Is my chameleon simply dehydrated or sick?

[pascal1298]

My veiled chameleon doesn't seem to be doing well. He's a little over 2 years old and has recently been been showing signs of dehydration, but I've been doing some research and I'm afraid it might be something worse. I'm hesitant to take him to the vet because it seems simple dehydration- if caught soon enough- can be treated at home through simple remedies. He has sunken eyes and is closing them during the day, moving slowly and appears weak, is not eating, and isn't shedding. I plan on showering him and adding some new, appropriate foods to his diet. If there's anything else I can do before taking him in, please let me know. If you believe his symptoms are showing signs of some other illness, please warn me right away.

 

[Lazereth]

Do me a favor an fill out the "Ask For Help" in my signature below. If you are on a mobile just turn your phone sideways. Plus a few quality pics of your chameleon and the set up.

Thanks!

 

[Andee]

Those symptoms could be from a lot of different things, I agree with Lazereth fill out the form and we can help more.

 

[pascal1298]

• Veiled chameleon, male, 2 years old, been in my care for a year and a half.
• Handled once or twice a month
  
• He is fed 10-15 meal worms a day in late morning/early afternoon. Occasionally crickets.
  
• I'm not sure what the crickets are dusted with at our pet store, but once a week I dust the worms with half Herptivite and half calcium with VIT.D3
  
• I spray his cage (all the plants and branches) with a spray bottle 2-3 times a day. I haven't seen him drink in quite some time, possibly because I don't watch him constantly all day. I did get him to open his mouth yesterday and today and sprayed water in his mouth.
  
• He hasn't been going lately, but before, the droppings were dark brown with white. He has never been tested for parasites.

Cage Info:

• Screen cage. 1ft 4inches wide all around and 2ft 5iches tall
  
• What is your daily lighting schedule? I have the ZooMed bulb and lamp with UVB Reptisun on one side and a 60watt light bulb on the other side for heat. It's on from 7am till 7pm
• We have a thermometer that measures temperature and humidity. Temp during the day is usually 80-90 degrees (typically 90). Humidity is in the tropical state during the day.
  
• I am currently using fake plants, but in the past I've used a Phoe plant and plan on getting one tonight.
  
• The cage is located close to my living room and kitchen/dining room in a corner. There aren't any vents or fans close to the cage It's about 3 feet off the ground.
  
• I live in Florida.

I will try my best to upload pictures as soon as I can.

 

[xraygirl]

Welcome to the forums, and you came to the right place for help! I've added in my thoughts with the annoying pink text... I hope it'll help!

• Veiled chameleon, male, 2 years old, been in my care for a year and a half.
• Handled once or twice a month
  
• He is fed 10-15 meal worms a day in late morning/early afternoon. Occasionally crickets. Add some variety to his diet here. Silkworms, hornworms, superworms, wax worms, blue bottle flies, etc. Mealworms are not very nutritional.... Think of it like you eating popcorn everyday. I order feeders online, I use CNS Feeders off facebook, happy with every order I've ever gotten.
  
• I'm not sure what the crickets are dusted with at our pet store, but once a week I dust the worms with half Herptivite and half calcium with VIT.D3 You should be dusting feeders each time you feed (or maybe every other day of feeding) with plain (no D3) calcium. Should only use the vitamin (herptivite) and calcium with D3 once a week. I use Saturdays as my "special dusting" days, it's easier for me to remember. So each Saturday alternates.... Like last Saturday it was calcium with D3, this Saturday it'll be the vitamins, following Saturday will be calcium with D3, so on and so forth.
• I spray his cage (all the plants and branches) with a spray bottle 2-3 times a day. I haven't seen him drink in quite some time, possibly because I don't watch him constantly all day. I did get him to open his mouth yesterday and today and sprayed water in his mouth. Be careful spraying water into their mouths, they can sometimes aspirate. Do you have a dripper in the cage?
  
• He hasn't been going lately, but before, the droppings were dark brown with white. He has never been tested for parasites. White urate is good.... white means hydrated... if you start to see orange in the urate, that's a sign of dehydration.

Cage Info:

• Screen cage. 1ft 4inches wide all around and 2ft 5iches tall If he's two years old, you should invest in a bigger cage for him. a 2x2x4' cage (like an XL reptibreeze, or a XL cage from DIY Cages (sponsor on this site that makes awesome cages) would be nice for him to have.
  
• What is your daily lighting schedule? I have the ZooMed bulb and lamp with UVB Reptisun on one side and a 60watt light bulb on the other side for heat. It's on from 7am till 7pm Make sure the UVB bulb is getting changed out every 6 months, they definitely don't last forever. Most folks suggest going with the linear (tube) UVB bulbs, because the "curly Q" bulbs damaged eyes... Not sure if they still do, but I use linear UVB tubes on my boys.
• We have a thermometer that measures temperature and humidity. Temp during the day is usually 80-90 degrees (typically 90). Humidity is in the tropical state during the day. What is the basking light temperature? Veileds like a little bit warmer than 80 degrees, but I'm not sure which area of the cage this temp is at. Make sure humidity drops, keeping it constantly high isn't good. The humidity will spike after mistings and slowly drop back down, this is okay to do. If you use live plants, the humidity maintains a little longer than the plastic foliage does.
• I am currently using fake plants, but in the past I've used a Phoe plant and plan on getting one tonight. A pothos plant is super easy to keep, it gets really "vine-y" (meaning extra climbing stuff), and they grow in lower light conditions.
  
• The cage is located close to my living room and kitchen/dining room in a corner. There aren't any vents or fans close to the cage It's about 3 feet off the ground.
  
• I live in Florida.

I will try my best to upload pictures as soon as I can. Pictures will definitely help.