3 month old male veild dehydrated/malnutrition ?

awesomesucram · Jul 26, 2012

Basking 29-32 degrees.
Have eaten very little food for the past 2-3 days. Perhaps 3-4 little crickets per day. I can see his ribs ( pic 2 ), is he dehydrated or malnutrition ?
Need help, thanks.

Sometimes weird black spots appear on his body, is he stressed or something ?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Translucent veild , 3 months old a month under my care.
Handling - 5 times since under my care.
Feeding - Gut loaded Crickets( carrots/potatoes) , dusted with calcium D3 once every 20-25 days.
Supplements - Necton calcium+ D3 once every 20-25 days.
Watering - misted by a spray, 4-5 times a day.
Fecal Description - Light Yellow+ white feces. Never tested for parasites
History - NA

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass Cage
Lighting - UVA+UVB lights.
Temperature - Basking 28-32 Lowest overnight temp 20-25 How do you measure these temps: thermometer
Humidity - 70-90 percent. Measured by thermometer with humidity sensor.
Plants - around 7-8 live non toxic plants in it. Not sure about the species.
Placement - Where is your cage located? On top of my pigeonhole. I sometimes put a fan to lower the basking temp when it is too hot.
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? around 1.6-1.8 meters
Location - Where are you geographically located? Asia

Current Problem -He used to have a great appetite and can eat up to 25 tiny crickets every day. Has eaten very little food in the past 2-3 days. Perhaps 3-4 little crickets per day. I can see his ribs ( pic 2 ), is he dehydrated or suffering from malnutrition ? How can I make him eat more ? Also, it often have Black spots on its body. Does it mean he is about to peel ?

arnau666 · Jul 26, 2012

hello please fill this from :

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

when they are young their ribs can be seen very easy.
i think you got a female there but not very sure i cant see the back leg spurs -better pics will help.
other than that 32C is a little to much for a 3 months old , especially if it is a female . 27-29C is a good temp
other than that it looks on .
we wait you to fill the form .

arnau666 · Jul 26, 2012

if your cham is dehidrated you will see his urates yellow or orange .
the normal color is white .

awesomesucram · Jul 26, 2012

Done
..........

blackened · Jul 26, 2012

There are a few things I can see that you could improve husbandry-wise.

Feeding - a wide variety of feeders is highly recommended by just about everyone on this forum. I'm not sure what feeders are available for you in Asia, but some good feeders include hornworms, silkworms, pheonix worms, butter worms, mantids, cockroaches.

Your gutloading foods could be improved upon aswell. Carrots contain a lot of vitamin A and carotene. Potatoe has a high phosphorus content. Both foods are ok for gutloading but only in moderation. I highly recommend checking out sandrachameleon's blog for nutrtional information (lots of other good stuff there too!): link

Supplementation - standard supplementation schedule for a veiled is plain calcium (no phosphorus, no vitamin d3) with almost every feeder. Then you will want a calcium with d3 and a multivitamin (such as herptivite). Each of these should be used once every two weeks.

That being said, I strongly recommend you do some study on this as there are some differences of opinion.

Cage - good ventilation is very important for veiled chameleons. To improve ventilation I would consider getting an all screen enclosure. I personally use ZooMed Reptibreeze 2'x2'x4'.

Lighting - What type of UVB bulb do you have? Ideally it should be something like the ReptiSun 5.0 fluorescent tube light.

Temperatures - You could probably stand to drop the temperatures just slightly. For a veiled chameleon (3 months old) your basking temperatures should be 24/25 Celsius.

The black spots are the typical stress pattern of a veiled chameleon. Are these there all the time? Our chameleon gets this pattern whenever we take a photo. We don't think she likes the camera

I wouldn't say he looks malnourished, but I'm not very experienced. Best way to improve his appetite is to increase the variety in his diet IMO.

EDIT: he does, however, look a bit dehydrated (see how the eyes appear to be a little sunken in). Another sign is the yellow coloured urates. Do you see your chameleon drink?