How to disinfect chameleon enclosure after parasites

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

In September I found a fully mature female veiled in my backyard in my empty dirt planter. She was in decent shape besides being very underweight. We posted on the city Facebook groups and asked all our closest neighbors & no one knew of any owner. I’ve never owned a reptile before, but within a week I’d bonded with her. I’ve done an insane amount of research & have spent over $3000 on supplies.
On her second vet appointment a few weeks ago we did a fecal screen & it came back positive for pinworms and coccidia. Vet says could’ve been from the Petsmart feeder crickets I got during my first weeks of having her but most likely she got them from wherever she came from before me. Vet told me to put her in her temporary chameleon “hotel” I got for more thorough enclosure cleanings that’s 18 x 12 x 20 Zilla Fresh Air Screen habitat while she’s taking her treatment as she may ‘shed’ parasites that could reinfect her later. Unfortunately one of her medications will take a month for her to go through and that’s a long time in such a small enclosure. I can’t afford and don’t have room for a second larger enclosure for the month, how bad would it be to keep her in the 18 x 12 x 20 for 30 days?
Second, how do I fully sanitize her permanent enclosure for her to move back into? I’ve read on here that coccidia is resistant to almost all cleansers/bleach. I’ve seen multiple posts about renting a steamer to deep clean enclosures as well, but am not super sure to go about that or how much it will cost. Ive been using zoo med wipeout to clean her enclosure so far plus warm water and dish soap. Biggest concern is what to do about the plants in her enclosure. She has a large ish weeping fig & Passion flower plus about 7 smaller potted plants (lemon button fern, rubber tree plant, Swiss cheese plant, Maria Allusion, Rama Verde, Krimson Queen Hoya, mini weeping fig) and a hanging golden pothos. Currently I can’t afford to replace them, especially the weeping fig which is her favorite that she sleeps in every night, but I don’t know how I could effectively sterilize them fully.
So in summary:
1. Will she be okay in the small enclosure for a month? Is it necessary to move her in there while in treatment and should I clean it any differently than normal? Should I put faux plants in her quarantine cage for easy cleaning?
2. How should I clean her large enclosure to get rid of all traces of parasites including the insidious coccidia? Including sticks and processed driftwood, do I just sterilize them as I did when I first got them? Is renting a steamer necessary?
3. Can any of the plants be saved? If so, how? If not, where can I get a new weeping fig/pothos/etc for cheap that I know isn’t infected with anything else?

Pictured below in order is her current enclosure, a bowel movement/less loose urate, and Circuit at the vet a little over two weeks ago.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon Circuit. She is likely at least two years old. Found mid September 2022 in my backyard, likely abandoned.
• Handling - Hisses and gapes if I put my hands too close to her when she’s not expecting it, but will eat out of my hands/fingers and a container I hold. In the last month I’ve started encouraging her to climb onto my arm to reach the bowl of food I’m holding and she usually will run right on. I keep my arm in the enclosure while she eats and try to put her back as soon as she finishes eating. Lately when I mist her she climbs to the end of the closest branch to me and tries to reach out for my fingers but doesn’t want to go farther.
• Feeding - I feed her mostly medium to large dubia roaches, gutloaded with apples and blue/raspberries, mixed with bsfl, fed dandelion greens and whatever old fruit the dubias haven’t eaten, bee pollen, calcium dust, plus the coconut husk soil they live in. Occasionally I feed her banded crickets gut-loaded similar things I feed the bsfl minus the coconut husk soil, and hornworms. Rarely I’ll feed her pieces of blueberry as a treat or dandelion greens if she’s had a lot of soft bugs. Was feeding 3-4x a week until a month ago, where the vet told me to switch to feeding her as much as she would eat every day because she wasn’t gaining weight fast enough. I did this until last week, because on two occasions when she ate a lot (2-3 large roaches with up to 9 bsfl) she threw up most/half the food shortly after. I worried it might’ve been from impaction so I fed her plain canned pumpkin that she snacked on for two days. We are back to MWF feeding (usually 2-3 roaches/crickets w 5-8 bsfl) with a small feeding on Sundays (one small roach, 2-4 bsfl) to tide her over or she gets hangry and tries to eat my eyeball during misting. I usually feed her out of an empty plastic Parmesan container that I hold under her face. She always has a really good appetite.
• Supplements - Repticalcium (no phosphorous or d3) and bee pollen every feeding, zoo med reptivite with d3 once every two weeks.
• Watering - I spray distilled water with hand mister 3-8 times a day, aiming above her so it falls onto her & the leaves. Sometimes will put nozzle gentle to her lips and very gently spray so it beads there. Still trying to figure out a better way to get her hydrated until I can set up her mistking & fogger. Tried a making a dripper that sat on top of the cage but she wasn’t interested & it started killing plants. Have a small dripper plant for inside the cage but she was uninterested in it when it was low & haven’t been able to secure it up high yet. Tried taking her to the bathroom faucet on my hand but she was too overwhelmed with being handled. Just started filling her hanging plastic feed bowl with bits of blueberry & filling it with water so she gets water when going for the blueberry and seems to be working well.
• Fecal Description - Poop usually looks and feels decently moist and in the right shape and color. Once I spotted an undigested antannae sticking out of it though, I don’t know if that’s normal. Urate in the last two months has been occasionally copious & always wet & mucousy sometimes dripping with lots of clear slime that can stretch over a foot down from her body before it falls. It’s always very white with sometimes a tiny bit of cream/yellow color once it soaks into the paper towel. It varies from very loose & drippy mixed with clear mucus to a mostly white & thicker mucus. If it’s extra mucousy & loose I try to cut down on squishy bugs for a bit and may give her some dandelion greens. Vet says it’s likely from the parasites having built up in her system. Once in a while I see her straining a bit with her vent slightly bulging over her poop spot & I try to give her extra hydration or fruit, and she usually poops within the next 24 hrs & vent is back to normal.
• History - She was receptive when I found her, and acted very restless and ‘receptive’ for 5 weeks. She still displays gold bars and blue lines but slightly less bright, and she’s yet to show any interest in laying eggs. Vet could not feel any eggs 2 weeks ago, despite it being almost 4 months since becoming receptive. She is almost always sitting on a thin horizontal branch a bit over 1.5 feet from the top of the cage below her basking lamp, where she can look around the whole room. It has no coverage & is at about chin level. Sometimes she’ll go onto her diagonal basking branch at the back that goes higher to look out the window but prefers to sit on her lower small branch 85-90% of the time. She usually puts herself to bed at around 4:20 pm vertically at the top of the ficus. She has thrown up undigested bugs twice in the last two weeks, but I’m hoping that’s just from over eating.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - X-LARGE reptibreeze (24 x 24 x 48). It’s on top of the metal reptibreeze stand w a lip that was built for it and stands over 6 ft. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to install the 3 pet backgrounds yet so there can be a lot of humidity & heat loss. Wanted to install the backgrounds over Xmas break w the misting/fogger system but she got dxed w parasites which held up enclosure improvements.
• Lighting - 12 hours of light from lamps, on timer from 6ish am to 6:20 pm. normal heat lamp and UVB-light (uvb zoo med 5.0 T-5 lamp, 32 inches. Basking lamp eco terra sun a19 lamp 60 watt in 8.5 inch dome). Her enclosure is also against my south facing window to make up for heat loss so she gets natural sunlight all day. I know that’s not the best option but she gets really upset & starts climbing the screen if she doesn’t have her view. Idk what I’m gonna do once I put up her backgrounds & move her away from the window.
• Temperature - this time of year the temperature usually is in the mid to high seventies from the magnetic hygrometer that’s level with her basking branch on the back screen facing the window. If it gets in the mid eighties when the sun is hitting the enclosure I briefly unplug her basking lamp so she doesn’t dehydrate, or close the curtain (which she gets upset about). Lowest it gets is high or mid 60s at night. Don’t have a temperature gun yet so I don’t have a super accurate reading for all parts of the cage.
• Humidity - hand misted 3-8x a day depending on dryness & heat weather, usually for a few minutes at a time. With the screen sides and lack of plants in the upper area of the cage it’s a losing battle to keep humidity past (what the hygrometer on the back screen says is) 55-65% in the open area she likes to hang out in. Definitely not humid enough, but I try to make up for it by hand misting a lot & figuring out more ways to get her to drink, or giving her hornworms if I think she’s looking dehydrated.
• Plants - weeping fig plant in the back left corner, passion fruit vine in laying bin at back right corner. Had a large ish golden pothos but recently took it out because she didn’t like it hanging from her favorite branch & I don’t have another spot for it yet. Have tried hanging/balancing other potted plants but won’t attach right, will have to take everything apart and figure out how to do that, so they’re on the bottom in the front left hand corner. Some bamboo sticks, washed/dried camellia branches, and two pet store purchased pieces- one a long wavy stick, the other a mini driftwood like tree block. Attached together by zip ties to each other, the weeping fig, and dragon strand ledges.
• Placement - top of cage is over a foot above my head, I can touch the top with my arms raised, but have to stand on a stool to move light fixtures. Main branch is about eye level. Door of enclosure is facing out towards my bedroom door, with the back 10 in from my west facing window. When 3 backgrounds are installed to keep water & warmth in, it will be rotated and moved to the far corner right of the window.
• Location - Southern California

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. So sorry that your pretty girl has coccidia. I haven’t experience with it, but do know that everything not able to be cleaned properly will need to be tossed out. There’s several threads about dealing with coccidia. Here’s some.https://www.chameleonforums.com/search/2194361/?q=Coccidia&c%5Btitle_only%5D=1&o=relevance
Give me a bit of time and I’ll look thru your husbandry.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon Circuit. She is likely at least two years old. Found mid September 2022 in my backyard, likely abandoned.
• Handling - Hisses and gapes if I put my hands too close to her when she’s not expecting it, but will eat out of my hands/fingers and a container I hold. In the last month I’ve started encouraging her to climb onto my arm to reach the bowl of food I’m holding and she usually will run right on. I keep my arm in the enclosure while she eats and try to put her back as soon as she finishes eating. Lately when I mist her she climbs to the end of the closest branch to me and tries to reach out for my fingers but doesn’t want to go farther.
• Feeding - I feed her mostly medium to large dubia roaches, gutloaded with apples and blue/raspberries, mixed with bsfl, fed dandelion greens and whatever old fruit the dubias haven’t eaten, bee pollen, calcium dust, plus the coconut husk soil they live in. Occasionally I feed her banded crickets gut-loaded similar things I feed the bsfl minus the coconut husk soil, and hornworms. Rarely I’ll feed her pieces of blueberry as a treat or dandelion greens if she’s had a lot of soft bugs. Was feeding 3-4x a week until a month ago, where the vet told me to switch to feeding her as much as she would eat every day because she wasn’t gaining weight fast enough. I did this until last week, because on two occasions when she ate a lot (2-3 large roaches with up to 9 bsfl) she threw up most/half the food shortly after. I worried it might’ve been from impaction so I fed her plain canned pumpkin that she snacked on for two days. We are back to MWF feeding (usually 2-3 roaches/crickets w 5-8 bsfl) with a small feeding on Sundays (one small roach, 2-4 bsfl) to tide her over or she gets hangry and tries to eat my eyeball during misting. I usually feed her out of an empty plastic Parmesan container that I hold under her face. She always has a really good appetite.
• Supplements - Repticalcium (no phosphorous or d3) and bee pollen every feeding, zoo med reptivite with d3 once every two weeks.
• Watering - I spray distilled water with hand mister 3-8 times a day, aiming above her so it falls onto her & the leaves. Sometimes will put nozzle gentle to her lips and very gently spray so it beads there. Still trying to figure out a better way to get her hydrated until I can set up her mistking & fogger. Tried a making a dripper that sat on top of the cage but she wasn’t interested & it started killing plants. Have a small dripper plant for inside the cage but she was uninterested in it when it was low & haven’t been able to secure it up high yet. Tried taking her to the bathroom faucet on my hand but she was too overwhelmed with being handled. Just started filling her hanging plastic feed bowl with bits of blueberry & filling it with water so she gets water when going for the blueberry and seems to be working well.
• Fecal Description - Poop usually looks and feels decently moist and in the right shape and color. Once I spotted an undigested antannae sticking out of it though, I don’t know if that’s normal. Urate in the last two months has been occasionally copious & always wet & mucousy sometimes dripping with lots of clear slime that can stretch over a foot down from her body before it falls. It’s always very white with sometimes a tiny bit of cream/yellow color once it soaks into the paper towel. It varies from very loose & drippy mixed with clear mucus to a mostly white & thicker mucus. If it’s extra mucousy & loose I try to cut down on squishy bugs for a bit and may give her some dandelion greens. Vet says it’s likely from the parasites having built up in her system. Once in a while I see her straining a bit with her vent slightly bulging over her poop spot & I try to give her extra hydration or fruit, and she usually poops within the next 24 hrs & vent is back to normal.
• History - She was receptive when I found her, and acted very restless and ‘receptive’ for 5 weeks. She still displays gold bars and blue lines but slightly less bright, and she’s yet to show any interest in laying eggs. Vet could not feel any eggs 2 weeks ago, despite it being almost 4 months since becoming receptive. She is almost always sitting on a thin horizontal branch a bit over 1.5 feet from the top of the cage below her basking lamp, where she can look around the whole room. It has no coverage & is at about chin level. Sometimes she’ll go onto her diagonal basking branch at the back that goes higher to look out the window but prefers to sit on her lower small branch 85-90% of the time. She usually puts herself to bed at around 4:20 pm vertically at the top of the ficus. She has thrown up undigested bugs twice in the last two weeks, but I’m hoping that’s just from over eating.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - X-LARGE reptibreeze (24 x 24 x 48). It’s on top of the metal reptibreeze stand w a lip that was built for it and stands over 6 ft. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to install the 3 pet backgrounds yet so there can be a lot of humidity & heat loss. Wanted to install the backgrounds over Xmas break w the misting/fogger system but she got dxed w parasites which held up enclosure improvements.
• Lighting - 12 hours of light from lamps, on timer from 6ish am to 6:20 pm. normal heat lamp and UVB-light (uvb zoo med 5.0 T-5 lamp, 32 inches. Basking lamp eco terra sun a19 lamp 60 watt in 8.5 inch dome). Her enclosure is also against my south facing window to make up for heat loss so she gets natural sunlight all day. I know that’s not the best option but she gets really upset & starts climbing the screen if she doesn’t have her view. Idk what I’m gonna do once I put up her backgrounds & move her away from the window.
• Temperature - this time of year the temperature usually is in the mid to high seventies from the magnetic hygrometer that’s level with her basking branch on the back screen facing the window. If it gets in the mid eighties when the sun is hitting the enclosure I briefly unplug her basking lamp so she doesn’t dehydrate, or close the curtain (which she gets upset about). Lowest it gets is high or mid 60s at night. Don’t have a temperature gun yet so I don’t have a super accurate reading for all parts of the cage.
• Humidity - hand misted 3-8x a day depending on dryness & heat weather, usually for a few minutes at a time. With the screen sides and lack of plants in the upper area of the cage it’s a losing battle to keep humidity past (what the hygrometer on the back screen says is) 55-65% in the open area she likes to hang out in. Definitely not humid enough, but I try to make up for it by hand misting a lot & figuring out more ways to get her to drink, or giving her hornworms if I think she’s looking dehydrated.
• Plants - weeping fig plant in the back left corner, passion fruit vine in laying bin at back right corner. Had a large ish golden pothos but recently took it out because she didn’t like it hanging from her favorite branch & I don’t have another spot for it yet. Have tried hanging/balancing other potted plants but won’t attach right, will have to take everything apart and figure out how to do that, so they’re on the bottom in the front left hand corner. Some bamboo sticks, washed/dried camellia branches, and two pet store purchased pieces- one a long wavy stick, the other a mini driftwood like tree block. Attached together by zip ties to each other, the weeping fig, and dragon strand ledges.
• Placement - top of cage is over a foot above my head, I can touch the top with my arms raised, but have to stand on a stool to move light fixtures. Main branch is about eye level. Door of enclosure is facing out towards my bedroom door, with the back 10 in from my west facing window. When 3 backgrounds are installed to keep water & warmth in, it will be rotated and moved to the far corner right of the window.
• Location - Southern California

Thank you! Also my husbandry is still incomplete due to stuff arriving late & now the parasites, but I have the necessary supplies, just not set up yet. I’d still Love your opinion & guidance for setting up!

 

[MissSkittles]

Everything looks pretty good. Just a few things I’ll comment on.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon Circuit. She is likely at least two years old. Found mid September 2022 in my backyard, likely abandoned.
• Handling - Hisses and gapes if I put my hands too close to her when she’s not expecting it, but will eat out of my hands/fingers and a container I hold. In the last month I’ve started encouraging her to climb onto my arm to reach the bowl of food I’m holding and she usually will run right on. I keep my arm in the enclosure while she eats and try to put her back as soon as she finishes eating. Lately when I mist her she climbs to the end of the closest branch to me and tries to reach out for my fingers but doesn’t want to go farther. Sounds like you’re doing great building trust with her.
• Feeding - I feed her mostly medium to large dubia roaches, gutloaded with apples and blue/raspberries, mixed with bsfl, fed dandelion greens and whatever old fruit the dubias haven’t eaten, bee pollen, calcium dust, plus the coconut husk soil they live in. You could improve your gutloading a little - add in some squashes, sweet potato, other misc veggies. Occasionally I feed her banded crickets gut-loaded similar things I feed the bsfl minus the coconut husk soil, and hornworms. Rarely I’ll feed her pieces of blueberry as a treat or dandelion greens if she’s had a lot of soft bugs. Veileds really have no need for plant matter in their diet, but as a rare treat a blueberry or dandelion leaf won’t hurt. Was feeding 3-4x a week until a month ago, where the vet told me to switch to feeding her as much as she would eat every day because she wasn’t gaining weight fast enough. Her weight was/is probably related to the parasites.I did this until last week, because on two occasions when she ate a lot (2-3 large roaches with up to 9 bsfl) she threw up most/half the food shortly after. I worried it might’ve been from impaction so I fed her plain canned pumpkin that she snacked on for two days. We are back to MWF feeding (usually 2-3 roaches/crickets w 5-8 bsfl) with a small feeding on Sundays (one small roach, 2-4 bsfl) to tide her over or she gets hangry and tries to eat my eyeball during misting. While being treated for the parasites, she will be needing good nutrition, so as far as I know, this is a good amount to feed her. However, once she’s completely recovered you’ll want to feed her 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week. This helps reduce egg production and laying frequency, all of which tend to shorten our ladies lives. I usually feed her out of an empty plastic Parmesan container that I hold under her face. She always has a really good appetite.
• Supplements - Repticalcium (no phosphorous or d3) and bee pollen every feeding, zoo med reptivite with d3 once every two weeks. Perfect!
• Watering - I spray distilled water with hand mister 3-8 times a day, That’s quite frequent. The ideal is to mist for at least 2 minutes, 2-3 times a day - right before lights go on/off and mid day (optional). aiming above her so it falls onto her & the leaves. Sometimes will put nozzle gentle to her lips and very gently spray so it beads there. Still trying to figure out a better way to get her hydrated until I can set up her mistking & fogger. While I can’t even imagine not having the convenience of a Mist King, I’m going to suggest waiting until your girl has completely recovered from the coccidia before setting it up. Tried a making a dripper that sat on top of the cage but she wasn’t interested & it started killing plants. Have a small dripper plant for inside the cage but she was uninterested in it when it was low & haven’t been able to secure it up high yet. You could use a solo cup with a pin hole in the bottom as a diy dripper. You only want it to run for about 15-20 minutes daily anyhow. Tried taking her to the bathroom faucet on my hand but she was too overwhelmed with being handled. Just started filling her hanging plastic feed bowl with bits of blueberry & filling it with water so she gets water when going for the blueberry and seems to be working well. Was she showing signs of dehydration? Many chameleons are secretive about drinking. I have 5 chams and never ever see any of them drink. I go by the color of urate.
• Fecal Description - Poop usually looks and feels decently moist and in the right shape and color. Once I spotted an undigested antannae sticking out of it though, I don’t know if that’s normal. Urate in the last two months has been occasionally copious & always wet & mucousy sometimes dripping with lots of clear slime that can stretch over a foot down from her body before it falls. It’s always very white with sometimes a tiny bit of cream/yellow color once it soaks into the paper towel. It varies from very loose & drippy mixed with clear mucus to a mostly white & thicker mucus. If it’s extra mucousy & loose I try to cut down on squishy bugs for a bit and may give her some dandelion greens. Vet says it’s likely from the parasites having built up in her system. Once in a while I see her straining a bit with her vent slightly bulging over her poop spot & I try to give her extra hydration or fruit, and she usually poops within the next 24 hrs & vent is back to normal. Since she has parasites, her poos aren’t going to be ‘normal’ until those are resolved. You ,Ishtar want to add silkworms into your staple feeder rotation. Besides being super nutritious, they are also great for added hydration.
• History - She was receptive when I found her, and acted very restless and ‘receptive’ for 5 weeks. She still displays gold bars and blue lines but slightly less bright, and she’s yet to show any interest in laying eggs. Vet could not feel any eggs 2 weeks ago, despite it being almost 4 months since becoming receptive. That’s not anything that I would worry about. You haven’t been overfeeding and from what you say, I get the impression she was in rough shape when you found her. When not overfed, it’s not unusual to have a receptive period and not produce any eggs. She is almost always sitting on a thin horizontal branch a bit over 1.5 feet from the top of the cage below her basking lamp, where she can look around the whole room. It has no coverage & is at about chin level. Sometimes she’ll go onto her diagonal basking branch at the back that goes higher to look out the window but prefers to sit on her lower small branch 85-90% of the time. She usually puts herself to bed at around 4:20 pm vertically at the top of the ficus. She has thrown up undigested bugs twice in the last two weeks, but I’m hoping that’s just from over eating. Could be vomiting from over eating, or could be the parasites.
  To be continued….

 

[MissSkittles]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - X-LARGE reptibreeze (24 x 24 x 48). It’s on top of the metal reptibreeze stand w a lip that was built for it and stands over 6 ft. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to install the 3 pet backgrounds yet so there can be a lot of humidity & heat loss. Wanted to install the backgrounds over Xmas break w the misting/fogger system but she got dxed w parasites which held up enclosure improvements. Perfect size! Wait until she gets fully cleared from the coccidia before making her a beautiful enclosure/home. You want things that can be cleaned or tossed out.
• Lighting - 12 hours of light from lamps, on timer from 6ish am to 6:20 pm. normal heat lamp and UVB-light (uvb zoo med 5.0 T-5 lamp, 32 inches. Perfect! Basking lamp eco terra sun a19 lamp 60 watt in 8.5 inch dome). Her enclosure is also against my south facing window to make up for heat loss so she gets natural sunlight all day. I know that’s not the best option but she gets really upset & starts climbing the screen if she doesn’t have her view. Idk what I’m gonna do once I put up her backgrounds & move her away from the window. Aww…they are curious about the world and love having views. Maybe you can make a little window in the background or just leave one side off so she doesn’t lose her window view.
• Temperature - this time of year the temperature usually is in the mid to high seventies from the magnetic hygrometer that’s level with her basking branch on the back screen facing the window. If it gets in the mid eighties when the sun is hitting the enclosure I briefly unplug her basking lamp so she doesn’t dehydrate, or close the curtain (which she gets upset about). You want her basking temp to be around 78-80. Keeping basking temps at 80 works together with reduced feeding to inhibit egg production. This explains it all here. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html Lowest it gets is high or mid 60s at night. Don’t have a temperature gun yet so I don’t have a super accurate reading for all parts of the cage.
• Humidity - hand misted 3-8x a day depending on dryness & heat weather, usually for a few minutes at a time. With the screen sides and lack of plants in the upper area of the cage it’s a losing battle to keep humidity past (what the hygrometer on the back screen says is) 55-65% in the open area she likes to hang out in. It’s important to know what type of gauge you are using. The analog ones are notoriously inaccurate. Much better are the digital ones with a probe. Also, ideal humidity during the day for veileds is between 30-50%. Definitely not humid enough, but I try to make up for it by hand misting a lot & figuring out more ways to get her to drink, or giving her hornworms if I think she’s looking dehydrated.
• Plants - weeping fig plant in the back left corner, passion fruit vine in laying bin at back right corner. Had a large ish golden pothos but recently took it out because she didn’t like it hanging from her favorite branch & I don’t have another spot for it yet. Have tried hanging/balancing other potted plants but won’t attach right, will have to take everything apart and figure out how to do that, so they’re on the bottom in the front left hand corner. Some bamboo sticks, washed/dried camellia branches, and two pet store purchased pieces- one a long wavy stick, the other a mini driftwood like tree block. Attached together by zip ties to each other, the weeping fig, and dragon strand ledges. So very sorry, but the plants will have to go. As far as I know, there isn’t any way to clean them properly from the coccidia. This is the one time that using plastic plants is advised since they can be cleaned and when cham has fully recovered, they are easily tossed out.
• Placement - top of cage is over a foot above my head, I can touch the top with my arms raised, but have to stand on a stool to move light fixtures. Main branch is about eye level. I’ve used the ReptiBreeze stands before and they put your enclosure at a perfect height. Door of enclosure is facing out towards my bedroom door, with the back 10 in from my west facing window. When 3 backgrounds are installed to keep water & warmth in, it will be rotated and moved to the far corner right of the window.
• Location - Southern California

You did ask about keeping your girl in the small enclosure for the full time she’s being treated. That is really small, so I’m going to say no. If only it were a bit taller at least. I’m wondering if maybe something like this would work. https://www.amazon.com/RESTCLOUD-Bu...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl @bbyoda @Beman @JacksJill are the keepers that can better guide you thru dealing with the coccidia.

 

[Beman]

Hey there. Sorry to hear about your girl. When one of mine came in with coccidia I had to do a total toss of everything porous. So all branches and plants I tossed. Stripped down to a bare bottom cage with no plants due to them being able to reinfect themselves drinking from the surfaces if they got fecal there. I also had to use 40 volume liquid hair peroxide to get the cage clean. You want gloves, spray bottle, and eye protection for this. I took the cage out in my yard where I did not have to worry about any contamination. I know others that did this cleaning in a bathtub. But essentially your stripping the cage completely then putting it in a bathtub/outside. I washed the heck out of it with dawn soap and hot water then sprayed the 40 volume peroxide on so that all surfaces of the cage stayed wet for 20 minutes. then rinse the heck out of the cage and let it air dry completely.

Now if your doing this with a 2x2x4 foot cage on a weekly basis it is going to be a lot. Might consider getting a temp cage 18x18x36 for this time during treatment and after until you get multiple clean fecals back.

I used the flukers vines since I could spot clean and wipe these off easily. Bare bottom floor to spot clean as well. Plastic plants on the outside of the cage so the cham feels like it is hidden still.

 

[bbyoda]

Thanks for taking in this lovely girl and giving her a home! It's not surprising she has coccidia if she was out and on her own for a bit. Parasites are just a given in the wild.

Unfortunately as @Beman and @MissSkittles said, you'll have to toss the plants and branches. Anything porous really. When this happened to me I did a temporary setup with new branches (just some oak branches I picked off the ground at a local park and make sure they didn't have spiders or ants on them). I ended up putting a pothos in a mason jar filled with water, after drilling a small hole in the lid so the pothos vine could pop out, so my cham couldn't get at the water. I put paper towels on the bottom and changed those out every time he pooped. I knew where he'd poop based on his routine and habits and make sure there wasn't a branch or leaf in the way. Once it was confirmed that he was coccidia free I put him in a new enclosure with all new branches and new plants.

He wasn't happy in his temporary enclosure and it was really hard on me too. Beman and the other members here gave me a virtual shoulder to cry on when it was overwhelming. Thankfully their advice worked and the medicine did it's job and my setup prevented a reinfection!!

Feel free to reach out if you need advice or support. You already have great husbandry and a vet who is helping out - you got this!!

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

Everything looks pretty good. Just a few things I’ll comment on.

Thank you so much for going through my extremely long husbandry details so thoroughly! A few responses/questions to some of your comments:

"You could improve your gutloading a little - add in some squashes, sweet potato, other misc veggies."

I've usually just been using what I've had around/what I knew dubias would eat, so I have definitely been slacking on the quality gutloading lately. But my mom (who I live with and does the grocery shopping- I don't drive) read your response thoroughly. I don't like asking my parents for help, but she immediately promised to get better gutloading based on your recommendations

"Was she showing signs of dehydration? Many chameleons are secretive about drinking. I have 5 chams and never ever see any of them drink. I go by the color of urate."

I do have a tendency to overwater, especially since I can't fully control her cage temp with it all screens in front of the window, and because her lights go on at 6 am and I don't wake up to spray her until much later (I know, lame.)
I look for dehydration in her skin and behavior. If she's showing wrinkles in her throat, behind her head, and around her legs (armpits?) I give her a good misting. I've also noticed she's thirsty when her throat is enlarged but not puffed, almost like a gular edema that goes away once she drinks, or when her eyes aren't as inflated as I'd like them to be. A few times I've seen her have strands of saliva when she overheats and gapes, which I really try to keep to a minimum, but that hasn't been much of an issue since winter hit. She's not much of a secretive drinker as far as I can tell. She might drink from the leaves I spray but mostly stays out of the plants all day. She often walks into the spray to swallow/drink and shows interest in the nozzle/bottle. Once she even put her tongue inside the uncapped bottle I was holding. She's put her lips to the tube part of the spray nozzle too; I'm thinking of getting her a pipette or eyedropper until the mistking/fogger is set up post-coccidia.

"You ,Ishtar want to add silkworms into your staple feeder rotation. Besides being super nutritious, they are also great for added hydration."

I have heavily considered silkworms but am hesitant because of how expensive they are. I've had poor luck with growing/keeping hornworms in the past- turns out I need to refresh their repashy food and separate them out, but the special hornworm food is pricy for an already expensive "sometimes" feeder for me to invest in. Are silkworms similarly temperamental? Are they able to be integrated into her diet more frequently than hornworms? I've preferred dubias and BSFL because of their affordability, nutrition, how low maintenance they are, and their longish 'shelf life'. I'd love to incorporate silkworms, but I am starting school again and working way fewer hours so I have to really be careful that what I buy is "worth it" (they live long enough to be eaten/don't leave me unable to afford enough feeders later.)

To be continued on your other post

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

@MissSkittles

Some responses and questions to your comments:

"You want her basking temp to be around 78-80. Keeping basking temps at 80 works together with reduced feeding to inhibit egg production. This explains it all here"

I've seen contradicting information on how high basking temps should be, mainly that the higher basking temps can lead to higher egg clutches. Combined with my paranoia of her being dehydrated, I've been keeping it lower. Thanks for clearing that up and the article!

"It’s important to know what type of gauge you are using. The analog ones are notoriously inaccurate. Much better are the digital ones with a probe. Also, ideal humidity during the day for veileds is between 30-50%"

Do you have any specific (digital with probe) gauge recommendations? Once I get it, where do you recommend placing it for best reading? My current inaccurate hygrometer misled me because it describes anything under 50% as "dry".

So very sorry, but the plants will have to go. As far as I know, there isn’t any way to clean them properly from the coccidia. This is the one time that using plastic plants is advised since they can be cleaned and when cham has fully recovered, they are easily tossed out.

Ugh, I'd feared as much. Nothing for it, I suppose. I'll admit, when I first delved into the link of posts you sent about coccidia I panicked a bit lol. Coccidia is SUCH a headache and so expensive, and it's a bummer to have to lose and replace almost $300 of plants from back when I could afford it. Oh well, I've ordered some silk plant for now; may stick with silk plants for a while after this XD

You did ask about keeping your girl in the small enclosure for the full time she’s being treated. That is really small, so I’m going to say no. If only it were a bit taller at least. I’m wondering if maybe something like this would work.

A butterfly enclosure definitely does look doable, and I almost went ahead and bought one, but I worry about how I'll position her very large uvb and heat lamp on a butterfly cage. Any temporary recs on how to position them on whatever smaller enclosure I wind up using? Her flukers vines and pinworm meds have finally arrived today, so I'm thinking of moving her into the really small enclosure to start treatment tomorrow for at least a week until I can get something else. Should I hold off?

Again, thank you so much for your patience, thoroughness, and understanding. It's nice to have detailed guidance and know I'm doing SOME things right, at least.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

Hey there. Sorry to hear about your girl. When one of mine came in with coccidia I had to do a total toss of everything porous. So all branches and plants I tossed. Stripped down to a bare bottom cage with no plants due to them being able to reinfect themselves drinking from the surfaces if they got fecal there. I also had to use 40 volume liquid hair peroxide to get the cage clean. You want gloves, spray bottle, and eye protection for this. I took the cage out in my yard where I did not have to worry about any contamination. I know others that did this cleaning in a bathtub. But essentially your stripping the cage completely then putting it in a bathtub/outside. I washed the heck out of it with dawn soap and hot water then sprayed the 40 volume peroxide on so that all surfaces of the cage stayed wet for 20 minutes. then rinse the heck out of the cage and let it air dry completely.

Now if your doing this with a 2x2x4 foot cage on a weekly basis it is going to be a lot. Might consider getting a temp cage 18x18x36 for this time during treatment and after until you get multiple clean fecals back.

I used the flukers vines since I could spot clean and wipe these off easily. Bare bottom floor to spot clean as well. Plastic plants on the outside of the cage so the cham feels like it is hidden still.

The 40 volume peroxide linked on your other coccidia posts has been ordered and the flukers vines have arrived. RIP all my plants :'( Coccidia is such a b***.
Some questions about cleaning:

1. Do you use any particular sponges or brushes to scrub down the cage? How do you know when you've scrubbed "good enough"? How can I make sure I've rinsed all the peroxide off so she doesn't hurt herself? I'm a bit paranoid
   
2. Do I have to disassemble the cage each time I do this and scrub everything individually? This may be a stupid question, but should I sterilize the screws? From what I've read coccidia is a MENACE and I don't want to have to take any chances in reinfection.
3. With getting the huge reptibreeze back into uncontaminated shape, how do I go about sterilizing anything that big without tearing screens or bending frames by accident? I've had to reorder it twice in the past because of how poor quality it is- even the one I have now came with a broken door toggle.
4. Additionally, since she's been in the huge reptibreeze for so long without proper coccidia sterilization, I imagine it has a high buildup even without the infected plants. Is there anything extra I should do to make sure it's sterilized? Should I remove my dragon strand ledges from it to wash them separately?
5. I have a small dripper plant I briefly put in her enclosure a while back. She didn't touch it because of how low it was but I perched it on some sticks. Are there any steps I should do to sterilize all that?

"Might consider getting a temp cage 18x18x36 for this time during treatment and after until you get multiple clean fecals back."

I currently have a 18x12x20 enclosure I got for reptibreeze cleaning before the parasite diagnosis. MissSkittles said that was much too small for how long she'll be in treatment, but ordering a temp 18x18x36 won't come until at least the end of January. Will she be alright in the small one until it comes? I've also considered getting a butterfly enclosure that would be much cheaper and come in a few days, but as mentioned above in my response to MissSkittles I don't know how I'll position her lights above a butterfly enclosure. Do you have any ideas?

How far from the top of whatever quarantine enclosure I wind up using should I put my basking lamp? She's definitely gonna be unhappy and climb the screen if I know her, and lately she's been notorious in somehow burning herself even though the highest branch is a good distance away. (I'm going to make a separate post about that because my god, I don't know how she keeps doing it.)

Plastic plants on the outside of the cage so the cham feels like it is hidden still.

I'm going to order some silk plants, should I attach them outside or would she feel more comfortable with them inside? I've heard with silk plants they don't pose a danger of chams ingesting them by accident. Would they be cleanable or would it just be better not to risk it and put it on the outside?

Thanks so much for your response, and sorry for the dozens of silly questions, coccidia has me paranoid and the light/enclosure situation has me in a pickle.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

Thanks for taking in this lovely girl and giving her a home! It's not surprising she has coccidia if she was out and on her own for a bit. Parasites are just a given in the wild.

Unfortunately as @Beman and @MissSkittles said, you'll have to toss the plants and branches. Anything porous really. When this happened to me I did a temporary setup with new branches (just some oak branches I picked off the ground at a local park and make sure they didn't have spiders or ants on them). I ended up putting a pothos in a mason jar filled with water, after drilling a small hole in the lid so the pothos vine could pop out, so my cham couldn't get at the water. I put paper towels on the bottom and changed those out every time he pooped. I knew where he'd poop based on his routine and habits and make sure there wasn't a branch or leaf in the way. Once it was confirmed that he was coccidia free I put him in a new enclosure with all new branches and new plants.

He wasn't happy in his temporary enclosure and it was really hard on me too. Beman and the other members here gave me a virtual shoulder to cry on when it was overwhelming. Thankfully their advice worked and the medicine did it's job and my setup prevented a reinfection!!

Feel free to reach out if you need advice or support. You already have great husbandry and a vet who is helping out - you got this!!

Thank you so much for your response and support. This community has been a godsend long before I signed up and posted when I was still figuring chameleon care out. What enclosure did you use for a temporary setup? Or did you use your initial enclosure but sterilized and gutted of infectous material?
My worry is that any sticks I put in there while she's infected could get contaminated. On several occasions she's had a ton of clear mucus in her poop and she's smeared it all over her sticks while she walked. I've bought flukers vines for easy sterilization but I worry about her infecting her screen cages when she almost inevitably climbs them in her protest of a substandard smaller cage.

1. Did your guy climb screens when he was in treatment?
2. How much did you handle him/let him out of his quarantine enclosure while in treatment if at all?
3. How long did it take him to be cleared of coccidia? My vet said we'd do another fecal test in two months but her coccidia medication is two doses 48 hours apart. (Pinworm is 3 doses 10 days apart so a month)
4. Was he mad at you and was there any way to make it a little easier on him?

And since I'm asking everyone because I'm really undecided here:

• What should I get as a quarantine cage?
• A butterfly enclosure is affordable and will come soon, but I don't know how I'll place my lights above it.
• A 34" tall cham enclosure is sturdier, and will support my lights, but is pricy and won't come until almost February.
• The second cham "hotel" enclosure I have is only 20" tall, but I have it and I've already put off starting her treatment for a long time.
• How far do you think my basking lamp should be from a smaller temporary enclosure she's probably gonna climb? How do I raise it and create that distance?

Thanks again so much for your support and words of confidence. I'm constantly worried about how I'm doing with such an advanced pet that until a few months ago I had no experience or knowledge in. Learning about what coccidia entailed has really thrown me for a loop, but it's been a huge help to have wonderful members of this community like you to advise.

 

[MissSkittles]

Some responses and questions to your comments:

I've seen contradicting information on how high basking temps should be, mainly that the higher basking temps can lead to higher egg clutches. Combined with my paranoia of her being dehydrated, I've been keeping it lower. Thanks for clearing that up and the article!

Do you have any specific (digital with probe) gauge recommendations? Once I get it, where do you recommend placing it for best reading? My current inaccurate hygrometer misled me because it describes anything under 50% as "dry".

Ugh, I'd feared as much. Nothing for it, I suppose. I'll admit, when I first delved into the link of posts you sent about coccidia I panicked a bit lol. Coccidia is SUCH a headache and so expensive, and it's a bummer to have to lose and replace almost $300 of plants from back when I could afford it. Oh well, I've ordered some silk plant for now; may stick with silk plants for a while after this XD

A butterfly enclosure definitely does look doable, and I almost went ahead and bought one, but I worry about how I'll position her very large uvb and heat lamp on a butterfly cage. Any temporary recs on how to position them on whatever smaller enclosure I wind up using? Her flukers vines and pinworm meds have finally arrived today, so I'm thinking of moving her into the really small enclosure to start treatment tomorrow for at least a week until I can get something else. Should I hold off?

Again, thank you so much for your patience, thoroughness, and understanding. It's nice to have detailed guidance and know I'm doing SOME things right, at least.

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to be of some help to you. There’s lots of different types of thermometers/hygrometers. Right now I’d suggest getting a temp gun to avoid contaminating anything and throwing money away. It will only measure surface temp though, not air temp. You could measure the temp of the basking branch and assume where her back would be is 1-2* warmer. Alternatively, you could get the digital combo and hold the probe end where you want to measure until the reading is stable. Keep it outside of the enclosure for general ambient humidity reading without contaminating. Once the coccidia is fully cleared, the options are better and you could even get a smart meter if you wanted. Here’s some links to give you some ideas.
BTW, silkworms are one of my favorite feeders, but they can be fragile. They have almost no immune system so need to be kept clean. I do hatch them from eggs and occasionally have had some success breeding my own, but my results are very inconsistent. I enjoy the challenge though.
https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-The...lja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Digi...6&sprefix=Reptile+thermometer,aps,833&sr=8-17
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S34C5X...e&sr=1-2-5aa29f2a-1490-4ae2-848e-815fb6406bcf

 

[Beman]

1. Do you use any particular sponges or brushes to scrub down the cage? How do you know when you've scrubbed "good enough"? How can I make sure I've rinsed all the peroxide off so she doesn't hurt herself? I'm a bit paranoid
2. Do I have to disassemble the cage each time I do this and scrub everything individually? This may be a stupid question, but should I sterilize the screws? From what I've read coccidia is a MENACE and I don't want to have to take any chances in reinfection.
3. With getting the huge reptibreeze back into uncontaminated shape, how do I go about sterilizing anything that big without tearing screens or bending frames by accident? I've had to reorder it twice in the past because of how poor quality it is- even the one I have now came with a broken door toggle.
4. Additionally, since she's been in the huge reptibreeze for so long without proper coccidia sterilization, I imagine it has a high buildup even without the infected plants. Is there anything extra I should do to make sure it's sterilized? Should I remove my dragon strand ledges from it to wash them separately?
5. I have a small dripper plant I briefly put in her enclosure a while back. She didn't touch it because of how low it was but I perched it on some sticks. Are there any steps I should do to sterilize all that?

I had bought one of those plastic scrubbing brushes for doing your dishes that has the longer handle. This worked well... Just spray it down completely with the peroxide after let it sit for 20 minutes then rinse the heck out of it. You do not need to scrub hard... this is to use with the soap and hot water. you are just scrubbing to get surface poop off. Spot clean like crazy this will make cleaning far easier.

You will be rinsing the heck out of the cage after doing the peroxide treatment. It will not have any odor after it air drys from the peroxide.

Look into the DIY Cages theirs are better quality than zoo med. https://www.diycages.com/collections/vertical-screen-reptile-chameleon-cages

The ledges should come clean. They are not porous so that helps with treatment.

No dripper plant at all these hold bacteria and I honestly would toss this... Use a plastic solo cup and poke tiny pin holes in the bottom of it. Set this on top of the cage dripping down inside. You can hang a plastic plant on the top panel right below the dripper this way she can target that to drink. All other fake plants should be outside the cage. anything below the top branches is a target zone for fecal and reinfection.

I currently have a 18x12x20 enclosure I got for reptibreeze cleaning before the parasite diagnosis. MissSkittles said that was much too small for how long she'll be in treatment, but ordering a temp 18x18x36 won't come until at least the end of January. Will she be alright in the small one until it comes? I've also considered getting a butterfly enclosure that would be much cheaper and come in a few days, but as mentioned above in my response to MissSkittles I don't know how I'll position her lights above a butterfly enclosure. Do you have any ideas?

How far from the top of whatever quarantine enclosure I wind up using should I put my basking lamp? She's definitely gonna be unhappy and climb the screen if I know her, and lately she's been notorious in somehow burning herself even though the highest branch is a good distance away. (I'm going to make a separate post about that because my god, I don't know how she keeps doing it.)

I personally would use a real screen cage. I do not know how well a butterfly enclosure will hold up to cleaning. I also do not know what your uvb output will be for this type of material or what the distance should be. I have never tested it.

 

[Beman]

Hun... not sure if this was asked.... Has she laid eggs since being with you? Are you noticing any color changes that would signify her being receptive or gravid?

I just want to cover this since you will be dealing with parasite treatment. Did she have a lay bin in the cage prior?

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to be of some help to you. There’s lots of different types of thermometers/hygrometers. Right now I’d suggest getting a temp gun to avoid contaminating anything and throwing money away. It will only measure surface temp though, not air temp. You could measure the temp of the basking branch and assume where her back would be is 1-2* warmer. Alternatively, you could get the digital combo and hold the probe end where you want to measure until the reading is stable. Keep it outside of the enclosure for general ambient humidity reading without contaminating. Once the coccidia is fully cleared, the options are better and you could even get a smart meter if you wanted. Here’s some links to give you some ideas.
BTW, silkworms are one of my favorite feeders, but they can be fragile. They have almost no immune system so need to be kept clean. I do hatch them from eggs and occasionally have had some success breeding my own, but my results are very inconsistent. I enjoy the challenge though.
https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-The...lja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Digital-Thermometer-Humidity/dp/B06XY3X7P9/ref=sr_1_17?crid=QB6BJUZLF0SY&keywords=reptile+thermometer+hygrometer&qid=1674018746&sprefix=Reptile+thermometer,aps,833&sr=8-17
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S34C5X9/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=0278054c9de4c0a5fb093fe1e01cb24f&content-id=amzn1.sym.ef90cf0f-5050-4b15-a4cc-af6ad602f095:amzn1.sym.ef90cf0f-5050-4b15-a4cc-af6ad602f095&hsa_cr_id=7264823990901&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=65993604-7fb7-46ce-84df-ee78c3dfcd7c&pd_rd_w=Sznl6&pd_rd_wg=evQLM&qid=1674019107&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_1_title&sr=1-2-5aa29f2a-1490-4ae2-848e-815fb6406bcf

Thanks for the links! I may hold off on silkworms for now as I am thoroughly challenged by basic stuff currently. maybe in the future when I've got a better handle on stuff.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

I had bought one of those plastic scrubbing brushes for doing your dishes that has the longer handle. This worked well... Just spray it down completely with the peroxide after let it sit for 20 minutes then rinse the heck out of it. You do not need to scrub hard... this is to use with the soap and hot water. you are just scrubbing to get surface poop off. Spot clean like crazy this will make cleaning far easier.

You will be rinsing the heck out of the cage after doing the peroxide treatment. It will not have any odor after it air drys from the peroxide.

Look into the DIY Cages theirs are better quality than zoo med. https://www.diycages.com/collections/vertical-screen-reptile-chameleon-cages

The ledges should come clean. They are not porous so that helps with treatment.

No dripper plant at all these hold bacteria and I honestly would toss this... Use a plastic solo cup and poke tiny pin holes in the bottom of it. Set this on top of the cage dripping down inside. You can hang a plastic plant on the top panel right below the dripper this way she can target that to drink. All other fake plants should be outside the cage. anything below the top branches is a target zone for fecal and reinfection.

I personally would use a real screen cage. I do not know how well a butterfly enclosure will hold up to cleaning. I also do not know what your uvb output will be for this type of material or what the distance should be. I have never tested it.

I might just rip the plastic leaf part off the dripper plant, clean that to use for cover on the outside of the cage, and toss the rest.

I'm very tempted to order the DIY cage on sale right now, but like I said I have to be really careful with how I spend because my income is severely decreased now with school. I wonder if I can still get any money back from amazon on either on the reptibreeze or the small zilla that's unused...

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

Hun... not sure if this was asked.... Has she laid eggs since being with you? Are you noticing any color changes that would signify her being receptive or gravid?

I just want to cover this since you will be dealing with parasite treatment. Did she have a lay bin in the cage prior?

She was receptive when I found her and acted insane for about 5-6 weeks before she calmed down. She's had a lay bin since the second week (I actually panicked thinking she might be eggbound and ran to the hardware store before it closed and then tried to carry the 55 lb bag of sand home) filled with clean damp play sand with a layer of clean natural topsoil and a passion flower plant in the corner as a root ball. I watched with a ton of anxiety and trepidation knowing egg binding was the top way female veileds die prematurely. But she showed zero interest in laying after those five weeks, didn't gain much weight, and months passed. Worried, I took her to the vet who couldn't feel any eggs in her belly. MissSkittles said it's not unusual to have a receptive period and not cycle eggs.

In the last week or so, though, she's been acting differently. She somehow managed to burn her whole head- casque, face/eyes, lower lip, everything, even though her basking lamp was a good distance away from any branch. It broke my heart but while the burn was widespread it didn't/doesn't look severe nor any of her spines are melted, just lots of "shedding" skin. I had no idea how she did it, but moved her basking lamp closer to the middle and applied some painkiller-free Neosporin with gloves and thought that was the end of it because she's never burned herself for as long as she's been in the reptibreeze. But then two days ago, she did it again to her right arm and foot! The bottom of her foot (hand?) is so much paler than the others and her everything else on the leg (arm?) is peeling.
Turns out she's started climbing the screen for no reason and even climbing on the screen 'ceiling'. She's climbing everywhere. Only thing I could think to do was take away her "unsupervised basking light" privileges until I can get an attachable holder to suspend the lamp above the cage so she can't possibly get burned. And her gold markings are much brighter and along her tail when she's excited.

I'm 90% sure she's receptive again. Now I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to hold off her treatment until she cycles eggs or if I should treat her before she becomes gravid because of what a toll that can take on the immune system. I'm definitely gonna order an 18" tall cage for quarantine but the soonest it can come is the end of January.

And how much should I feed her to keep clutch size small? Because currently I've been advised to feed her as much as she can reasonably eat within reason because of her parasites. And what's your advice on the basking lamp? I can't have her burning herself when she's unsupervised but there are cons about her being too cold and not basking enough to digest.

(Also for the burns, I saw you rec silver sulfadiazine cream on another post, but am only seeing spray on amazon. Is there any particular brand you recommend? Thanks!)

 

[Beman]

She was receptive when I found her and acted insane for about 5-6 weeks before she calmed down. She's had a lay bin since the second week (I actually panicked thinking she might be eggbound and ran to the hardware store before it closed and then tried to carry the 55 lb bag of sand home) filled with clean damp play sand with a layer of clean natural topsoil and a passion flower plant in the corner as a root ball. I watched with a ton of anxiety and trepidation knowing egg binding was the top way female veileds die prematurely. But she showed zero interest in laying after those five weeks, didn't gain much weight, and months passed. Worried, I took her to the vet who couldn't feel any eggs in her belly. MissSkittles said it's not unusual to have a receptive period and not cycle eggs.

In the last week or so, though, she's been acting differently. She somehow managed to burn her whole head- casque, face/eyes, lower lip, everything, even though her basking lamp was a good distance away from any branch. It broke my heart but while the burn was widespread it didn't/doesn't look severe nor any of her spines are melted, just lots of "shedding" skin. I had no idea how she did it, but moved her basking lamp closer to the middle and applied some painkiller-free Neosporin with gloves and thought that was the end of it because she's never burned herself for as long as she's been in the reptibreeze. But then two days ago, she did it again to her right arm and foot! The bottom of her foot (hand?) is so much paler than the others and her everything else on the leg (arm?) is peeling.
Turns out she's started climbing the screen for no reason and even climbing on the screen 'ceiling'. She's climbing everywhere. Only thing I could think to do was take away her "unsupervised basking light" privileges until I can get an attachable holder to suspend the lamp above the cage so she can't possibly get burned. And her gold markings are much brighter and along her tail when she's excited.

I'm 90% sure she's receptive again. Now I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to hold off her treatment until she cycles eggs or if I should treat her before she becomes gravid because of what a toll that can take on the immune system. I'm definitely gonna order an 18" tall cage for quarantine but the soonest it can come is the end of January.

And how much should I feed her to keep clutch size small? Because currently I've been advised to feed her as much as she can reasonably eat within reason because of her parasites. And what's your advice on the basking lamp? I can't have her burning herself when she's unsupervised but there are cons about her being too cold and not basking enough to digest.

(Also for the burns, I saw you rec silver sulfadiazine cream on another post, but am only seeing spray on amazon. Is there any particular brand you recommend? Thanks!)

Talk to your vet and get them to give you the silver sulfadiazine cream... This is going to be extremely important for her to heal without infection.

Basking lamp make sure it is a regular incandescent bulb. not a basking bulb not a focused heat bulb. I would get a plant hanger arm that you use to hook a plant to a wall... This would be the easiest way to mount it higher. Should have a distance of 4 inches away. Then test temps at the screen.

Yes, it is important to keep them eating while going through this treatment. But I would not overdue it either. Remember anything she does not eat should not be taken from her cage and put back in with other feeders. You can cross contaminate your feeders this way. With an adult female veiled we say 3 feedings a week of 3 feeders to control clutch size. So that is roughly 9 feeders a week. It is not going to hurt for the treatment period to take her to either every day feedings of 2 feeders or every other day feedings of 4 feeders. But like I said I would not go wild and pour a ton in there and I would stay away from fatty feeders like wax worms. Choose well gutloaded feeders like crickets or roaches, silkworms, and hornworms.

Listen to @MissSkittles for all things female. I do not have the hands on experience with females like she does. Mine is all learned knowledge. But pay attention to your girls colors because you will not want to put a lay bin in while dealing with coccidia. The old one should be dumped and the bin cleaned with the peroxide and rinsed really well.

 

[Tardis-engineer-Xan]

Talk to your vet and get them to give you the silver sulfadiazine cream... This is going to be extremely important for her to heal without infection.

Basking lamp make sure it is a regular incandescent bulb. not a basking bulb not a focused heat bulb. I would get a plant hanger arm that you use to hook a plant to a wall... This would be the easiest way to mount it higher. Should have a distance of 4 inches away. Then test temps at the screen.

Yes, it is important to keep them eating while going through this treatment. But I would not overdue it either. Remember anything she does not eat should not be taken from her cage and put back in with other feeders. You can cross contaminate your feeders this way. With an adult female veiled we say 3 feedings a week of 3 feeders to control clutch size. So that is roughly 9 feeders a week. It is not going to hurt for the treatment period to take her to either every day feedings of 2 feeders or every other day feedings of 4 feeders. But like I said I would not go wild and pour a ton in there and I would stay away from fatty feeders like wax worms. Choose well gutloaded feeders like crickets or roaches, silkworms, and hornworms.

Listen to @MissSkittles for all things female. I do not have the hands on experience with females like she does. Mine is all learned knowledge. But pay attention to your girls colors because you will not want to put a lay bin in while dealing with coccidia. The old one should be dumped and the bin cleaned with the peroxide and rinsed really well.

• Called my vet and the nurse/receptionist said to order the cream from chewy.com and they'd approve the prescription; just wanted to make sure that was okay for reptiles with you. https://www.chewy.com/silver-sulfadiazine-cream-1/dp/379019 Chewy tends to be more for dogs and cats, plus while my vet does treat exotics, it's pretty clear she's more familiar with beardies and not so much on chams; at this point, I definitely know more about cham specific care than she does (that isn't me being arrogant or anything I swear).
• I ask if it's okay for chams since veileds use their casque (where she got burned) to catch water/roll it down to their mouth to drink, and my girl also has some burn on her lower lip. Is the cream safe if they accidentally ingest some?
• So to be clear, these bulbs I got for the basking lamp are no good? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CDHMPJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Or would they be okay if I got a plant hanger arm/lamp holder to raise the heat lamp? Why incandescent?
• I feed her almost exclusively dubia roaches and BSFL/nutrigrubs. Sometimes hornworms (when I can afford it) and more often sometimes banded crickets because they're her favorite (but I hate keeping the for their smell and difficulty to collect for food). But I never "free feed" her; too much trouble and risk of the bugs getting away somehow in the little cracks of the cage or me losing them and not being able to collect them back (so they don't befoul her cage esp crickets). I always hand cup feed her, usually having her walk onto my other arm to eat to build trust. That way I can monitor her behavior/hunger and make sure no bugs escape or fall out of her mouth into the cage if she takes too big of a bite. She's only "gotten full" and left a few BSFL like 3 times tops; if the leftover feeders never left a bowl that was only briefly touched by her tongue, could those still be infected with coccidia?
• Related, should I completely wash/sterilize her "bowl" with peroxide between each feeding? I usually only wash it once a week or if she squirted bug guts in it to make the most of leftover calcium/pollen supplement.

I'll ask @MissSkittles more since she's definitely her receptive colors and acting restless. Thanks!