Male Veiled Cham Refusing All Food!

[Alouqua]

Chameleon Info: Edwardo

Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, and approx 4-5months?. I got him back in March
Handling - Not often unless I feel theneed to check him out
Feeding - Crickets, superworms,hornworms,dubia roaches? As much as he wants, I just powder them and toss them in his cage. Usually once a day unless he is eyeing the feeder cage then a few more? I have a dry cricket feed, toss in kale, mustard greens,collard greens, on and off.
Supplements - I have rep-shy calcium, exo-terra calcium+D3 and exo-terra multiviatin. I dust every feeding with calcium, once a week D3, once evvery other week vitamin (ideally)
Watering - I have a timed mister, it runs every 2.3 hours or so for 30 seconds, or else the enclosure dosen't dry enough. I see him drink but its not often.
Fecal Description - When I can find it, he either isnt going or is a master at hiding it, its slightly wet, seems normal enough from the poo thread I saw lol

History - Ah, here in lies my shame, I was uninformed when I first got my guy. I didn't realize that he needed calcium every feeding, or that he even needed vitamins. About 2 months in he had a fall off his ficus tree and was cornered by the cats. He wasn't hurt by them but I'm sure traumatized by the encounter. I snatched him up but with the shock of it all I think his symptoms became abundantly clear. He was starting to get MBD. It took some fast and furious learning on my part and within days I had his light corrected, his vitamins corrected, I felt so guilty I bought him a bigger cage...the whole shabang. He did better.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 16x16x48, screen but I have the sides loosely covered with clear plastic to keep the moisture in, and it keeps the mister from drowning everything else.
Lighting - I have a hood with 2 compact uvb lights ( i need to look up what i bought, ive forgotten atm) and a small heating light as well, But when i get up at 530 am the lights go on and at about 9 when he curls up for bed i turn them off
Temperature - His basking spot sits about 85-90(he dosent go too far from this spot often so I worry it might be a little too cool elsewhere in the cage) At night the house it never below 75, and my room keeps fairly warm
Humidity - N/A atm, I need to keep a better eye on this with a gauge (definitely my next buy) The mister runs every 2.3 hours, and water stays present on the cage for a while.
Plants - A pothos atm, tried a hibicus but he bit it all up and it died lol, seemed to love the buds.
Placement - Corner of my room, no vents, no fans, only traffic is me and my mom who pops in to check on him as well. His cage sits 2 1/2 feet up on a desk.
Location - South Texas


Current Problem - My guy Edwardo is refusing to eat crickets, or hornworms, phoneix worms, dubias, only superworms and now hes not wanting that. I'm worried because of his previous bout with MBD, he's not eating so hes not getting his supplements. This started when i moved him to his bigger cage, he would eat some but slowly but surely he just stopped eating crickets all together. They would just walk on him or actually spook him a bit.

I bought him hormworms, he ate one...then refused to eat more. I bought him dubias, he ate maybe half then just stopped eating them..tried phoenix worms and the same, he ate some then just stopped. Refusing to touch them again. He only wanted superworms, but after about 3 days, he's lost his appetite for them. Could it be the greens im feeding them? Maybe he doesn't like the taste? I'm just not sure. Should I move him to his previous tiny cage and try there? I'm just worried that this will flare up the MBD symptoms again and I don't want that at all!!

I'm sorry for the rambling, but I've been so happy using this site to help me I'm hoping that you guys can help me again!

 

[ChameleonKing1911]

Fix

I hate for you to have to do this but it seems that this is the only fix to feed your chameleon... Watch this video as I had the same problem and this fixed it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsyZUEnaOwc hope this helps

 

[sharp229]

I wouldn't move him back to the smaller cage. Adjusting to the new cage may well be affecting his appetite, so you just need to give him time.

It would really help if you posted pictures of him, since this would allow people here to see if there are any obvious issues.

Are his eyes sunken in at all? 30 second mistings may be too short. It would be best to set up a good drainage system and give him 5 minute mistings a few times a day. But at least a 2 minute misting in the morning a little while after he wakes up. If he is not getting adequate hydration he may not eat. Lots of live foliage can also help him drink.

If you are using a 2-bulb CFL fixture, I would put in one ReptiSun 5.0 26w bulb and one 26w 6500k dayliight bulb for the plants. Make sure he has a perch about 7 inches under the UVB bulb. Two bulbs could be too much, depending on wattage.

I also would not force feed him at this point. The best thing is to give him time and keep handling to a minimum. Chameleons can easily go more than a week without eating if they are in good health, their metabolism is much slower than mammals.

He may be having a hunger strike if he is refusing anything but superworms. I would not feed him superworms at all until he gets back to eating other foods since they may make him not want anything else. He may go several days without eating before he is willing to try less desirable foods again.

But please post some pictures and provide updates. It is hard to diagnose his health without seeing him.

 

[Alouqua]

Okay, gotcha on the cage thing. I don't want to fuss with him more than i need to and i have a feeling putting him back WOULD flare him up. Here is a few quick pics.

His poor little arms just kill me

But his eyes aren't sunken in, though his color is changing as we speak, less dark. I guess since Im in the room ( just got home from work) he's moving about and lightening up.

Will do on the lights, i wasn't sure what to do about the plants, thank you fer that advice too.

Maybe it's just me being paranoid, I'm so afraid his health will take a nose dive that I want to see him eating his dusted crickets. I don't want to force feed yet cause again, i don't like to upset him.

I'll do the no worms as well, lol, i guess it's more a test for me than for him.

Snagged another pic, this has been in the past 20 minutes since i came into my room. Lol he looks happier I think, and hes up in his baking spot.

Thank you for the reply, i greatly appreciate it! Any more help would be wonderful!

 

[sharp229]

He looks pretty healthy to me other than the MBD that you already mentioned. However, it looks like you caught it pretty soon so he will probably recover well. He doesn't look dehydrated.

Do you have pictures of both the old cage and the current one? It looks like the foliage may be somewhat sparse in that cage.

How long has he been in the new cage? It may take a while for him to adjust. I would make sure he has crickets or dubia available daily and just wait a while and see if he will eat them once he gets hungry enough to stop waiting for superworms.

 

[Alouqua]

I'm glad! His cage was just cleaned so I had taken out his dead Hibiscus. I still want to put a little more at the top for him to crawl on.

He's been in this cage for less than a month, and his old cage was a 10-gallon tank. So this is a major upgrade for him. The tank is now cricket central. But i caught him staring at his superworms yesterday lol just, staring at them so hard.

 

[laurie]

Have you been to the vet? He will need a couple shots to help get his calcium back where it should be. The will help stop the MBD but you can't change what has already happened. If you go to a good vet they can most likely tell you if there is a physical reason he is not eating and how to fix the problem.

 

[junglefries]

Silkworms seem to be irresitible to chams, especially veils. Like when you see them go for a freshly molted crix or superworm. Being they are high in calcium, it definitely wouldn't hurt to try. The superworms i do keep, in case of natural crix disaster will feed on a variety of foods. Fresh veggies and fruits, as well as grains and uncooked oats. A proper gutload could make some headway, while trying to work out the other issues.