Dehydration

[laurenx]

Hi there, I'm new to chameleon forums.
I own a baby veiled chameleon, latley he has NOT been himself... very lethargic, hasn't been eating or drinking, sunken eyes that will not open.

After some research I believe he is dehydrated. What can I do to help my baby become healthy again?!
Is there any way I can make him eat? Should I take him in the shower? Please help!

 

[ReptileLove18]

you can place one of his plants in the shower with him on it, point the shower head towards the wall so that the lukewarm water hits the wall and then the fine spray hits the plant. let him sit in there, supervising the whole time for 10 to 15 minutes. hopefully this will stimulate him to drink. make sure the water is not hot at all, lukewarm is perfect!! after this put him back into his enclosure and see how he is doing. you can also angle his dripper tube so that it drips on his nose, the drops will slide down his nose and this oftentimes stimulates them to drink.
getting him to drink is the first priority, then eat because sunken eyes do show deyhdration. what does his poop/urate look like? how long has it been since he ate and drank?

supervise carefully while he is in the shower! while it is rare, there has been cases where they have drowned..

 

[Kate]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/


Sorry your little one is not eating or drinking. Could you copy, paste and fill in the form, link above and hopefully we can help you.

 

[laurenx]

My Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon. Male. Around 11 months old, I have had him for 9 months.
Handling - I have only handled him about five times, I heard they didn't like to be held by humans because it stresses them out.
Feeding - I used to feed him meal worms and small crickets.
I have recentley change his feeding habits, people from this website informed me I was doing it wrong. I now know that meal worms are a snack & he needs staple bugs. I bought him crickets and silk worms however he has not been eating anything.
Suppliments - Calcium powder.
People from this website informed me that he also needs calcium powder with d3 & multivitamins. I bought him both, but he is not eating.
Watering - I mist his cage with a spray bottle four times a day. He likes to drink the water dropplets off the top.
Fecal Description - His droppings are usually liquid white with black in the middle. He has never been tested for parasites.
However, I have not seen any waste in his cage this past week.
History - He has been VERY healthy up until now. I just changed his bulb from 50 watt to 75, could that be the problem? The 50 watt was keeping his cage around 80. I did not think that was hot enough.


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass. 20 wide x 12 tall x 12 deep.
I am buying him a larger cage. But I don't want to switch him to the new one until he feels better for fear of stressing him out more.
Lighting - He has two lights. One is a long uvb bulb, and the other is a 75 watt heating bulb, I believe they are made by exo-terra. I turn on his lights when I wake up around 8, and turn them off at bed around 11.
People have informed me that I should put them on a timer, around the time the sun rises and when the sun sets. I am planning on doing this once I get home from work. I just replaced his uvb bulb.
Temperature - I have a thermometer by his basking spot which is usually 85 during the day and 75 durring the night.
Humidity - I have a humidity thermometer which usually reads 20-40, after sparying it might get up to 50-80%.
Plants - Many plants & sticks for him to climb on. No live plants.
Placement - In a quite corner in my room. The top of the cage is probably around 4 feet high.
Location - Michigan.

Current Problem: I own a baby veiled chameleon. Latley he has been very lethargic, has not been eating or drinking, and he has sunken eyes that will not open. I'm getting VERY worried. He is usually very strong and climbing all over the place. When I first noticed this problem I cleaned everything in his cage, put a humindifier near his cage, and gave him a shower.

After some research I believe he is dehydrated. What can I do to help my baby become healthy again?!
Is there any way I can make him eat? Should I take him in the shower? Please help!!

 

[laurenx]

Please help

 

[AngieL]

Hi there! Sunken eyes can be a sign of dehydration but not usually closed eyes. Sunken eyes can be a lot of things and chameleons suffering from a variation of illness can have those symptoms. I would take him to a good chameleon vet ASAP. He could have an eye infection, parasites, organ troubles, anything, only an examination by a good vet will tell you for sure. I think if it was dehydration that your treatments would have shown you an improvement.

One thing that sticks out to me is that you are giving him too many daylight hours. If you turn the lights on at 8am then they should go off at 8pm to give him 12 hours sleep. And I would say that 11 months us more of a sub adult age than a baby

Just read that you've changed the UVB. What % is it? Often a too strong UVB bulb will cause eye issues.

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a photo.

 

[Carlton]

Feeding - I used to feed him meal worms and small crickets.
I have recentley change his feeding habits, people from this website informed me I was doing it wrong. I now know that meal worms are a snack & he needs staple bugs. I bought him crickets and silk worms however he has not been eating anything.
Suppliments - Calcium powder.
People from this website informed me that he also needs calcium powder with d3 & multivitamins. I bought him both, but he is not eating.
Watering - I mist his cage with a spray bottle four times a day. He likes to drink the water dropplets off the top.
Fecal Description - His droppings are usually liquid white with black in the middle. He has never been tested for parasites.
However, I have not seen any waste in his cage this past week.
History - He has been VERY healthy up until now. I just changed his bulb from 50 watt to 75, could that be the problem? The 50 watt was keeping his cage around 80. I did not think that was hot enough.


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass. 20 wide x 12 tall x 12 deep.
I am buying him a larger cage. But I don't want to switch him to the new one until he feels better for fear of stressing him out more.
Lighting - He has two lights. One is a long uvb bulb, and the other is a 75 watt heating bulb, I believe they are made by exo-terra. I turn on his lights when I wake up around 8, and turn them off at bed around 11.
People have informed me that I should put them on a timer, around the time the sun rises and when the sun sets. I am planning on doing this once I get home from work. I just replaced his uvb bulb.
Temperature - I have a thermometer by his basking spot which is usually 85 during the day and 75 durring the night.
Humidity - I have a humidity thermometer which usually reads 20-40, after sparying it might get up to 50-80%.
Plants - Many plants & sticks for him to climb on. No live plants.
Placement - In a quite corner in my room. The top of the cage is probably around 4 feet high.
Location - Michigan.

Current Problem: I own a baby veiled chameleon. Latley he has been very lethargic, has not been eating or drinking, and he has sunken eyes that will not open. I'm getting VERY worried. He is usually very strong and climbing all over the place. When I first noticed this problem I cleaned everything in his cage, put a humindifier near his cage, and gave him a shower.

After some research I believe he is dehydrated. What can I do to help my baby become healthy again?!
Is there any way I can make him eat? Should I take him in the shower? Please help!!

If he isn't eating or drinking you will have to get the nutrition into him yourself...or changing his diet won't help at this point. You will have to syringe feed him. A dehydrated cham won't or can't eat, and based on your description of cage humidity and thirst he is dehydrated (and malnourished) now. See if you can give him Pedialyte by dropper or syringe. This can give him a boost and some energy. If you can get him to open his mouth you can put a soft bodied insect on his tongue so he has the chance to swallow it on his own. Raise the overall cage humidity. The problem with your glass enclosure is that it is harder to keep it humid without creating a sauna with poor air exchange and this can bring on a respiratory infection especially if he's already in trouble. That screen cage or a partially screened cage is really better. Live plants will keep the cage from drying out too fast after you spray which may well be part of the problem. Get a lamp timer....he should be getting 12 hours of UV light a day.

 

[laurenx]

I just wanted to let you all know I took my baby Claude to the vet and they told me he has an eye infection & upper respiratory infection. They gave me antibiotics and said he should be back to normal in two weeks Thank you for all the help and advice!