Bunch of problems lately, eating, blood droplet :(

Talis

New Member
Hello
I am new here, so I hope, that I have chosen the right section of this forum.

I have a veiled chameleon female, she is maybe 2 yrs old. I have her since she was baby, now she is adult, maybe 25-30 cm with tail.

Lately We have been experiencing troubles. At first, I have noticed an edema on her left eye. Ive had this problem once, when she fell of badly attached branch. That time she cured herself in a few days without special care.

This time edema was around her eye. She was acting like normal, not closing eye or tears around, eating normal. After a week I have decided to cure this, as it seemed to be serious problem. I have studied many forums and books, I have asked for help in one petshop and everything leaded to adding more calcium and beta caroten to her food. I have gut loaded crickets and those bigger insects grass hopers? idk if this is exact name, they are maybe 5-7cm long.
She ate anything as usual and edema did not go away. So I have tried to non humanly fill !dead! insects with carrot juice (just squeezed one part of carrot). She ate them and in a few days, there was no edema, so we were happy.
But there aws another problem.
There was something on her rectum, It was something like dehydrated poop etc, whe was pushing it for a few hours and it did not help. So I have sprayed it with warm water and prboblem was gone till the morning.
Than anything went as usual. 3-4 crickets, or 2-3 grasshoppers per day, covered with minerals, and calcium once a week.
After a few days she stopped eating suddenly. I was not paying attention to that, since it was normal, 2 days without apetite and then again normal behavior.
But it has been 2 weeks and she did not rat anything. I am giving her grass hopers and crickets day by day but she ignores them.
I have tried force feeding, but no success. She just spits them out.
She is drinking a lot. I am taking her out every 2 days and giving her fresh water, she drinks maybe 1dcl(100ml) at once, and that is a lot, since she is that small.
She is allways green, active, moving around terarium, but I dont really know what to do now.
Today I have noticed, that she is like pushing some poop out, but it takes a few hours and it looks like its just there, not trying to get out. It is not prolapse. It stays there few hours and then fall off. But I have noticed drop of blood on one branch too and so I am really worried about her. What should I do?
I wont take it to the vet, because nearest reptile vet is maybe a few hundred kms of my place and those nearby are not skilled with reptiles at all...and theyre taking around 50Eur for one visit...(just looking)

So in conclusion, there were several problems and something caused, that my female 1,5yr veiled chameleon is not eating, by this day it is more than two weeks. She drinks a lot, seems active.

Terarium info:
130cmx80cmx70cm,
UVB with nice spot under, she loves it there, + one normal light
Live plant, ficus (or it is called differently, its been there for year, so it is not problem)
Humidity 45-65% most of the time around 50-55%
Temperature 23-24 (night) & 28-30 (day)
Nothing has changed since I got her, except of substrate regularly, and one plant maybe a year ago. Nothing added, nothing taken, so it is definetly not caused by environment.
 
Im just looking at ths on my phone so I cant be much help right now. But I am curious if she could have injested a pc of substraight as I see you mention the use of one.
Hopefully some others will take a better look
In the mean time you could fill out the how to ask for help from to give a good look at waht you are doing
By the way welcome to the forum

hoj
 
At first sorry, I did not notice that scheme..:)
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon female, 2years old, been with me since 6 months
Handling - no handling at all, 1/month, feeding frmo hand, but no touching at all...
Feeding - Crickets and grass hopers, 4 crickets or 3 giant grasshopers daily, once at a time day off.. (I can say, at least 5x a week) Gutloading just fresh grass and vegetables and dog dry food
Supplements - Reptimineral C reptivit and sepia bone for calcium, UVB for calcium too... At least 2/3 of food is dusted in powder, calcium less, 1x-2x a week
Watering - 1x a day spray bottle, just water all plants inside and substrate, to increase humidity to 65%. Never seen her drinking, just since problems are, I have to give her more water, and it is by spraying softly to her mouth (she will come and open her mouth) or handling, now when there are problems, holding her in one hand and softly splashing fresh water to her mouth.
Fecal Description - Dark brown, sometimes yellow, mid-dry and mid-wet (or IDK how to describe state, it is solid always) and she is emptying maybe 1x or 2x a day
History - As described in the first post
Lately We have been experiencing troubles. At first, I have noticed an edema on her left eye. Ive had this problem once, when she fell of badly attached branch. That time she cured herself in a few days without special care.

This time edema was around her eye. She was acting like normal, not closing eye or tears around, eating normal. After a week I have decided to cure this, as it seemed to be serious problem. I have studied many forums and books, I have asked for help in one petshop and everything leaded to adding more calcium and beta caroten to her food. I have gut loaded crickets and those bigger insects grass hopers? idk if this is exact name, they are maybe 5-7cm long.
She ate anything as usual and edema did not go away. So I have tried to non humanly fill !dead! insects with carrot juice (just squeezed one part of carrot). She ate them and in a few days, there was no edema, so we were happy.
But there aws another problem.
There was something on her rectum, It was something like dehydrated poop etc, whe was pushing it for a few hours and it did not help. So I have sprayed it with warm water and prboblem was gone till the morning.
Than anything went as usual. 3-4 crickets, or 2-3 grasshoppers per day, covered with minerals, and calcium once a week.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Wooden from 3 sides and glass from front, hardened polystyrene to insolate sides and back, image on the foil, non agressive, printed on them, 3 holes in the bottom and opened top for air circulation
130cmx80cmx70cm,
Lighting - 1x UVB reptiglo brand? I am not sure about that. Turning on manually around 8-10 AM and turning of after 9 PM, then 2 hours of weak light from room (just for her to see where is she going, when she wants to sleep somewhere)
Temperature - Temp range 28°C-30°C during the day, and around 25°C during night. Temp in room never goes under 22. Basking spot maybe 32°C, measuring with one digital thermo and humidity meter
Plants - One big ficus centralized, it grown up so it is now in the most of the cage. and around 10 plastic plants, 2 live tree branches desinfected. Substrate from lignocel (mashed coconut skin dissolved in water and re-dryed) change once in a few months
Placement - No fans or anything else, against a window, maybe 3m from it, on the other side of the room, Cage goes up to 2,3m height
Location - Central Europe


Current Problem - After a few days she stopped eating suddenly. I was not paying attention to that, since it was normal, 2 days without apetite and then again normal behavior.
But it has been 2 weeks and she did not rat anything. I am giving her grass hopers and crickets day by day but she ignores them.
I have tried force feeding, but no success. She just spits them out.
She is drinking a lot. I am taking her out every 2 days and giving her fresh water, she drinks maybe 1dcl(100ml) at once, and that is a lot, since she is that small.
She is allways green, active, moving around terarium, but I dont really know what to do now.
Today I have noticed, that she is like pushing some poop out, but it takes a few hours and it looks like its just there, not trying to get out. It is not prolapse. It stays there few hours and then fall off. But I have noticed drop of blood on one branch too and so I am really worried about her. What should I do?
I wont take it to the vet, because nearest reptile vet is maybe a few hundred kms of my place and those nearby are not skilled with reptiles at all...and theyre taking around 50Eur for one visit...(just looking)

So in conclusion, there were several problems and something caused, that my female 1,5yr veiled chameleon is not eating, by this day it is more than two weeks. She drinks a lot, seems active.
 
I am no expert but there are a few things in your husbandry that you might want to change. First it is not recommended that you have substrate as it could cause impaction. I would keep temps no higher than 30 in basking spot. Do you have a basking light? It would be better if you mist 3-4 times a day as this is the only way he can drink. Some have a dripper going for several hrs during the day but you would have to watch drainage in a wooden viv. I have lights on at 8am and off at8pm a 12 hr cycle is good. They don't need light after bedtime. I am a bit confused about your supplements. Most here recommend plain calcium most feeds and calcium with d3 twice a month and a multivit twice a month. I don't think grass has much goodness for your crickets and dog food is thought to be too high in protein. Fresh veg is better. I use the trimmings off carrots coutgetts and whatever I have in fridge. I'm glad you have a live plant in there as it helps with humidity. Hope this helps.:)
 
Thank you for quick reply. Basking spot in my cage is just place right under the UVB light bulb - no special basking sunlight bulbs etc., Temperature is not measured there, but I think, that direct light from it would warm place up to 32°C. It is like that for a year and half, and it seems to be her most favourite place.
Crickets are fed by fresh vegetables, just forgot to mention. Of course rest of carrot, salad or anything in fridge goes right to them.
Vitamins - Sera reptimineral C and shepia bone (i just scrub powder from it, as a source of calcium).
I think that if the problem was dehydration, it would happen earlier, since I am using this set up for a long time, but thanks for an idea. I am watering the cage way more often, since problems occured...
That light after bedtime is just small lamp nearby my bed. It is not source of direct light into cage, its just something, that prevents room to go absolutely dark all of sudden. She often climbs to a place where she wants to sleep. When there is no light, I think she could trip or fall down (or at lease I am afraid of it, because of absolute dark). I will try to put her to a provisory cage, that is almost similar (similar plants, branches and substrate) but way smaller and the most important - it is totally clean. I hope it will help her get rid of anything bad.

At the moment she is like hanging on branch, holding with front legs and tail and she is like that most of the time last few days.. Normally she was standing, or holding herself upon the branch on all four feet and tail...
I will post images in a second
 
6j1yzp.jpg


There is something on her rectum, like dried blood or something.. its black, I hope, you can see it. Plus she is hanging like that most of the time, seems like she is trying to get rid of something....:(

And i forgot to thank you for your advices, thanks, there is just one problem with them, I wuld have been able to make her eat...:/ I hope just, that She will not die starving, since it is natural instinct to eat...if you can..
 
I missed that your Cham is female. Has she layed eggs do you know? I am used to males so hopefully someone with knowledge of females can come in.:)
 
What type of substrate do you have in the enclosure? It sounds to me that he is having trouble passing waste for a reason, probably impacted. I don't want to come across as mean but I know it will sound this way, so I am sorry for that, but as far as how much it will cost for a vet visit... your cham is not eating!!!!! Something is not right and the way he is standing is a giant red flag! Could you go to a more local vet for an x-ray? I hope he will be O.K., but not all issues will take care of themselves.
 
She will not lay eggs, since she has never seen a male chameleon in her life... I got her since she was a baby, so I know that, for sure.

I know price is not necessary while there are problems with living creature, but trust me, I know, that vets around are really not skilled. I have paid large amounts of money to cure something that was not possible at that time, and it was just cat, not reptile...
Substrate is lignocel, I dont know, if there is the same term for it in english, but its just coconut skin mashed and dried to a brick, and as you get it water, it will fall apart to dirt-like humid substance. I have just changed it, so although it is possible problem, I didnt pay too much attention to that... I think I will try that first.
The worst thing is, that she looks really healthy, you wouldnt say, that there is something wrong... she is active, and dont look like starving...Is there any anti-parasite powder or anything I could possibly buy without visiting vet? somthing, that I can dissolve in water..
Another example, of our vets qualities - neighbors dog was pregnant, and vet told them, not to feed her so much, because she is obese... I really dont feel like giving them another chances....
 
Females can develop eggs even with no male present. Worth a shot to have a place to lay eggs if it can help. Veilds will often try to eat everything. The fibers in the coconut husk are good at preventing mold and bacteria build up, but are easily ingested. Paper towel or a mat of some sort will hold the moisture, be easy to clean, and safer for your cham. I started with a moss as substrate, and watched my 2 month old poop out a long piece that he decided to taste test. :eek: I got lucky he was able to pass it! :eek:
 
So great news here, Today I have picked her up from cage and tried to get her some mashed apples, she ate appx. 3 pieces in the size of 3 crickets, so we are happy now. Tomorrow I will try Banana and small cricket maybe... :)
 
She looks like she has eggs in the pictures. Did you provide her with a laying bin so she wont become egg bound?
 
Talis you need to know that your female veiled chameleon does NOT have to come in contact with a male chameleon in order to develop eggs. You need to get a laying bin in her enclosure and see if she needs to lay. If she does and you don't have a container for her, she will become egg bound and die.

In the absence of eggs, you mentioned that you've had her since she was 6 months. The only thing that has changed is you've added substrate in the last little while. This, to me along with the problems with her hind area & her inability to poop AND the blood suggests to me she may be impacted. If this is true she is in pain and the only course of action would be to get her to a vet for immediate care. I am certain you do not wish to see your girl suffer, all because you don't want to give the vet another chance after the misdiagnosis of a dog? I think anything would be better than watching your pet suffer and eventually die. Please...take your girl to a vet.
 
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