Graceful eyes shut? no poop!

[staticlush]

Chameleon Info: Rango
Your Chameleon - female Graceful Chameleon. 6 months
Handling - 3 times a week
Feeding - crickets and mealworms
Supplements - Flukers orange cube and cricket quencher. dusting with Rep-Cal calcium with D3 4 times a week
Watering - spritzing all the time and water bowl. I have seen her drink water recently. (yesterday)
Fecal Description -Haven't seen a poop in 2 weeks!


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass exo terra 25 gal
Lighting - uvb avb day time and red basking at night
Temperature - 70 -80
Humidity - not sure
Location - Iowa

I got this little girl for my girl friend but i seem to be taking care of her. she was all fine and dandy up until a week ago. She seemed to be sleeping all the time but still had great color and looked fine tell 3 days ago. Now she looks dehydrated tired and her eyes are defiantly bothering her. I have been showering her for about 35 minutes the last 2 days and 2 hours after i do that her eyes open and shes up moving around. today i walked in my room and it looked as if she started shedding and then just stopped after her head. WTF!?

 

[SaintJimmy]

IF you have substrate get rid of it now because she might have swallowed it, thus no poop.

Has she eaten normally?

Honestly if there has not been poop for 2 weeks it's probably vet time.

Also, they SHOULD NOT sleep constantly. Only at night.

Also, you don't have to use the red light at night.

The temperature seems a bit low too. Is the temperature 70-80 not including her basking spot? Her basking spot should be around 85-90

 

[staticlush]

I have hand feed her a couple worm yesterday and my girlfriend said she ate 2 crickets. what light do i need to use at night? What i have read about gracefuls is that they take much different temps 63-73?
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/lizards_chameleons/GracefulChameleon.php

 

[DanSB]

I suspect Jimmy is on the correct line of inquiry.

Do you leave orange cubes or cricket quencher in the cage for any reason? Is here a substrate, small rocks, or anything she she could have accidentally eaten other than an insect?

I suggest the vet and some more research into the overall husbandry. The Exo Terra should be okay for now but as she gets bigger you will definitely want to look into a larger enclosure, screen is good because it is easier to manage and less expensive (and debatable multiple other reasons).

Another possible cause is the night time red light. Chameleons are not nocturnal and are sensitive to most visible light spectrum. The red light is not only not necessary but is likely interfering with her sleep pattern and keeping her awake at night. Safe night time temperatures are as low as 60 F many report even lower depending on species. This is thought to actually be good for them.

If she is wild caught definitely get her to the vet ASAP. If she isn't at this point you probably do want to go to the vet still.

Chameleons die very quickly when they finally show illness and don't give you much time to consider treatment options...

 

[DanSB]

I have hand feed her a couple worm yesterday and my girlfriend said she ate 2 crickets. what light do i need to use at night? What i have read about gracefuls is that they take much different temps 63-73?
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/lizards_chameleons/GracefulChameleon.php

No light at night if your house drops below 55 F at night I would get a ceramic heat emitter but place it high enough so the cage still drops to 60 - 65 F

 

[SaintJimmy]

I have hand feed her a couple worm yesterday and my girlfriend said she ate 2 crickets. what light do i need to use at night? What i have read about gracefuls is that they take much different temps 63-73?
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/lizards_chameleons/GracefulChameleon.php

Oh okay, Graceful the species.

I thought your chameleon's NAME was Graceful.

Yeah I don't know about Graceful's temperatures, but they do need temps to digest food right.

Honestly your chameleon might just have a blockage in the intestines but if she has not pooped for 2 weeks and has been eating, that will definitely be a problem.

I would just go to a good reptile vet.

 

[SaintJimmy]

I suspect Jimmy is on the correct line of inquiry.

Do you leave orange cubes or cricket quencher in the cage for any reason? Is here a substrate, small rocks, or anything she she could have accidentally eaten other than an insect?

I suggest the vet and some more research into the overall husbandry. The Exo Terra should be okay for now but as she gets bigger you will definitely want to look into a larger enclosure, screen is good because it is easier to manage and less expensive (and debatable multiple other reasons).

Another possible cause is the night time red light. Chameleons are not nocturnal and are sensitive to most visible light spectrum. The red light is not only not necessary but is likely interfering with her sleep pattern and keeping her awake at night. Safe night time temperatures are as low as 60 F many report even lower depending on species. This is thought to actually be good for them.

If she is wild caught definitely get her to the vet ASAP. If she isn't at this point you probably do want to go to the vet still.

Chameleons die very quickly when they finally show illness and don't give you much time to consider treatment options...

This this this all the way.

Chams usually don't show signs of illness until it is quite severe.
Vet.

 

[staticlush]

Ok I turned of her light that would defiantly explain why shes up and about at night and sleeping during the day. Would this dehydrate her? do i use both the lights during the day?

 

[Lovereps]

Welcome to the forum!
You've come to the right place for good cham info.

Many times places that sell chameleons don't really know much about their care.
As a result many of us were given the wrong care instructions.

You're on the right track by providing more water.

If you've been dusting her crickets with Rep-Cal calcium with D3 4 times a week, then that is a part of the problem.
The daily calcium dusting should be plain calcium without D3 or phosphorus.
Too much D3 can cause serious health problems.
Giving her more access to water with misting and a dripper --and not dusting any insects for a couple of weeks--can help her to flush some of the excess out of her body----but it might be best to get her to a reptile-knowledgeable vet.
More about humidity and water is here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/water/

Chams do not normally sleep during the day because in the wild the sleepy cham more easily becomes someone else's meal.
Daytime sleeping indicates illness. It means that a cham has become too weak to be able to hide their sickness any longer.

Chams need 12 hours of darkness at night to get enough rest.
Having a red light on at night definitely keeps chams from sleeping but stores that don't know cham care have wrongly recommended them to others too.

Not pooping for 2 weeks could mean that she hasn't been eating or that her intestines are not moving the poop and she has a blockage called impaction.

The best chance for her recovery is to have her seen by a vet with plenty of reptile experience, although her chances of recovering depend on exactly how ill she is.
Here are a couple of vets in Iowa who have an interest in reptiles and joined ARAV
http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/#Iowa
You can also look here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/veterinarian-resources-67/

Here is a good caresheet with Graceful cham info:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/senegal/
This includes specific info on safe supplement dusting schedules and good humidity levels to maintain for her health.

Dehydration can be caused by a number of things--too high temperatures, too low humidity/too little water, internal organ problems, intestinal impaction, infections and even internal parasites.

Sadly, this is very true:

Chameleons die very quickly when they finally show illness and don't give you much time to consider treatment options...

 

[SaintJimmy]

I would just go to the vet now tbh, this sounds serious. I'm really gonna push the vet idea. Turning the light off at night isn't gonna totally reverse this problem, so hopefully you took our advice.

Good luck