Cham laxative?

MsCham

MsCham

New Member
Alright, so I just finished at the vet a few days ago. We did a full check of my husbandry stuff, so I'm not going to bother giving any of that. We've also done an xray to eliminate any possibility that we misread my cham as female in case eggs were a problem. He's male for sure. There is nothing (rocks, soil, otherwise) obstructing. He is healthy by all purposes EXCEPT he ia not passing food. We could see the bowel movement has obviously been processed and is sitting there, but wont be passed. We want to do a fecal exam, but he isn't giving a sample to be tested, and now he's stopped eating!! The vet says she can't do anything until we have a fecal exam. How can I help my poor boy?? He's about 8 months old, veiled.

We currently have him on Carnivore Care to keep his energy up and get some fluids and vitamins into him. Its basically a powdered diet mixed with water.

I need a fecal sample!!
 
How many days has it been since he pooped?I had one chameleon not poop for a week and he was fine. Are you 100% there is none in the cage? I have thought this before and then I find it dried up on a hidden leaf or even stuck to the side of a branch. Just a thought. Anyways, i have found that warm water works as a good laxative. Not immersing them in water, but taking a spray bottle and putting HOt water in it. It will spray out warm. Spray him directly. He will close his eyes and he may try to run, but I have found that they will sometimes poop instantly when sprayed down with warm water. It is worth a try.
 
Silkworms or hornworms usually keep my guy very regular. They are mostly filled with water and lack chitin so they loosen things right up.

I've also heard of people putting a drop of mineral oil on the back of a feeder. No more than one drop a day. I've never needed to try this though.
 
Thanks guys. Ill try the hot water. He isn't eating, I already tried to get him to eat a few horns/silks. But I can't go back to this until he starts eating again! Carol, it's been almost 2 weeks now, and I did a VERY thorough clean of the cage last week, and again yesterday hoping that I had just missed it! In the xray we could see the buildup though. I might have to try the mineral oil if the hot water doesn't work. I've tried soaking him in very shallow water as well, and that didn't work either! Really starting to get worried!! If I can just get him to pass whats in there now, I can clean the rest of him out with a pure horn/silk diet for a few days! I don't like him on this powdered stuff, so the sooner I can get him off of it the better!
 
If he's not eating then there will be nothing for him to poop. I highly recommend getting some food in him. I recommend some Repta-boost or mash up some worms and feed him via a syring without a needle.

This is how I go about getting a Cham to poop as long as he's eating with food in his tummy:

Water, tons of water, mist, mist, mist and drip, drip and drip. If that doesn't work grapes help mine and so do hornworms. I have had the vet give me Lactulose to use and I've also gave warm water soaks and massaged the belly. I've also had the vet give me pet enamas to use and the vet showed me hw to use them. Sometimes if all this fails surgery may be needed.
 
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Water is the most important component to a 'movement' next to fiber. Jann is right, mist, mist, drip, mist, etc...
 
Update

I'm off work today, so I've been watching him very closely. I've kept the humidity at 80-90%, having a drip on the entire time and misting every half-hour. I just finished "feeding him" Carnivore Care with 2 drops of mineral oil (2 drops, because most of it misses his mouth anyways, so I figured by doing 2 he gets at least 1/2-1) I'll keep the humidity up while I wait to see if it does anything. Anyone know how long it should take to work in his system? Should I give another dose tonight (in ~8 hours) if it doesn't do anything? I have both crickets (4) and a hornworm in the cage since this morning, hoping he'd be tempted to snipe one of them, but so far they are untouched. I've never seen him eat after late afternoon, so I'm betting we are down to yet another day without proper food.
 
MsCham said:
I'm off work today, so I've been watching him very closely. I've kept the humidity at 80-90%, having a drip on the entire time and misting every half-hour. I just finished "feeding him" Carnivore Care with 2 drops of mineral oil (2 drops, because most of it misses his mouth anyways, so I figured by doing 2 he gets at least 1/2-1) I'll keep the humidity up while I wait to see if it does anything. Anyone know how long it should take to work in his system? Should I give another dose tonight (in ~8 hours) if it doesn't do anything? I have both crickets (4) and a hornworm in the cage since this morning, hoping he'd be tempted to snipe one of them, but so far they are untouched. I've never seen him eat after late afternoon, so I'm betting we are down to yet another day without proper food.
Click to expand...

Has your vet approved this? There is a very real risk of aspirating some of the oil. Oil in the lungs is really bad.
 
Thanks for that link! I got a bunch of urates from all the hydration yesterday, and a very tiny amount of poop! That's a step! Force feeding him the powdered mix that I was given by the vet causes quite a bit of stress on him, do you think its okay to stop this for a few days and see if he starts eating on his own? I was instructed to feed him it 3x daily for the next few weeks... but thats so much stress!! :( I've only been doing it once a day to ensure he has something to maintain his energy, and have just been ensuring the hydration is way up up up!
 
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