hasn't eaten in 4 days

[Dave20101]

Hi everyone just wanted some opinions on what I should do. My male veiled chameleon has suddenly lost all interest in all his feeders (crickets, horn worms, and supers). He used to have a very strong appetite and I don't know what to do. His temps are all correct and he still is pooping regularly with white urates. He is still very active in his 18x18x36 reptibreeze.the only thing i have seen him eat in the last 4 days are his pothos, dirt, and he ate a strawberry today. Im worried because it's been that long since he has had calcium since he's not eating bugs. I believe he is around 8 months old. Any ideas?

 

[Tay And A]

He really shouldn't be eating dirt. You may need to take the plant out of his cage and or put river rocks on top of the dirt so that he can't eat it. Please also fill out the "how to ask for help" form. Many members will suggest you take him to a vet as well

 

[NHenn]

I'm with Alysha, I would fill out the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ to start as there might be more to the problem than him just being picky on his food.

 

[pssh]

Filling out the form would help us determine if it possibly has something to do with husbandry or if he is just on a hunger strike. A pic would help as well so we can see his size. If he is a nice big healthy 8 month old, 4 days is unlikely to hurt him.

 

[Dave20101]

]*- The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? * Male veiled chameleon been in my care about 3 months

- How often do you handle your chameleon? Daily he climbs out into me when doors open

*- What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?*Large Crickets as a staple with about 10 a day, horn worms one a day, and supers once a week.and I gut load with apples romaine Lettuce brocoli potatoes carrots

- What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?*Plain calcium daily and calcium with d3 twice a month

- What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?*- a dripper runs down pothos all day long and mist heavily for 10 minutes 3x a day.i have seen him drink but not regularly.

Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?*Brown and solid with white urates

- Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Not that I know of

Cage Info:*- Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?*18x18x36 reptibreeze

- What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?*100 watt house bulb for basking and reptisun 5.0 for uvb

- What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?basking is 95F*ambient temp 80 and coolest is70

- What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?*Humidity is around 50% before misting and 80 after

- Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes a large pothos

*- 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?*In my living room no fans or vents medium traffic area

- Where are you geographically located? Michigan

Current Problem*- The current problem you are concerned about. He hasn't eaten any bugs in 4 days

 

[Dave20101]

Few pictures

 

[camimom]

Can you post photos of him please?

 

[Dave20101]

Here's a couple

 

[jackschamnewbie]

Hi everyone just wanted some opinions on what I should do. My male veiled chameleon has suddenly lost all interest in all his feeders (crickets, horn worms, and supers). He used to have a very strong appetite and I don't know what to do. His temps are all correct and he still is pooping regularly with white urates. He is still very active in his 18x18x36 reptibreeze.the only thing i have seen him eat in the last 4 days are his pothos, dirt, and he ate a strawberry today. Im worried because it's been that long since he has had calcium since he's not eating bugs. I believe he is around 8 months old. Any ideas?

He has been eating dirt, as in soil? with small white pieces of vermiculite or perlite yes? If this is the case then he could have an impaction

As for the pothos does yours have light yellow almost gold or literally gold colored streaks spots and patches? If you bought it from a local store, there is also a very high chance it is the "golden pothos." Which, if propagated and grown properly, can have fairly high concentrations of raphides, which are needle shaped crystals of calcium oxalates.
These chemicals do not usually cause problems as not enough is ingested to cause a noticeable reaction. Although if he is eating a lot of them then they could stack up as they are incredibly difficult to digest.
These would cause a loss of appetite, drooling, irritation, rash, diarrhea ect, and those are just symptoms observed in adult felines and dogs. It is listed on the aspca website under the species and genus Epipremnum aureum or just the word pothos. Pothos is actually a genus relating to flowering plants in the Araceae family. I know that there are a few species of pothos that do not contain any toxic substances, although I do not remember their names honestly. You could search for it but in the mean time I would stop letting your buddy eat that plant and see if his condition improves. But yea that whole care sheet thing is good too.

 

[jackschamnewbie]

Yea thats a golden pothos, idk its worth a shot man. Most people never have a problem with this but sometimes it happens. Do you have any other plants you could put in there with him?

 

[Dave20101]

He has actually been eating allot of it maybe that's it! I'll give that a try. The plants only been in there for a 2 weeks or so and he was fine up till now Thank you

 

[jackschamnewbie]

I have a baby veiled, and that little bastard will go and eat anything he can find on the bottom of his cage when I don't give him the cricket tank on time. He's eaten sticks, pieces of rocks and dirt, dead crickets, dead leaves, the crickets food, the egg cartons to keep the cricks central... all kinds of nasty things. Then he started to eat his pothos so I had to take it out. I couldn't just let him do that to himself so I put in a large and very bitter tasting varigated schefflerra aboricola (streaked with yellow and gold) that I purchased from a local home depot. The soil, root ball, pot and entire plant were stripped and washed thoroughly with care being taken on the roots. The people who grow them leave a few months worth of nitrate fertilizer capsules in there with the roots, that crickets like to try and eat for whatever reason. The weirdest little things can make chams stress or get sick. Change in temperature... anything... I wish you and your little dude the best!

 

[Dave20101]

Thanks for the info I didn't even know that could happen I assumed pothos in general were safe. Hopefully this fixes it

 

[jackschamnewbie]

CRAP! I almost forgot! gut load your crickets with as much fruit and variety of veggies and goodness that you can. Make sure the crickets have to eat it for no less than 3 hours. Bug Burger or any of those really upper scale cricket foods are usually super high in fat, which if it is an impaction from eating soil, would help... well actually hurt, but help give him an upset stomach and encourage a bowel movement which should help.

If it is from ingesting raphides then this should be treated as an anaphylactic reaction. Which normally requires veterinary care, although depends on severity. Observe him and make sure he is drinking water and breathing freely as the reactions are mostly localized to the areas that they contact tissue.

Call a vet if you need better advice, wiki has great information about raphide poisoning and how it is treated in humans and some animals, as well as a detailed list of symptoms and reactions to different means of introduction to these chemicals.
Like the disclaimer says though, this is not an alternative to veterinarian care.
I am just an amateur chameleon keeper, and a 1st year biology student.