Charlie is hiding in the mornings and not eating well

[honeywoods]

Our 4 month old Yemen Cham (Charlie) has been very happy up until a week ago. We noticed that as soon as we get up in the morning he start shedding straight for the bottom of his house and hides behind the ficus pot; his colours go grey - black. By the time we get home from work he is fine -colours are back to normal and he seems happy. However, I stayed home from work on Friday and he didn't start to climb his house until 2pm. I spoke the reptile shop and they confirmed we are doing everything as we should in terms of temperature etc. and suggested we cover his house at night. We did this and he seemed a lot better on Saturday and Sunday morning with no trips down south. This morning however, he went straight to the bottom of his house and his colours were very dark.

We weigh Charlie every week and he has been consistently putting on 8-10g a week since he came to live with us early December. Yesterday was his usual weigh in day and he's lost 2g . He has really gone off his food and not interested at all. Also, he seems to want to come out of his house all the time (except in the morning when he cowers behind the pot). As soon as we open his doors, he's running up our arms and does everything he can to stop us putting him back in.

He has just gone through his third shed.

Charlie usually eats brown silent crickets, black field crickets, the odd locust, wax worms and cress. We gut load with veg and dust three times a week with nutrobal.

Ambient temperature is usually 65 at night, 75 during the day. Basking spot max 90. Reptiglow 5 and Reptiglow 10, 22w tubes.

His house is glass with a mesh top - we are getting a new wooden viv for him at the weekend.

Does anyone have any advice? We love Charlie very much and are so worried about him.

Thanks


NB - I tried to add a recent picture of Charlie but not sure if it will work (my first post!)

 

[blackbetty]

I am NOT an expert.. My only thought would be that he is scared of the glass reflection that is his home. Hopefully the wood viv will calm him and correct this issue.. But then again, I am not an expert and havent dealt with a glass container or its consequences.

 

[honeywoods]

I think you have a point blackbetty. We already put some plastic green mesh on the glass to try and reduce any stress. He's been trying to claw through the glass where the mesh peels up a bit.

He just ate a cricket

 

[blackbetty]

I hope its something as simple and fixable as that. Glass is highly stressful to a cham as their reflection gives the impression of another cham in their territory. Hopefully you can get the new viv and things will be fine. Best Wishes, Amanda

 

[Chase]

I agree with Blackbetty, in the picture he looks pissed because he's seen another chameleon (himself). His colors for a 4 month old is amazing though!

 

[BocaJan]

Great looking cham. I love his colors.

 

[Rocky]

how big is your glass cage? maybe he is going down there because the basking lamp is heating it up to much?

also, do you have any other animals that he may be able to see? My veiled doesn't really care about anything in the area of him, but I have heard of chameleons hiding when a cat/dog is in the same room or it could even be due to another reptile that he sees as a predator or something that could harm him.

I'm not sure on the size you are getting, but I would try to get something 120cm tall and about 60cm wide/deep. This should be a good size for him to grow in and if you get enough plants(Schleffera/Ficus/Hibiscus/Pothos) you should be able to make it where he feels a little safer.

Nice chameleon and good luck with him

Also, read the link in BocaJans signature, it will have a lot of helpful information on raising veiled chameleons. It was probably the best thing I read when I got mine.

 

[honeywoods]

Thanks to everyone for your kind words of advice and encouragement - you really are a very helpful bunch! I think we have found a great forum that will very quickly become an obsession............

Charlie went south again this morning but seems fine tonight (he's been hanging out on a very big ficus that he is particularly fond of). He’s still not eating very much despite the fact we’ve tried to vary his staples a bit – but I guess if he’s a little stressed he’s not going to have a great appetite.

His current house is 45 x 45 x 60cm and his new house will be 140 high, 60 wide and 45cm deep, in wood with mesh front.
We don’t have any other pets Rocky (other than the fish, newts and water frogs!!!) It could of course be me freaking him out with my scary morning hair.

We’ll have a read of bocajan’s blogspot tonight.

Thanks again everyone – we will let you know how he’s getting on.

 

[blackbetty]

Ha..I think I just figured out what Leos deal is..My blue hair! Haha...

Anything else change int he environment? Is he in an active place in the home? Leo is in our sunroom which this computer is in off the kitchen..it is active but we haven't a choice right now. I just chaged his cage around to HIDE some vines int he plant since SUmmoner keeps hounding me about it (winkwink) and he is all puffed up now..Go figure.. You are getting the new setup this weekend? Did you add anything new to the tank since you noticed the behavior?


PS< Obsession is an understatement.

 

[honeywoods]

LOL – poor Leo....

Nothing has changed other than he is out for longer periods in the evenings. He is in his house all day then we get home from work and get him out immediately. He used to keep heading straight back to his house so we would let him go back eventually. Recently, since he’s got a little bigger, whenever he’s out he heads for the big ficus instead of his house.; as soon as we open his doors he’s jumping onto our hands and is on the move. He’s also taken to climbing the wrought iron fencing on the stairs.

The reptile shop we bought him from suggested he may just be a bit tired from the increased activity but I’m more inclined to think he needs a different house – we know now that glass is defiantly not the best thing for him.

His new wooden house might be here by Thursday so we are hoping that will put a stop to his new early morning routine.
We haven’t got a sun room – (this might sound incredibly stupid, but is a sun house similar to a conservatory?)

 

[honeywoods]

Charlie's new house - stilll problems with eating

Hi everyone, we thought we'd update you on Charlie's progress and show you his new house.

Charlie was in a glass enclosure. About 10 days ago he started heading to the bottom of his tank in the mornings. He stays there for a few hours looking hacked off; his colours go very dark. We got some good advice on here and a result have changed his house. He now has a wooden enclosure with plastic greenhouse shading mesh on the front. Dimensions are 115cm tall by 56cm wide by 43 deep (internal measurement) with an extra bit on top for the lighting.

There a few things we would like advise / commentary on from those with experience.

Charlie is still going south in the mornings - he came back to his basking spot at 12.30pm today. (Lights come on at 9am) He's not eating much – 2 worms only today and he turns his head away when crickets are presented. He is drinking a lot now but up until recently we think he might have been dehydrated as his poop was a little yellow and it took him 10 days to finish his last shed completely. (Previous shed took two days.)
Today I noticed after his poop, he excreted more clear jelly like stuff with a small trace of blood in the bubble of liquid. Also we have noticed a few white dotty marks on his side and are concerned about parasites? (We’ve added some pics)
The other issue is that of lighting. Firstly we’ve realised the coil uvb and uva 22w (each) reptiglow 5 and 10 are not ideal so we’ve gone out and bought a 5.0 linear bulb 20w T8 (30% uva, 5% uvb). Is this adequate or should be looking for a 10?
His basking temperature was too low (80ish) so we’ve just upgraded to 100w spot bulb so basking temperature is 92f – ambient high level temperature is 80f – mid to low range is 70 -75f. Our question is should we install an additional heat lamp say, 25w, to come on half an hour after the fluorescent light in the morning and an hour later to go off in favour of the 100w basking bulb? (Then vice versa in the evening.) Or are we going over the top!! We thought this might be better to create a proper temperature gradient during the day.
Also, should we be looking to raise the basking lamp that currently sits on the mesh? I found Charlie hanging upside down from the mesh earlier and I don’t want him to burn (especially as the bulb is now 100w), but on the other hand don’t want to reduce the temperature again.
Sorry this is such a long one......we just want to make sure we are doing right by him.
Don’t worry about offending us....constructive criticism welcomed!!!!!!!!

 

[panthercrazy]

Charlie's new enclosure is a step up for sure from the glass.

Did you water treat/proof the wood? I ask this as it looks to be particle wood (compressed) which will not hold up to humidity and water for long.

I am no expert on the parasites, but from your last pictures I see white spots (some to me looks like his coloring) and then smaller ones that in the picture appear to be pieces of shed that didn't come off? I am not sure if I am looking at the white spots you are concerned about. You will receive other comments for sure

As for confirming parasites you need to have a fecal done by your vet.

 

[honeywoods]

Hi there

We didn't treat the wood - its foil wrapped laminate (hubby sells kitchens!)

We had thought about it not standing up to the humidity and water but to be honest, we will want to replace this house with something all mesh within 6-8 months if we can.

Will try to post enlarged pic of his spots.

Cheers

 

[honeywoods]

He's still not eating. I'm so worried becasue I know how fast they can go downhill.

Is there anyting I can give him that will increase his appetite? I can't bear this

 

[panthercrazy]

Firstly if there is something going on inside(parasites etc), he needs a vet asap.

As for appetite, I've had some of mine not eat what I offered that feeding, but I always attempt something else as well. If that doesn't work I will try to cup feed seems some days its almost a lazy factor maybe?? Another trick sometimes is to offer smaller size food from the normal. And I have one that will not eat if I watch.

There are products out there that are suppose to stimulate appetite given either by drops in water (a little hard for the chams I would think to do this way) or by mouth. I haven't much experience with this but maybe others that have will comment.

Is he still drinking? When is the last time he ate (sorry I cannot re look at your post while typing and cannot remember if I read that)?

 

[Dunnigan]

I had a problem with my young female veiled not eating/drinking/moving, I used this herbal supplement, reptaid, which i bought from chameleonsnorthwest.com.

I had to use a needle less syringe to give it to her (put a few drops in her mouth) and after 2 days she was eating and after 10 days she was up to about 100%.

I would defiantly recommend a trip to the vet if you think parasites are an issue, that way you can get the problem cleared up.

 

[honeywoods]

I had a problem with my young female veiled not eating/drinking/moving, I used this herbal supplement, reptaid, which i bought from chameleonsnorthwest.com.

I had to use a needle less syringe to give it to her (put a few drops in her mouth) and after 2 days she was eating and after 10 days she was up to about 100%.

I would defiantly recommend a trip to the vet if you think parasites are an issue, that way you can get the problem cleared up.

He is drinking quite a lot, just not eating. After blowing up the picture of Charlie's side, it looks like little bits of skin that didn't come off in his last shed, so I'm overly worried about parasites any longer.

I'll try to get hold of some reptaid and see if I can book a vet appointment to get him checked out.

Thanks for your response

 

[honeywoods]

Firstly if there is something going on inside(parasites etc), he needs a vet asap.

As for appetite, I've had some of mine not eat what I offered that feeding, but I always attempt something else as well. If that doesn't work I will try to cup feed seems some days its almost a lazy factor maybe?? Another trick sometimes is to offer smaller size food from the normal. And I have one that will not eat if I watch.

There are products out there that are suppose to stimulate appetite given either by drops in water (a little hard for the chams I would think to do this way) or by mouth. I haven't much experience with this but maybe others that have will comment.

Is he still drinking? When is the last time he ate (sorry I cannot re look at your post while typing and cannot remember if I read that)?

Hey

He's eaten two silk worms today and drunk lots of water. Yesterday he ate two silk worms and one cricket. Day before it was about the same, and in the week running upto this he's only eating the odd cricket or worm. He seems slower and a bit weaker than normal though there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his eyes.

I'm in the process of trying to find a vet that is used to dealing with Chams.

Thanks

 

[panthercrazy]

Hey

He's eaten two silk worms today and drunk lots of water. Yesterday he ate two silk worms and one cricket. Day before it was about the same, and in the week running upto this he's only eating the odd cricket or worm. He seems slower and a bit weaker than normal though there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his eyes.

I'm in the process of trying to find a vet that is used to dealing with Chams.

Thanks

That's good to hear he is drinking and sounds like he is eating some more than a week or so ago so hopefully things are on the right track to getting better

I'm glad to hear that the spots you talked about were infact pieces of skin that didn't come off during last shed. If you are no longer concerned about parasites that is good as well, but never hurts to check.

 

[honeywoods]

That's good to hear he is drinking and sounds like he is eating some more than a week or so ago so hopefully things are on the right track to getting better

I'm glad to hear that the spots you talked about were infact pieces of skin that didn't come off during last shed. If you are no longer concerned about parasites that is good as well, but never hurts to check.

I don't know for definite if they are bits of skin - I've added the blown up pic to see what you all think. He's booked into the vet first thing in the morning so I'm hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that the visit will be positive. I'd be heartbroken if anything happened to my little man