He wont eat??

[Singularity]

So I bought My Chameleon on Saturday. And he hasnt eaten this whole time. Its been 3 days and Ive tried a multitude of things. I tried dangling the meal worms in his face. I put them on a white tray so he could see them moving. And I also put fruit on the leaves in the top section where he hangs out, Since he never climbs down in search of food. I have the proper cage/lighting. Any recommendations?
I dont want him to die

 

[renzo0684]

First thing stop with the meal worms... use crickets for now.


Second there is a discussion on the samething going on now check it out it may help. https://www.chameleonforums.com/need-help-veiled-not-eating-33491/index3.html#post308686

 

[pssh]

They eat crickets mainly, mealworms aren't very good for them. Welcome!

Please fill this out including the brand make and model of the UVB bulb and the brand of supplements:

Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


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?

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.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Pictures are helpful

 

[panthercham]

Its only been 3 days....give him time to settle in. Chams usually have to get used to their new surroundings and feel safer before eating. Just keep him well hydrated and give him some privacy so that he can settle in.

Also fill in the questions that pssh sent through so that everything can be checked.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Singularity]

thnx for the feedback.. as for the crickets. The lady at Petsmart said mealworms would do fine. And the closest place that sells crickets is 1 hour away.. I live in middle of stupid Iowa..

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 2x2x3 ft
Lighting - I have the red light that provides the heat. which is 75w. then I have the bulb that is supposed to be combo UV light and the other kind he needs. I leave the red light on at night
Temperature - its usually around 80 degrees
Humidity - its always above 50 humidity. I just spray the cage with a mist bottle a few times a day
Plants - plastic
Placement - Its in my bedroom, which is the most innactive room in the house.
Location - Iowa

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - not sure of age or sex. assuming a male. hes fairly small though. Maybe 7-8 inches including tail
Handling - maybe once per day for a couple mins
Feeding - Meal worms. I will get crickets the first chance I get. but for now Im stuck with mealworms. Ive had live moving ones in there since ive had him but he hasnt touched him.
Supplements - was told no supplements were necessary for the mealworms. But when it comes to cricketts you need calsium dust.
Watering - I have a running water system in there, And I mist often.
Fecal Description - no poop yet...
History - He seems lively. hes not skinny yet. But the lady said he eats like 10 crickets a day.
Current Problem - Getting him to eat.

ill provide and additional info if asked.
Thanks!

 

[pssh]

Mealworms can cause impaction and they can die from that. He needs crickets. No waterfalls. Drive that hour and buy like 200 crickets. Then order online from then on.

 

[panthercham]

Did you get all your care info from the lady at Petsmart....if so she has led you down the garden path the wrong way.

What type of cham do you have? I am assuming its a veiled. If so read the follwing link as it will put you on the right track. People do have good intentions but basically Petsmart is there to make a buck and will sell you a lot of stuff you dont need.

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately mealworms are not fine...they have a high chitin ratio which can cause impaction in your cham and that can lead to a vet visit and they are of very little nutritional value. Petsmart don't carry crickets in your area?

Best place to get crickets and other feeders is online, order a variety so that he doesnt get bored with his food. They are like us....we might love McDonalds but we sure dont want to eat it 3 times a day 7 days a week. Eventually you may want to pick a feeder that he really likes and breed your own....saves a lot of time when you dont have close access to shops. Also crickets and roaches are easy to gutload which is what you are going to have to be doing. Your cham will get a lot of his nutrients from gutloaded feeders.

Handling - as I said in my previous post....give him some privacy, he is probally really freaked out at the moment and he sees you as a predator and handling wont be helping at all. Mine took a week before he would eat and that was with me leaving him alone.

Supplements - you do need them!

Watering - running water system? Is this a waterfall?

Lighting - No red light at night, chams need complete darkness to sleep. How cold does your room get at night? Do you remember the brand of the combo light you are using?

Can you post a photo of your cham and set up?

 

[Singularity]

Yes he is a Veiled. And Im gonna go try to buy some crickets for him today. then Ill try to get started on buying online. But Could you please tell me what gutloading is? is that where you feed the crickets a special thing so they arent empty calories for the cham? I think thats what the lady said.
But yes It is a waterfall. its very quiet and small. Im told chameleons dont recognize still water. is it something they just dont use? or it cant be in there? Cuz I paid 30 bones for it!

Anyways. I took a couple pics of my setup and of my light system.
let me know if anythign is wrong.

 

[panthercham]

Clean the waterfall up and take it back for a refund. There are many reasons that they dont work....chams poop in them, can drown in them, feeders die in them and they just harbor a lot of nasty bacteria. Somebody quoted here once - if you wont drink out of it then why should your cham? And its true, they just cant be kept clean enough. Use the refund money at Home Depot or Walmart and get him a couple of nice, real plants like a fiscus, hibiscus or schefflera. He will feel safer and more comfortable as he will have places to hide if he so wants to.

The best way for him to get water is by misting with warm water and just make a simple dripper by poking a small hole in the bottom of a plastic cup or container and placing it on top of his cage so it can drip onto leaves and just have a shallow bowl to catch the drips and empty it daily.

Also the bark chips are not needed. Get rid of them as they are dangerous. Chams can accidently swallow substrate like that when shooting for a feeder
if they miss causing blockages which will lead to a very expensive vet visit. There are keepers on here that have had that happen and have lost their pets through blockages etc

Gutload is what you feed your crickets. Carrots, apples, yams, kale, collard greens, oranges etc. Stay away from tomato, spinach and brocolli. Your cham is what your feeders eat and you want them full of nutrients.

I got to run so someone else will have to answer the lighting issue but the red heat lamp can go back. Just a normal 60w should do for the day for heat (maybe higher depending on the house temp) How cold does your room get at night? You may just need a heat lamp or small heater in the room but they do need darkness and a drop in temp to sleep at night.

Also how are you measuring your temps? They need to be accurate...

Welcome to the wonderful world of chams

 

[Singularity]

thanks for the info guys. I took the mealworms and waterfall back and bought 200 crickets and a nice log for him to hang out on. He ate like 6 crickets within 10 mins. I still have the wood chips in the bottom but I have the crickets in a bowl type thing. They havnt been jumping out so i dont think the wood chips should be an issue.

But for the crickets, the pet store dusted them with calcium and I bought some "Flukers calcium fortified Cricket quencher" for their water. And they hooked me up with some brown powder stuff to feed to them. Any other recommendations to make the crickets a better food supply for him?

 

[pssh]

Fresh veggies is best. Kale, collard greens, dandelion leaves, apples, yams, and oranges are just a few. You will need to dust the crickets at almost every meal with a calcium powder w/o d3, twice a month you will need to dust the crickets or other feeders with calcium w/ d3, and once or twice a month you will need to dust his feeders with a multi vitamin. If you want to add to his variety of food (a great thing to do!!) you can buy silk worms, hornworms (not wild), waxworms, butter worms, super worms, stick bugs, and pheonix worms. I also highly recomend breeding your own cockroaches for feeders as ther are meatier than crickets, don't jump, (some) don't climb, don't stink(!), and are fun to watch plus they reproduce like mad!

Again, you should probably remove the bark. Veileds are known for eating things off the ground randomly and bark is a no-no. A member on here lost her chameleon to bark and there was no way to prevent it. If you REALLY REALLY want a substrate there are better things to use that have less of an impaction risk. Like large river rocks, or a sand coco husk mix, but I believe nothing or paper towels is best. There are also often mold issues because of all the water that will be going into the cage.

 

[eric thompson]

I have had good luck with Blue Bottle Flys they are great for picky eaters
http://www.mantisplace.com/feederinsects.html $3.00 for 100

 

[Singularity]

Im kind of confused about the D3 and how it works/does. but dusting the crickets with clacium I have to do everytime before I feed them to my cham? Cuz they dusted all 150 of the ones I bought at Petsmart for free. I feed the crickets some sort of calcium gel that substitutes for water.
As for the fruit, do i feed this to my chameleon or my crickets?
And which bug is the huge fatty mc fat fat cattepillar? I want to feed a few of those to him! thatd be fun to watch.
As for the cockroaches... Sounds risky.. LOL

 

[pssh]

Gut load the crickets with the fruit and mainly veggies. The calcium falls off the crickets after an hour or two so it doesn't last long enough. The d3 is what they produce from the UVB light and it's used to absorb calcium into their bones. However since the UVB lights aren't anywhere near as good as the sun we give the a tiny bit extra to make sure they have enough. However they can overdose on it so don't over do it. The calcium gel doesn't have enough calcium in it to make up for the poor phos:calcium ratio of the feeder.

Hornworms usually squirt when you feed them, but they grow extremely fast and some usually get too big so you have to kill them or something. Silkworms are extremely good for them also. These cockroaches are a tropical species and prefer forest to homes so they try to escape. They also don't survive cold weather. Some members use bug traps and sticky paper for any that may escape. I don't, but I have a cover on the cage just in case.

Also remember, don't feed anything wider than the space between his eyes, but it can be longer.

I still think you should remove the bark and AT LEAST replace it with something better, if not with just paper towels.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Im kind of confused about the D3 and how it works/does"...a chameleon can produce D3 from exposure to UVB light. It can also be given some D3 from supplements, but D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to problems. As long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB it shouldn't be able to overdose on D3 produced from exposure to it. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic.

here are some articles that will help explain supplements to you...
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102

You said..."dusting the crickets with clacium I have to do everytime before I feed them to my cham?"...many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus so dusting with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings helps to make up for this.

You said...."they dusted all 150 of the ones I bought at Petsmart for free"...but the powder falls off, so by the time you feed him the next time there will be very little or none left on the insects.

You said.."I feed the crickets some sort of calcium gel that substitutes for water"..I don't use that stuff, so someone else will have to comment about it.

You said..."As for the fruit, do i feed this to my chameleon or my crickets?"...I feed my crickets a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, celery leaves, etc.). Since your chameleon is a veiled, it can be offered any of the greens and veggies mentioned as well as a bit of fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.).

As for other insects, you can feed him superworms, crickets, roaches, phoenix worms, butter worms and once in a while waxworms (fatty)....as well as captive raised hornworms (NOT FED ON TOMATO PLANTS).


Appropriate temperatures will aid in digestion.

Here are some other good sites...
http://adcham.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[Singularity]

k, guys that answers alot of my questions.
You were super helpful!
Thanks!