Dehyrdrated Chameleon. NEED Help!

[Veildz]

Your Chameleon (species, sex, and age)- male veiled chameleon, about 1 year
Handling- hand feeding, recently purchased so not wanting to stress with handling yet
Feeding- crickets, superworms and mealworms
Supplements-calcium 4x a week, multivitamin 2x a month
Watering- humidifier going, misting for 1 minute 2 or 3 times a day
Fecal Description- urate on the end is yellow
History- have only had him for just over a week
Cage Type- mesh screen, biggest size
Lighting- uv light and basking bulb
Temperature- basking : 34 celcius (94 F) rest of cage 23-26 (73-79 F)
Humidity- varies throughout the day from 40-55
Plants-two live plants and fake vines on cage sides, getting a pothos soon
Cage Placement- in my room by my window, somewhat drafty so I am going to move him to the other side of my room tomorrow
Geographic Location- alberta, canada
Problem/concern- his urate is yellowish orange and I am worried and needing help on how to get him properly hydrated

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum.

Do you run a dripper?

Not to do with the dehydration...but is the calcium a phosphorous-free calcium powder? Are you going to use a phosphorous-free calcium / D3 powder too twice a month? What form of vitamin A is in the vitamin powder? Does the vitamin powder have D3 in it?

 

[Veildz]

I don't have the dripper running but I do have one. I don't understand really how the dripper helps because it only covers one small area of the cage? What can I do to keep him back to good condition quickly before it gets too serious? And he dropped a worm when hand feeding today. Is that normal or bad?

 

[Veildz]

The calcium does not have D3 or the mutivitamin, the lady who I got him from said that those were the only two things i needed? The calcium does not say if it is phosphorous free or not.

 

[kinyonga]

The dripper may attract him to the water more than the drops sitting on the leaves, etc....so he might drink more. If you take the time to let the drips from the dripper drop onto the end of the chameleon's nose at the rate of one or two drips per second it will likely encourage drinking even more.

We usually recommend dusting with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings anid twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium / D3 powder leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light and twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A since prOformed sources don't build up in the system like prEformed sources can and this leaves it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues while D3 from exposure to UVB won't likely as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

It's also important to provide appropriate temperatures to aid in proper digestion and thus indirectly in the nutrient absorption and it's important to feed/gutload the insects properly too.

Hope this helps.