Jorie
New Member
Chameleon Info:
Background: I live in Southwest Florida and my sister spotted this smallish chameleon on the fence on a vine in our backyard and noticed it was missing a back leg and looking very rough. Since they're not native and he/she looked like they were struggling and I already have experience with chameleons I caught it with a towel and have had it in my older chameleon's previous cage ever since (by itself). The cage is a 2x1 glass zoomed cage and was cleaned out before I put the new little dude in there. No chemicals were used to clean the cage. I set up the cage with coconut fiber medium, branches, and ficus leaves and branches with a heat(uva) and ubv dome lamp.
Your Chameleon - The species is Veiled, sex is female i think (doesn't have node on the back of back foot), and age is unknown- maybe a year or two (~5inch long body) . Been in my care for 3 weeks.
Handling - Only twice since in my care
Feeding - Little dude has been eating great since I got him/her: ~5-8 Crickets everyday + mealworms and a few wax worms to fatten him/her up + occasional piece of lettuce. Bugs are fed fresh fruit & veggies.
Supplements - None
Watering - Haven't seen it drinking yet. I spray down the entire cage with a mister with spring water 2x/day.
Fecal Description - Noticeably pooped once when I first captured it but haven't seen any poops since :/. My mom volunteers at a wildlife clinic and does fecals there under a scope to sight an parasites or eggs. She cleared the sample we took. He/she literally just pooped while I've been typing this!! The white "pee" part but then kind of goopy and yellow
.
History- I've had my other Veiled for 3 years so I like to think I know what I'm doing. I trust ZooMed and other commercial reptile brands for most products, however I locally source my branches and plants, always making sure to look up the variety of plant to ensure no toxins always power rinsing the plants and branches of bugs and potential "no-no's" before I put anything in the cage. My 3-year-old male Veiled is totally healthy and happy in a large open screened cage.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x1ft glass zoomed cage with screen top. Just (today) moved him/her into a 2x3 all-screen enclosure.
Lighting - Exoterra UVB light and blue heat uvb lamp inside both zooMed dome. 12 hour "Natural" light timing: I set the lights to a timer to match the sun- on around 7am off around 7pm.
Temperature -~82* during the day, all heating & lamps off at night. When cage was inside temp drops to ~73-75* at night. Measure with in cage thermometer.
Humidity - No idea really. I try to keep it as natural as possible, natural outside humidity now (anywhere from 80-100%) spraying the cage 2x a day for moisture but always making sure it has time to dry out.
Plants - Ficus & hibiscus.
Placement - When he/she was in glass cage the setup was inside. Now in the bigger screen cage the cage is outside over a covered patio that has indirect (never direct) access to sunlight and ceiling fans on low to keep air circulating.
Location - South florida
Current Problem - So I've had this chameleon I caught for 3 weeks now and she/he pooped right away and ate great at first. I found it missing its back right leg, looking like an old wound because it's healed but the coloration of the nub is weird/ not the same as the rest of the body. The tail also looks a bit gnarly like maybe it was pecked at or eaten away at because its very rough looking. Also, its skin looked almost charred at first and very peely as well as it looked very dehydrated with sunken eyes. But neither the nub nor the tail looked infected when I first caught the cham and all other visible symptoms have improved over these past 3 weeks. So to the problem!... for the past two days the chameleon is seemingly suddenly lethargic and sleeping during the day. I picked him/her up to move it to the new cage (the screen cage with fresh zooMed mulch) and it didn't even fight back (it was super feisty when I caught him/her out of my backyard). It was so lethargic not caring what I did I was sure it was a goner!
The back leg nub and the tail looked inflamed so I sat it with its back legs and tail in a small dish of water for an hour and it really seemed to pep up the cham (yay)! But he/she continues to sleep and besides missing the back legs has trouble climbing branches...I'm worried this lethargia could lead to the death of this little dude. Any advice fellow chameleon owners? Thanks for reading/helping! Sorry for the long-windedness.
P.S. My family and I are thinking that there is a breeder in the area that this little cham escaped from (there are other exotic looking lizards in the area) and that it was neglected and then released into the wild. The nails on the claws are long and gnarly and he/she looked so rough when I found him with the nub and the tail problems. I think it is a female so maybe I should give her a chance to lay eggs with some deep sand...
Background: I live in Southwest Florida and my sister spotted this smallish chameleon on the fence on a vine in our backyard and noticed it was missing a back leg and looking very rough. Since they're not native and he/she looked like they were struggling and I already have experience with chameleons I caught it with a towel and have had it in my older chameleon's previous cage ever since (by itself). The cage is a 2x1 glass zoomed cage and was cleaned out before I put the new little dude in there. No chemicals were used to clean the cage. I set up the cage with coconut fiber medium, branches, and ficus leaves and branches with a heat(uva) and ubv dome lamp.
Your Chameleon - The species is Veiled, sex is female i think (doesn't have node on the back of back foot), and age is unknown- maybe a year or two (~5inch long body) . Been in my care for 3 weeks.
Handling - Only twice since in my care
Feeding - Little dude has been eating great since I got him/her: ~5-8 Crickets everyday + mealworms and a few wax worms to fatten him/her up + occasional piece of lettuce. Bugs are fed fresh fruit & veggies.
Supplements - None
Watering - Haven't seen it drinking yet. I spray down the entire cage with a mister with spring water 2x/day.
Fecal Description - Noticeably pooped once when I first captured it but haven't seen any poops since :/. My mom volunteers at a wildlife clinic and does fecals there under a scope to sight an parasites or eggs. She cleared the sample we took. He/she literally just pooped while I've been typing this!! The white "pee" part but then kind of goopy and yellow
.History- I've had my other Veiled for 3 years so I like to think I know what I'm doing. I trust ZooMed and other commercial reptile brands for most products, however I locally source my branches and plants, always making sure to look up the variety of plant to ensure no toxins always power rinsing the plants and branches of bugs and potential "no-no's" before I put anything in the cage. My 3-year-old male Veiled is totally healthy and happy in a large open screened cage.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x1ft glass zoomed cage with screen top. Just (today) moved him/her into a 2x3 all-screen enclosure.
Lighting - Exoterra UVB light and blue heat uvb lamp inside both zooMed dome. 12 hour "Natural" light timing: I set the lights to a timer to match the sun- on around 7am off around 7pm.
Temperature -~82* during the day, all heating & lamps off at night. When cage was inside temp drops to ~73-75* at night. Measure with in cage thermometer.
Humidity - No idea really. I try to keep it as natural as possible, natural outside humidity now (anywhere from 80-100%) spraying the cage 2x a day for moisture but always making sure it has time to dry out.
Plants - Ficus & hibiscus.
Placement - When he/she was in glass cage the setup was inside. Now in the bigger screen cage the cage is outside over a covered patio that has indirect (never direct) access to sunlight and ceiling fans on low to keep air circulating.
Location - South florida
Current Problem - So I've had this chameleon I caught for 3 weeks now and she/he pooped right away and ate great at first. I found it missing its back right leg, looking like an old wound because it's healed but the coloration of the nub is weird/ not the same as the rest of the body. The tail also looks a bit gnarly like maybe it was pecked at or eaten away at because its very rough looking. Also, its skin looked almost charred at first and very peely as well as it looked very dehydrated with sunken eyes. But neither the nub nor the tail looked infected when I first caught the cham and all other visible symptoms have improved over these past 3 weeks. So to the problem!... for the past two days the chameleon is seemingly suddenly lethargic and sleeping during the day
. I picked him/her up to move it to the new cage (the screen cage with fresh zooMed mulch) and it didn't even fight back (it was super feisty when I caught him/her out of my backyard). It was so lethargic not caring what I did I was sure it was a goner! The back leg nub and the tail looked inflamed so I sat it with its back legs and tail in a small dish of water for an hour and it really seemed to pep up the cham (yay)! But he/she continues to sleep and besides missing the back legs has trouble climbing branches...I'm worried this lethargia could lead to the death of this little dude. Any advice fellow chameleon owners? Thanks for reading/helping! Sorry for the long-windedness.
P.S. My family and I are thinking that there is a breeder in the area that this little cham escaped from (there are other exotic looking lizards in the area) and that it was neglected and then released into the wild. The nails on the claws are long and gnarly and he/she looked so rough when I found him with the nub and the tail problems. I think it is a female so maybe I should give her a chance to lay eggs with some deep sand...
