Hi All, I have a female veiled she is thought to be around 8-9 months in age as a maximum. I have filled in details below to ask for your help.
This is the problem: She started around two weeks ago hanging upside down, sleeping upside down which was abnormal. But she was still eating drinking basking etc which we thought was good.
Int he last 4 or 5 days she has stopped hanging upside down and is now lethargic, spending most of her time at the bottom of the cage, is brown with yellow spots most of the time. She hasn't eaten the crickets in the enclosure for the last 3 days. She is very bloated and plump and when she breaths out deeply there are bobbly ridges down her on one side which I have never noticed before. She doesn't seem to be getting better. We have googled and googled but we cant decide whats wrong with her as the advice on the net is too sparce and case specific. She keeps using her back feet to almost "pinch" her back end and she will not climb. She also puts up no resistance when you try to remove her from the cage which is not normal she usually does her very best to bite your hand off when it comes in the cage.
We have provided a 7/8 inch bowl of damp sand which we have dug a small hole in and then we have made it private by surrounding with plants in the hope that she will lay a clutch and be fine soon.
We have also when cleaning her today given her a bath in warm water with reptiboost mixed in to try and re-hydrate and make her feel better. We hand fed her some waxworks and mealworms (one of which she regurgated and spat out shortly after)
PLEASE HELP! We can take her to the vet Tuesday if necessary.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, 8-9 months max, female, in our care around 4 months
Handling - Virtually never, maybe just to hand feed some mealworms after a full cage clean
Feeding - Gut loaded crickets mostly, with mealworms & waxworms once a week or so.
Supplements - Vetark Calcium one or two pinches straight into the store container that the crickets come in and shake it up
Watering - A spray bottle for about 60+ seconds twice a day or if I know I am not going to be home until after lights out that day I will spray extra in the morning
Fecal Description - Until now, there was fairly dry droppings on branches bottom of cage and yellow/white patches here and there.
History - She started hanging upside down a week or so ago but was still eating and drinking and climbing
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze Large mesh cage, I think its 45w x 45d x 90h, no substrate just newspaper or sometime repticarpet if I see any in pets at home because I thought she might accidentally swallow bark or something like that
Lighting - ExoTerra 100w Spot Lamp, Arcadia 6% UVB Tube Lamp 12"
Temperature - 22 deg at bottom 31 deg at basking spot which is 6 inches from top of cage, I have never measured overnight temp. I use a TN1 laser/infrared spot thermometer gun to measure temps
Humidity - I don't know what my humidity levels are, I just mist twice a day
Plants - Silk plants only
Placement - Cage is in my home office, least used room in the house as advised by where we purchase her from, cage height at basing spot would be about 5ft or so. It's than anyone using the computer in the office higher
Location - We are located in the UK, Bedfordshire
This is the problem: She started around two weeks ago hanging upside down, sleeping upside down which was abnormal. But she was still eating drinking basking etc which we thought was good.
Int he last 4 or 5 days she has stopped hanging upside down and is now lethargic, spending most of her time at the bottom of the cage, is brown with yellow spots most of the time. She hasn't eaten the crickets in the enclosure for the last 3 days. She is very bloated and plump and when she breaths out deeply there are bobbly ridges down her on one side which I have never noticed before. She doesn't seem to be getting better. We have googled and googled but we cant decide whats wrong with her as the advice on the net is too sparce and case specific. She keeps using her back feet to almost "pinch" her back end and she will not climb. She also puts up no resistance when you try to remove her from the cage which is not normal she usually does her very best to bite your hand off when it comes in the cage.
We have provided a 7/8 inch bowl of damp sand which we have dug a small hole in and then we have made it private by surrounding with plants in the hope that she will lay a clutch and be fine soon.
We have also when cleaning her today given her a bath in warm water with reptiboost mixed in to try and re-hydrate and make her feel better. We hand fed her some waxworks and mealworms (one of which she regurgated and spat out shortly after)
PLEASE HELP! We can take her to the vet Tuesday if necessary.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, 8-9 months max, female, in our care around 4 months
Handling - Virtually never, maybe just to hand feed some mealworms after a full cage clean
Feeding - Gut loaded crickets mostly, with mealworms & waxworms once a week or so.
Supplements - Vetark Calcium one or two pinches straight into the store container that the crickets come in and shake it up
Watering - A spray bottle for about 60+ seconds twice a day or if I know I am not going to be home until after lights out that day I will spray extra in the morning
Fecal Description - Until now, there was fairly dry droppings on branches bottom of cage and yellow/white patches here and there.
History - She started hanging upside down a week or so ago but was still eating and drinking and climbing
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze Large mesh cage, I think its 45w x 45d x 90h, no substrate just newspaper or sometime repticarpet if I see any in pets at home because I thought she might accidentally swallow bark or something like that
Lighting - ExoTerra 100w Spot Lamp, Arcadia 6% UVB Tube Lamp 12"
Temperature - 22 deg at bottom 31 deg at basking spot which is 6 inches from top of cage, I have never measured overnight temp. I use a TN1 laser/infrared spot thermometer gun to measure temps
Humidity - I don't know what my humidity levels are, I just mist twice a day
Plants - Silk plants only
Placement - Cage is in my home office, least used room in the house as advised by where we purchase her from, cage height at basing spot would be about 5ft or so. It's than anyone using the computer in the office higher
Location - We are located in the UK, Bedfordshire
