Another Hunger Strike?

peridot

Member
Earlier this year I posted about my chameleon. He went on a 3.5 month hunger strike. We were constantly at the vet, getting bloodwork done, x-rays, ultrasounds, and the vet could never find anything wrong. He started randomly eating on his own again and we haven't had a problem since last month. He ate great on last Wednesday, but hasn't eaten since. I know it's only been 3 days, but I'm going into panic mode. How long should I wait until I panic and take him back to the vet? He has been really picky since eating on his own again and would only eat superworms. I'm worried he's tired of them, but wont even look at anything else I offer. Until Wednesday we was eating everything from 1 to 5 worms per day.

--------

Your Chameleon - Male Veiled chameleon, had since August of last year. A year old.

Feeding - Crickets, Super Worms, roachs, Wax Worms, horn worms when available. I gutload all my bugs collards, carrots, cactus, dandelion, sweet potato.

Supplements - Repashy Calcium Plus (daily), Repashy Calcium plus LoD (once at begining of month and once at end of month), bee pollen

Watering - I am monitoring him closely, and want to keep track of how much he’s drinking. So I’m syringing him water several times a day (dropping water onto his mouth and letting him drink). He has a mister that goes off first thing in the morning, about 10 minutes before lights come on.

Fecal Description - He's been tested for parasites and it came back negative.

History - Purchased from PetSmart.

Cage Type - Reptibreeze screen cage, size x-large.

Lighting - 75w basking bulb , Reptisun T5 10.0 HO UVB Bulb, linear tube

Temperature - The cage stays about 70-85 depending on area. It's around 95 under his basking spot. I have 3 thermometers/hydrometer throughout his cage. I also use a heatgun for the basking spot.

Humidity - Around 30 during the day. I run his Reptifogger on low during the night on high.

Location - North Carolina
 
I believe this may have been a miscommunication - we generally recommend Repashy LoD for daily use. In combination with a good gutload, LoD is the only supplement you need!

Oh my gosh, have I totally gotten them mixed up?! Uggggh. I'm so upset with myself right now. What should I do if I've been overdosing him on d3 and vit a. Do I need to make a vet appointment?
 
Oh my gosh, have I totally gotten them mixed up?! Uggggh. I'm so upset with myself right now. What should I do if I've been overdosing him on d3 and vit a. Do I need to make a vet appointment?

I just looked back at your old thread and since this is new it doesn’t explain the last hunger strike but may have something g to do with this newest hunger strike.

For d3 / vit a overdoses it is usually recommend to stop supplements except plain calcium for a few weeks and provide more drinking opportunity to help dilute and flush it out of their system. Since it is fat Soluble it builds up in their fat cells and takes a long time to burn off.
 
I just looked back at your old thread and since this is new it doesn’t explain the last hunger strike but may have something g to do with this newest hunger strike.

For d3 / vit a overdoses it is usually recommend to stop supplements except plain calcium for a few weeks and provide more drinking opportunity to help dilute and flush it out of their system. Since it is fat Soluble it builds up in their fat cells and takes a long time to burn off.

I'm currently in panic mode right now, since this is something I caused. I'll definitely make sure he has more then enough drinking opportunities the next few weeks. Is there anything else I should do or that you recommend? Do you have any idea how long he might not want to eat from something like this? I can't believe I got them mixed up..:(
 
I'm currently in panic mode right now, since this is something I caused. I'll definitely make sure he has more then enough drinking opportunities the next few weeks. Is there anything else I should do or that you recommend? Do you have any idea how long he might not want to eat from something like this? I can't believe I got them mixed up..:(

I can’t say weather this is causing the hunger strike or not but may be a possible factor. It’s a common mistake that people think the repashy calcium plus doesn’t have d3 or vit a in it. They should really put it in bold on the front of the container.

I’m not sure there’s anything else I can recommend other then water and time you don’t want to overdo it on the misting though. If you can get him to eat use a plain calcium powder this still has to be done to correct the calcium to phosphorus ratio in the feeder insects and will help him use the d3 and vit a.
 
I don't know for sure what's causing the hunger strikes. It's hard to determine the cause sometimes. (I don't usually have that problem with my chameleons and I don't know why I don't.)


Concerning the supplements...Here are some sites that have good information about D3 and vitamin A and calcium...maybe they will help....

Scan down to post #93 and read about D3 and vitamin A...it's a good read....
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...cularius-demo-video-4-jan-2013-update-10.html

Another one...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/supplementation-mbd-1.2451/
 
Last edited:
Don’t offer superworms. Just offer other things until he starts to eat again. He can go a week or so without food. Once he does start eating again go very sparingly on the supers. They get addicted to them and will start to only eat the supers then they get bored of them or maybe to many supers do something to them and they stop eating all together. From what I have read never experienced this.

A thread I found about it.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/feeding-a-reluctant-eater.169592/
 
I don't know for sure what's causing the hunger strikes. It's hard to determine the cause sometimes. (I don't usually have that problem with my chameleons and I don't know why I don't.)


Concerning the supplements...Here are some sites that have good information about D3 and vitamin A and calcium...maybe they will help....

Scan down to post #93 and read about D3 and vitamin A...it's a good read....
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...cularius-demo-video-4-jan-2013-update-10.html

Another one...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/supplementation-mbd-1.2451/

Very interesting read. Seems I was confused about how the d3 actually works in the body.
 
Thank you everyone for all the links. I'll read through everything.

Does everything think he'll be ok as long as I only use calcium for a few weeks and make sure he's getting enough water? Or should I call my vet first thing in the morning?
 
Here is a link to some information on D3 toxicity. Repashy calcium plus has enough D3 that it should only be used twice amonth in low land chameleons. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/d3-poisoning.2401/

I'll call my vet first thing in the morning. I totally thought I was dusting his food with the one without D3 daily. I absolutely got them mixed up. Do you all think I've killed my baby? I'm just a mess over this now.
 
Back
Top Bottom