for now i put the feeder box in his cage and he immediately climbed over to it, i ordered a lot of the stuff you guys recommended and they’ll probably arrive after the weekend, is that okay?? will he be alright like this for now? im gonna get another live plant (was thinking a pothos) tomorrow instead of the bark.
baby chameleon closed both eyes please help!!!
- Thread starter sennaxqz
- Start date
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
I’m so glad that you posted this pic. Those crickets are way too large for him to eat. He needs much much smaller food. His food should be around 2 mm in size…tiny. I’m not sure how your reptile shops are, but here they don’t generally carry such tiny feeders, except for fruit flies. We have to order tiny feeders on line. If it’s like that for you too, get him some fruit flies until you can get tiny crickets and just hatched roach babies.
omg tysm!! that might definitely be why hes eating so little, theres a reptile expo coming up, will they have that size?? and no these are the smallest size they carry, where online can i look?
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well, you need to get him something to eat now. He can’t wait. Maybe the shop will have some other type tiny feeders. Bean beetles, fruit flies, freshly hatched roaches, small black soldier fly larvae, baby silkworms, etc. Talk to the people at reptile shops, ask the person who you bought him from, do a search for on line feeder insect vendors. Your little man has zero resources to fall back upon. If he doesn’t get enough to eat, he will waste away quickly and die. It’s possible this is what’s already happening with his eyes being closed. Baby chameleons are little eating machines and should be getting well over 20 appropriately sized insects twice per day. Even call and ask your local exotics vet if they know where you can buy tiny feeders. This is urgent.
i bought fruit flies for now, they didnt carry anything else in pet stores close to me, im gonna drive to the big pet store tomorrow since they were closed already, got told they have lots of other options there for me
im looking on a site now, are black soldier fly larvae not to big??
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Full adult ones just ready to pupate may be, but small to medium ones should be ok. Stealing a graphic from a cricket vendor here, I believe the size your baby needs is about 1/8”, or about 0.3 cm. It’s better to go a bit too small than too big. It’s no problem for your chameleon to need to eat more of the smaller feeders, but if a feeder is too big, they just can’t eat it. They do chomp and give a couple of chews, but for the most part, they swallow their food whole.
thankyou! ill show the pet store tomorrow what he needs i hope they have it, otherwise ill order them.
he has eaten 13 fruit flies with vitamin D3, hes still laying with his eyes closed tho…
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Yay for eating! BUT…. Are you using calcium with D3 at every feeding? If so, stop immediately! He’s gotten overdosed on D3. It’s a fat soluble vitamin, meaning it takes time for the body to excrete it and it can build up to toxic levels. There’s little to no way to undo an overdose, other than time and good hydration. He needs a calcium without D3 for every feeding. Right now, I would say give him about a week or so with no supplement at all. Then restart with the plain calcium without D3, very lightly dusted on the feeders.
noo definitely not!! i just bought the D3 today! this is the first time ive used it, before that i only used just calcium
how many times should i use it?
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Phew! The D3 is used for just one feeding every other week. Did you buy a combination D3/multivitamin? If not, you will also need a multivitamin which will also be used for one feeding every other week, but not the same feeding as you give the D3. Usually they are alternated every week, so for example days 1 and 14 you would use the D3 and then on days 7 and 21 you’d use the multivitamin.noo definitely not!! i just bought the D3 today! this is the first time ive used it, before that i only used just calcium
Give little man a few days of eating well and hopefully he’ll feel better. Do still have a fecal test for parasites as those are always needing to be ruled out. Even if he was tested before, do get him tested again. Not only can there be false negatives, but in his short life, he could have picked something us easily.
it just says calcium+D3, im not home at the moment so my mom is taking care of him, shes going to get the multivitamin from the store for me tomorrow.
thank you for the tips!! i really really hope he’ll feel better
i’d never forgive myself if he passed. hes laying still with his eyes closed again i just feel so sad for him.. i have a vet appointment next tuesday they couldnt have me in quicker sadly so i really hope he hangs on.i read something that it might be a vitamin A deficiency, i ordered that online and hope itll be in tomorrow. i bought both droplets and powder
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Vitamin A can be complicated a bit.
There are two forms of it - beta carotene (proformed) which is from vegetable sources and is water soluble. We aren’t sure that chameleons are able to fully utilize this form.
The other form is retinol (preformed), which is from animal sources and is fat soluble. We know that chameleons can utilize this form, but since it is another fat soluble vitamin, it too can easily build up to toxic levels if overdosed.
Since you are new to chameleons and your guy is just a tiny baby still, I strongly advise against giving vitamin A except under your vet’s advice and supervision. I don’t want you to take an already poor situation and make it worse.
Make the changes which I advised and give your little one a few days to show improvement. @kinyonga do you have any further advice or suggestions to offer OP?
