Our female veiled needs help!
I'm new here and fairly new to chameleon care. I've had a bearded dragon that I had very good success with, but my son really wanted a herp of his own and chose a veiled chameleon.
We've had her for a couple of years and she's done well, but over the past couple of days, we've noticed she has become less active and she isn't interested in any crickets, which normally she would gobble up immediately. She is vertically clinging closely to her branch while sleeping and sometimes walks around with only one eye open. Her skin remains a much darker shade than her typical lime green color. She has been spending much more time on the bottom of the enclosure as well. Below are all the details I can remember. THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE!
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female, veiled chameleon, purchased from Petco just over two years ago. We believe her to be about 2.5 years old.
Handling - She is usually handled every other day for about 5 minutes.
Feeding - We usually feed her in the afternoons. She has been getting crickets. The crickets are fed Fluker's Cricket Quencher Calcium Fortified while being kept and are coated with vitamin supplement powder every other feeding. Usually around 5 to six large crickets. We occasionally gove her kale and grapes or apples as well.
Supplements - Zoo Med Reptivite coating on crickets
Watering - We have a MistKing Starter Misting System which mists the enclosure once, midday each day for 30 seconds
Fecal Description - Droppings are greenish brown. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16" L X 16" W X 30" H ZooMed repti-breeze
Lighting - ZooMed Tropical Lighting Kit w/ UVB
Temperature - 73 to 78 degrees, 85 degrees at top
Lowest overnight temp? 73
How do you measure these temps? digital thermometer
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? around 45 percent
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? just typical levels in our living room
What do you use to measure humidity? Petco Reptile Habitat Humidity Gauge
Plants - all vines and plants are fake
Placement - the cage is on top of a small bookshelf at the far end of our living room. It's about four feet off the floor and within a couple of feet of the main window, where we occasionally leave the blinds open to give her sunlight.
Location - Sanford, Florida
Current Problem - Slower movement than normal, dark skin, no interest in usual crickets (little appetite), ribs have become more protruding on sides, sometimes only opens one eye
This is Liz (my son named her) on a usual day:
...and this is her when she was agitated by my son's disturbance of her dinner one evening:
I'm new here and fairly new to chameleon care. I've had a bearded dragon that I had very good success with, but my son really wanted a herp of his own and chose a veiled chameleon.
We've had her for a couple of years and she's done well, but over the past couple of days, we've noticed she has become less active and she isn't interested in any crickets, which normally she would gobble up immediately. She is vertically clinging closely to her branch while sleeping and sometimes walks around with only one eye open. Her skin remains a much darker shade than her typical lime green color. She has been spending much more time on the bottom of the enclosure as well. Below are all the details I can remember. THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE!
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female, veiled chameleon, purchased from Petco just over two years ago. We believe her to be about 2.5 years old.
Handling - She is usually handled every other day for about 5 minutes.
Feeding - We usually feed her in the afternoons. She has been getting crickets. The crickets are fed Fluker's Cricket Quencher Calcium Fortified while being kept and are coated with vitamin supplement powder every other feeding. Usually around 5 to six large crickets. We occasionally gove her kale and grapes or apples as well.
Supplements - Zoo Med Reptivite coating on crickets
Watering - We have a MistKing Starter Misting System which mists the enclosure once, midday each day for 30 seconds
Fecal Description - Droppings are greenish brown. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16" L X 16" W X 30" H ZooMed repti-breeze
Lighting - ZooMed Tropical Lighting Kit w/ UVB
Temperature - 73 to 78 degrees, 85 degrees at top
Lowest overnight temp? 73
How do you measure these temps? digital thermometer
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? around 45 percent
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? just typical levels in our living room
What do you use to measure humidity? Petco Reptile Habitat Humidity Gauge
Plants - all vines and plants are fake
Placement - the cage is on top of a small bookshelf at the far end of our living room. It's about four feet off the floor and within a couple of feet of the main window, where we occasionally leave the blinds open to give her sunlight.
Location - Sanford, Florida
Current Problem - Slower movement than normal, dark skin, no interest in usual crickets (little appetite), ribs have become more protruding on sides, sometimes only opens one eye
This is Liz (my son named her) on a usual day:
...and this is her when she was agitated by my son's disturbance of her dinner one evening:
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