inlinefourpower
New Member
My 10 month old male veiled chameleon *may* be having some health problems. He's not using his back feet much, nearly not at all.
First the health sheet:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, approximately 10 months old.
Handling - Probably just about ever other day, he's never seemed to mind.
Feeding - Typically a mixed diet of african hornworms and crickets. He'll eat one large hornworm the not eat the next day or eat somewhere between 3 and 8 crickets a day. Compared to other veiled chameleons he doesn't seem to eat a lot...
Supplements - For the last month I've been exclusively coating his crickets in Rep-Cal Phosophorus Free Calcium with Vitamin D. Usually I have some Calcium with Phosphorus that he gets every once in a while. I also have a container of herptivite that I dust crickets with monthly.
Watering - Automatic misting system. He's had this one for months so even though I don't see him drink I know he must or he'd be looooong dead. There are plenty of leaves and such in his cage for water to pool on.
Fecal Description - Normally perfectly textbook. Recently he had some yellow urates, some areas maybe even a rust type color. At the time I found it only mildly concerning, that was probably two weeks ago.
History - No health issues besides a probably burn on the back of his arm and a toenail he ripped out climbing on his screen. It was a back toenail so *maybe* relevant. Normally very active and really a great chameleon.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4 exoterra screen cage
Lighting - Two heat bulbs, a 100W incandescent and 75 watt Halogen producing UVA. Most of the summer I'd only been running the 100W one, it seemed to be doing fine. One UV bulb, I can't remember what brand. It's 26 watt for tropical chameleons. He used to spend a LOT of time getting really close to his UV bulb (hanging from his ceiling and whatnot) so I gave him a second UV bulb (an old 13 watt that had only been used for a few months). He's been in the area less lately even though the 13 watt has been off.
Temperature - I have a temperature gun but to be honest I haven't been able to get a good temperature reading since about may when I upgraded him to his screen cage. Judging by his coloration and behavior (green, explores a lot, hangs out by his heat bulb probably half the time) I think he's fine.
Humidity - I don't have a trustworthy hygrometer. He gets misted every 2 hours during the daylight hours. His sheds do last a while so I'm inclined to believe his humidity is low.
Placement - Bedroom in a corner. His cage is on the floor, but he gets pretty high off the ground when he's near the top.
Plants - He has an umbrella plant in the bottom half of his cage.
Location - Southeast Michigan
I found an old thread but was hoping for a better outcome than this chameleon who died:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/veild-not-using-her-back-feet-95642/index2.html
So, a description of what's got me all worked up right now:
Probably a little under a week ago my chameleon started shedding. He normally takes a little while to shed completely with a day or two where he really explodes. Today and yesterday he had a big skin flap coming off the sole of his back foot. I noticed he wasn't really using his back foot and that it was closed so I started to think he was grabbing onto his skin flap and thinking he had something to hold onto. So, today I took him out and *very* carefully helped him get his foot free. I know to leave their skin alone around their toenails to avoid ripping them out and hurting them so I was very careful. I put him back afterwards and kind of expected things to go back to normal.
They haven't quite gone back yet, though. He still climbs around primarily by his front arms and tail and leaves his arms dangling. Before I've seen him in positions where one arm casually dangles but I've never seen him with two dangling legs so consistently. Now as he sleeps his back legs are grabbed onto nothing and he's just hanging from his vine by his front feet. They're closed but not terribly tightly. If I take him out he can still use them and walk, but for some reason in his cage he doesn't.
I looked at them (at first I was afraid maybe his foot he lost the toenail from was infected or something) but I don't see any swelling.
Does anyone have any advice? The nearest reptile vet I saw listed on here is more than an hour's drive away and I don't want to force him to endure a stressful trip if there's no problem!
Also, I can post pictures if it'd be helpful. Not sure if this is one of those cases.
First the health sheet:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, approximately 10 months old.
Handling - Probably just about ever other day, he's never seemed to mind.
Feeding - Typically a mixed diet of african hornworms and crickets. He'll eat one large hornworm the not eat the next day or eat somewhere between 3 and 8 crickets a day. Compared to other veiled chameleons he doesn't seem to eat a lot...
Supplements - For the last month I've been exclusively coating his crickets in Rep-Cal Phosophorus Free Calcium with Vitamin D. Usually I have some Calcium with Phosphorus that he gets every once in a while. I also have a container of herptivite that I dust crickets with monthly.
Watering - Automatic misting system. He's had this one for months so even though I don't see him drink I know he must or he'd be looooong dead. There are plenty of leaves and such in his cage for water to pool on.
Fecal Description - Normally perfectly textbook. Recently he had some yellow urates, some areas maybe even a rust type color. At the time I found it only mildly concerning, that was probably two weeks ago.
History - No health issues besides a probably burn on the back of his arm and a toenail he ripped out climbing on his screen. It was a back toenail so *maybe* relevant. Normally very active and really a great chameleon.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4 exoterra screen cage
Lighting - Two heat bulbs, a 100W incandescent and 75 watt Halogen producing UVA. Most of the summer I'd only been running the 100W one, it seemed to be doing fine. One UV bulb, I can't remember what brand. It's 26 watt for tropical chameleons. He used to spend a LOT of time getting really close to his UV bulb (hanging from his ceiling and whatnot) so I gave him a second UV bulb (an old 13 watt that had only been used for a few months). He's been in the area less lately even though the 13 watt has been off.
Temperature - I have a temperature gun but to be honest I haven't been able to get a good temperature reading since about may when I upgraded him to his screen cage. Judging by his coloration and behavior (green, explores a lot, hangs out by his heat bulb probably half the time) I think he's fine.
Humidity - I don't have a trustworthy hygrometer. He gets misted every 2 hours during the daylight hours. His sheds do last a while so I'm inclined to believe his humidity is low.
Placement - Bedroom in a corner. His cage is on the floor, but he gets pretty high off the ground when he's near the top.
Plants - He has an umbrella plant in the bottom half of his cage.
Location - Southeast Michigan
I found an old thread but was hoping for a better outcome than this chameleon who died:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/veild-not-using-her-back-feet-95642/index2.html
So, a description of what's got me all worked up right now:
Probably a little under a week ago my chameleon started shedding. He normally takes a little while to shed completely with a day or two where he really explodes. Today and yesterday he had a big skin flap coming off the sole of his back foot. I noticed he wasn't really using his back foot and that it was closed so I started to think he was grabbing onto his skin flap and thinking he had something to hold onto. So, today I took him out and *very* carefully helped him get his foot free. I know to leave their skin alone around their toenails to avoid ripping them out and hurting them so I was very careful. I put him back afterwards and kind of expected things to go back to normal.
They haven't quite gone back yet, though. He still climbs around primarily by his front arms and tail and leaves his arms dangling. Before I've seen him in positions where one arm casually dangles but I've never seen him with two dangling legs so consistently. Now as he sleeps his back legs are grabbed onto nothing and he's just hanging from his vine by his front feet. They're closed but not terribly tightly. If I take him out he can still use them and walk, but for some reason in his cage he doesn't.
I looked at them (at first I was afraid maybe his foot he lost the toenail from was infected or something) but I don't see any swelling.
Does anyone have any advice? The nearest reptile vet I saw listed on here is more than an hour's drive away and I don't want to force him to endure a stressful trip if there's no problem!
Also, I can post pictures if it'd be helpful. Not sure if this is one of those cases.