Lethargic Veiled Cham

A.M.Y.

New Member
My male veiled chameleon has been very lethargic the last couple of days. He sleeps a little during the day at the bottom of his cage, but he is still drinking and eating normally.

Here is his info:
He is about 2.5 - 3 years old. He is in a 3ft. tall screen cage with a UVA/UVB strip light and 2 heat bulbs, which are on a timer for a day and night schedule. He also has an umbrella tree plant and adjustable vines in his cage. He eats very other day, 10 - 15 crickets with calcium powder during the week and vitamin powder during the weekend. The crickets are gutloaded. He gets misted with a spray bottle once a day and is given water via a plastic syringe which is squirted into his mouth (he perfers the syringe).

Also, his eyes have been bulging out in an odd fashion. When I spray him with water, his eyes seem to go back to normal, but later on they will be bulging again.

Please help. Any information is appreciated.
 
Can you get a picture of your chameleon? Napping is never good but his eyes could be bothering him if you say they look swollen. I would recommend going with way more misting and even a dripper. Even if he is taking water from you it gives him a chance to clean his eyes out. Chameleons are constantly getting dust and debri in their eyes. A long misting session or perhaps a shower would give him an opprotunity to free any debri if that is what it is.
 
My boyfriend took our cham to the vet at lunch. The vet said he is physically normal except for his weight. He has lost 20% of his body weight since April. So they are running a full blood panel on him and we will get the results tomorrow.

The vet didn't say anything about his eyes, so I will try misting him more and for longer periods of time.

Thanks for the reply.
 
Hello AMY, welcome to the Chameleon Forums :D

As Jordan mentioned above, sleeping during the day is never a good thing. It is great to hear you have already taken him to the veterinarian. Please keep us updated.

When was the last time you changed light bulbs? What are your temp and humidity levels? What kind of calcium and vitamin supplements are you using? I am guessing your frequency may be excessive for your cham's age; you may want to talk to your vet about this tomorrow. The eyes and his recent drop in health could be related to this.
 
We got the results from my cham's blood test today. He either has kidney disease, which is not treatable or a kidney infection, which can be treated. So we have to give him daily oral antibiotics and 10cc of water a day. Then in 3-4 weeks we have to have him tested again. If there is improvement, he has an infection. If no improvement, he has kidney disease. We are hoping for the best. Thank you for your replies.
 
I guess it could be something along the lines of what Brad said with to many supplements. I feed my adults about the same as you in a week. I feed them some everyday. With my adults I only use supplements twice a week on them. I give them six crickets when I dust them so it would be even less supplements. You could keep on the same feeding regiment but maybe just dust once a week. I mist more frequently 3-4 times a day to keep the humidity up. Veileds get alot of the water they use through the air. High humidity soaks through their skin and in their mouths as they breathe. I just made these suggestions because both could cause kidney problems and both could complicate his recovery.
 
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