Advice on care for sick veiled cham

[jillianne&mauro]

My husband and I decided to take on a sick Cham from petsmart, he has a calcium deficiency and was really flat and squishy when we first got him. We took him to the vet they immediately administered a calcium shot in his stomach and we are now giving him calcium drops every day and when his drops are done i'll be dusting the crickets with calcium and gut loading them. This is our very first reptile but I've done a ton of research to give this little guy the best chance he can possibly have.

I wanted to post a few pictures of his set up and I'm open to constructive criticism and feed back on anything else I could do to make his home and care even better. It is an all screen enclosure, the humidity is always between 50 to 80% I never let it drop lower than that and the temp fluctuates between 75 and 85°.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your little guy! With your love and care he should be able to live a good life although his little arms will always be curved but hopefully he will get around just fine. I recommend adding more branches and plants to his enclosure. Here's a couple links to photos of some of the members enclosures. You can get ideas on how to decorate your little guys. I'm also attaching a link to my blog for how I recommend keeping young veileds. I hope you find it helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/the-official-enclosure-picture-thread.49688/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/official-enclosure-picture-thread-2-post-your-pics.94781/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-with-young-veiled-or-panther-chameleons.325/

 

[jillianne&mauro]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your little guy! With your love and care he should be able to live a good life although his little arms will always be curved but hopefully he will get around just fine. I recommend adding more branches and plants to his enclosure. Here's a couple links to photos of some of the members enclosures. You can get ideas on how to decorate your little guys. I'm also attaching a link to my blog for how I recommend keeping young veileds. I hope you find it helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/the-official-enclosure-picture-thread.49688/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-with-young-veiled-or-panther-chameleons.325/

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help. The vet also said his bones would always be like that, it just seems to be his arms that are curved, and luckily we rescued him and got him to the vet before any of his bones broke. He's had a rough start but it's already ten times better than he was.

 

[jannb]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help. The vet also said his bones would always be like that, it just seems to be his arms that are curved, and luckily we rescued him and got him to the vet before any of his bones broke. He's had a rough start but it's already ten times better than he was.

I am so glad that you took him in. I love veileds and have 5 of them that I love very much. I'll be glad to help you in any way that I can.

You can see my veileds here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/my-beautiful-veileds.142194/

 

[jillianne&mauro]

I am so glad that you took him in. I love veileds and have 5 of them that I love very much. I'll be glad to help you in any way that I can.

You can see my veileds here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/my-beautiful-veileds.142194/

I was nervous to take him in, especially with not having any experience with reptiles let alone chameleons but I'm so happy I did. I feel so horrible every time I go into a pet co or petsmart and see the terrible condition all their reptiles are in. He's been such a joy and I know I'm giving him his best chance.

 

[ChamDE86]

Your heart is in the right place. Did Petsmart allow you guys to adopt him or did you spend money to get him? Also, I would remove the substrate on the bottom and remove the bowl of water since they like to drink water drops off the leaves after after misting. The substrate can cause impaction if he accidentally eats it when shooting for crickets. I've attached the "how to ask for help" form in the link below. Please fill it out to the best of your knowledge as it will let us help you with additional information or if you need change in your current care.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[jillianne&mauro]

Your heart is in the right place. Did Petsmart allow you guys to adopt him or did you spend money to get him? Also, I would remove the substrate on the bottom and remove the bowl of water since they like to drink water drops off the leaves after after misting. The substrate can cause impaction if he accidentally eats it when shooting for crickets. I've attached the "how to ask for help" form in the link below. Please fill it out to the best of your knowledge as it will let us help you with additional information or if you need change in your current care.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

We spent money to get him, I paid $65 I think, but spent a lot more money on getting him the proper care, it has been totally worth it. I love this little guy! Didn't know that about the substrate, i'll take that out right away! The bowl in the bottom is not for drinking, I read that if you put hot water in it that it helps increase the temp and humidity, is that correct? If not i'll take it out as well.

My Chameleon: His name is King Tut, he's a male veiled chameleon. I'm not entirely sure on his age, the vet was thinking maybe 4 months? He's been in my care for a month.

Handling: I try to handle him as little as possible. Right now it's unavoidable because I have to give him calcium drops with a little dropper once a day. Other than that he's only handled when I clean out his enclosure.

Feeding: When I first got him petsmart had been alternating between crickets and meal worms but as soon as I took him to the vet he said just strictly crickets for now. He gets about 3 to 4 crickets a day and I put them in in the morning and he'llamas at throughout the day, he wont really eat much more than that. I have read that they can eat a variety of things. I give the crickets flukers high calcium cricket diet, it's like a sandy grainy mix and I'm also putting in flukers orange cubes, says it's complete cricket diet, food, water, and vitamins.

Supplements: I know you are able to dust them with calcium but I was instructed by my vet to not start that until he's done with the calcium drops because he doesn't want to give him a calcium overload. What brands of calcium dust do you guys recommend?

Watering: I mist several times throughout the day, I usually mist for about a minute in the morning (his enclosure is usually soaked after that) mist as needed throughout the day and then again for another minute at night before I turn off his lights. I do see him drinking water off the plants, I've also used a cup with a hole in the bottom with some ice cubes that I set on top of the enclosure that drips down and that always gets him drinking water right away.

Fecal description: When I first got him there were chunks of crickets in it, vet said because he wasn't able to digest properly. Now it is usually half brown half pale yellow to a whiteish color and it's pretty soft.

History: he was sick when I first got him at the end of november. Very dark in color, very flat and squishy, couldn't hold himself up. His eyes were always closed, even during the day. He was taken to the vet immediately, they administered a shot of calcium to his stomach and I have been giving him one drop of calcium every day and he seems to be doing much better. He's active, his eyes are open, he eats and drinks very well. His bones in his front little leggies are curved but the doctor said he had no broken or snapped bones.

Cage Info:

Cage Type: I have a 16×16x30 completely screen enclosure

Lighting: When I bought the enclosure it came with a zoo med double light fixture thing that sits on top. One of the bulbs is a blue zoo med UVA bulb and the other is a 5.0 reptisun UVB bulb that has two little bars. He is on a 7 to 7 schedule. 12 hours with the lights and at night 12 hours with no light.

Temperature: during the day with the lights on his temp is between 80 and 85° in his basking area and around 70 to 75° in the bottom. At night when the light is off it drops down to the low 70's in the entire enclosure.

Humidity: I have a hygrometer in the enclosure, I never let the humidity drop below 50% it usually sits around 70 or 80% as soon as it starts to get low I will mist the enclosure. I also have a rock in the bottom that I put hot water into to help temp and humidity but I'm not sure if that's okay?

Plants: right now all the plants are fake. I haven't been able to find any live plants that are safe for him.

Placement: His enclosure is in our bedroom, it is the warmest room in our house. He's not near any vents or windows, and his enclosure sits on a desk. The only time we are in the room is at night and in the morning so not a high traffic area.

Location: we live in colorado, temperatures are extreme and fast changing. It can be 20° one day and 60° the next. And it is super dry here. I feel like it's not too difficult to keep a regulated temp for him though.


Just took this picture right now