Daily pooper stopped - normal?

[Suzapalooza]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Neil. Veiled, male, approx 8 months old. We've had him about three months.
Handling - Daily, he's usually friendly and comes out on his own when we open the door. Up until last week when he started to shed and stopped wanting to come out of his enclosure.
Feeding - 6-10 gut loaded crickets daily - half AM/half PM. Use Cricket Drink and Fluker's Orange Cubes.
Supplements - We dust the crickets with ReptiCal w/d3 2-3x per week
Watering - We have a dripper bottle that falls onto his plants. He drinks from the leaves and also from a small, shallow lid we attached that catches the drips. He drinks quite readily. We mist 1-2x daily with a spray bottle.
Fecal Description - Prior to this week, droppings were "normal" size, color and consistency. Daily pooper.
History - Up until the past week, he's been fairly predictable.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screened enclosure, 16" x 16" x 29". Artificial limbs, vines, plants, newspaper in the bottom.
Lighting - 150W Zilla Day Blue bulb, night bulb (don't know wattage). The day bulb is usually a 75W, but we've run into a string of bad bulbs so the 150 is a temp fix until we can get a smaller bulb. He seems to be OK with it. About 12 hours of light, 12 dark.
Temperature - Temp in the cage runs around 85 - we have a small thermometer mounted at the back of the enclosure. Humidity is done by the mist bottle. (We also have a portable humidifier in use some nights)
Plants - Plastic/silk plants
Placement - Cage is on a desk across from the south and east windows, in the least drafty spot in the room. Sun comes in and moves across the cage during the day.
Location - Kansas City

Current Problem - Up until about a week ago, Neil was a daily pooper. Last Wednesday he began to shed (the second since we've had him) and he stopped pooping. He's eating and drinking (as far as we can tell), but has not pooped in a week. Is that normal? He has had one small clear excretion, but no formed poops.

Thank you for any guidance! This is my son's cham, a first for us (other than a batch of anoles several years ago).

And just as I type that he's stopped coming out of his cage, he came out today! The pic on my son's bare arm is from today. The other is from about 3 weeks ago for comparison.

 

[carol5208]

Hi there and welcome to the forums. The pooping is ok. They do not have to poop everyday. It may be every other or even every couple of days. There are some things in your set up that need changing though. You have had him for 3 months and he looks very healthy but a few things you are doing may lead to problems down the line. He really needs a more varied diet other than crickets. Dubia roaches, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, moths, etc should be added to his diet. The calcium you are using contains d3 and a pretty high concentration of it. You want to give that type of calcium twice a month and then get a plain calcium without d3 and use that daily. You also need to get a multivitamin like Reptivite and use that twice a month as well. What you are feeding your crickets is not good in nutrition. Remember what your feeders eat gets passed onto your chameleon. A variety of fresh fruits and veggies is best, and use real oranges for hydtration instead of the cubes. No light at night. Chameleons like the darkness and also benefit from a temp drop at night. The thing I am most concerned about is your day light. Is it a uvb? If not and just a heat bulb,.you need to change that asap. Chameleons must have uvb to thrive. Lastly, please upgrade his cage. That is far too small for a chameleon that size. He should be in a 24 X 24 X 48 or larger

 

[Suzapalooza]

Thanks, carol5208. Appreciate the advice.

Regarding the night light, it's actually a 50W night black heat light, so he's in the dark at night . The day light is full spectrum UVA - we'll be replacing it with a UVB bulb shortly. The enclosure is slated for upgrade soon, too. He's grown quite a bit since we brought him home (at least an inch in length alone).

 

[carol5208]

Oh gosh, I am so glad you found us! Not giving your chameleon uvb would have dyer consequences over time. They can get a condition called metabolic bone disease and it is horrible. By giving so much d3 you probably compensated for the d3 they get from the uvb, but that overtime can cause problems being an artificial supplement. D3 is required for them to aid in the absorption of calcium. As far as the heat light at night, really you should turn it off. It serves no purpose and unless your house is getting below 50 degrees at night you do not need it. You can keep the uva light for basking.He needs both. Put that in a dome fixture(if it is not in one already). Most of us use the tube style uvb's as they cover more area and also light up the cage nicely. With a cage that small, be very careful that when your chameleon basks under the uva, he is about 8 inches down below the light. They can burn very easily, especially the Veilds with their tall casques. And keep in mind they do not have to touch the hot screen to get burned. They can burn, just by sitting under the light for long periods of time and more so if they are too close to it. I am glad you are upgrading the cage. You have done a good job with him so far and he looks great. They can be tricky little creatures to keep things in balance with, and often times diseases and illnesses don't always manifest over a few short months.

 

[Suzapalooza]

Update: he's very shaky

Update: he's now just laying on his branch. Has been for two days He's had a drink or two of water from the dripper, but no eating. And no pooping. The way he's laying on the branch seems odd, too, like he's weak. And when he moves, like to turn around, he's very shaky, almost losing his balance.

We made a vet appointment for him for tomorrow, but I have no idea how we're going to get him out of his cage. He simply won't come out. Is there a way to coax them off a branch without freaking them out completely?

Help!

 

[urawrath]

try using the stick method possibly. move a stick under his body and get him to set onto it, you may have to lightly press it against him to get him to move onto it but should work to get him out of the cage. Do you have a carry case of tub to place him in on the way to the vet? make sure it is nicely padded incase he falls. good luck with him!