my chameleon just swallowed a hair and now i dont know what to do. it must have been on the cricket she was eating? she was doing the swallowing thing for under thirty seconds so i dont know if that means she got a shorter strand from my bangs or a longer one. shes only about two or three inches long. is that going to hurt her?
im really nervous right now
- Thread starter kascaper
- Start date
Lathis
Chameleon Enthusiast
Just one hair? It should be fine. Keep an eye on her poops for the next few days to make sure everything is moving through her digestive track like normal. If everything is happening on her normal schedule, there's nothing to worry about. It work be good to give her extra mistings and run a dripper for the next few days to help it along, too.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
If you are ever worried about an animal, any animal, eating something that will damage it's intestinal tract over feed it soft bulky food. This goes for your dog that ate a chicken bone, too. Filling the gut with soft food that is also very moist will expand the gut allowing more room for whatever object you are worried about passing without damaging the intestinal tract walls. I would think that the risk of a swallowed hair is pretty remote, but that it possibly could get entangled on something indigestible and cause a blockage. If you find a hair protruding from the vent do not pull it as you could cause problems.
There is not a lot you can do if your chameleon swallows something it shouldn't other than over feed it very moist, bulky, soft food. It could take days to pass the hair. My first veiled was a fair sized male and I bought him full of very large bark substrate and rocks. He pooped big pieces of subtrate and rocks for about a week. bark chunks were bigger than a normal poop.
There is not a lot you can do if your chameleon swallows something it shouldn't other than over feed it very moist, bulky, soft food. It could take days to pass the hair. My first veiled was a fair sized male and I bought him full of very large bark substrate and rocks. He pooped big pieces of subtrate and rocks for about a week. bark chunks were bigger than a normal poop.
what kind of bulky foods would you suggest? would the foods you used work on mine or should i go smaller? (i mean since mine doesnt need to pass a bunch if rocks)
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
For a chameleon, something like the biggest, juiciest silkworms or horn worms you can get the chameleon to eat. I would keep trying to encourage the chameleon to overeat on that kind of food.
