Lack of Eating and Lethargy

Recently, my 1 1/2 year old Jackson’s appetite has been severely reduced and he’s been way more lethargic than usual. He also recently has been resting his head on branches like he’s having issues holding himself up (example in the picture given). I’m hoping that it’s more of a seasonal change and not early stage MBD.

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Jackson’s, male, 1 1/2 years and I’ve had him since he was 3 months old.
  • Handling - I do not.
  • Feeding - I give him crickets daily, but i usually recover all but one i put in. Feeding is usually at noon. I feed them greens, (collard, mustard).
  • Supplements - I dust with calcium w/o D3 twice a week, not sure of the brand, and a reptivite multi vitamin twice a month.
  • Watering - an automatic system as well as a spray bottle. System goes off every three hours for 45 seconds. He usually drink when i use the spray bottle, but it has been a few days since I’ve watched him drink.
  • Fecal Description - I haven’t seen much in the past few weeks, which is also concerning.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Mesh screen, it’s the large zoomed one. I think it’s 36/36/24
  • Lighting - Since April, I’ve been using an Evergreen Pet Supplies 100 Watt UVA/UVB bulb lights on is 9:30-9:30

  • Temperature - Right under the bulb is 95, where he usually basks is 82, over night is 70. I have a digital thermometer I use.
  • Humidity - I had a reader for humidity, but it broke a little while ago. The techniques I’m using used to keep it at about 80-90%
  • Plants - A real plant. It is a gardenia.
  • Placement - I included a picture of cage placement.
  • Location - northern ca

Current Problem - lack of appetite and lethargy.
 

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First, thank you for filling out the form! You’ll for sure get more informed Jackson’s keepers’ opinions soon, but I think you might consider your lighting: it’s a general consensus that the only useful artificial source of uvb is a linear t5 fluorescent bulb. I think Jackson’s do fine with 5-6% uvb. Also, unless your multi-vitamin contains d3, you are not supplementing d3 at all in your supplement regime. Again, I’m no Jackson’s expert, but I think ‘repashy calcium plus loD’ would be a suitable all in one supplement to use at every feeding until you figure out how you’d like to proceed with supplementation. More knowledgeable chammers who know Jackson’s will undoubtedly weigh in soon here
 
Further to my last,

I might be wrong, but as a montagne species, I think your temps are too high. 85 max basking, 70-75 ambient, and 60-65 nightime. I know I’ll get corrected on this, but my intuition says your temps are too high.
 
Can you get more pictures of him and try to get more of his body in it? I'm suspicious of your lighting being insufficient for his cage size. I'm not familiar with that brand of light but if it is a coiled bulb it could be one part of the problem.
 
He might also benefit from a change to Repashy Calcium plus LoD but at his age I would use it only once a week max and use plain calcium the other two days a week. His insects gut load could also contain vegetables besides just greens they are great but are higher in goitrogens mix in some butternut squash or carrots etc. If you get the chance get him outside and see if that perks him up and this might be a good time for an extra hand misting.
 
I reread your supplement schedule and unless you are using the slightest of amounts you are probably giving him too much D3. You multi has both D3 and vitamins. He will only need that once month . Too much D3 and calcium can bog down their digestive system. At a year and a half his appetite will slow a bit on its own and he may only eat a couple feeders per day or 2-4 every other day. Only dust half of his feeders with supplement to limit the amount.
 
thank goodness you weighed in here! I was out to lunch on my supplementation advice. I didn’t know there was d3 in his multi.
 
Someone asked for more pics of him and his set up so here those are. I really do hope that it’s just an appetite slow down because of age. Where he is currently sitting is where the temps average about 82. And I’ll cut back on the multivite for him to see if that helps.
 

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I wanted to see if he had any signs of edema or gout. Like swelling under his throat or enlarged joints. I can't see anything in your pictures but he's not letting you get good pictures of him stretched out.
 
@JacksJill here are some better pictures with him more stretched out.
 

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I also noticed since yesterday, he’s been sitting like this a lot. Without using his front arms.
 

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So it is something serious then. Poor guy. I’ll try and get him into the vet as soon as I can. Anything I can do at home in the mean time?
 
No supplements with D3 or vitamins for month and encourage him to drink and if possible some natural sunlight. Look up threads on gout there are several causes. I'll see what I can find for you later.
 
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