Annie after 2.5 months

[LBonawitz]

shes doing better but her inprovements have slowed. she still closes her eyes and she still won't drink water. i left her with constant dripping water, since i've tried just about everything else, for 2 days. by the end of the 2nd day when i tried to feed her, her tongue didn't work and her eyes were sunken again. :::sigh::: i just don't know what i'm gonna do with this girl. i know it causes her stress when i open her mouth and spray water in there, but i don't know how else to get her to drink. the hornworms help; but honestly, that gets expensive.

she still has a HUGE appetite. 10 butter worms and a 4" hornworm is just breakfast.


anybody ever have such a stubborn drinker? whatelse can i try



P.S. before i had a drain system set up i had the water collecting in a tall cup, i didn't see her drink from it, but she was on a stick next to it. thats as close to water as i have ever seen her. do you think the ripples in the water attracted her?

 

[jannb]

Be careful, she could fall in a tall cup of water......not good to let water stand in the cage anyway. Did you ever have a vet check her out?

 

[LBonawitz]

oh yes. shes clean. thats what i don't get.

 

[xanthoman]

jacksons wont drink, imagine that?

i am guessing (from your avatar) that your cham is some sort of jackson's ?. jacksons xanths can be real stubborn drinkers, most of the time they drink just fine, but if they are feeling the slightest bit under the weather (like being already dehydrated), it is not uncommon for them to stare at dripping water for hrs without drinking . when this happens, i like to use something i call the "head down trick" , it involves manual misting with cold water that has been heated (not warm tap water) first try and do it when your cham is by the top of the cage , the basic idea is to strategically coax him into a downward position without freaking him out and in the brief time available get him soaking wet (also without freaking him out)while keeping him(or her)in a head down position , your cage setup and chams personality sort of determines how you go about this , basically start with a light spritz from above, using a slightly spitty spritz, but, not a solid stream, try not to get their attention any more than neccessary, give them like thirty seconds between light spritzings and try and spitz just enough so they dont move (which eventually they will), when they do start to move use the spray to try and coax them into a downward position , hopefully they will already be well on their way to being drenched , as the cham moves down ward give them a short blitz of spray, but not so much that they start racing around the cage in an effort to get away , remember the idea is to try and keep them in a downward facing position while they are dripping wet , as soon as it is wet enough to start dripping off of their chin, STOP, hopefully your cham will stop to, if you can get them to maintain a downward position while water is dripping off of their chin, sooner or later it will drink ,if this happens , as soon as he starts to run out of water give him ONE quick spritz from a distance, just often enough to keep the water dripping of of his chin , it takes some practice, and may take several tries, but it will usually eventually work , its sort of like if you had water running down your face , its almost impossible to resist wiping it off, its a reflex reaction , if they spend enough time facing downwards with water dripping off of their chin, they will eventually try to lick it off (whether they are thirsty or not), it is rare that this trick doesnt eventually work, and if it doesnt, after dialing it in with several tries a day , then there are probably other issues besides lack of hydration , if it continues to fail , and you are concerned about your chams ability to survive short term , then you can always go the ol emergency standby , use a dental syringe (the type with no needle and a curved plastic tip)and grab your cham in a no nonsense matter and try to get it to gape at you , when it does , squirt a small amount of water behind their toungue [not in front thats where the treachea is(risk of inhalation )]also if it is still feeding you can try injecting your feeders with a drop or two of water apiece , remember these are only short term solutions, whenever a cham (most chams )are displaying out of the ordinary behaviour , it is quite probably a sign that something else is wrong ,so you want to keep the bottom of your cage especially clean during this period, because i would suggest getting the next fecal that comes along and submitting it for examination, just to be sure, one last note, many jacksons are shy drinkers, and may drink only when no one is around , and on one final contradictory note never assume your cham is drinking unless you have actually seen them drink , i also am in seattle and was begining to wonder if, if i was the only one, there are a few others from outlying areas but you are the first i have heared of that is actually in seattle , you are welcome to contact me anytime for specific related jacksons question/issues, but also remember, that no one person has all of the answers ,even xanthoman has his limits, on the forum you will always get a broad range of answers from many experienced cham people and of course the more you learn about your species,the better prepared you are to deal with its issues, and one of the best places to learn is in the help pages, its just as important to learn what not to do , and you often learn more from reading other peoples problems and the responses to them than you do from asking your own specific questions

 

[LBonawitz]

thats a great idea. drip it off of her chin. shes not a jackson, my female annie is a resuce veiled i've had for a couple months, but i will try that same idea with her. it makes sense, and is worth a try... at this point anything is worth a try.


thank you!

 

[laurie]

Hey hang in there, just remember how far you have gotten her!! I have drippers for all my chams. I also mist them from above by hand if I have drinking issues. In addition I have an automatic mister going off 3times a day and some of my chams still don't drink enough. I sometimes get to the point of injecting water into super worms just so I know the have suffient water. They just love to drive us nuts.

 

[merumontanus]

i am guessing (from your avatar) that your cham is some sort of jackson's ?.

The animal in the avatar is a Poroto Mountain three-horn chameleon (Trioceros fuelleborni)-- and one of the healthiest and most stunning ones in captivity at that.

Good luck with Annie, Laura.

Fabián

 

[Miss Lily]

Lily was a pain with drinking too. I used to squeeze a hamster water bottle so that the water dripped onto her nose. She would drink this way. Usually she would drink between the two lights going out in the evening. Almost like a bedtime drink, bless her! As difficult as it was to get her to drink, her kidneys were ok when the vet did her post mortem. She was obviously getting enough water somehow! I know that they absorb water by breathing in the humid air in their enclosures although I'm not sure how much. It might be worth bumping up her humidity for a couple of days.

 

[LBonawitz]

The animal in the avatar is a Poroto Mountain three-horn chameleon (Trioceros fuelleborni)-- and one of the healthiest and most stunning ones in captivity at that.

Good luck with Annie, Laura.

Fabián

Wow! Thanks Fabian! That is the biggest compliment I have ever gotten. I have a huge smile on my face now

 

[merumontanus]

Wow! Thanks Fabian! That is the biggest compliment I have ever gotten. I have a huge smile on my face now

It's the truth-- and I've seen my fair share of them in the last few years. It's a shame you've not found a female yet. They're very rarely kept successfully in captivity!

Cheers,

Fabián

 

[ashrules]

shes doing better but her inprovements have .

she still has a HUGE appetite. 10 butter worms and a 4" hornworm is just breakfast.


?

i never see mine drink tbh..i mist him everyday...

but when he eats..after teh bug goes down..he juts chews for a min or so...

i have a small syringe and i just drop in to his mouth when he opens his mouth...

mayb eu cud try that..lol

 

[LBonawitz]

i never see mine drink tbh..i mist him everyday...

but when he eats..after teh bug goes down..he juts chews for a min or so...

i have a small syringe and i just drop in to his mouth when he opens his mouth...

mayb eu cud try that..lol

ya i spray water in her mouth when shes chewing, she hates it so much she won't eat anything else after and pouts for about an hour

 

[wertagum]

I'm not sure if you are still having trouble getting her to drink, but I have just come across a way that helped me get some water into my sick little cham.

He's been very dehydrated and I finally gave up trying everything and just took him to the sink, turn the water on very slow and he went crazy! He drank for a good 10 minutes! He would even lift his head right up and take huge mouthfuls of water.
(It may sound silly but I cried I was so happy to see it!)

And in a matter of hours his colour went from a dark brown (his usually colour nowadays, poor little guy. ) to a great lime green!

I'm not sure if your veilied would drink like this to, but I wanted to put it out there just in case!

Goodluck

 

[LBonawitz]

thank you for your respons. however i have tried that and showers with water dripping off of leaves for a good 20 minutes. i'm building her a new cage now. i'll have to do the final coat of sealant tomorrow and staple the screen in probably tuesday. but maybe a new home will lift her spirits. and since my boyfriend is a plumber we're going to splice into the water from the bathroom sink (the bathroom is right next to our room where the cham are kept) so she can have constant water all day. and we'll see if that helps. we're really going all out for this girl. its kinda silly