Dehydration Question

[Seraphim]

My panther chameleon has been suffering dehydration. He also has some kidney problem for which he is being medicated. The Dr suggested we give him pedialyte 5 ml's per day. How long does it typically take for a chameleon to rehydrate?
He will sit with his eyes, semi closed but when he wants to he will open them up. I still feel they arre slightly sunken in, although last urate looked very white.

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Can you post a picture? A good shot of his head and then whole body?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Sora777]

This is Seraphim's fiance, I will post pics when I get home tonight.

 

[Seraphim]

As you can see, I'm not winning any photography awards. I hope this helps

 

[CHAMpion]

Wow I really wish I knew more about the problem to help he's amazing

 

[Seraphim]

For the past few weeks we've had trouble with him. He sleeps almost all day. We took him to the vet and he took blood and said there is a kidney issue and to try treatment for 2 weeks. We have been giving him allopurional and alum hydr for a few days and pedialyte. We are still having to put the worms in his mouth to get him to eat

 

[Seraphim]

Any ideas?

 

[kinyonga]

Serafim, what supplements have/do you use? What do you feed to any insects that you feed to the chameleon?

 

[Vince]

This may be stupid question but what kind of lights are you using? Compact UVB can cause eye problems, as well as a lethargic chameleon.

 

[Chamero]

Not a stupid question...doesn't really look like dehydration but could be wrong. Whats wrong with his kidney?

 

[PITBULL]

along with the lighting question, how close is he to the basking light? My female translucent used to sleep during the day but stopped after making adjustments to the distance between the cham and the basking light. Hope he gets better.

 

[kenya]

Has he always had hydration issues? Being dehydrated for long periods of time really takes a toll on a cham's kidneys, so I think the problems are interlinked.

I second the notion that this could be the work of an improper UVB bulb. The compact coil style ones are very dangerous and if you are using one, you should switch to the long fluorescent tube style as soon as possible.

As far as how long it will take for him to rehydrate, if you keep on it, it should only take a couple of days. Feeding him silkworms and hornworms will help a lot.

 

[Seraphim]

Serafim, what supplements have/do you use? What do you feed to any insects that you feed to the chameleon?

We use a regular repti calcium without d3. Repcal with d3 and reptivite without d3. As far as gutloading I use a fluckers orange substance to feed crickets.

This may be stupid question but what kind of lights are you using? Compact UVB can cause eye problems, as well as a lethargic chameleon.

As for light i use a 75 watt florescent bulb and 24 reptisun uvb bulb. He is about 5 inches away from both bulbs.

 

[blackbetty]

Bulb.. do you mean like a spiral screw in bulb?

 

[Seraphim]

yes a regular incandesant 75W bulb

 

[kinyonga]

Is the UVB a compact or long linear tube light?

 

[Vince]

If it is a light like this, i think we found your cause for the problem.

 

[blackbetty]

Thats what I was asking, the UVB, is it the screw in kind or the long tube kind?

 

[Seraphim]

the UVB is a long 24 inch tube.

The 75W is a incandescent bulb

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

I hope your cham starts to feel better he's beautiful! What kind of worms are you force feeding him?