cham refusing to eat... help!

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 18" x 18" x 24" aluminum cage- all screen
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 uv light, 60w house light bulb for heat. on at 6 a.m. off at 7 p.m. for the summer

Temperature - Basking usually 82 and 72-75f in the lower area. Probably goes to about 65-68 at night. I have two electronic hygro/thermometers placed in the cage

Humidity - About 40 % usually- spikes to 90 when the misting system goes off, and a warm mist humidifier in his room, again i have 2 hygrometers
Plants - fake foliage and vines, and a schefflera plant.

Placement - The cage is in my "lizard room." the only time someone is in there is to feed him or the gecko, the door stays shut. there is a heat/ac vent right under his cage but it is covered with a large towel. It is not high enough but with my drainage system thats where is has to be.

Location - Northern Alberta Canada, faaar north!

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - ?female panther- i'm guessing 7 or 8 months. I am unsure how old she was when i got her but i took her home about 5 months ago

Handling - None- only to clean her cage or take her to the vet

Feeding - Mostly crickets- i've tried butter and wax worms (i know they are fatty but i am trying to entice her to eat!!!) and she won't eat them. She gets about 10-12 small crickets a day- but she doesn't eat them all. She gets fed in the morning before i leave for work- around 7 a.m. I gut load with carrots, kashi cereal, random fruits and veggies, bee pollen and flax seed (ground up)

Supplements - I use rep-cal herptivite with beta carotene once a week. rep-cal calcium with D3 once a week. Rep-cal calcium w/o D3 or phosphorus three times a week. vitamin a oil on a cricket once every two-three weeks or so.

Watering - Mistking misting system, two nozzles that spray for 20 mins twice a day and once for about 6 mins.

Fecal Description - no feces that i can find.......

History - I believe that this poor girl didn't really have a chance... I got her from the pet store where i live and they did not know much, they said it was a male, i later discovered myself it was a female, and there was one other cham there when i got mine, and that cham is still there (i got my cham about 5 months ago.. she is roughly 8 months???) and the other cham has not grown at all and always has it's eyes closed when i'm there during the day. However, the instructions on how to care for my cham are not much different from what i learned on here, of course i learned a lot on here, but they definitely have all the basics right, including supplements! But regardless what i have tried, including vitamin a supplementation, she continues down a downhill slope, starting with eye problems that have never really been solved to closing eyes during the day and sleeping late/early to finally refusing to eat and not drinking much.

Current Problem - This poor girl is going downhill fast despite everything i've done? she is lethargic and soooo skinny, it makes me so sad to look at her =[ when shes climbing you can see her ribs very badly..... theres no way she is gravid she is almost as tiny as the day i got her, there is no room for eggs in there....... what i would really like to know is how i can go about force feeding her while causing the least amount of stress possible... and what to force feed her? but i will also be glad to hear any other comments you may have.

just some more info... she does move around quite a bit, stays at the top of her cage all the time except when she retreats to her sleeping spot, and still freaks out when the mister goes off, and when i tried to put a wax worm in front of her with tweezers she went very dark, puffed up, and tried to bite at it (not eat it) and i've never seen her do that before ever.....

she still has a lot of life and fight in her... someone please help me save her life before she starves to death... i really feel like she is just going to fall over from lack of food...... please help.....

thanks for your attention... and any advice you can give..
Kelsie

From what you wrote, i would say that you have one option if u want her to live. Find a good vet experienced in chams and get her there asap.

In addition: there shld be feces in her cage if not u have problems. Also at 8 months 6 to 8 crickets a day is plenty.

Vet visit ASAP and find out what's going on with her before it's to late.

yeah... there is one problem... she's been to the vet... he doesn't know anything... specializes in large animals and will also look at exotics but he could not tell me anything, i honestly knew more about chameleon husbandry than he did, i confused him with my questions. the nearest exotic vet is a little over 8 hours away... and i work until friday...

and there are urates... sometimes there is a small amount of actual feces but lately she has literally not been going... probably approximately 4 days without actual feces

there are small feces in the cage- i just found, the brown part is small but it is there. theres two piles there that i hadn't found and cleaned... what can i do to help her...... i'm so upset right now i feel like i'm going to lose her now more than ever....

Start a new thread "looking for chameleon vet in Northern Alberta Canada" Someone here should be able to recommend a good vet for you. I know we have allot of members from Canada.

yes but there are not any cities where i am. 8 hours is nearest herp vet i've looked, hard.
we have one small pet store (non-chain) that also cannot help me and two animal hospitals specializing in large animals, and one of them will see herps, but not birds, and as i said it was a waste to drive the hour (i live on an acreage out of town) drive and stress to take her to the vet...
i really do not have the resources where i live..
i called the vets in town before i took her home and asked if they dealt with reptiles, just in case i had an issue, which i did, and they said that they did. Sadly i was not aware how uneducated in reptiles this vet actually was.. and again he was little to no help to me, all he could tell me was not to squeeze her or i would break ribs. He didn't know what i was talking about when i mentioned supplements. I cannot afford to take at least two days off work to drive 8 hours right now... please.... I'm stuck.

If u don't / can't get her to a vet then she will more then likely die. It sounds like you have done everything right and have a good basic knowledge of whats going on. There are so many possibilities that without an experienced vet there is not much you can do. She could have parasites, an infection, etc etc. You can try posting some photos so we can actually see her.

We are not trying to be mean and I'm really sorry that your little girl is sick. We are not vets and it could be a number of things causing her not to eat. Normally, I'd say egg laying but you said she's skinny. The only thing I know to do is advise you to get her to a good vet.

jannb said:

We are not trying to be mean and I'm really sorry that your little girl is sick. We are not vets and it could be a number of things causing her not to eat. Normally, I'd say egg laying but you said she's skinny. The only thing I know to do is advise you to get her to a good vet.

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It may still be a good bet.

Come on... Quit beating the guy up over the vet thing... He's clearly explained that he's isolated and in a unique situation...

gmotdot said:

Come on... Quit beating the guy up over the vet thing... He's clearly explained that he's isolated and in a unique situation...

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I don't see anyone beating him up about anything. He asked for advice and was given advice. He obviously is concerned about his cham, but regardless of situation he really only has two options...vet or possible burial.

Do you have a laying bin in the cage for her just in case?

Surfrat said:

I don't see anyone beating him up about anything. He asked for advice and was given advice. He obviously is concerned about his cham, but regardless of situation he really only has two options...vet or possible burial.

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You don't think telling someone who is clearly concerned, and obviously upset, about their animal's situation and explained their unique situation not permitting vet access and then YOU telling them if they don't see a vet then their pet will likely die isn't beating them up???????! Come on..........

Have your local vet do a fecal. Look for protazoa , bacteria or worms .

If you can get them , try force feeding wax worms. Syringe water if shes dehydrated , but be careful to give a little at a time. Its very easy to force water into the lungs. A little water , then watch for her swallowing before giving more.

A shower might also help. Indirect spray and stay with her and watch the water temps.

gmotdot said:

You don't think telling someone who is clearly concerned, and obviously upset, about their animal's situation and explained their unique situation not permitting vet access and then YOU telling them if they don't see a vet then their pet will likely die isn't beating them up???????! Come on..........

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No I see it as giving him the truth without sugar coating it. Fact is these animals go down hill very quickly once problems arise. Maybe you have a better solution for him you could offer up, but everyone knows that without proper vet care there is very little that can be done to help a sick cham!

Is the repti-sun the long linear type?
Do you have substrate in the cage?
Can you please post a picture of her?

You said..."I gut load with carrots, kashi cereal, random fruits and veggies, bee pollen and flax seed (ground up)"...bee pollen has vitamins A and D in it...so you need to look at how much you are giving your chameleon with this and the other supplements you are using.

You said you use a "vitamin a oil on a cricket once every two-three weeks or so"...is it only vitamin A? Is it codliver oil?

As has been mentioned by other forum members...a fecal would be a good idea and it would also be a good idea to put an opaque container of moist playsand in the cage so she has a place to dig.

Surfrat said:

No I see it as giving him the truth without sugar coating it. Fact is these animals go down hill very quickly once problems arise. Maybe you have a better solution for him you could offer up, but everyone knows that without proper vet care there is very little that can be done to help a sick cham!

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I'm sorry, but if you can't see how insensitive you are being, especially considering the OPs clearly unique situation, then I don't know what further to say... I hope if you ever have the misfortune of being in an "impossible" situation people don't treat you the same way...