what do I do-Is my Chameleon sick????

Hi,

My bf and I got our little baby veiled chameleon, Izzy from the pet store begining of December. She seemed healthy and vibrant for the first while, although we quickly found out that a lot of what the pet store told us on how to raise her was wrong. For one, they sold us a glass cage, told her to feed her only 5 cricktets a day, and only mist 1-2 times. We soon realized after reading a lot of information on here it takes better care to keep them healthy.

We now have her in a larger screen cage, with a hibiscus plant, lots of branches (those fake ones), gut loadded crickets, drip system, mist her for good amounts of time at least 2 times a day. She has made a good transition from old cage to new, but recently she has been closing her eyes, a lot, during the day, and today she fell......

we have the basking light on high, temp in cage is 77 degrees, humidity is over 50. She has eaten way less these last few days, and wont take any food today.

our vet is closed today, and we want to keep her healthy and safe and free of harm.

what is the reason for her closing her eyes all day? is she really sick, is their anything we can do???? All she does recently is climb to the top of the cage, by the basking light, and stay there with her eyes closed for most of the day, then moves to another spot and continues this pattern....

please help if anyone knows any advice. We are first time owners and scared were doing something wrong..

thanks,

megs

Tell us about your lighting.....types and brand. Is the UVB a coil light? What kinds of supplements are you using and how often. 77 is a bit cool. How old is she? I would bring her up to 80.

eyes closed during the day is not a good sign.

Please complete the "how to ask for help" questionnaire in full.

jannb said:

Tell us about your lighting.....types and brand. Is the UVB a coil light? What kinds of supplements are you using and how often. 77 is a bit cool. How old is she? I would bring her up to 80.

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Really? I think 77F is fine for ambient temp for a young female, assuming there is a gradient and a decent basking spot.

sandrachameleon said:

Really? I think 77F is fine for ambient temp for a young female, assuming there is a gradient and a decent basking spot.

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I missunderstood......I thought 77 was the basking temp.

Did you clean your hibiscus well before you gave it to her? Is the soil fertilizer free? Have you ever seen her try to eat the soil? Are you giving her supplements? Are you using substrate in her cage? A lot more info needs to be given...

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
>>female Veiled Chameleon, aprox 1 -2 months old. Purchased as a baby, in care for 1 month.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
>>not often as we read it stresses them out. We have held her a bit the last two days to take her to the bath to mist.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
>>we gut load crickets and buy new stock every 3 days. She is fed aprx 5-6 and if all are eaten we give her more. She is fed in the morning and later in the day if she is still hungry.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
>> they are powdered with:
Sticky Tongue Minerall INDOOR formula
Sticky Tongue Minerall OUTDOOR formula
Reptivite Reptile Vitamins - 2oz
and gut loaded with>>> fluckers high calcium crickter diet
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
>>we mist with a misting bottle two or more times a day, for a lenghty period to ensure the plant and everything else is wet. we sometimes see Izzy drinking, but she is more prone to eat and drink when we arent around.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
>>brown poo and white "pee". hasnt pooped in a day or two but more of the white stuff.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
>> no we have only had her a month
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
>> no, no previous mention from the store other than "she is healthy"

Cage Info:
Cage Type -
>>Screen (18X18X36)
Lighting -
>>18" fluorescent hood fixture
Zoo Med 15" Repti Sun 5.0 UVB bulbReflector Dome 5.5 Inch Repti Basking Spot Lamp 50watt
What is your daily lighting schedule?
>>7:00 to 7:00
Temperature - What temp range have you created
>>65-80(cage floor to basking spot)?
Lowest overnight temp?
>>65
How do you measure these temp?
>>Digital Thermometer with probe and Analog Reptile Humidity Gauge
Humidity - What are your humidity levels?
>>40-50 and as high as 90
How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
>>drip system and mist twice a day
What do you use to measure humidity?
>>Analog Reptile Humidity Gauge
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
>>Schefflera arboricola and fake plants and sticks
Placement - Where is your cage located?
>>family room but lots of traffic Location
Where are you geographically located
>>Vancouver, bc

we cleaned the plant, changed the soil, and it does not appear that she does eat the soil, or spend time in that part of the cage.

we have subtrate at the bottom as well, but she spends most of her time in the tree/branches

Not sure about those supplements but you need plain calcium to use at about every feeding, calcium with D3 to use twice a month and a mulit vit. to use once a month. I would recommend these....the 1st, 3rd and 5th one. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/vitamins-medicines-and-cage-cleaners/

What size feeders are you using? Babies normally eat fruit flies and pin head crickets.

That's big cage for a baby. Are you cup feeding?

Subtrate is normally not recommended. Veileds eat it and can become impacted.

Can you post some pictures?

Is there any visible gunk fusing the eye shut? Or is she just closing them on her own?

we are feeding her baby crickets only.

fully extended she is probably 6 inches at most. Small body still.

we are not cup feeding her, she will eat crickets at the top of the cage as they tend to hang around the basking light where izzy is.

when we had her in the smaller cage we noticed her take a cricket with some subtrate attached, but it did not seem to get consumed. Since then she has not bottom fed in the cage.

She just pooped, it was a bit brown and runny, with a little bit of yellow in her urine.

She just recently ate a cricket.

There is no junk coming from her eyes, she does close them on her own, and can open them just as easily. She seems to just keep them closed by choice. They are not sunken...

any ideas?

I would strongly advise you to remove the substrate. Runny poops can indicate parasites. Yellow urates also indicate dehydration.

Just to warn you, it is also possible that she may just not be one of the chameleons that are meant to live... (if she doesn't seem to get better and a vet can't do anything, that is.) Babies are hard to care for and sometimes die even when you do everything right. That's why it is suggested to buy veiled babies older than 2.5-3 months as they are usually well started and not likely to die seemingly randomly at that age.

Are you misting with warm water? I would recommed long warm mistings until you can get her to the vets.

I agree. Baby veileds can be a tough thing to deal with especially if you don't know what you are doing. A few changes i would make: 1st put her in a smaller cage so she can hunt and get her crickets, 2: Remove allllllll the substrate immediately, 3: also you said you add crickets and she will eat them as they come to her but are you leaving any in there overnite? If you are that could be some of the problem. Crickets left overnite will usually try chomping on whatever is in the cage to eat, namely your baby. It can be causing her alot of undue stress. And like someone mentioned orange urates are a sign of dehydration. How many times are you misting the cage? And are you using a dripper?

phattycakes said:

Hi,

...little baby veiled chameleon

...but recently she has been closing her eyes, a lot, during the day, and today she fell......

we have the basking light on high, temp in cage is 77 degrees...

...what is the reason for her closing her eyes all day? is she really sick, is their anything we can do????

All she does recently is climb to the top of the cage, by the basking light, and stay there with her eyes closed for most of the day...

Click to expand...

Howdy,

Especially with a baby chameleon, you'll want to double-check the basking temp by sticking the back of your hand right at the basking spot and verifying that it is just warm, not hot.

Daytime eye closure is usually a sure sign of troubles that won't go away by themselves .

You mentioned that she is in a high traffic area. You could eliminate that as a possible stress inducer by moving the enclosure to a very low traffic area. It may also be beneficial to have the enclosure located up high enough such that her basking spot is above your head.

"Sticky Tongue Minerall INDOOR formula" is the one with vitamin D3 added.

"Sticky Tongue Minerall OUTDOOR formula" is the one without D3.

"Reptivite Reptile Vitamins - 2oz" is sold with or without D3 so be sure that you know which one it is and use it accordingly.

What is your dusting schedule?

What is the distance between the Reptisun 5.0 15" tube and the basking spot? Be sure that there is no glass or plastic between the tube's surface and your chameleon.

Is that a coil UVB bulb or a linear tube that you are using? EDIT: duh just re-read your past and see it is a linear. that's good.
What is the schedule by which you use the supplements?

You may want to improve your gutloading of the feeder insects. Fresh vegetables (especially those high in calcium, like dandelion, romaine, collard greens), fruits and such make the best gutloads.

just an update since yesterday:

we took her to the bath twice yesterday to mist her and get some more water on her. She seemed to perk up a bit, but continously kept her eyes closed. She was a bit more mobile before bed.

This morning we found her at the bottom of the cage, on the floor. When we left her last night she was on a fake tree near the bottom. She is not accustom to sleeping, or being for that matter, on the subtrate.

She made her way up the cage, same corner spot, and opens and closes her eyes so far.

did anyone have any ideas on why she continues to close her eyes??

She closes her eyes bcause somehing is wrong. Chameleons go to the floor when they are ill or dying. I suggest you take her to a chameleon expirienced vet and take the substrate out.

sorry, i did not realize there was another page of responses after I posted her picture:

We are misting her with warm water in the bath, as well as in the cage every day since we have got her. We did not know that we were supposed to "bathe" her, and we bagan that two days ago to try to coax her to open her eyes.

i think we will remove the subtrate and possibly put her back in the previous cage? we were worried cause it was small and glass, but this one is quite large for her. What is better, small glass where she can hunt easier, or large wire cage???

we try not to leave crickets in the cage, but it is possible that some might be around, as the cage is large and hard to spot things.

We are misting at least 2 time per day, good mist. We also leave a drip system dripping during the day until it runs out, and sometimes get refilled for the late afternoon.

we just checked the temp of the basking light with our hand, and sure enough, it was a little hot....yet she puts her seld right by it allllll the time!! we turned it down.

we also recently moved her to the office in hopes that she would feel less stress with less movement and noise.

we buy only 30 crickets at a time and dust them upon purchase. They are normally replaced within three days with new crickets, which we then dust.

we have the day time light beside the basking light, with some room between. the dripper falls through the cage between the two lights.

im going to call the vet today. we have a exotic animal specialist in the area, and we have called her before, and she was very helpful in getting us set to take care of her. im nervous, and hope whatever is wrong is fixable, i love izzy and only want the best for her.....

thanks for all the help

megs

If I were you, I would section off he bottom half of the screen enclosure until she is older. Also make sure the vet has chameleon expirience. Not all exotic animal vets know how to treat chameleons.

phattycakes said:

We are misting her with warm water in the bath, as well as in the cage every day since we have got her. We did not know that we were supposed to "bathe" her, and we bagan that two days ago to try to coax her to open her eyes.

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You really shouldnt have to bath her. Ive never bathed or showered a chameleon. they should get the hydration they need for drinking and skin and eyes through drippers, misting, prey etc.

It is remotely possible you have a bad UVB bulb. Try turning it off for a few days.

Glad you are going to see a vet.

Have you improved your gutloading? Here's some info on gutloading: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html