dehydration remedies

amht215

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Female, assuming about 1 year old. Has been in my care for 2 weeks, since 2/15/15
Handling - Has been handled 2 or 3 times in the last 2 weeks. once the first day to put her in the terrarium, once out of curiosity a week later, and once yesterday to replace the paper towels on the bottom and rearrange
Feeding - 8 to 10 adult crickets every other day Gutloaded with apple, romaine lettuce, fluker's dry diet and thirst quencher
Supplements - Zoomed calcium without d3 at each feeding. Used Repti-cal multivitamin and Zoomed calcium with d3 once the first week
Watering - chameleon cantina fountain which i've seen her drink from. hand mist with warm water twice a day for 3-5 mins. have only seen her drink in front of me twice
Fecal Description - pooped twice since i've had her, once two days after i got her and then another a couple days later. nothing since then. the fecal matter was formed but the urate was small and yellow which told me she was dehydrated. started misting longer and the urate was slightly whiter and larger but still not perfect the second time around.
History - purchased from petsmart, had been there for 7 months, they said they're usually are about 6 months when they come in so she's probably around a year old now. they thought she was pregnant so i think she might need a laying bin, but they also said they noticed a couple months ago (maybe she's just fat from eating 10 adult crickets a day?)

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 18" x 18" x 24" exo-terra terrarium with ventilated bottom and screen top
Lighting - 50w basking spot light, 5.0 linear repti-sun uvb. lights go on at 8am and off at 8pm
Temperature - ranges from 70-85 degrees. overnight temp doesn't drop below 60 degrees. Combination thermometer/hygrometer
Humidity - humidity is 30-50% before misting and 50-80% after
Plants - live golden pothos and umbrella plant
Placement - in the rarely entered library with a vent across the room in the floor. the top of the terrarium reaches about 4ft with the stand at the moment
Location - Pennsylvania, USA

Current Problem - she is obviously dehydrated, small yellow urates and slightly sunken eyes. she hates when i spray the tank, but seems to calm down if i spray warm water into the air and let it land on her which is how i've been getting her to drink until i can purchase a mister system. also planning on making a DIY dripper but was worried about drainage. (i read a plastic catcher inside covered with a screen would catch the runoff and prevent flooding or drowning) i chose a terrarium because the humidity levels in my house drop to 20% and we do have cold winters which we're in now. she's been eating a lot of the pothos which worries me because i've read that it blocks calcium absorption. i can only assume she's getting moisture from the plants which is why there're so many chomp marks. do i need to remove these and find another alternative? (maybe just another umbrella plant?) i will be purchasing hornworms over the internet as i read they are juicy and help rehydrate, but not to feed more than 3 a week.

What feeders can I use as a staple besides crickets?
I've read fluker's dry diet is bad, does adding fresh fruits and vegetables to gutloading add to the nutritional value or should I stop using Fluker's?
What misting system is best? Amazon only carries Monsoon and Habbamist
Is putting a hanging plant in the shower like I've read in some threads advisable since her eyes are starting to sink in or is it too stressful?
Is there a laying bin structure that will fit comfortably in a 2ft terrarium?

Sorry about the chaotic arrangement, I'm just trying to figure out all the questions I have. I researched for 2 weeks before I actually purchased her and now I don't feel like it was enough! Any and all help is appreciated, sorry if there're already threads regarding some of the questions I asked, feel free to link to relevant posts!
 
Hi there. Yellow urates are not horrible, orange is worse. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to fully adjust and get into a routine. You said you have the cantina and mist and she drinks from that. That is great! The drippers are good also, but drainage in a terrarium can be tricky. You can try dripping water directly on her nose if there is a way to do it. Some people take a spray bottle and spray in their mouths. Just at the tip of their mouth and not down their throat. Others give water through a syringe and are very successful with that. If she is not comfortable with you handling her then, all these I mentioned can be a problem. My cages have screen tops so what I do is go to the branch they are sitting on and I start dripping the water right in front of them. It usually catches their eye and then I move the dripper right over their nose. It may take a minute or so. for them to start drinking. I never heard that about the pothos blocking calcium absorption. Have heard that about spinach, broccoli and Kale. I use Kale for gutload but switch it up with other greens. A lot of people use Dubia Roaches in place of crickets. I cannot stand the sight of them. I hate crickets too, but I find they are the lesser of the two evils for me! Silkworms are a great feeder and are high in calcium and low in fat. Most of the worms are fatty so these are the best to use imo. What I use is a thing called Bug Burger by Repashy for my dry gutload and then add the fruits and veggies to that. Yes, it adds nutritional value for sure. Remember the phrase, we are what we eat? It is just moving it down the food chain. What your bugs eat, eventually make its way into your chameleon. For hydration, instead of using those cubes, I use oranges. Yes, you can put a plant in the shower for additional hydration method. If you see her drinking though, the sunken eyes do not always mean she is dehydrated. Sometimes it is just a sign of illness and in worse cases when the chameleon is going downhill their eyes will sink. Not saying that is the case here, but everyone always jumps to that conclusion. As far as the laying bin, the suggested size is 12 X 12 X 12, so maybe a plastic tote or some other type of container in that size range. It would be helpful to post a picture of her if you could just so we can check her out.
 
thank you for your reply! i will have to get to a computer to post a picture because it won't work from my phone.

i made a dripper this morning and found feces when i came home. the urate was over twice the size of the original urates, half yellow and half white so i guess she is drinking.

what other ailments are sunken eyes a symptom of?

thank you, again, for your help!
 
that's what i read! the hornworms i ordered should be here within the next couple of days. i also ordered a hand-pump continuous mister, some more climbing vines and some more fakes plants to cover the glass sides and give her more privacy. the dripper seems to be working, i just need to makeshift a catcher for the excess water.

i plan on ordering some silkworms at some point, too.

here she is, her name is carmen after a vote.

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here she is yesterday getting mad at me for taking pictures too long

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and here she is when i first brought her home 2 weeks ago

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I use a fogger and let that double as a dripper by keeping the end of the hose on top of the mesh top. The condensation builds up on the screen as the fog goes into the cage and that built up water drops onto the plants and branches in the cage. On top of this, I also spray mist her multiple times a day rather heavily and she stays well hydrated. As for making a homemade dripper, I have made several of those. The issue with leaking is fixable by using silicone to seal the tubing to the bottle. And to address your concern with what other feeders you can use besides crickets, I give mine calci-worms and black soldier flies - which are the last stage of the calci-worm life cycle - as well as crickets. They are a natural source of calcium. I still dust them to increase their nutritional value though, so don't use them as a replacement for calcium.
 
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