Dehydrated baby chameleon

Bud123

New Member
Alright basically I noticed my chameleon seemed dehydrated so I took her to the pet store and one of the workers like soaked her in magnetic water and he helped me change up her cage and i'm just curious what I should keep doing now ... Like watering wise and what not. And fyi shes about 4 weeks old
 
Wow, that's really young for her to be in someone's care besides the breeders. Can you give us some info? Such as cage set up, misting schedule, etc. Oh, type of Chameleon would help too!
 
Yeah they gave me her way to young.. Her cage has a heat lamp in the back but I changed it cause the guy who worked at the store said the old one was to hot so I bought ceramic one and she has a waterfall now and she has some brush to go around in some I dunno what its called like branches and he put some bark on the back and the crickets are in a little bowl and shes a veiled.
 
I'm also concerned with her eating since I dont ever see her eat anymore. I havent noticed her eat in about 2 days so yeah just curious about how I can get her to eat again.
 
It's very unusual for a baby that age not to eat. They'll usually devour everything in sight.

What size are the crickets you are feeding her? And are you gutloading them?

You haven't mentioned UV lights? Do you have adequate UV lights set up in the enclosure?

Do you have any photos of the cham or your setup?
 
I can take some pictures and I give her pinheads and feed them carrots but this is now see the reptile store I bought her from kept giving me way bigger crickets cause there tools. I can take pictures today also.
 
Petstore people often are not knowledgeable. You have a very young, and often hard to keep alive baby chameleon. You do not get tons of chances to do this right, so you do not have much time. First, get rid of the waterfall. Take it back and get your money. They are bacteria nightmares. All you need for water at this point is a spray bottle. You need a small enough container to keep him in so that he can find his food. A screen cage preferably, but even a larger critter keeper would work at this age. You must have a thermometer-digital with a probe works best-to check temperatures. It is easy to "cook" baby chameleons as they will not get out of the heat. You MUST have a UVB source-generally in the form of a flourescent tube bulb-most people recommend Zoomed 5.0. Then you will need a very low wattage basking bulb-something like a clamp lamp and a 40 watt household lightbulb will work-something that keeps an area of the cage around 85 degrees so he can bask and digest his food. No substrate. I keep the bottom of cages bare, or you can use papertowels. Gutload with a variety of things, collards, dark green lettuce, etc. Get a good calcium-like Repcal phosphorous free and lightly dust crickets before you feed. Let me tell you-this is NOT an easy animal to keep. Here is a pic of one of my setups...note-I added many more plants after taking this picture.
LeonCage040807.jpg
 
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I'm pretty sure my lighting is fine just got a new uv yesterday and bought one of those ceramic bulbs that just produce heat I just need to know if I should do anything different in giving her water or gettingnher to eat since she does seem kinda weak.. When i give her water I give her a few little squirts and just spray the rest down and her crickets are in a little bowl that she can get to easily... is there anything more I should do?
 
The first UVB bulb that I had gotten from a petstore was so completely wrong. And...my first chameleon-a one month old veiled-lasted 5 days. Mist for 5 minutes-sometimes it takes that long for them to realize it to drink. I have never gotten any of my chams to eat out of a bowl. Try semi-disabling a cricket and put it in front of her. She sounds like she is dehydrated. What is a ceramic bulb?
 
It only produces heat and I did have a uv before this and the one I have now is new cause the guy at the pet store said what they gave me had to many watts
 
Wow-I have never heard of anyone here using that ceramic heat thing on chameleons. Many use standard household bulbs in a clamp lamp. UVB-and the B part is crucial here-do not last more than 6 months-so if you do not know if it is UVB or do not know how old it is you are best to get a new one. Also-no heat at night. These little chams are too easy to dehydrate. Did you remove the fountain and substrate? Did he eat today?
 
Yeah its uvb and I haven't taken out the waterfall yet and I'm pretty sure she ate today cause there were less crickets in the bowl.
 
I hope she does well for you. She may not recognize the ceramic thing as heat to bask in. When my guy did not eat for a few days the breeder said to try increasing temps, and it worked. Make sure you have a good thermometer.
 
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