Help something’s wrong with my chameleon!!!

kimberharper

New Member
so i got a female baby veiled chameleon a couple weeks ago from my local pet store, she’s about a couple months old and last week she started itching her eyes constantly on anything that she could and wasnt really opening them up much during the day. Then a couple days ago i took her out to adjust her plant in her cage and she fell like 4 ft but she didn’t hit anything and landed on a towel, she was a little stunned for a couple seconds and then she crawled back on me and i put her in her hammock and since then she hasn’t really left it to explore like she usually does and she hasn’t been nuzzling in her hibiscus to sleep like she does every night. i give her 3 small gut loaded crickets in her food dish dusted in phosphorus free calcium powder every morning and reptivite twice a week and then another cricket to just roam around bc she likes the hunt. The past couple days she hasn’t been eating them at all so i got her some dubai roaches to see if she’d try them after she had a couple mishaps with the crickets, i’ve tried hand feeding them to her but she doesn’t open her eyes most times or when i get her to she just looks at it and closes them again. today she’s been really really skinny and weak and when she does move around she won’t open her eyes so most times she almost falls. i have a dripper and i mist a couple times a day and she lovessss her dripper so i know she’s not dehydrated and i have a vet appointment scheduled for monday but in the mean time is there anything i can do to help her? or does anyone know what’s wrong? i attached something pictures of her and her enclosure, the first one of her was last week and the second was today
 

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Oh dear! She is a little one. You are making several errors in husbandry. It would be easiest if you could fill this out (copy & paste) & have all of it reviewed at once rather than play 20 questions.

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.

--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
She’s a veiled chameleon i think a couple months old, i’ve only had her 3 weeks. I rarely handle her only if i’m fixing something in her cage. I’m feeding her 3 small crickets every morning after she does her little warm up, i gut load them with apples, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers from my garden. Today i started feeding her some very very small dubai roaches gut loaded with the same thing. For calcium i use repti calcium by zoomed 6x a week and herptivite multivitamins by repcal 2x a week. I use a dripper with the hose placed in her cage to drip on the plant leaves for 15 minutes twice a day and mist the enclosure with a spray bottle 3-5 times a day, yes i see her drinking from the dripper. Her feces is usually firm brown with some white paste but yesterday it was really runny and brown, no she hasn’t been tested for parasites yet as her appointment is on monday. I have a 16x16x30 all screen enclosures. i have a 50w basking bulb and a 13w reptisun 5.0 bulb about 6in above her enclosure, i have her on a 12 hours on 12 hours off schedule from 10am-10pm. The temp from floor to basking spot is 70-85 and the night temp ranges from 60-70 and i measure these with a digital thermometer with a probe end. The humidity stays at about 75-80% and i maintain this by misting her enclosure daily and measure it with a digital hygrometer. I have a live hibiscus plant and a fake vine. The cage is in my room in the basement away from activity and on a table with the height being about 4 1/2ft at top, i have one standing fan in my room facing away from her. I live in the very very pacific northwest of WA so it’s naturally humid here. i do have to add that in the past couples hours she’s been gaping quite a bit which is very unusual behavior and i will attach a picture of her enclosure i took today.
 

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Oh dear! She is a little one. You are making several errors in husbandry. It would be easiest if you could fill this out (copy & paste) & have all of it reviewed at once rather than play 20 questions.

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.

--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
I just turned on her lights to show how she’s sleeping
 

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Putting my feedback in red. I do want to warn you that you need to make a lot of changes. I may seem overly critical, but I assure you I’m not trying to be mean...just being blunt and trying to help. Sugar coating is for donuts only.
She’s a veiled chameleon i think a couple months old, i’ve only had her 3 weeks. I rarely handle her only if i’m fixing something in her cage. I’m feeding her 3 small crickets every morning after she does her little warm up, this is not nearly enough. This young they basically should be eating as much as they want. I would say crickets should be extra small, like 1/8” to 1/4”. Same for dubia. Also could try some small bsfl which are naturally high in calcium. Rule of thumb for feeder size is it shouldn’t be larger than the space between the eyes. i gut load them with apples, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers from my garden. I like that you are using fresh and hopefully pesticide free, but the lettuce and cukes don’t offer much nutritional value and I’d avoid tomato. Bell pepper, sweet potato, dandelion greens, squash etc are great. Gutloading is to pass the nutrients on to the cham. Attaching gutload and feeder graphics for you. Today i started feeding her some very very small dubai roaches gut loaded with the same thing. For calcium i use repti calcium by zoomed 6x a week and herptivite multivitamins by repcal 2x a week. Does your calcium contain D3? You should be dusting daily with a phosphorus free calcium without D3 except one day per week. D3 is a fat soluble vitamin that can build up and cause toxicity. The one weekly feeding you want to use a calcium with D3 one week and the next, a multivitamin. If you have been using calcium with D3 6 days a week, you need to not give her anymore and hydrate her well...try giving tiny hornworms if you can get them. They are basically just bags of water and good for hydration. Silkworms would be good too. I use a dripper with the hose placed in her cage to drip on the plant leaves for 15 minutes twice a day and mist the enclosure with a spray bottle 3-5 times a day, Is best to spray 3-4 times daily for at least 2 minutes. If using the dripper, you could cut the spraying back to 2-3 times a day. You want the enclosure to have time to dry out. yes i see her drinking from the dripper. Her feces is usually firm brown with some white paste but yesterday it was really runny and brown, no she hasn’t been tested for parasites yet as her appointment is on monday. make sure to take a fresh fecal sample. You can store one for up to a day in the fridge if needed.I have a 16x16x30 all screen enclosures. This size is ok for now, but in a few months she’ll be needing at least a 2x2x4’ or equivalent enclosure. i have a 50w basking bulb and a 13w reptisun 5.0 bulb about 6in above her enclosure, Wrong uvb. You need the linear T5HO fixture with a 5.0 uvb bulb. Both basking and uvb should be between 8-9” above her basking area. i have her on a 12 hours on 12 hours off schedule from 10am-10pm. The temp from floor to basking spot is 70-85 At this young, basking temp shouldn’t exceed around 80*. and the night temp ranges from 60-70 and i measure these with a digital thermometer with a probe end. The humidity stays at about 75-80% This is way too high! Needs to be kept between 30-50% during the day. Heat + high humidity = respiratory infection risk. At night when it’s cool humidity can go al, the way to 100%. and i maintain this by misting her enclosure daily and measure it with a digital hygrometer. I have a live hibiscus plant and a fake vine. All love plants is best, especially for veileds. They will nibble on their plants and some have been known to eat fake leaves and get impacted. Pothos is my favorite...easy care, low light requirement, grows long vines quickly which provide additional cham roads, big leaves to hide in, drink from and provide shade and always a safe little snack. This list will tell you which plants are safe. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/ Also, hibiscus has very high light needs and without a special plant light, will probably die. The cage is in my room in the basement away from activity and on a table with the height being about 4 1/2ft at top, This is ok, but reall should be higher. They feel safest when they are above us. i have one standing fan in my room facing away from her. I live in the very very pacific northwest of WA so it’s naturally humid here. i do have to add that in the past couples hours she’s been gaping quite a bit which is very unusual behavior and i will attach a picture of her enclosure i took today. Her gaping could be a sign of a respiratory infection. Do you hear any noises when she is breathing? Does she have stringy saliva? Other cause for gaping is being too hot, however your temps aren’t that hot. With your humidity being so high, i’d suspect respiratory infection. Very young chameleons are much more sensitive to errors in husbandry and fragile. Responsible breeders won’t send them off to their new homes until at least 3 months old for this reason.
Regarding your enclosure as a whole...get rid of the reptile carpet. Bare floor is easiest to clean and more hygienic. The carpet just becomes a bacterial breeding ground. Also, if that is a water bowl in the corner, that needs to go too. It is very rare that a chameleon would drink from a bowl and that too becomes a bacterial risk. I’d tell you to ditch the bearded dragon hammock too, but I see that she is using it and you have your dripper aimed at it. You need to detach the vine from the top. Little chams will climb across the top but it’s a risk for them to get burnt from the heat of the lights. You don’t want to make it so easy for her to get there. Add more branches horizontally to provide more little roads for her to travel.
Aside from the forum, there are a couple of great places to learn all you could want and more about chameleons and their keeping. https://chameleonacademy.com/ Make sure to check out chameleon breeder podcasts that you can access from there. On YouTube, check out Neptune the Chameleon by one of the forum members. She makes it all easy to understand and gives great info.
For your vet visit, it may help if you are prepared to tell them all of your husbandry which will give the vet important info. I always write it down and especially with COVID not allowing us to accompany our animals into some clinics, it becomes invaluable. You may even want to print this out and take it.
As though this isn’t long enough, one final word...not all vets are very experienced or fully knowledgeable about chams and the specifics of their husbandry. Do keep us posted on what the vet says/does.


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Looking closer at your pics of her (& after some caffeine) it almost looks like she may have a broken rib. She really doesn’t look good at all. Way too thin, eyes appear sunken and just in sad condition. I’m hoping it’s not too late for her. :(
I have to ask where you got her from and what advice the seller gave you?
 
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