Need help - chameleon not looking good

Went on vacation, asked neighbor teen to help with chameleon....
Came back to this.
I think he is dehydrated
Eyes black and sunken in

I held him in the shower with the water running and let droplets get him wet
I gave him oxbow brand protein mix from vet.
Can't take to vet (on vacation for 1 week)
Vet that is on call not reptile vet.




Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Nosy Be Panther, male, 3 years old, 2 years in my care.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
1 x every other week, if that..
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Crickets What amount? 5 crickets every other day or more. How are you gut-loading your feeders? Vegetables and store gut load meal- fluckers

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?rep cal calcium and repashy calcium plus sticky tounge miner all. 3-5x weekly randomly

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Drip and mist. How often and how long to you mist? On timer. Humifier gague Do you see your chameleon drinking?yes
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Orange and brown Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?nope


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Screen 2x2x4

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? Sun bulb
12hrs a day

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? 95? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?idk
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 85 How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Meter
Plants - Are you using live plants? Posto
Placement - Where is your cage located? Kids room. Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 10feet
Location - Where are you geographically located? Atlanta Ga

I would agree that he is critically dehydrated. Does he drink when you put him in the shower? Is he able to open his eyes?

If he is not drinking in the shower try spraying water on the top of his head and see if that will trigger him to drink. If that doesn't work you will most likely need to force feed him water with a syringe. If the protein mix you are feeding has a good amount of water that may be enough, but I am not sure how much water should be administered since I have not had a chameleon that doesn't drink. Hopefully someone else will respond with experience in this.

How long were you gone? If it was only for a week or two then there is a good chance that dehydration is his only issue. The dehydration looks very serious so your best chance is going to be to get him to a vet as soon as possible.

Thanks sharp229

Chameleon not drinking. He had his eyes closed yesterday until I put "in the shower". I am mixing the protein powder with water and giving it to him with syringe. Little guy still have quite the bite!

I forced fed him some carrot gut loaded crickets- 4
I am going to keep doing this all week.

I was just gone for 10 days.
I don't think he drank any water during that period

Did your mister stop working or run dry? Was he not getting water? Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

cmquin1 said:

Chameleon not drinking. He had his eyes closed yesterday until I put "in the shower". I am mixing the protein powder with water and giving it to him with syringe. Little guy still have quite the bite!

I forced fed him some carrot gut loaded crickets- 4
I am going to keep doing this all week.

I was just gone for 10 days.
I don't think he drank any water during that period

Click to expand...

Did you ask your pet sitter how they watered him and how often? Did they say he did not drink at all or do they even know? I wonder if something else is going on here. Did the temps possibly drop too low or spike too high while you were gone?

Your dusting and feeder/gutloading could use some adjustment:

Did he ever eat anything other than crickets? A varied diet is best as different feeders provide different levels of nutrients and metabolize the gutload contents differently. Other feeders that might help with recovery that are also high in moisture and easy to digest include hornworms and silkworms.

So what were you actually gutloading with? It wasn't very clear. Just using carrots isn't enough, but maybe I misunderstood.

You should be using plain calcium (no added D3) lightly every feeding.
Calcium with added D3 once every 2 weeks.
A herp multi-vitamin dust once every 2 weeks.

Did you mean that your UV light is a ReptiSun? If its over 6 months old, replace it.

Can you force feed him the gutloaded insects he has eaten before? That might be safer than adding a food not designed for an insectivorous lizard especially one that might be in kidney failure due to dehydration.

Any possibility that he was fed a wild caught insect?

He doesn't look dehydrated to me.

He does not look dehydrated to me neither..his eyes are sunken in, but the rest of him does not look dehydrated..pity you cannot take him to a vet. Whatever it is, it MUST have been something that happened while you were away.

Hi there.....I just read your post and it's eerie how coincidental it is to what just happened to my cham....I left my 3.5 year old male Nosy Be to go on a 6 day vacation out of state. When I left, "Wiley" was acting normally, eating and doing his thing. I fed him and asked my housesitter to toss some crickets each day. Automatic mister was working, water full.....lights on timers etc, all good.......

I arrive home to a severely sunken-eyed, much cooler to the touch lizard who evidently hasn't pooped/urinated, no appetite. (There were crickets still in the cage) His grip was also quite weak.....I FREAKED out. Housesitter said she had not handled him and I totally believe her. Said he seemed a bit lethargic that she noticed when she put the crickets in is all.....

I put him in a warm shower on his plant for about 40 mins and he seemed happier but no drinking. Color improved in the shower, but went back to darker, almost gray when put back in his cage. Grip very very poor... Got some water squirted into his mouth, but seemed very weak and in the a.m. Found him on bottom of cage. Got him to the vet within few days after i got home, and he was given a sub-q fluids shot, and I was given several meds to mix with pedialyte and feed in a dropper....This was a Thursday a.m.....by Saturday a.m. My little boy was gone. He didn't/wouldn't swallow much at the end, eyes still sunken, cold, and very mottled dark gray as opposed to his normal beautiful blue-green....I was there when he had to go, and for that I am thankful but still extremely sad.

The vet told me that his illness had nothing to do with my husbandry, but that he suspected a metabolic liver issue, due to jaundice and his other symptoms. Said that it sometimes occurs in chams and that it is rare for them to come back from it. Guess I am just shocked that that was the case, As I was only gone SIX days!...seems way too crazy fast to me, but then, I'm not a vet....

Couldn't bear the thought of a necropsy on him, so we put him to rest on our property, beautiful spot near a stream under some trees....I can see the spot when I look out the kitchen window....(makes me tear up writing this)......

Can you tell me what else if anything you learned from the illness of your baby?....the circumstances are just so similar to mine and I'm curious to know what advice/info you were given....Our babies look quite a bit alike too....love the blue/green chams!

Sorry for what you went through......Not sure at this time if I will ever own another chameleon again. Just so in shock and still feel it could have been something I did wrong, although vet says no.....