Flap Necked ?

[gin77]

Hi, so i have a flap necked chameleon and can't find much info on the net. He don't like to eat and i don't know what to do. My sister got hers the same day as me and her's died today. i am afraid mine is going to die also. what do i do? or maybe what am i doing wrong. thanks for any help

 

[Jonasburns]

Greetings and welcome.

Please do your best to fill all this out, as anyone willing to help will need to know these things.



Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?

* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?

* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

* Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?

* Location - Where are you geographically located?


Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.



I would also recommend reading Care of true chameleons to start. This will give you a great overview of care.

You can also look @ my beginner reading list here.



As for your species of cham we will have to wait and see if anyone owns one.

 

[gin77]

info

ok, so i think it is a boy because it has a little bump on the back of its back feet.
i don't know the age but he is about 3 inches w/o tail.
i do not handle much for fear of stressing him out.
i feed him gut load crickets with calcium and i have wax worms, but he is not interested.
for water, i mist and drip, but he lets me drip water in his mouth with a dropper.
i have found no droppings and no he has not been tested that i know of.
history, all i know is he came from a breeder in FL.
For now he is in a 10 gal tank w/ screen top, but i have a larger cage for him but he is so tiny now i loose him in the big cage.
I have a clamp light outside the top with a 40 watt bulb for basking, i have a uva/uvb bulb ordered by the pet store, hope it comes today. His day temp is 75 and basking 85-90 and night temp of 68-70. he gets 12h. light and 12h dark. I dont have a humidity gage only a temp. one.
my tank is in high trafic area so i put construction paper over front of glass so not to stress. for now i have plastic and silk plants until i can get live ones. I live in a small town in south east Ky and pet shops and supplies are hard to come by. we have 1 pet shop and i think they dont know much.
if i left anything out let me know.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

I really wouldnt recommend a uva/uvb bulb.
I would get a reptisun 5.0 or a reptiglo 5.0 TUBE light.

Can you put up some pictures? How long have you had it?

 

[gin77]

i have had him for 8 days

 

[PedroANDAshley]

And he hasnt eaten since you got him?

Put some pictures up please.

 

[Julirs]

Make sure you are absolutley positive of the temps-especially in a 10 gallon tank. Hopefully you are using a digital thermometer and not one of the dial analog ones that can be off by 10 or more degrees. You want the basking light on one side and for the temp below it to not be more than 80 degrees.

Also-make sure the crickets you are feeding are not too large-I would imagine at his size he should be eating 1/4".

 

[AlexG92]

is the bigger cage all screen?

 

[Julirs]

Can you take a picture of the animal and the enclosure?

 

[gin77]

I give him tiny crickets, he has not eaten in about 3 days but today i made him eat a cricket.

 

[Julirs]

I give him tiny crickets, he has not eaten in about 3 days but today i made him eat a cricket.

Baby chameleons should eat like little pigs without coaxing. Again-it is very easy to dehydrate a baby cham in a glass tank, although I would think a 40 watt bulb should be OK. Do you have plenty of plastic plants for it to drink from?

 

[gin77]

ok, so i took him outside for some yummy sun and i think he liked it. he turned different shades of green and even caught a few bugs. when i bring him back in he turns yellow?

 

[kinyonga]

Since your sister's died already it can either be that this is not a healthy batch of babies or there is something wrong with (both of) your keeping.

Be careful dripping water into its mouth that the water isn't taken into the lungs. I prefer misting for babies.

As was already said...a chameleon of that size should be eating a lot.

Did the person you bought it from have a substrate in the cage? Do you?

I hope the UVB light is the long linear type. (Repti-sun 5.0 is the most often recommended.)

IMHO your basking temperature is too high for a baby. I would keep it more in the low 80'sF.

Did you wash the plants off before using them?

If you can't get him to eat when the temperatures are lowered then I think the only alternative is to get it to a vet.

This might help too...
http://chameleonnews.com/06SepDeckers.html

 

[PedroANDAshley]

You need to remove the substrate (the dirt) from the cage and put down news paper or some kind of paper.
I feel like an OPTION is that he MAY have eaten the dirt and now is impacted.
That would explain him not eating. :/

 

[gin77]

The first day i had him he did try to eat it but i got it out of his mouth. I was told not to use any kind of dry paper because his tongue would stick to it. what about wet paper towels, that works for my tree frog, he use to eat the dirt when catching crickets.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

reptile carpet can be a safe an appropriate way of substituting paper towel

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Well in a glass tank wet paper towels might contibute to un-needed humidity.
Alot of people use newspaper.
I really dont think theres any big risk, plus its 100% safer than what you got in there now.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

reptile carpet can be a safe an appropriate way of substituting paper towel

When I had my dragon every one told me not to use reptile carpet because it can pull out nails if they get stuck in the carpet.
I think the same rule applies with all reptiles, though the risks could be less since obviously a chameleon spends most of its time in their plants.
But still chameleons do sometimes wander down there.

 

[lisa h]

Did you do a lot of research before you got your Chameleon? First off, it doesn't look very healthy to me, and second, your set up isn't ideal. Do some searches on the forums, because you need a better enclosure/set up than you have.