Jackson Chameleon Stop eating

[JacksonChameleon]

Im here to ask questions and possibly get some answers about my 7-8 month old jackson chameleon. I've had him for about 3 months now and hes a wild caught. His enclosure has been the correct temperature and humidity this entire time. He always used to drink and eat when i started his dripper and got him crickets. I usually fed him around 6 half inch crickets every other day. I would let his dripper system for about 15 minutes 3 times a day(Morning,Afternoon,Night). Almost this whole past week ive only seen him eat 1 single cricket and drink water sometimes. his eyes are closed most of the time and his grip is failing him. Im extremely scared for him so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Solid Snake]

Hello!

Hi there! Welcome to the forum!

While it is normal for chameleons to go on "hunger strikes", the grip issue, and eyes closed issue could signal a health problem, possibly due to your husbandry. Please fill out the "How to ask for help form"(can be found in the health forum section here, or by searching) After you fill it out it will be much easier to get you and your chameleon the help it needs Pictures of the animal and its setup are also extremely helpfull!

 

[JacksonChameleon]

-Jackson Chameleon
-Rarely Handled (Only when cleaning out cage)
-Half Inch Crickets dusted with D3 Calcium, Sometimes Dusted with Worm Guard since hes wild caught
-Calcium every time i feed him crickets which is 6 crickets every 2 days. Worm guard once a week on 6 crickets.
-Not tested for parasites, Fecal matter looks regular.
-He was shipped to canada from africa where he was in a pet store by himself for 2 months in his cage. The lady that was taking care of him had him quarantined for a month to make sure he would be okay before putting him up for sale.
-His cage is a 4 foot x2 foot x2 foot screen cage.
-His lighting is a Exo Terra Repti glo tropical terraium lamp 26W, And Exo Terra Heat glo 100W
-Heating and humidity range is 74-82 F and his humidity sits from 55-75%
-Pothos vines, Palm plants, Twigs, Fake vines.
-Cage is in a room with no fans running, Low traffic area behind a wall in the room so no cool breezes can get in. the top of the cage is about 7 feet off the ground because it sits on a table.
- Geographically located in canada.

- Please help he is not eating but I am getting him to drink water on occasion but his eyes are almost always shut and he doesnt grip very much.

 

[Solid Snake]

I'm not sure about the worm gaurd. But you should probably not be using it. Maybe you can post more info on it? What's your lighting schedule? It should be 12hrs on, 12hrs off. While everyones situation is different. I can pretty much garentee that a 100w bulb is generating way to much heat for a jackson, especially a young one. What are you using to measure these temps and how? Are you using a light at night for heat? Even a "redbulb" can keep them awake, and this would explain daytime sleeping. But that's really best case scenerio as that's easily fixed. What are you feeding said crickets? This is very important. For a healthy chameleon you need to feed what its eating nutitious things, and those things need to be appropriatly nutitious to. This is a very helpfull site. You should look at sandrachameleons gutloading blog. It will help emmensly with getting a head start on gutloading your feeders. Don't take this as hatefull in any way. But it would help if you would fill out the entire form, as completly as possible, that way we can give help. I understand you might not be able to, but I want to reiterate that photos of your animal as well as its entire setup can be most helpfull in finding out what we need to do to get you on track with your animal. they can be quite demanding, especially at first, but it is worth it, and it will get easier.

 

[camimom]

-Jackson Chameleon
-Rarely Handled (Only when cleaning out cage)
-Half Inch Crickets dusted with D3 Calcium, Sometimes Dusted with Worm Guard since hes wild caught
-Calcium every time i feed him crickets which is 6 crickets every 2 days. Worm guard once a week on 6 crickets.
-Not tested for parasites, Fecal matter looks regular.
-He was shipped to canada from africa where he was in a pet store by himself for 2 months in his cage. The lady that was taking care of him had him quarantined for a month to make sure he would be okay before putting him up for sale.
-His cage is a 4 foot x2 foot x2 foot screen cage.
-His lighting is a Exo Terra Repti glo tropical terraium lamp 26W, And Exo Terra Heat glo 100W
-Heating and humidity range is 74-82 F and his humidity sits from 55-75%
-Pothos vines, Palm plants, Twigs, Fake vines.
-Cage is in a room with no fans running, Low traffic area behind a wall in the room so no cool breezes can get in. the top of the cage is about 7 feet off the ground because it sits on a table.
- Geographically located in canada.

- Please help he is not eating but I am getting him to drink water on occasion but his eyes are almost always shut and he doesnt grip very much.

I dont know the supplement schedule for jacksons as I dont keep them, but I do know you need a calcium WITHOUT d3, a calcium with d3, and a multivitamin.
I would not be using the worm guard, if hes worm free now, then hell stay that way unless your feeders are infested.
For lighting, are either of thsoe bulbs a UVB bulb> If not, that could be part of your problem.
Jackson dont normally eat as much as other chams do, and it is possible hes on a hunger strike.
Weak grip is a big problem.

Can you post pictures of him please?

 

[JacksonChameleon]

C:\Users\Shayne\Pictures\2011-12-25 Chameleon\Chameleon 018.JPG

Thats a picture of him before i shut his daytime light off for the night.
I do "Gutload" his crickets with Flukers cricket quencher calcium fortified, and a high calcium cricket diet for there food. I keep good care of the crickets because it helps him obviously.
I am using a "redbulb" for night and one of the bulbs are UVB.

If that picture does not work I am sorry this is my first time.

 

[JacksonChameleon]

Here is a couple different photos i hope these work

 

[Elizadolots]

Is the Repti Glo the 5.0 or the 2.0?

If it's the 5.0, it might be enough UVB but it's not really a UVB bulb. It's recommended for animals that don't need to get right into the sunlight. If it's the 2.0, it's a low UVB output bulb and so unsuitable as anything other than a heat source.

To post a picture from your computer. Do not use the handy "quick reply" box at the bottom of the thread. Instead, click the "Post Reply" button on the left side below the last post. That reply box will have an icon that looks like a paperclip. Click that. Follow the prompts to find your picture on your computer and upload it. It will appear in the post as a thumbnail that enlarges when we click on it. You will not be able to see that when you compose your post so just take it on faith that it worked.

I sort of agree on the worm guard, only because I've never heard of it and having been around here for a few years, I think I've heard of most things that have met the standards of the really expert keepers that bless us with their presence. It might be better to give up on that and, in a couple of months, have a fecal test done for parasites...repeat that test periodically.

 

[JacksonChameleon]

 

[camimom]

COuple things.
First- you dont need a night bulb. they like temp drops, if it gets too too cold, you can use a ceramic heat emitter, no light but warms the air.
Next- you need to gutload better. that store bought stuff is good enough to keep your crickets alive, but not for gutloading.
please find sandrachameleons blog on gutloading and read it.
Also, what type of uvb bulb are you using?
I also cant see from the pic, but his legs look a bit weird. can you post a closer up photo of him from the side so we can see his legs better?
Thanks!

 

[Action Jackson]

Is the Repti Glo the 5.0 or the 2.0?

If it's the 5.0, it might be enough UVB but it's not really a UVB bulb. It's recommended for animals that don't need to get right into the sunlight. If it's the 2.0, it's a low UVB output bulb and so unsuitable as anything other than a heat source.

A little more research is probably in order.

http://exo-terra.com/en/products/compact_fluorescent_bulbs.php