any thoughts , advice greatly appreciated

[eli]

SEX - female , jackson chameleon , 4 / 6 months old ? been with me since 1/16/14

Handling - just to move from cage to free range or shower ,
FEEDING - was feeding crickets , 4/ 6 a day , depend on how much she would eat , would gutload with what this forum says was good to use , apples , squash , oranges , papaya , mustard greens .
SUPPLEMENTS - exo terra calcium powder , would dist crickets every day and once a week with exo terra multi vitamin
WATERING - mist 2 / 3 times a day , morning at 9 . around 1 and then again around 5 or 6 , have a dripper going on thru out the day and on accasion i do get to see her drink water , im at work most days from 6 to 3 pm so dad would keep an eye on her .
FECAL - would be like 2 pellets a bit moist at times with white spots
HISTORY - not quite sure .. purchased her a month ago from petsmart .
CAGE - 18x18x36 , all screen
LIGHTING - 75W halogen basking bulb , reptisun terrarium hood , 5.0 UVB
TEMP - basking spot would be from 85 / 90 , night temp lowest would be 60 onlly have one zoo med temp gauge and thats for the basking area
HUMIDITY - would vary from 50 to 80 , just use spray bottle , zoo med humidity gauge to measure humidity
PLANTS - had a mixture of diffrent types of draceana and pothos but recently switched to just one big pothos that covers up the entire cage
PLACEMENT - placed in a walk in closet , only used for chameleon ( also planning on turning into a free range ) no fan or air vent in closet , only traffic when dad or i would walk in to check up on humidity etc . height , well im 5'9 and the top of the cage would come up to about my chin ?
LOCATION - Indianapolis , IN
CONCERN - she hasnt really been eating much , she was on the crickets at first but i believe she got hooked on superworms , after a day or 2 i found out there high in fat so i tryed too go back to crickets n she wouldnt touch em . crickets would just eventualy die in cage from her not eating them , now she hasnt even ate a super worm either . ijust got her 2 eat one yesterday . ( she has started shedding about 2 days ago .. just about finished though it was only her under belly area ) have ordered silkworms .. should be coming in soon

 

[Lathis]

Reposting my PM to OP

Hey, welcome to the forum.

Off the top of my head, if she suddenly stopped eating, it could be any number of things. You are definitely giving her too many multivitamins. It should be:

- plain calcium (no D3) 3x a week
- calcium with D3 1x a month
- a multivitamin without D3 1x a month.

If your multivitamin has D3 in it, you can skip the calcium with D3. Over supplementing will affect appetite too - chameleons will stop eating if they are overdosing on fat soluble vitamins and/or D3.

In the photo you sent me, her stripes are very dark. It could be totally normal, or it could mean that she is stressed out about something. My Jax is normally a solid color and only pops out his stripes when he is scared.

She maybe could be gravid (pregnant). Even if you don't breed her, she will still make infertile babies - just like birds will lay empty eggs. Jacksons give live birth (they do not lay eggs), so she may drop "slugs". If she is ready to drop slugs, she will naturally stop eating. Also, if she's ready to shed, some chameleons get really grumpy and stop eating for a few days.

Parasites are another possibility for changes in appetite. Have you had her fecal (poop) checked for parasites? Usually you can take a fresh poo to the vet without the cham, and they will look at it under the microscope for signs of parasites. My vet charges less then $20 for a fecal, but it will depend on where you are.

It's really good you ordered silkworms - she will likely love them! They are naturally high in moisture and calcium.

Your overall care is off to a good start. There are a few things you can tweak to keep her healthy and happy. Here are some additional resources to help you out:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/

She is a very pretty girl. You should post your photos here for others to see.

 

[eli]

i havent checked for parasites yet , i only had her for about a month but i will most deff go get that checked out now when iget payed Wednesday and thanks i will my phone cam sucks so im going to use my dads , how can i post pics for public viewing ?