Broken ribs, not eating, very little poop?

Cptcrowe

New Member
Hi,
My female vieled chameleon (rosy) has barely ate in the last couple of weeks. She was doing great but then suddenly barely eats. She also appear to have broken ribs. Her energy levels have been fine and she drinks plenty(her urine is usually white maybe a light very light yellow)
Type: female vieled Chameleon
Age: little less than a year
Enclosure: converted curio cabinet. 18" deep × 4' tall × 4' wide. Reptiglo uv 100 and a basking lamp. At her highest point the temp is about 85 degrees and 30 to 40% humidity, at the bottom its ranges from 50 to 80%.
Diet: crickets are dusted 2-3 times a week. Sprayed some of the time when not dusted. (Yes dust as d3, spray does not). Prior to not eating, she was getting 4-5 crickets, 2-3 mealworms, a superworm, and occasionally some waxworms (we would kinda spoil her with these, letting have like 5 in sitting but then not giving her them for like at least a few days if not a week). Hornworms when we can get them.
We handle her more than we like because she always sits at the bottom of the cage scratching at the glass begging to come out. And she seems to love crawling up and sitting on our shoulders. Also, we let her (with super vision) explore the house. As she always tries to escape her enclosure and her open enclosure.
Thoughts?
 

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I dont believe so? We got her when she was about 6 to 7 months old. We thought that at first but she wont use the sand if that's case.
 
Ive only had my female for 13 months so im not an expert. I am really just guessing from what I can see.
 
Post some pictures of the whole setup, and your laybin. Is there an easy way for her to get into it? Has she shown any interest in the laybin?

If you ever see her start digging, give her complete privacy. Dont let her see you watching.

Stop dusting with d3 completely. You are overdosing her. Normally d3 is only given 2 times a month. Can be less depending on your UVB setup.

Sometimes females will go off food prior to laying.

The fact she is always trying to get out could be a signal something is wrong with her setup.

@Brodybreaux25 @kinyonga What do you guys think, I don't have much experience with females.
 
Why do you think she has broken ribs? Their ribs are partially cartilaginous and their normal shape is more of a horizontal V (point of the V faces back) than a curve. They could look distorted because her eggs are displacing them somewhat. Not seeing this myself.

As for no poop, think about it. If the cham isn't eating, they're not going to be pooping!

She "loves" crawling on your shoulders and heads because she prefers climbing as high as she can get. It's not because she likes you.
 
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She is definitely carrying eggs...the question now is can she lay them or will she need to be spayed? If she starts to go down hill you need to get her to a vet ASAP befor she's too far gone to help....signs off going down hill include but aren't limited to lethargy, sitting low in the cage, sleeping during the day, phantom laying, etc.

Can you post photos of the egg bin please.
Is the cabinet glass on al sides? Screen on top?

Regarding supplements...she should be getting insects dusted lightly with a phos free calcium powder at al feedings but four a month. Every second weeks on days that you don't use the calcium, the insects should be dusted lightly with a phos free calcium/D3 powder and the other two days, every second week, they should be dusted with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A.

You can feed/gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with dandelion greens, kale, endive, mustard greens, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, melon, mango, papaya, berries, pears, etc.

At this age she should be fed every second day and only 4 to 6 crickets (or equivalent of other insects).

I hope it's not to late for her to lay the eggs!
 
She is definitely carrying eggs...the question now is can she lay them or will she need to be spayed? If she starts to go down hill you need to get her to a vet ASAP befor she's too far gone to help....signs off going down hill include but aren't limited to lethargy, sitting low in the cage, sleeping during the day, phantom laying, etc.

Can you post photos of the egg bin please.
Is the cabinet glass on al sides? Screen on top?

Regarding supplements...she should be getting insects dusted lightly with a phos free calcium powder at al feedings but four a month. Every second weeks on days that you don't use the calcium, the insects should be dusted lightly with a phos free calcium/D3 powder and the other two days, every second week, they should be dusted with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A.

You can feed/gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with dandelion greens, kale, endive, mustard greens, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, melon, mango, papaya, berries, pears, etc.

At this age she should be fed every second day and only 4 to 6 crickets (or equivalent of other insects).

I hope it's not to late for her to lay the eggs!
What is ghost laying?
 
She is definitely carrying eggs...the question now is can she lay them or will she need to be spayed? If she starts to go down hill you need to get her to a vet ASAP befor she's too far gone to help....signs off going down hill include but aren't limited to lethargy, sitting low in the cage, sleeping during the day, phantom laying, etc.

Can you post photos of the egg bin please.
Is the cabinet glass on al sides? Screen on top?

Regarding supplements...she should be getting insects dusted lightly with a phos free calcium powder at al feedings but four a month. Every second weeks on days that you don't use the calcium, the insects should be dusted lightly with a phos free calcium/D3 powder and the other two days, every second week, they should be dusted with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A.

You can feed/gutload crickets, superworms, roaches, locusts with dandelion greens, kale, endive, mustard greens, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, melon, mango, papaya, berries, pears, etc.

At this age she should be fed every second day and only 4 to 6 crickets (or equivalent of other insects).

I hope it's not to late for her to lay the eggs!
She was being a butt... and as soon as I stuck her in the bucket and removed the way out she immediately started digging and laid her eggs.

Also... we get alot of conflicting reports on how much to feed her and I'm currently following the recommendations I got from NERD(new England reptiles distributors) where we got her from. I didnt need you to lecture me on this. I was merely putting out info. I was mostly concerned because we suspected she was ready to lay eggs but wasn't doing so.

Oblivious the sides and top of her enclosure are screen. Seriously dont treat everyon like a dumbass please, it's the reason I stay off these sites. And the whole thing was painted with an animal safe non toxic acrylic paint and sealed with non-toxic silicone based epoxy.

She has, from day one of bringing her home been a very very friendly cham. I mean that. we had a male (rescue kind of) before this and he never left his cage unless I removed him to clean it. Rosie on the hand comes out regularly and sits in the window in her ficus tree. She also (even before eggs) would frequently crawl onto us and climb on. Even given the option to return to her cage she will choose to sit on our arms. Seriously she will sit at the door with her little hand on the glass and wait for us. We follow her, she comes out voluntarily.(unless I need to clean). She frequently comes out and hangs out at my desk, sitting peacefully at my lamp in the window. She is definitely much more comfortable being handled than other chams I have dealt with. Only getting mad if we bother her when she is obviously hiding(she has spot she goes to).

My background... I'm a bio medical/chemical engineer with an advanced degree.(pardon my typing I'm an scientist in a lab not the guy who writes everything) last cham lived 9 years. Rolo was a grumpy but healthy bastard who eventually developed mbd do to old age and eating very little because he was old. I hadn't had a female before so egg thing was new and a learning experience.
 
Oblivious the sides and top of her enclosure are screen. Seriously dont treat everyon like a dumbass please, it's the reason I stay off these sites. And the whole thing was painted with an animal safe non toxic acrylic paint and sealed with non-toxic silicone based epoxy.

No one said you were... Kinyonga didn't attack you and say it wasn't just asked if it was your being pretty petty here, and overreacting heavily. The basking light appears like its in the cage in that picture, could be a reflection or something, but it seems its in the viv, thus not a screen top by first glance. I did notice the screen side though, myself, but that can be deceiving.


Now then great she laid, that cage needs ALOT more plants, and a lot more branches, that is not really a suitable interior for a Chameleon Cage :), its a good start, but you need much more :). This is why she wants out, she doesn't have enough branches or places to hide.


Also why do you have a water bowl? Do you not mist the Viv? Chameleons dont need a waterbowl.
 
She was being a butt... and as soon as I stuck her in the bucket and removed the way out she immediately started digging and laid her eggs.

Also... we get alot of conflicting reports on how much to feed her and I'm currently following the recommendations I got from NERD(new England reptiles distributors) where we got her from. I didnt need you to lecture me on this. I was merely putting out info. I was mostly concerned because we suspected she was ready to lay eggs but wasn't doing so.

Oblivious the sides and top of her enclosure are screen. Seriously dont treat everyon like a dumbass please, it's the reason I stay off these sites. And the whole thing was painted with an animal safe non toxic acrylic paint and sealed with non-toxic silicone based epoxy.

She has, from day one of bringing her home been a very very friendly cham. I mean that. we had a male (rescue kind of) before this and he never left his cage unless I removed him to clean it. Rosie on the hand comes out regularly and sits in the window in her ficus tree. She also (even before eggs) would frequently crawl onto us and climb on. Even given the option to return to her cage she will choose to sit on our arms. Seriously she will sit at the door with her little hand on the glass and wait for us. We follow her, she comes out voluntarily.(unless I need to clean). She frequently comes out and hangs out at my desk, sitting peacefully at my lamp in the window. She is definitely much more comfortable being handled than other chams I have dealt with. Only getting mad if we bother her when she is obviously hiding(she has spot she goes to).

My background... I'm a bio medical/chemical engineer with an advanced degree.(pardon my typing I'm an scientist in a lab not the guy who writes everything) last cham lived 9 years. Rolo was a grumpy but healthy bastard who eventually developed mbd do to old age and eating very little because he was old. I hadn't had a female before so egg thing was new and a learning experience.

Kinyonga is one of our nicest members, if you were around here, you'd realize we get thousands of newbie members that have absolutely no clue what to do. Not saying that is you or isn't you, but we're used to just throwing the same info out to make help faster. Not intended to be rude at all. People take time out of their day to answer questions. Selfish people smh, you are the person being toxic and sensitive right now, no one else(well, maybe me now). Going out on a limb, but I'm guessing you've never been humbled and that's why you're acting like an entitled princess.
 
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