Is their any visible signs of coccidia in a veiled chameleon?

[VeiledBunta1984]

My 18month old male veiled chameleon has recently dramatically reduced his intake of food and water.
Ive tried changing the live food i give him from black crickets to brown crickets. Then from crickets to locusts. Size 4-5 and adult locusts. Then ive recently tried roaches.
I always offer more than one feeder!
Ive even decided to offer food only every other day. But he doesnt eat that often.
This makes me believe that their maybe a parasite problem.
Would their be any visual change in his feces??
Im going to the vet on saturday to have a fecial examination to rule out any ingestinal parasites.
If their is a parasite problem such as coccidia would their be a visual change in his fecies??

 

[Carlton]

My 18month old male veiled chameleon has recently dramatically reduced his intake of food and water.
Ive tried changing the live food i give him from black crickets to brown crickets. Then from crickets to locusts. Size 4-5 and adult locusts. Then ive recently tried roaches.
I always offer more than one feeder!
Ive even decided to offer food only every other day. But he doesnt eat that often.
This makes me believe that their maybe a parasite problem.
Would their be any visual change in his feces??
Im going to the vet on saturday to have a fecial examination to rule out any ingestinal parasites.
If their is a parasite problem such as coccidia would their be a visual change in his fecies??

A fecal exam is the test you need to rule this out. They should show up in the feces. But, loss of appetite is more likely due to something else, not parasites unless the load is so high it is making the cham sick. Please describe your husbandry in detail!

For example:

A cham kept too cool won't eat as much.
A dehydrated cham won't tend to eat either.
A stressed cham may not pay enough attention to feeders and won't hunt.
Chams get bored with feeders if offered the same one or two types day after day.
Your feeders may taste different if you have changed their gutloading.
A cham with nutritional deficiencies or incorrect lighting can't metabolize their food properly and simply shut down.

That's just a start...

 

[VeiledBunta1984]

i try to rotate his food as often as possible. The temp is usually at 88f in baskin area and 78f in lower part of viv. He does seem slightly dehyrdated as he dont l like his mister. But i drip water on to the end of his mouth with a syringe, which he enjoys. I also spray him with luke warm water a couple of times a day but he just hides from it! Ive started to offer him some veggies but shows no intrest other than strawberrys. His lighting was changed 3months ago. I feel my husbandry and setup is how it should be for the care of a yeman chameleon. And have done endless amounts of research to ensure this. The only point of concern i feel is the humidity which is usually between 30-40%

 

[bradleymarky]

the humidity is very low (i`m not saying that is the cause of the problem) my viv is always between 70-80 percent humid, do you have any live plants in it

 

[Carlton]

i try to rotate his food as often as possible. The temp is usually at 88f in baskin area and 78f in lower part of viv. He does seem slightly dehyrdated as he dont l like his mister. But i drip water on to the end of his mouth with a syringe, which he enjoys. I also spray him with luke warm water a couple of times a day but he just hides from it! Ive started to offer him some veggies but shows no intrest other than strawberrys. His lighting was changed 3months ago. I feel my husbandry and setup is how it should be for the care of a yeman chameleon. And have done endless amounts of research to ensure this. The only point of concern i feel is the humidity which is usually between 30-40%

Yes, that is too dry for him. A dehydrated cham won't eat much if anything. It's good that he drinks from the syringe. The problem is, if the cage is too dry he ends up losing ground (electrolyte and moisture balance) between chances to drink. Chams lose a lot of body moisture through respiration as their nasal and respiratory tracts don't conserve water very well. They usually have to "learn" to eat fruit or veggies and some never do.

The first thing I would do is add live plants to his cage. They will provide a lot more surfaces to hold water droplets longer (don't spray him directly but do spray down the foliage with warm water instead). Live plants not only provide surfaces for him to drink off of, but help stabilize humidity through transpiration and evaporation. If the air in your room is also very dry you may need to get a humidifier and aim it at the cage. Cycle it on and off to create wetter and drier periods throughout the day. Hang plastic sheeting off one or more sides of the screen to help hold in moisture.

 

[VeiledBunta1984]

Yeah i have a weeping fig in his viv. Im gonna go and buy a couple of small pothos plants at the weekend. I shall also place a plastic sheet over the one side of the flexarium tonight. And see how that improves the humdity.
If i still have trouble in rising the humidity im thinking of placing a substrate at the bottom on his viv.
Do you have any suggestions on a humidifier???

 

[Carlton]

Yeah i have a weeping fig in his viv. Im gonna go and buy a couple of small pothos plants at the weekend. I shall also place a plastic sheet over the one side of the flexarium tonight. And see how that improves the humdity.
If i still have trouble in rising the humidity im thinking of placing a substrate at the bottom on his viv.
Do you have any suggestions on a humidifier???

Substrate isn't always a good idea as it can harbor molds and bacteria. If the cham hunts near the ground it can also pick up bits of substrate on its tongue and swallow them...impaction can happen. In an extremely dry climate I did use that recycled paper pulp bedding (either Care Fresh or Cage Fresh...can't recall the exact name) in a high humidity cham setup. I packed a thick layer in the cage bottom and laid window screen on top so the cham couldn't get any of it on itself. It did help moderate humidity, but I had to be careful to keep it clean.

As for humidifiers, look for an ultrasonic room humidifier...they produce a room temp fog and they don't need a wick or filter that can be a bacteria breeding ground. You can either put the humidifier above the cage and let the fog pour down on the plants or attach tubing or pvc water pipe to the unit's spout and funnel the fog into the cage itself. It won't have to run all the time. Use a multiple setting lamp timer to create wetter and dryer cycles during the day.

 

[beninan]

Yeah i have a weeping fig in his viv. Im gonna go and buy a couple of small pothos plants at the weekend. I shall also place a plastic sheet over the one side of the flexarium tonight. And see how that improves the humdity.
If i still have trouble in rising the humidity im thinking of placing a substrate at the bottom on his viv.
Do you have any suggestions on a humidifier???

Instead of substrate, I have several layers of cheep washcloths on the bottom of mine to help soak up the water dripping off my plants and to help the humidity. I just keep rotating them out and washing them. It seems to work pretty good.

 

[VeiledBunta1984]

I placed a hygrometer in his viv last nite and gave him a good spray. His humidity was at 75% this morning. So i feel that substrate wont need to be added. Im going to have a look at a couple of humidifier this wknd after his fecial examination.
Also he hasnt shed for over 6wks now. So maybe humidity may be a problem during the day when im at work. So i feel installing a humidifier is a must at the moment!!