Valcakey
New Member
Hey guys, so I'm new to the forums as a member, but I've been reading them for a while. However, I now have a specific case for my chameleon, Chamomile that I can't seem to solve on my own. So first thing's first. She's a female veiled and somewhere between 1 yr. 5 mo. and 1 yr. 7 mo. (the pet store didn't know for sure how old she was when I bought her a year ago). About 2 weeks ago, she laid he first clutch of infertile eggs. I uncovered 35 from her laying bin, but then found 2 more on the surface the next day.
In the weeks leading up to her laying, her appetite was greatly suppressed. She went from 10 crickets every 2 days down to barely 5 crickets every 3 days. She would actually eat 2 or 3 immediately, but the others would be gone by the time I got home from work. The diminished appetite was expected, but what I didn't expect was everything happening now.
After taking her laying bin out of her cage, I found 3 crickets that had been hiding under some fallen leaves. I left them in there, hoping she would eat them when she was hungry, but she didn't. The same 3 crickets were in her cage for days. I know uneaten crickets are supposed to be removed ASAP, but Chamomile's a sassy one who puffs up and hisses when I walk too quickly past her cage or I catch her off guard while refilling her mister. I've never been able to hold her because of this behavior despite numerous sessions of me sitting on the floor right under/next to her cage with the door open to try to get her used to me. So, when I tried to remove the crickets, I was met with hisses, swipes, and a dark brown coloration.
At one point, she was even allowing a cricket to walk along her body. I had to get my hand-held mister and spray at it until it got off. I even tried putting 4 more crickets in with her. Strangely, she immediately and with fervor went for 2 of them, but left the other 2. Then, I thought maybe she's just tired of crickets and is protesting food, so I picked up some superworms. Well, let me tell you about those annoyances. I tried to use feeding tongs to give them to Chamomile, but she acted like her entire existence was being threatened, so I backed off. I put the worm on the lid of a container and tried to put that on the pothos plant I have hanging in her enclosure, but the stupid thing rolled off the lid and into the dirt. I gave up for the day.
Fast forward to the next day. Another cricket had made its way onto Chamomile and wasn't coming down with spraying, so I took a twig I had lying around and very slowly and carefully moved it toward her to flick off the cricket. It worked and Chamomile didn't get scared or upset or anything, which is actually really odd. I've never gotten anything that close to her without her flipping out. So, anyway, I decided to try handing her a worm on that twig, which didn't work because they have zero grip. Then, I tried to put in on a spoon. I got the bright orange spoon right in front of Chamomile and the superworm was wiggling all around, but she still wouldn't go for it.
Later that night, when I came back from work, after she was already asleep, I checked on her and her eyes appeared definitely sunken in, which I know is a sure sign of dehydration or sickness. In the morning, I broke out the Little Dripper that I had bought when I first got her (but she never drank from the water it left) and she started drinking up a storm. After puffing up to the moving water, she eventually stretched off her basking branch to sop up what had gathered on a leaf. She was letting the water droplets fall onto her head without a care. She would then go back to her basking branch and either A.) stand up directly under the light on her 2 hind legs or B.) arch her back and tilt her head up in wolf-howling-at-the-moon style, both of which I've never seen her do. She repeated this cycle of drinking the dripper water and then going into one of those positions for a good 25 minutes. She has since gone back to one of the best colors I've ever seen her.
Her typical awake colors lately are what her sleeping colors were before she laid her eggs (that light pastel green/Pascal from Tangled color).
I did try once more a couple of days ago introducing new crickets (about 3) into her cage to see if she would eat the new ones, but she didn't; at least not in front of me. However, today when I counted, there were only 3 crickets in her cage. In theory, there should be 8 or so. I don't know if she's been snacking on them while I'm away, but she's definitely not eating in the same capacity that she was a couple of weeks ago and I can very visibly see her ribs against her skin.
I would have absolutely taken her to the vet, but I'm not sure which vets around me see reptiles and like I said early, I'm almost positive I would not be able to get her out of her cage without traumatizing her. Any advice is so greatly appreciated!
In the weeks leading up to her laying, her appetite was greatly suppressed. She went from 10 crickets every 2 days down to barely 5 crickets every 3 days. She would actually eat 2 or 3 immediately, but the others would be gone by the time I got home from work. The diminished appetite was expected, but what I didn't expect was everything happening now.
After taking her laying bin out of her cage, I found 3 crickets that had been hiding under some fallen leaves. I left them in there, hoping she would eat them when she was hungry, but she didn't. The same 3 crickets were in her cage for days. I know uneaten crickets are supposed to be removed ASAP, but Chamomile's a sassy one who puffs up and hisses when I walk too quickly past her cage or I catch her off guard while refilling her mister. I've never been able to hold her because of this behavior despite numerous sessions of me sitting on the floor right under/next to her cage with the door open to try to get her used to me. So, when I tried to remove the crickets, I was met with hisses, swipes, and a dark brown coloration.
At one point, she was even allowing a cricket to walk along her body. I had to get my hand-held mister and spray at it until it got off. I even tried putting 4 more crickets in with her. Strangely, she immediately and with fervor went for 2 of them, but left the other 2. Then, I thought maybe she's just tired of crickets and is protesting food, so I picked up some superworms. Well, let me tell you about those annoyances. I tried to use feeding tongs to give them to Chamomile, but she acted like her entire existence was being threatened, so I backed off. I put the worm on the lid of a container and tried to put that on the pothos plant I have hanging in her enclosure, but the stupid thing rolled off the lid and into the dirt. I gave up for the day.
Fast forward to the next day. Another cricket had made its way onto Chamomile and wasn't coming down with spraying, so I took a twig I had lying around and very slowly and carefully moved it toward her to flick off the cricket. It worked and Chamomile didn't get scared or upset or anything, which is actually really odd. I've never gotten anything that close to her without her flipping out. So, anyway, I decided to try handing her a worm on that twig, which didn't work because they have zero grip. Then, I tried to put in on a spoon. I got the bright orange spoon right in front of Chamomile and the superworm was wiggling all around, but she still wouldn't go for it.
Later that night, when I came back from work, after she was already asleep, I checked on her and her eyes appeared definitely sunken in, which I know is a sure sign of dehydration or sickness. In the morning, I broke out the Little Dripper that I had bought when I first got her (but she never drank from the water it left) and she started drinking up a storm. After puffing up to the moving water, she eventually stretched off her basking branch to sop up what had gathered on a leaf. She was letting the water droplets fall onto her head without a care. She would then go back to her basking branch and either A.) stand up directly under the light on her 2 hind legs or B.) arch her back and tilt her head up in wolf-howling-at-the-moon style, both of which I've never seen her do. She repeated this cycle of drinking the dripper water and then going into one of those positions for a good 25 minutes. She has since gone back to one of the best colors I've ever seen her.
Her typical awake colors lately are what her sleeping colors were before she laid her eggs (that light pastel green/Pascal from Tangled color).
I did try once more a couple of days ago introducing new crickets (about 3) into her cage to see if she would eat the new ones, but she didn't; at least not in front of me. However, today when I counted, there were only 3 crickets in her cage. In theory, there should be 8 or so. I don't know if she's been snacking on them while I'm away, but she's definitely not eating in the same capacity that she was a couple of weeks ago and I can very visibly see her ribs against her skin.
I would have absolutely taken her to the vet, but I'm not sure which vets around me see reptiles and like I said early, I'm almost positive I would not be able to get her out of her cage without traumatizing her. Any advice is so greatly appreciated!
I just made a vet appointment for her for Friday morning, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get her out of her cage.
