Baby Veiled sleeping now during the day

[Verde1]

I am new to this, so thanks in advance to all of your help. I have been looking at other threads but before guessing about what to do next I thought I would fill out the information about my dude.

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? Screen 16X16X24What is the size?
* Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? UV 5.0 and reg 40W light bulb (I had a basking spot light but it burned out about 2 weeks ago) How long do you keep the lights on during the day? 8-8
* Temperature - What temperature range have you created? ~75-80 Basking spot temp? ~80+ What is the temperature at night? ~75
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 50-70% How are you creating and maintaining these levels? Monson mist system every 2 hours for 15 sec and dripper constant and separate mistings.
* Plants - Are you using live plants? Pothos and umbrella plant If so, what kind?
* Location - Where is your cage located? my sons bedroom on a nightstand about 2 feet off the floor. There is an AC vent about his cage, but the direction of air is away from it. Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. Veiled chameleon that was purchased from Petco, it has been in my care about 2 months, guessing he is 4-5 months old, he is 3 1/2 inches nose to start of tail and 2 1/4 in wide Not sure on sex
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? I have been purchasing the Vitabug small crickets from Petco (which they are saying are gut loaded so I haven't been adding anything to them) about 5-10 a day. also meal worms that are 3/4 inches 6 a day 2 of which I hand feed him. I also offer kale and other fruits and veggies, I have only see him eat the kale. What amount? What kind of schedule? 1-2 X day How are you gut-loading your feeders? Crickets are eating the Fluker Cricket Quencher and Orange Cubes. I purchase them once a week/10 days from Petco.
* Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use? Once aweek I dust the worms with Flukers Calcium powder with D3 but very small amount. I have given him no extra vitamins bc they kept saying I don't need to. I didn't want to guess that's why I am asking the experts!
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? he has a dripper and a Monsoon system that mists every 2 hours for 15 sec everything seems very damp. Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have seen him, no recently he goes to the bottom where the water is so I am assuming that is what he does down there. I haven noticed that he makes a move for the area when I turn the dripper on. and have also sprayed some water in his mouth once when he opened it.
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. They seem semi-hard dark brown with some white strings between them. they are ususally about an inch long.
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
* Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.
I am worried about him "sleeping" during the day. A few days ago I noticed that he was closing his left eye, it would open if I talked to him or went near him. Now they both seem to be closed during the day, I misted him to try to flush the eye out two times, now both are closed. I haven't seen him re open the left eye since the last "misting of him" which he ran away and climbed up the side of the cage. I just checked him and the right eye was open but not the left. and he seems to be a bit more sluggish and laying on his basking spot but he does get up and move around and perks up if I offer him a worm or kale. Thanks in advance for your time and help.

 

[sharp229]

Can you post pictures of your cage and chameleon? Gender can be determined if you can get a picture of the back of its back feet.

There does not seem to be much of a night temperature drop, are you turning off all light and heat sources at night? You should dust with calcium without d3 on every feeding, and with d3 twice a month. You should also use a multivitamin twice a month. You should also gutload the crickets with vegetables and you can also add things like Repashy Bug Burger to the vegetables if desired. You can't really trust the ones from the petstore, and it will generally be cheaper to do it yourself anyway.

You mentioned that the cage is very damp, do you let it dry out between mistings, and do you have a good drainage system? Standing water at the bottom of the cage is a breeding ground for bacteria so it would not be good for him to drink it.

You could try putting him on a plant or branch in the shower for about 30 minutes and see if this helps him open his eyes. You would want to have the water from the showerhead bouncing off the wall so that he just gets a fine mist and is not blasted.

 

[Verde1]

Thank you

So I cleaned out his cage and it was very damp at the bottom, I put in newspaper in the bottom and removed the water catch dish under the dripper and moved a plant to where that was. Here are the pics of the cage before. I can post an after, but it will generally be the same with the changes about. He is currently in the shower and it does look like he is trying to drink as he is opening his mouth pointing upwards. he had his eyes open when I was moving him and if he is with me they are open, my husband turned off the lights and they opened also. While in the shower he has them both closed.






Let me know what else you think. I will get the supplements, any specific you recommend? I have a spray calcium is that ok or should I get a D3 free powder?

 

[Verde1]

Sorry about the photos...

 

[sharp229]

How far does he usually stay from the lights? Have you noticed any other symptoms, such as popping sounds, opening his mouth, or swallowing repeatedly?

Can't tell the gender from those pics because I can't see the back of the back feet. If he is male there would be spurs.

I use Rep-Cal calcium without D3 for the calcium, Repashy Calcium+ with D3 twice a month and Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamin twice a month. All these can be found on Amazon and you can probably find many of them at local stores:

Rep-Cal calcium without D3
Repashy Calcium Plus
Rep-Cal Herptivite

 

[sharp229]

I should also note that if he has his head tilted up a lot like in the last picture, this can be a sign of a respiratory infection. If this is the case you would need to see a vet so he can be prescribed proper antibiotics.

 

[Verde1]

I scheduled a vet appointment tomorrow or Saturday. He is usually about 5 inches from the light. I haven't really noticed any thing else he does open his mouth from time to time but no popping sounds or swallowing if he isn't eating. he has been pretty calm all day not moving a ton. He does tend to hold his head upwards a bit. He hasn't been laying on the branches today though he is holding himself up better. I did switch the bulb to a 60W and placed a probe under it it is right at 80. He has no lights at night and our house usually stays around 74-75. I will try to get a picture of his feet, I just want to leave him alone right now. I tried to get him to eat some Repti-Boost but he wasn't interested, I dropped some on his mouth and he didn't open to eat it. I will order supps asap. Thanks for your help.

 

[Verde1]

Drainage system

Also how did you set up the drainage system? The reptile carpet was very damp, I replaced with newspaper for now and moved the plants around. I do have a towel under the cage that I change out once or twice a week, but it is usually very damp.

 

[sharp229]

If your cage already has holes in the bottom for drainage you can place it on a shelf with a tray or bucket underneath. Otherwise you can drill holes and do the same. See here:

http://muchadoaboutchameleons.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html

 

[FrankTheTank]

I'm pretty sure you have a female. There should be some bars even at that age if it's male. Do you ever notice any when he gets stressed or excited? I also don't see any spurs. Not thebest angle but I'm 97% sure you have a female