Bent casque... dehydration?

[Lingling]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled, around 10 mo., have had him since June (8 mo.)
Handling - 2-3 times a month
Feeding - Currently he eats 10-12 crickets a day, waxworms as an occasional treat. As soon as it warms up a little bit (it's currently 0-20*F here) I'll be ordering new feeders (hornworms,silks, box of crix). I don't gutload my own crickets, as I get them each day from the pet store and give them to him right away. I'm ordering my own box soon so I can gutload properly. Can't do dubia until summer.
Supplements - Cal w/o D3 most days (5-6 days/wk), Cal w/ D3 & multivit twice a month
Watering - I mist him frequently throughout the day.
Fecal Description - Never had a fecal done, his urate is still yellow...

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Free ranged
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0 and a MV bulb
Temperature - He's free ranged, so the room temp is about 75 and 80 under his basking bulb. He can get near the window which is a little cooler.
Humidity - The humidity has really dropped over the last month or so. He has a fountain under his basking light to add a little humidity and I mist often, but I know it's still low. Time for a humidifier.
Plants - Pothos, Ficus benjamina, ficus alii, green ti, maybe a couple others...
Placement - He is high, most of his free range is less than 2-3 feet from the ceiling.
Location - NWI

Current Problem - Couple things.
1) I never see him drinking, and his urate is always yellow. He hates my guts and he hates when I mist. He runs in the opposite direction, every time. I originally gave him the fountain to see if he would drink from it, but I have only seen him drink from it once the first day he had it. (For the record - I know fountains are bad and can harbor bacteria, but I had to try something. No water seemed worse than fountain water.) Even though I don't see him drinking from it, I clean it regularly, just in case. Since he is free ranged, I am having trouble finding a good way to hydrate him. I'm wondering if this could be causing my second problem.
2) All the sudden, his casque is bent. Can dehydration cause this? I know MBD is the common cause, but I see no other signs of it, and I supplement cal daily. I will post a picture of him tomorrow though, just in case someone might see differently.

I know how serious dehydration can be - I'm working on his set up when I get home from work tomorrow to try to fix things. I can't install a misting system, but I'm going to try a couple drippers. Maybe he'll drink the water as long as it's not coming from me and my horrible spray bottle. He's sure a nasty little guy... lunges, bites, hisses, hides, and runs. He just refuses water if it's coming from me.

What are other signs of dehydration, other than yellow/orange urate, so I can better monitor him as I make changes and try out some new things?

 

[Elizadolots]

Can you take pictures? I'm sure that would be very helpful in determining the problem.

To post them, don't use "quick reply" use the "post reply" button...there you will see an icon that looks like a paperclip. That will let you upload a picture from your computer so the experts can look at it.

 

[kinyonga]

You said your chameleon is free-ranged....how often does he sit under the UVB light? How close can he get to it? If he doesn't sit under it much then it might be that he is developing a calcium problem. Sunlight coming through the glass will not provide him with UVB.

Also...if he doesn't get warm enough long enough during the day he won't be able to digest his food as well as he should and that too might affect the nutrient intake.

Re: watering him...they tend to not like the misting when it first starts....but if you slow down the rate of each spray from the mister bottle it helps....using a dripper also helps. Maybe you need to confine him to a cage for a part of the day so he can get enough UVB and water?

 

[Lingling]

You said your chameleon is free-ranged....how often does he sit under the UVB light? How close can he get to it? If he doesn't sit under it much then it might be that he is developing a calcium problem. Sunlight coming through the glass will not provide him with UVB.

Also...if he doesn't get warm enough long enough during the day he won't be able to digest his food as well as he should and that too might affect the nutrient intake.

Re: watering him...they tend to not like the misting when it first starts....but if you slow down the rate of each spray from the mister bottle it helps....using a dripper also helps. Maybe you need to confine him to a cage for a part of the day so he can get enough UVB and water?

I know he cannot recieve any UVB through the window, I just gave him perches near it so he could look out (which he does daily). Most of the time he spends basking is not in the window but under his MV lamp, and he spends several hours under his reptisun as well. He can get close enough to the bulb, no problems there. The bulb is not old either. The reason I keep his MV up even with the reptisun is so that he gets UVB whether he's in his warm spot (under the MV) or a cooler spot (under the reptisun). Because he is free ranged, he's not constantly under a single UVB source like he would be in a cage, but I feel that I've made up for that by providing multiple UVB spots. Between the two locations, he spends hours under UVB. As a precaution, however, I will start recording how many hours a day he is directly under UVB for a couple weeks.

As far as heat and digestion, I'm not worried there either. Temps under his MV can reach 90 if he sits directly under it, which he does after meals. Room temp is around 75, with a slight drop at night.

The water is really what I'm worried about, but I'm going to work on that as soon as I get home tonight. Just in case, I'll start recording amount of time he's under UVB also. If I can catch him for a picture I'll try to upload one later tonight. He's not exactly camera friendly...