Help my babys acting Ill

[minx88xl]

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.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - I handle him a little everyday
Feeding - 3 crickets a day, gutloaded with carrot tops and lettuce
Supplements -mineral supplement
Watering - mist 3 times a day and dripper on 3 times a day. I have seen him drink.
Fecal Description - black with a small amount of yellow and White
History - about 6 months old, owned him 2 weeks
Cage Info:
Cage Type - exo terra glass sides screen top and front ventilation
Lighting- sun glo UVA basking lamp and repti glo 13w compact UVB light on a 12 hr timer 6am - 9pm
Temperature - 88-90F in basking spot 70-80F in cooler spot
Humidity - 50-60% maintained by misting
Plants - artificial no live plants yet
Placement - in a concealed corner of quiet living room
Location - UK

The problem is that he can't seem to stay awake, when he is awake ( for about 2 minutes) he is active and responsive. His eyesight is ok because when his eyes are open he reacts to objects coming towards him. He hasn't fallen. He just can't stay awake even though he sleeping at night!
Please help!
Current Problem -

 

[Julirs]

First a few questions. What kind of chameleon and how big is the Exoterra? Exoterra really does not make a big enough enclosure for an adult Veiled. What are you measuring temps with? You should be using a digital thermometer.
3 crickets a day is not enough for a 6 month old still growing chameleon. You are using a coiled compact bulb, and the older versions of these are known to be dangerous and cause eye issues. Yellow in the urates can mean dehydration. Are you sure of your temps? For a 6 month old Veiled I would go no higher than 90-and those glass tanks can heat up fast. Handling every day is a little excessive and can cause stress related health issues. I would try to get some live plants-the sooner the better.

 

[minx88xl]

He is a 6 month old Yemen Cham. Viv is 60x45x60 it big for him but I expect to buy a bigger viv within a year.
The light is brand new exo terra one. My temps are measured with a round analouge thermometer. One in the baskin spot (never more than 90) and one on the cooler side.

I have seen him drink but only once, he has a really good mist 3-4 times a day and about 3 shot glasses of water through the dripper too.

The only idea I have is I got bigger crickets than usual because the shop were out of the small ones. Could this be due to not eating?

 

[Julirs]

I am going to asssume the UVB is OK if it is Exoterra. Analog thermometers really do not give an accurate reading of basking spot temps. At 6 months he should be able to eat full size crickets, but more than you are feeding. Can you take a pic of them cham and cage?

 

[Miss Lily]

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.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - I handle him a little everyday
Feeding - 3 crickets a day, gutloaded with carrot tops and lettuce
Supplements -mineral supplement
Watering - mist 3 times a day and dripper on 3 times a day. I have seen him drink.
Fecal Description - black with a small amount of yellow and White
History - about 6 months old, owned him 2 weeks
Cage Info:
Cage Type - exo terra glass sides screen top and front ventilation
Lighting- sun glo UVA basking lamp and repti glo 13w compact UVB light on a 12 hr timer 6am - 9pm
Temperature - 88-90F in basking spot 70-80F in cooler spot
Humidity - 50-60% maintained by misting
Plants - artificial no live plants yet
Placement - in a concealed corner of quiet living room
Location - UK

The problem is that he can't seem to stay awake, when he is awake ( for about 2 minutes) he is active and responsive. His eyesight is ok because when his eyes are open he reacts to objects coming towards him. He hasn't fallen. He just can't stay awake even though he sleeping at night!
Please help!
Current Problem -

The compaxct UV bulb may be giving him eye problems. I am also in the UK and have my female in an Exo Terra viv. There are two types of light units that fit on the top of these cages - the 'dual' top and the 'compact' top. I am suspecting that you have been ill advised by the pet shop with the type of bulbs required, and thus got the 'compact' version which houses the compact (spiral) shaped bulbs. I have the 'dual' top on mine - the one that houses two long UV tubes and a heat spot lamp in the middle, although I only use the tube fittings - I have a separate heat lamp.

 

[minx88xl]

pictures

the picture of the viv is an old one as it doesnt have bark in the bottom anymore but everything else is the same.


Could what type of bulb he has really be responsible?

 

[cham702]

If I was u I could add lot more plants on the class wall...that is just me thoe..just saying

 

[PedroANDAshley]

the picture of the viv is an old one as it doesnt have bark in the bottom anymore but everything else is the same. View attachment 27039

View attachment 27042
Could what type of bulb he has really be responsible?

YES it can.
When I used the exoterra compact bulbs it gave pedro eye problems.
I would recommend switch to a exoterra (reptiglo) 5.0 LINEAR TUBE OR even better would be a REPTISUN 5.0 LINEAR TUBE.
It also sounds like he should be eating more.
Prolly around 8 a day or thats what Pedro was eating at that age as I recall.

Also add more live plants please, dont for get to cover the soil in the pot with large rocks and clean it before its in the cage.

Also is that dirt on the bottom of the cage?
You should get rid of that and use news paper or papertowels

 

[Julirs]

If Woody really is 6 months old, he is very small. Are you positive he is male? I would add live plants and some horizontal vines to the cage.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm glad you've gotten rid of the bark. You really don't need substrate, but if you just have to have something, newspaper or paper towels will do fine.

Woody is very cute. I have a great fondness for that name.

I agree with the people calling for live plants. It really helps you keep the environment right. If you can have them in terracotta pots, that's best. They'll really help with the humidity. I think you might want to get some more climbing options in there. Vines going top to bottom are always good.

 

[minx88xl]

The plastic plants in there run from top to bottom, however i do want some live plants in there im having trouble finding them. His age is a rough guess from the pet shop and they said he was male.

Ive now noticed he isnt eating, when he is out of his viv he still has his eyes closed like he asleep so could that still be the light?

If i replace the bulb will he make a full recovery if it was the bulb?
Thanks for all your help!

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Well closing the eyes can mean alot of things really
that hes sick, is dehydrated, has an infection, or his eyes are just irratated.
I would replace the bulb today, because you should any ways, and if he doesnt stop or get better in the next couple of days after Id take him to the vet.
He could not be eating because his eye are closed and he cant see well

In the mean time keep him hydrated, make sure his temps and humidity is right, and keep him as well fed as you possibly can.

Do you have a vet you can go to?

 

[minx88xl]

I dont have a vet i can go to that will know specially about reptiles. As woody isnt drinking will he stay hydrated if he has water dripped onto his skin?

What can i try to keep him eating?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[minx88xl]

Something else im confused about, i have the repti sun 5.0 bulb in a lamp holder for a basking light, if i turned off the repti glo 5.0 compact bulb light could the repti sun keep him going until i could buy the new linear light set up?

 

[ange loves chams]

ditch the compact and get a linear tube bulb. It won't hurt his eyes and will give him much better uvb. Also your enclosure NEEDS vines and a butt load more plants in there aswell. They loves to climb and hide and they need to feel secure or else that can be a source of stress. I'd say also invest in acouple live plants aswell when you can to help fill out the space. But deffinatly ditch the bulb, get a fixture and a linear, you can find all kinds of cheap fixtures at local hardware stores(thats what i did) instead of spending big bucks at a pet shop. And you need to provide vines and more foliage for the little guy!

Let us know how he's doing, and after you make the necessary changes if he is still very lethargic, id say after about a few days to a week max if he's still acting funky take him to the vet asap! Good luck and im sure you're little guy is going to be ok

 

[ange loves chams]

I dont have a vet i can go to that will know specially about reptiles. As woody isnt drinking will he stay hydrated if he has water dripped onto his skin?

What can i try to keep him eating?

Thanks again for all the help.

You deffinatly have to look into finding vets in ur area for him regardless. There haas to be herp vets especialy in ur area. The vet i am going to now (here in canada) is actually from the UK she moved here a while ago and is 10x better than the other hep vets around here. So much more knowledgable.

Also chameleons have not been proven to "drink" or stay hydrated through their skin so i'd say no a dripper on his skin wouldnt keep him hydrated. As long as you keep to the steady mistings your doing even if you dont see him drink from the dripper he is probably drinking off the leaves and such... thats why you need more leaves for him to climb and drink off of. From the picture i seen he doesn't really look dehydrated his skin isn't bunchy and his eyes arn't sunken in. Maybe if you could take a front pic as well so we could see both his eyes to see if their sunken in at all.

To keep him eating. Id say try taking a plastic cup and tying it on a branch close to where he is sitting and putting crickets in there. And leave the room don't disturb him and he'll porbably eat them if he's hungry. Go get sum vines and put them in there and tie the cup close to where he is and that he can see the crickets inside the cup.