he wont eating

[owenyeconiel]

Chameleon Info:
My Chameleon - Male panther chameleon,around 7-9 mths
Handling - every 2 days
Feeding - crickets,around 4-6 a day,gutload carrots nowadays
Supplements - calcium with d3
Watering - bottle,4-5 times a day
Fecal Description - black and white

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen,60x60x100
Lighting - direct sunlight
Temperature - 60-80
Humidity - 60-90%
Plants - dunno
Location - Indonesia

Current Problem -
he hasnt eat til now from this morning. idk what happened but he seemed so struggle.he keep moving around in his cage. i've been putting some crickets in his cage,but he kept ignore it.
usually in the morning he gets 2 crickets,but yesterday he get boost of 5 crickets in the morning. is it okay?
the humudity is normal,as the temperature.
should i force feed him? if i should,how can i do that??
thanks.

 

[carol5208]

do you have anything else besides crickets to feed him? Sometimes that get bored with the same old food. If you chameleon is getting natural sunlight everyday(how many hours?) use the calcium with d3 very sparingly like a couple of times a month.You do not want to overload on d3! Get a plain calcium with NO d3 to dust your feeders with everyday and also get a multivitamin to dust with twice a month as well if it available to your over there. How long has it been since he has eaten? I was alittle confused by your post.

 

[owenyeconiel]

do you have anything else besides crickets to feed him? Sometimes that get bored with the same old food. If you chameleon is getting natural sunlight everyday(how many hours?) use the calcium with d3 very sparingly like a couple of times a month.You do not want to overload on d3! Get a plain calcium with NO d3 to dust your feeders with everyday and also get a multivitamin to dust with twice a month as well if it available to your over there. How long has it been since he has eaten? I was alittle confused by your post.

since yesterday night.. i have offered him meal worm couple days ago. but he ignore it..he kept struggling around from this morning. something wrong,but i have no idea what is it.
around 12 hrs.
okayy,. no d3. got it.
sorry for bad english

 

[carol5208]

what do you mean struggling around? If he has not eaten since last night it is ok. Is he drinking? That is more important than the eating so he does not become dehydrated. I would not feed your chameleon at night. Feed during the day and preferably early in the day so he has time to bask in the sun and digest his food. Is he pooping? how long has he been in your care?

 

[owenyeconiel]

what do you mean struggling around? If he has not eaten since last night it is ok. Is he drinking? That is more important than the eating so he does not become dehydrated. I would not feed your chameleon at night. Feed during the day and preferably early in the day so he has time to bask in the sun and digest his food. Is he pooping? how long has he been in your care?

he keep moving around the cage.. this morning i saw he drink..
yes,black-white poop.
around 1 month actually. is it normal if he stops to eat like this??

 

[brandychams]

you really should be gutloading with more than just carrots

 

[brandychams]

i also see that theres no basking light or uvb

 

[owenyeconiel]

you really should be gutloading with more than just carrots

i also see that theres no basking light or uvb

using basking light will increase appetite?
if it does i should buy it. i just have infrared lamp.
is that the same?

 

[jannb]

You have received some good advice here. You really need plain Calcium without d3 to use at about every feeding and you need to gut load with more than carrots....try some green leafy veggies such as kale or collard greens, butternut squash is also excellent. At his age I would only offer food every other day. They can become very bored with food and need a variety of feeders. I would not feed late in the day because he will need time to warm up after eating to digest his food. You need to up his basking spot to 85. Are you using lights or keeping him outside all the time? Even outside he might need a low watt basking light to get his temps up.

 

[kinyonga]

Assuming your chameleon's cage is outside and its getting direct sunlight all day it doesn't need a UVB light. You won't need a basking light either if your cage is outside all day....unless the temperature drops below the mid 80's in the cage. You don't need any heat at night unless the temperatures drop below the mid 60's.

As chameleons reach full growthy the can be fed less and be fed every other day instead of every day because their growth rate should be slowing down.

Here's some information you might find helpful...
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. (Some UVB lights have been known to cause health issues, so the most often recommended one is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light.) D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you and your parents to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/

 

[dodolah]

Heya Owen,

Since you live with a climate that is somewhat "closer" to Madagascar compared to us, you have some advantages in caring for your chameleons.
Knowing that you live in Jakarta and the fact that you put your chameleon outside 24/7, you can assume that the night climate there will never dropped to a critical point for your chameleon (unless if there is some drastic change in Indonesia's weather pattern that I do not know about).

Do provide your chameleon a way to escape into shadow area from the sunlight during the day.
Since you put your chameleon outside and he has access to real sunlight, you should not give him Vit D3 supplement. Your chameleon will make his own D3 using sunlight. I do not think you should be afraid that he will not be getting enough D3.. but , if you do, you can give him D3 once every 2 months or three. In your situation, you are more likely to overdose your chameleon with D3. So, be careful on dosing your chameleon with this supplement.

But, you will still need calcium without D3 and vitamin supplement (make sure the vit supplement has no vit D3 in it).

 

[timbuckto]

Noob here, CONFUSED noob I might add. Im 52 yrs old, THOUGHT I read up on care of Veiled ect. Upon my first couple readings here, i see Ive been sadly misinformed. On just about everything. ESPECIALLY on vitamins and how often. I was led to believe that young'ns need the various vits almost daily til 6 months or so....
I'll get to "Jacks" issues soon.

 

[carol5208]

Noob here, CONFUSED noob I might add. Im 52 yrs old, THOUGHT I read up on care of Veiled ect. Upon my first couple readings here, i see Ive been sadly misinformed. On just about everything. ESPECIALLY on vitamins and how often. I was led to believe that young'ns need the various vits almost daily til 6 months or so....
I'll get to "Jacks" issues soon.

yes, they do! Calcium WITHOUT d3 every feeding. Calcium with d3 a couple of times a month and a multivitamin a couple times a month too.

 

[dodolah]

Noob here, CONFUSED noob I might add. Im 52 yrs old, THOUGHT I read up on care of Veiled ect. Upon my first couple readings here, i see Ive been sadly misinformed. On just about everything. ESPECIALLY on vitamins and how often. I was led to believe that young'ns need the various vits almost daily til 6 months or so....
I'll get to "Jacks" issues soon.

daily on Mineral supplements (calcium).. On the other hands, Vitamins (especially the one that is fat soluble such as retinol and D3) should not be fed daily to avoid overdosing your chameleon.