Help please

ChloeChameleon

New Member
I noticed a a few day ago that my chameleon wasn't eating, so I purchased some waxworks to entice her but two days later she still hasn't touched them, what's worse is that today I found her at the bottom of her cage and she's barely moving I have given her a little repticare, but she has no energy to climb, I put a hammock in her cage and placed her there so she doesn't get cold but I'm terrified that she's dying and I don't know what to do
 
Fill this out so we have all the info and can give you a more informed answer. If it's a girl she could also be ready to lay, was she scratching around the bottom or just lying there?

Fill this out:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - she's a female veiled chameleon about 1 1/2 to 2 years old I've had her for a year
Handling - I handle her twice a month, for cage maintenance, she does not like being picked up and I try not to stress her
Feeding - I always have a variety of worms available for her, waxworks superworms and mealworms, and I give her dusted gut loaded crickets once a week, I'll put 15 in her cage, I have given her hibiscus plants during the summer time but she doesn't have any plants in her cage now
Supplements - she gets reptive and calcium when I dust the crickets once a week I alternate between the two
Watering - I've never seen her drinking but I assume she does since I've had her so long, I have an automatic spraying system from exoterra which mists every 2 hours for twelve seconds
Fecal Description - Usually her droppings are white with a bit of black on it but I noticed that now it's just white
History - She's never had any issues


Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have the large reptibreeze cage, it's a screen cage
Lighting - I have a 18" UVB fluorescent light which is on a timer and it's on 11 hours during the day
Temperature - I don't have a temperature gage but I have a 100v ceramic heat lamp on top of her cage which is switches to a 25 v at night, the temperature in the room never drops below 67
Humidity - again I don't have a humidity gage, but the room she's in has a humidifier on 24/7 during the winter time
Plants - Not at this time but she's had hibiscus and daisies in her cage before
Placement - There's not a lot of traffic in her room and shes placed on a table so the top of the cage stands around 5'3", there's a window near her but there's no draft there, it's just so she gets more light
Location - Rhode Island

Current Problem - she looks dehydrated hasn't eaten in a few days, her eyes are sunken and she's barely moving, I found her just laying at the bottom of her cage, she never goes to the bottom, also she's never been tested for parasites but after having her for a year could she have them?
 
This is her now I put the hammock in there because she wasn't really gripping the branches, and I didn't want her getting cold at the bottom, she's hasn't moved at all, you can see her tail looks shriveled
 

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She looks pretty robust. I'd def put a laying bin in her cage right now. If she is carrying eggs and has no place to lay them she could become egg bound and die. She does need to be with a male to be carrying eggs.
 
She looks gravid and needs a place to lay her eggs. They can lay even without a male, eggs will be infertile.
Do you have a laying bin in her enclosure? Was reason she was at bottom was looking for somewhere.
She should be having plain calcium, phosphorous free, at every feeding. Calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit twice monthly.
She needs to eat better variety of feeders, those worms she's having aren't very nutritious and high in fat.
Check out the caresheets aswell, loads of info.
Hope she improves soon.
Kath.
 
She gets calcium with d3 once a week with her vitamins, and plain calcium once a week, I alternate, I will give her more calcium from now on, how do I make a laying bin for her?
 
She looks dehydrated! The misting system you have set up needs a longer misting than 12 seconds, at least a minute it should be really.

Also a drip system dripping on to a leaf/plant should be running during the day.
 
Thank you, I gave her a laying bin and placed her on it, I covered her cage too so she'll have privacy, I just hope it's not too late. But I will update as soon as I can, thank you all for your answers
 
This is very hard to write but Chloe passed away yesterday, we took her to the vet but there wasn't much they could do, she was a very beautiful girl with a lot of personality and I'm going to miss her. Thank you all for your advice and help.
 
You guys were right she was egg bound. I just didn't catch it in time. It never even occurred to me as a possibility. She was too weak by the time I was aware of it. It breaks my heart.
 
Egg binding is extremely dangerous to female veiled chameleons, more so than other species. We have seen them with eggs earlier and earlier. Maybe one of the site developers could put a link on the homepage referring beginners to care for egg laying. It just seems like one of the main cause of death.

I am so sorry to hear about your little girl. I have had to deal with it too, not fun.
 
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