Concerned. Please help...

[MichelleNFrankie]

So the other day I asked about my veiled holding his mouth open, I thought it was because he was hot because it was hotter that day so I cooled his room off and took him out of his cage and moved him to his tree (his free range spot in the sunroom, same room as his cage), and he was fine after that but since then he holds his mouth open on and off, he never keeps it open longer than a minute at a time, usually just seconds but he does it multiple times a day on and off, it's no longer to hot for him, I adjusted his temps, 80 in his basking spot isn't to hot is it? It's 70 at the lowest point in his cage. I haven't noticed anything else different, I give him his liquid calcium daily so I know what the inside of his mouth looks like, to me it looks normal. I haven't heard any popping noises. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not, is this normal? I'm so concerned and worried so anyone with any info please help me. I will take him to the vet if needed but his last vet give him medicine for worms as a just in case and I know how bad it is on their liver, I'm afraid she'll do the same again. Any advice would be great. If it is the start of a RI is there any way around not giving him medicine? Also can I use a humidifier in his sunroom? Would it help him?

 

[Leslie11]

gaping

Mine sometimes gapes when she wants more humidity.

 

[Decadancin]

What is the humidity level in his enclosure? How often are you misting and how long?

Can you post a picture of him? (Doesn't matter if the mouth is open or not )

Also, why is he getting liquid calcium every day?

Oh yes, I remember now. How long is he going to need that?

 

[junglefries]

The males like it 5-10°f hotter than females when adults. That said, I would stay cautious at 5°f. So, if adult you are looking at a top temp of of about 95°f. Some will say 95-100°f. I ran into overheating very easily at those temps, even with a full grown adult. I used a 25w household bulb to get 90°f temp in a back corner off to one side. The uvb stretched across the middle of the cage. Leaving the rest of the cage top exposed to breathe. This produced a 90-91°f basking with an 85°f spot across the way. Two different temps at the same distance from the uvb. At the cage middle to bottom the temp got down to 78°f. Night temp of 74°f, or so. If he is a hatchling or subadult, you may want to bring the temps down a tad, to say 85°f for subadult and 80°f for hatchling of 4 months.

 

[crazychamzoo]

Junglefries has great advice, the only thing I would add is overheating at mid 90's from what we have experience would be one of two things, inadequate air flow, or the basking light being to close to the basking spot to produce that temp. Veiled chameleons can handle basking temps up to 100 very comfortably without overheating. We keep our basking temps in the low mid 90's for our Veiled's as well as our panthers, with a usual average of low to mid 60's on the humidity with our Veiled's. Something else to watch out fir with gaping is URI, typically it's associated with wheezing or gasping for air and excess mucus, but not always. The best advice would be a simple check up with a herp vet, these guys tend to hide sickness pretty well.

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

What is the humidity level in his enclosure? How often are you misting and how long?

Can you post a picture of him? (Doesn't matter if the mouth is open or not )

Also, why is he getting liquid calcium every day?

Oh yes, I remember now. How long is he going to need that?

His humidity stays around 50 but I do have it in the back at the bottom, he stays at the top, I use a pressure sprayer and spray about 2 minutes at a time, 4 times a day, and a homemade dripper, live plants, I am getting a automatic mister soon if anyone has suggestions.

I'll post a pic soon and he has mbd I purchased him from petsmart with it so I give him liquid calcium. He's on it for 2 months but I kinda wanted to continue giving it to him like that until he's an adult because the powder falls off, just want to assure he gets what he needs.

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

The males like it 5-10°f hotter than females when adults. That said, I would stay cautious at 5°f. So, if adult you are looking at a top temp of of about 95°f. Some will say 95-100°f. I ran into overheating very easily at those temps, even with a full grown adult. I used a 25w household bulb to get 90°f temp in a back corner off to one side. The uvb stretched across the middle of the cage. Leaving the rest of the cage top exposed to breathe. This produced a 90-91°f basking with an 85°f spot across the way. Two different temps at the same distance from the uvb. At the cage middle to bottom the temp got down to 78°f. Night temp of 74°f, or so. If he is a hatchling or subadult, you may want to bring the temps down a tad, to say 85°f for subadult and 80°f for hatchling of 4 months.

Ok yea he's only 3 - 4 months old so I think that's a little to hot, I may try to bring his basking light up a bit because he can get like 2 inches from it. Thanks for ur help.

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

Junglefries has great advice, the only thing I would add is overheating at mid 90's from what we have experience would be one of two things, inadequate air flow, or the basking light being to close to the basking spot to produce that temp. Veiled chameleons can handle basking temps up to 100 very comfortably without overheating. We keep our basking temps in the low mid 90's for our Veiled's as well as our panthers, with a usual average of low to mid 60's on the humidity with our Veiled's. Something else to watch out fir with gaping is URI, typically it's associated with wheezing or gasping for air and excess mucus, but not always. The best advice would be a simple check up with a herp vet, these guys tend to hide sickness pretty well.

Great I'll look into all of that and see what happen. Thanks for ur help.

 

[junglefries]

All my cages are completely screened and opened. All ceiling fans, two giant Holmes Air Purifiers, and two floor stand fans all running 24 hours a day. The outdoor temps of 90+ and 90+ indoor basking occasionally is where I caught someone maybe starting to show a sign of overheating. Being as fragile as chams can be, I just don't like to take any chances if I don't have to. Not to mention, the loft area has the tall cathedral open ceilings for even more air to flow. Just not worth the risk. Yemen and Saudia Arabia has such fluctuating temps that I figure a little in the middle is better than one extreme.

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

All my cages are completely screened and opened. All ceiling fans, two giant Holmes Air Purifiers, and two floor stand fans all running 24 hours a day. The outdoor temps of 90+ and 90+ indoor basking occasionally is where I caught someone maybe starting to show a sign of overheating. Being as fragile as chams can be, I just don't like to take any chances if I don't have to. Not to mention, the loft area has the tall cathedral open ceilings for even more air to flow. Just not worth the risk. Yemen and Saudia Arabia has such fluctuating temps that I figure a little in the middle is better than one extreme.

I have a ceiling fan and a floor fan but I thought he wasn't suppose to have any kind of air flow, if I can use the fan that would probably help out a lot, thanks for letting me know. Thanks again for your help, I think I'll adjust his basking spot and turn on the ceiling fan to see how he does with that. When I take him out of his cage and put him in his free range he never gapes, I guess because there's much more air flow so I think he is too hot but I can't let him free range when I'm not here because he likes to escape I've found him on the floor just walking around a couple times, he likes to explore he's not scared of anything, he rarely gets stressed, not even with my dogs. But I love the little guy so much, he makes me laugh so much with his personality.

 

[junglefries]

just make sure it doesn't directly blow on him. try to make sure the air is sucked out of his cage. I create a vortex of sort. Make sense?

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

just make sure it doesn't directly blow on him. try to make sure the air is sucked out of his cage. I create a vortex of sort. Make sense?

Hmmm, well I won't be able to use the ceiling fan then, it would definitely blow on him but I can use floor fans, where exactly do u put ur fans? Should I put the back of the fan facing him. The room he is in right now is quite small, it's kinda like a built on sunroom, I have him in there because the rest of my house is to cold for him right now but in the winter time he'll be moved to our another spot in the house because the sunroom in the winter time is to cold. Thanks a lot for all your help.