Mellers help No Pooooo!

RAP66

Member
I never thought I would need to post on this side of the forum, but I need some help. I recently purchased a Mellers chameleon at the San Jose Reptile show. So I've been taking care of her now for about 3weeks. In that time I've only had one "Poooo" and it was a tiny one at that :eek: for such a large cham. In comparison with my Panther, I would say that it was "normal".

We believe that it's a female. I did have a shed and so far no evidence of plugs, so I have to agree with the previous owner.

I rarely handle my Chams. If I do it's mainly to check on them, or move them while I do something with the cage, whatever that may be. So for this I would say 2-3x at the most per week.

I'm feeding mainly Dubias, gut loaded with cricket crack, carrots, occasional Repashy's crested gecko mrp left overs. I occasionally supplement with Miner-All.

My watering system is an Aquazamp system with a raindome, attached to an Ecozone controller. My misting schedule is daily for ~5min (max available) at 9am, 9:10am, 11:30am, 2:30pm & 5pm.

My cage is a home built wood frame covered in 1/4 mesh, 2'x3'x4'. Since this is a new setup I am still tweeking with the lighting arrangements. Basking I am using a 62watt flood, that ramps up/down from 8am to 8:30pm. Dusk/Dawn lighting, I have a 4' T5 Reptiglo 5.0 bulb, that's on 7am to 7:30pm, non dimming (will be adding that soon).

Temps range from 70 ambient to 82 (basking) using the RhT probes, located by the basking spot and at cage midpoint. Humidity averages 50-60%.

My is concern is stated in the thread title.... No POOOO! She's a very active eater, but I'm getting no returns, because of this I'm thinking impacted!? I tried the pinch test for dehydration, I do get a little tenting of t he skin, so she is a little dehydrated. As of last weekend I've done a few warm water baths, and today did the warm shower for about 20min.

I'm stumped! I know the cham is in good health, it's well documented here. Aside from being unsettled in the past weeks, Moving and then transport/sale to a new owner (me), to temp housing while I built the new enclosure.

I know one suggestion is Silkies or horn-worms, I have an order that should be here by friday (HOPEFULLY). I don't know what else to do, and I want to act before things go terribly wrong :(.

ANY suggestions??
 
Sounds like everything is optimum for your meller. The fact you state she is a active eater suggest to me she is brewing a monster or she has ninja poo. Not sure you could miss them though. They drop mini coopers.

Your doing what you should. Silk worms, horn worms and keeping her well hydrated.

The next best thing would be to get a xray done.
 
try misting the ground in the morning, my vield wont poop unless the ground is wet, after a good misting she will climb her vines to the bottom, see that its wet turn around, poop, then climb back up. luckily for my she does it near the door.

easy clean up for me
 
You might want to try a dripper with room temp/luke warm water. I didn't see that you had one going already. One of my panthers will not drink unless its from his dripper.. I spent a ton on a misting system and whatdoyaknow he won't drink from it... He just runs the other way. Hope you get a massive surprise soon!!
 
Well today I got some mineral oil and fed her 2 dubs with a little MO on the side.
Also caught her drinking today as well...

How long does this stuff take to work?
 
Has this chameleon been out in the sun?

If it has been a while since this chameleon has seen some unfiltered sunlight. Id try this ;) Id place him.her on a small bush, fake tree or anything for him/her to feel safe on and sit back and just observe. Could also be a good time for a long misting.
 
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Went to the vet this morning and the X-ray showed a very bad impacted bowel. So he referred me to another vet that has more bandwidth. So now I'm at vet #2 waiting

Not very happy right now.
 
Well not soo bad as I first thought.

I'm waiting for the vet to email me the images.

His input, is that the impaction is not so bad... the bowel is not hard and rocky. HE wants me to continue with what I am doing already, with the addition of a direct oral dose of mineral oil mix, being careful to put the oil deeper into the mouth so it's not accidently inhaled. and tummy rubs.

He's happy with Jaimee's strength, he active, eating and drinking (although not much)

I may be over reacting, but I would rather over react now before it's get too late to do anything. In one of my first posts, I lost my chams due to my neglect, I don't ever want to experience that again. At least not without a fight.

Soon as I get the x-rays I'll share them.


.....I am happy you got to a vet though. Good luck!
LOL I went to 2 vets, the first vet said he didn't have the bandwith to provide the needed care that he believes is needed. So we talked and picked another Vet that also had a qualified surgeon, IF that became a necessity.



-Rich
 
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Anyone here own Leachies?? I have a Nu Ami leachie... and she gives a whole new meaning to mud slide :eek::eek: Be afraid!

I have two Isle E's, Nuu ana and a bayonnaise.

Went to the vet this morning and the X-ray showed a very bad impacted bowel.

His input, is that the impaction is not so bad... the bowel is not hard and rocky.

Id love to see the xrays and the input from one of the boards excellent vets.

I dont know his exact intake but its strange that he has had appetite the last three weeks and has not puked...
 
I have two Isle E's, Nuu ana and a bayonnaise.

Id love to see the xrays and the input from one of the boards excellent vets.

I dont know his exact intake but its strange that he has had appetite the last three weeks and has not puked...

LOL! So u understand :eek:

Since noticing this issue, I've cut feeding back, currently 1 per day until I see results = some form of poooo.
 
Radiographs

Here are the radiographs from yesterdays visit.

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12840114387337151846586912029341114241122322652347_zps43d2141e.jpg
 
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