Help Please

[Stolistes]

Hi

My son bought a male Yemen chameleon for his 18th birthday in August of this year. the chameleon was around a month old when we got him.

I am becoming concerned about him as he seems to be becoming increasingly lethargic. He lives in large glass vivarium and we spray him twice a day.

He has been eating a combination of small crickets, meal worms and wax worms all dusted with a calcium balancer and vitamin supplement. We see him drink the drops of water on the glass regularly.

He now appears to have stopped eating the crickets and is only eating the meal worms and wax worms. I've noticed that he also has his eyes closed a lot of the time now. He is pooping fairly regularly. Is something wrong or am I worrying about nothing?

Photo attached.

Thanks

 

[Andee]

Ok you need to fill out the "How to Ask for Help" form which can be found here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

But Chameleons should never be kept in an all glass terrarium without adequate airflow. They should have at least two sides screened in, but please please fill out that form, there is more going on with him than just that I am pretty sure.

 

[Lathis]

Eyes closed during the day is usually a sign of illness. There are a lot of things that can factor into it too. If you can fill this out, we can help you better. The more info you can give us, the more we can help.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Ditch the mealworms entirely if you can get tiny superworms. Mealworms aren't great feeders. Superworms are a little better since they can be more easily gut loaded with nutritious food. Wax worms are like lizard candy - nothing but fat. He might be skipping his crickets knowing that he will get candy if he waits. He also could be a bit dehydrated and is preferring to eat soft, fluid filled prey. Does he have a dripper where he has access to water during the day?

 

[Lathis]

But Chameleons should never be kept in an all glass terrarium without adequate airflow. They should have at least two sides screened in.

Not necessarily, if it's the proper type of vivarium that is designed to vent. The basking lights create a thermal chimney that keeps air moving through the vented slots and out the top. Lots of keepers here have good success with vented glass vivs. You do want to keep an eye on temperatures, especially for babies. Glass enclosures will overheat faster than screen.

Absolutely never to fish tanks though, we can all agree on that!

For the long term, Yemens do get quite big. He will likely outgrow his glass viv and need a much larger cage - screen cages are far cheaper and larger.

 

[Carlton]

Eyes closed during the day is usually a sign of illness. There are a lot of things that can factor into it too. If you can fill this out, we can help you better. The more info you can give us, the more we can help.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Ditch the mealworms entirely if you can get tiny superworms. Mealworms aren't great feeders. Superworms are a little better since they can be more easily gut loaded with nutritious food. Wax worms are like lizard candy - nothing but fat. He might be skipping his crickets knowing that he will get candy if he waits. He also could be a bit dehydrated and is preferring to eat soft, fluid filled prey. Does he have a dripper where he has access to water during the day?

And, if you were using vitamin dust every day that can also cause problems. Ditto the wrong sort of lighting. Many shops don't even carry the correct lighting for the animals they sell. Be as detailed in your answers so we can tease out the trouble and get him back on track! If you are trying to decide between the care info you may have gotten from the pet store and the info we give, please choose ours. We have seen some pretty terrible pet shop husbandry info supplied to new cham buyers and work very hard to correct it.

 

[Andee]

Lathis, I didn't even know they created purely glass enclosures that were just vented o.o the things you learn XD, yay learning ^^

 

[Lathis]

Yes, they do! There are some really good discussions on the forum on glass viv vs screen cage. Some of it is environment but a lot of it is keeper preference. I personally like the size and flexibility that screen cages provide. I have a little vented glass viv for my tree frog. It was quite pricey but holds a steady RH nicely.