Cham not eating/sleeps during day.

[Hakai]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled chameleon, 5 months old. In my care for almost 3 weeks.
Handling - Maybe 20 mins since I've had him. Only when need to.
Feeding - Crickets and butter worms. Gut load crickets with carrots and lettuce and put like 8-12 in a feeder cup every day around 3:30pm
Supplements - Exo Terra calcium w/o d3 (every feeding). Zoo Med repti calcium with D3 (every 1st and 3rd Sunday of month). Zilla Vitamin Spray (Last sunday of the month).
Watering - Exo Terra Monsoon RS400 rainfall system. Every 4 hours for about a minute and a half by day. Goes off once at night for 30 secs. I do see him drinking drops from the top (Misters are aimed through the top of cage and droplets collect on top).
Fecal Description - Relatively solid brown fecal with yellow urate never been tested for parasites.
History - Healthy history, shipped from breeder.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 24x24x48 all screen enclosure. Placed on a nightstand (about 6 feet off the ground total).
Lighting - 5.0 Reptisun UVB, 60 watt basking bulb with 5'' ceramic ceramic dome. 7am to 7pm.
Temperature - Basking spot is 80-85 degrees F. decreasing to low 70's elsewhere. Measure with temperature gun and Acurite digital thermometer.
Humidity - 45-50% room humidity with humidifier. Spikes to 70-80% with Exo Terra RS400 Monsoon rainfall system. Measured with Acurite digital hygrometer.
Plants - Live hanging pothos from the top, and a potted dracaena plant on the bottom (with organic soil covered with large rocks).
Placement - In my room, no vibrations or anything loud. About 6' off the floor. no vents.
Location - Landenberg Pennsylvania about (45 mins from Philadelphia).


Current Problem - He hasn't eaten at all for about 2 weeks. He sleeps sometimes during the day, maybe alot. I've only seen him eat maybe 2-4 crickets since I got him. He went through a shed but has been finished for about a week. He shows no interest in his food when I hold in front of him.

 

[Lovereps]

Sorry to hear that your cham is not well.
He shows at least 2 signs of illness--daytime sleeping and loss of appetite.
You mentioned,"Relatively solid brown fecal with yellow urate never been tested for parasites."
This can be an indication that he hasn't been able to get enough water or it can be from illness or parasites.

I would have him examined by a vet who has expertise in reptile medicine.
ARAV vets have a special interest in reptiles and can be a good choice.
You can locate one here:
http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/

I would also add a dripper to his cage, add a variety of appropriately sized feeders to his diet (silkworms, hornworms,Phoenixworms,Dubias,,etc.) and gutload them with more of a variety of veggies, etc.
Scroll down to the gutload section here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

 

[Hakai]

Thank you for the list. I think I'm leaning more toward parasites. I'm pretty sure he's drinking enough. I'll see what I can do about a fecal.
what causes parasites btw?

 

[Lovereps]

Parasites in the wild caught chams are usually from what they ate or drank, an insect they were bitten by or from being with other parasite infested chams or parasite infested housing.
Captive bred chams can acquire parasites from feeders, from their environment or from other chams.
The parasites are often in the form of eggs or oocytes--neither of which can be seen without magnification.
Sometimes people re-use feeders and this is a terrible idea.
What I mean is this: You feed your gecko, beardie, another cham, etc. and there are feeders left over after he eats his fill. Not wanting to watse them, those feeders either get returned to the feeder bin or are then fed to another cham---either way it is a common cause of transmitting parasites from one animal to another.
Handling one cham or animal, then hadnling another without washing hands thoroughly is another not uncommon cause.

If he truly has only eaten a couple of feeders since you got him, then getting him to a vet without delay is a must.
I would suggest getting some calcium rich feeders like Phoenixworms and watery feeders like silkworms, since you can feed them to him when you give him the medicine from a vet.
You can ask for a few extra syringes with the meds.

I have put feeders into needle-less syringes to feed chams that were not interested in eating at all.
Sometimes they will eat if you put the feeder into their mouths.
It is best to limit handling and get things done all at once, though.

 

[Hakai]

Thank you, the closest vet to me is 20 minutes away so I'll get there as soon as I can. So if I have unwanted feeders, I should just toss them out? Whats the longest a feeder should be left in the feeder cup for?

 

[Lovereps]

The problem is more with sharing feeders and with feeders that have roamed a cage--but it is certainly possible for a feeder cup to have unwanted guests in them, too.
Your cham may have eggs or larvae on its feet and step on the cup or have larvae in his saliva, etc.
Cup feeding is more sanitary than letting the feeders roam around the cage, where they may dine on or step on feces or parasite eggs/parasites but some chams don't want to cup feed.
The choice isn't always yours.

You want the feeders to have as many nutrients in them as possible, so you can feed them after a day of going uneaten--- feed them things that your cham won't choke on while they are in the cup.