny or something like that. When you just take a pic in the cage, sometimes the size can be deceiving.

I tried to post a picture on here but it wouldn't unload correctly. And other suggestions on how to get a pic out? I have very small handa though and she was a little over the first crease in my finger.

Hopefully you can view this. I can't upload a direct picture from my phone, but this is a Facebook photo about a week before her passing

https://m.facebook.com/?refsrc=http...002679111536&source=42&__user=100002679111536

For future reference: i keep live pothos plants in with all my baby veils. That way if for any reason they become a little dehydrated, they will chew and eat the leaves. Also, i like to keep several different pureed baby foods spread out on some of the leaves. (just in case to venture back to the babies. Also, don't remember if i saw someone post this or not: the babies go thru a 'fragile' stage. one day fine and the next dead. it just happens sometimes. hopefully, your next venture will turn out happily.)