Lenny won't poop.

[summoner12]

Lenny is a WC I acquired about two months ago. He has not pooped in the last week. Last weekend he did poop a little and had a urate that was white. I have been feeding him horn worms hoping the moisture will help him pass his massive poop he is saving up for me. The last two days I have fed him crickets along with a horn worm in the morning. He gobbles up the crickets! His gut is huge right now. I took some pics of him tonight.

Is it possible he is a she?

The last two days I have been giving him warm showers and rubbing his belly. He does not like to drink when I shower him. I tried to get him to sit in the sink with warm water but he wasn't having it and would give me a death grip while trying to climb out of the sink.

His setup at the moment is kinda minimal. He is living in his tree in the bedroom. I don't have any lights on him at the moment because of the move and I don't have any way of hanging anything over him. The weather is pretty fair right now. I keep his temps in the mid to upper 70's during the day and he drops to about the mid 60's at night. I mist him in the morning but he never drinks. Just closes his eyes and seems annoyed. I am working on my other Melleri's free range and then i will move lenny into his permanent location and setup his misting, lights and drainage system. The reason I haven't put him in his spot is because Henry (my other melleri) is in the living room where Lenny will end up and I want to get Henry's range secured first.... I should finish his setup tonight and tomorrow.

I have babbled long enough... So any ideas on making him poop would be appreciated!

When I got him he was 230 grams....

His grip is deadly! Here is a pic of his gut.... He wasn't happy with the camera and started to fire up a bit at me...

Kevin

 

[chris]

keep him/her in a plastic bin filled a little with warm water that it cant get out of for a about 10-15 minutes it usually does the trick.

 

[wheresstimpy]

keep him/her in a plastic bin filled a little with warm water that it cant get out of for a about 10-15 minutes it usually does the trick.

works with my snake, i throw him in a warm bath and the first thing he does is unleash a giant turd, which in turn makes me have to empty everything out, clean and disinfect and start over... ohh well such is life

 

[chris]

ya i had to do it to one of my chams the other day. it was pretty freakin nasty how big and smelly that turd was

 

[summoner12]

Cool thanks guys! I will let ya all know how it turns out. I just hope im not too late

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

What a beautiful animal, Kevin!

I am concerned that his temps may be a bit too cool, which would slow down his digestion and metabolism. If he gets too much poorly digested food in his gut he could get impacted. Actually, overfeeding a cham can also cause impaction. You may want to back off a bit on the feeding until Lenny has passed something.

I have Melleri too and I know what you mean about the death grip. It is much harder to get a Meller's to do something it doesn't want to do, than it is a panther or veiled.

Do what you can to hydrate him, give him that warm bath, and is there anything you can do to raise his temps? What about putting him and his tree in a small room, like a bathroom, and turning a little heat on? Of course, you don't want him getting too hot, either.

If the warm bath does not work, try feeding him small bits of lite canned pears. FOr a Meller's I would say about a level teaspoon full. It has worked for our chams when they hadn't pooped in a week.

But I do suspect that the coolish temps are part of the problem.

Oh, and, yes, it's a Meller's- so it is certainly possible that he is a she.

 

[summoner12]

What a beautiful animal, Kevin!


Oh, and, yes, it's a Meller's- so it is certainly possible that he is a she.

Thanks Gesang!


LOL what I meant by they 'he she?' was that... what if she were putting on the weight and stuff because she is generating eggs? Or do they only generate clutches when fertile?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Thanks Gesang!


LOL what I meant by they 'he she?' was that... what if she were putting on the weight and stuff because she is generating eggs? Or do they only generate clutches when fertile?

They can have infertile clutches. There is generally, but not always, a color variation that a gravid Melleri takes on. More of a bleached out whitish gray. Yours looks very fresh and green.

Rescues seem to put on weight very quickly. Also, The poop is adding a lot of weight. You will probably be quite surprised when that dude lets go. Remember to back off the intake a bit until you get some outgoing on the other end.

PLEASE let us know as soon as something develops.

 

[summoner12]

They can have infertile clutches. There is generally, but not always, a color variation that a gravid Melleri takes on. More of a bleached out whitish gray. Yours looks very fresh and green.

Rescues seem to put on weight very quickly. Also, The poop is adding a lot of weight. You will probably be quite surprised when that dude lets go. Remember to back off the intake a bit until you get some outgoing on the other end.

PLEASE let us know as soon as something develops.

Ten Four!

The first time he pooped when i got him I thought a cat was living in my cham tree! I will try and hook up a clamp light near him and see if he'll bask. I can imagine Henry is having the same issue... but he's pooped at least twice since out move.

 

[summoner12]

Well here he is.. he didn't flop around much until I reached in to take him out... he mostly just looked up at me like 'ok.. what the hell?'

 

[summoner12]

So, Lenny pooped today!

Pretty runny. My GF said that this was very wet when he made the deposit... but it has since dried up a bit. I will soak him again tomorrow morning and keep him under the warmer heat lamp.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Just saw this. Congratulations. The wet mucusy look can be normal for a Meller's.

I haven't read all your posts about Lenny and so I don't know- have you had a fecal exam done on him yet? The tar colored poops raise some concerns.

 

[summoner12]

Just saw this. Congratulations. The wet mucusy look can be normal for a Meller's.

I haven't read all your posts about Lenny and so I don't know- have you had a fecal exam done on him yet? The tar colored poops raise some concerns.

He has had hook worms show up in his fecal test.... AND had a giant one come out in his stool. I did two treatment of panacur but its been close to three or four weeks since I last dosed him. He has not pooped since that last time on Friday I have cut back on feeding him incase of impaction. I will soak him tomorrow and then give him some crickets. He still does not have a home other than his beloved tree... But I do have him under a heat lamp now so he can warm himself. I just have trouble finding time to set him up 100%. Now that Henry has his new home up and running I can start to clear the living room of Henry's temp home and start moving some of the human home furnishings around to make room for Lenny's tree.

He is a strong eater, but has not had a solid poo in a about two weeks. 1.5 weeks of the last 2 weeks has been without a single poo other than the time on Friday. I think he will be more regular now that he has a heat source. Next poo will be tested...

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Good. Yes, I think the heat made a big difference. Our Meller's generally put out an egg shaped dark to medium brown poo. Sometimes as many as 3 smallish ones at a time. But they only put out a tarry poo when there was a problem.

Let us know how his next fecal goes. He is a really beautiful guy/gal. My hunch is that you have a female there.

 

[summoner12]

Good. Yes, I think the heat made a big difference. Our Meller's generally put out an egg shaped dark to medium brown poo. Sometimes as many as 3 smallish ones at a time. But they only put out a tarry poo when there was a problem.

Let us know how his next fecal goes. He is a really beautiful guy/gal. My hunch is that you have a female there.

Heat has helped him. It seems he poos once a week.... I think he has a fear of toilet paper.

Last time he pooped (since the last time I posted he has since gone once more), it was a BIG poop, last Friday... (two Fridays ago)

I took this one to Dave Weldon and we could not see anything bad. Now this doesn't mean he doesn't have a blood parasite or something we can't see in his fecal.... BUT the hook worm eggs/worms we saw last time are not showing up.

Here are some pics of his setup... Vines on the way!

 

[summoner12]

SO, it seems Lenny is a once a week pooper. I will feed him one to three HW and or silkies a day... basicly 1-4 food items. He now has a mister on him and its been about a week and half. He seems to poop on Friday, Saturday or Sundays. This Sunday he had a big urate but only two small solid poops. He did have a bunch of liquid mixed in with his urate but there was a solid white bit. His last fecal was clean. I am hoping he poops more often now that I see him basking and sitting in the mist more. I do not see him drink but his urate is never yellow or orange.

Today he bit me....... LOL I did have my thumb in his mouth...... so it is my fault I think. He had a HW and it had grabbed his lip.... well I got Lenny to open up and was pushing on the worms feet a bit and suddenly he jomped down on me! the pressure was pretty good and i kept my cool and didn't pull away from him.. he let go after about a second and i pulled my finger out. It left a line with little tooth marks but no bleeding. I will think twice next time I put my fingers inside his mouth LOL!

 

[luevelvet]

I just posted a thread asking about the same thing! I guess I didn't search the correct terms. I don't normally use the "P" word

How's Lenny holding up? Still on the same schedule?

Luis

 

[summoner12]

I just posted a thread asking about the same thing! I guess I didn't search the correct terms. I don't normally use the "P" word

How's Lenny holding up? Still on the same schedule?

Luis

Well its been a while since I made this thread. She is kinda off and on right now. It had been a week or so with no poop..... then she dropped four HUGE tirds and two large urates. She hasn't gone again in about 5 days. Her food intake is about 2 roaches and maybe one or two silk or horn worms a day. she is VERY greedy with her food. Since she just laid eggs about two weeks ago I am not withholding food.

 

[Fidget321]

I know this thread is old, but is it normal for Chams metabolism to be this slow?
Slow enough to only excrete once a week?

The reason i am asking is my cham is doing the exact same. And I have been feeding her way too much (i only found out today you can overfeed them) 10 crickets and about 6 super worms every day. And nothing.

I am going to try the warm water tonight and see if that helps my cause.

Thanks - Any assistance is always appreciated

 

[Dunnigan]

Superworms "plug" my male up. but they don't have the effect on my female...as long as it is coming out i wouldn't worry