my 5 month veiled is acting very sick! help!

[pixiemisa]

I've noticed the past week or so that his head was white almost all the time, but today his head is very white and not changing, he is standing in the bottom of the tank and having a very hard time walking. He got very angry at me for trying to get near him, which is unusual...especially around feeding time. He only ate 2 crickets, when he usually eats 20 or 30(pinheads). He is drinking normally though, which is good. I am very worried.

I'll take some pics and post them up

 

[Justin Carl]

Sounds like a head shed.

Fill this out:
Cage Info:
Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? What is the size?
Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? How long do you keep the lights on during the day?
Temperature - What temperature range have you created? Basking spot temp? What is the temperature at night?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What kind of schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

 

[dondeb562]

Your post says your cham is 5 months...? Should be eating at least 4 week old crickets by now. My veileds are 3 and 4 months old and eating 4 week old. Also you mentioned he is in a tank. He should be in a all screen cage.

 

[pixiemisa]

Cage type: glass tank, 30 gallons
Lighting: uva/uvb bulb and a basking lamp, on for 8 - 10 hours
Temps: 85 in basking, to 70 in the shade, 65 at night
Humidity: around 40-50, i mist the tank often to keep the humidity up
Plants: no live plants
Location: In a room of its own with controlled temp with not much traffic

Cham Info:
Veiled cham, male, 5months
Feeding: small crickets about 3/4inch long (i looked up how small pinheads were and they certainly arent that small) about 30 a day, he east them voraciously, usually between 3 - 5 pm, crickets are gutloaded with a mixture of homemade grain gutload, and tropical fish flakes, ground up cat and dog food, alternating, carrot, green kale.
Supplements: Calcium(rep-cal) mon-friday, Multivitiman or saturday and no supplement on sunday
Watering: I have a dropper that i drop onto leaves and vines infront of him which he drinks when he is thirsty, usually at least once a day if not more.
Fecal description: he was pooping every day up until about 2 weeks ago when he started pooping every 2 or 3 days. They are usually fairly large for how small he is, but solid, no mixing of urate and stool

I bought him from a breeder 4 months ago, and she supplied me with his set up. She is fairly well know and reputable around calgary. She said he would be ok in his tank until he was about 5 or 6 months, so i am thinking it must be time for the move. I am another enclosure built which is 3'x 3'1/2 x 5'1/2 tall.
However i dont yet have the sufficient lighting, still only the bulbs.


He turned very dark for his body but his head was very pale white. He was hissing at me, which is unusual, having a very hard time moving around and staying at the bottom of the tank.

However i just went up and gave him lots of water, until he wouldn't drink anymore, and fed him again and he ate lots. But he still is strangely patterned with his white head, and he is still being very antisocial, which i know is very common for chams, but he never has been before today.

White head

Very Angry

Dark body with white head, avoiding the camera, and me

 

[Chase]

Get a screen cage. Also, get bigger Crickets. He should be eating 2 week- 1/2grown Crickets. Also you need to get, Rep-Cal's Calcium with D3, Minerall I (I is on the side of bottle). Too much supplements also, no need for that much. Only like twice a month for all supplements. Hope this helps

LPR08

 

[Chase]

Also, its probably a head shed

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Greetings. He is really cute and look to be healthy in the photos. This would be a great time to get him into a screened enclosure. The link I placed below has great information on housing recommendations.

I agree that it is probably a head shed. Also, we've seen in some male chams that they retain white-ish heads off and on for much of their juvenile months. Do keep him well hydrated.

About his change in temperament- that is normal, since he is coming into his hormones at this age. He's asserting more of his territorial manhood. It is also normal for some chams to go from pooping everyday to pooping a little less frequently. Just be certain his urates are white, to know that he's well hydrated. In your photos it looks as though you have substrate covering the bottom of his tank? That can cause impaction if it gets stuck to his tongue when he eats, and he ends up ingesting it. Impaction can lead to death. You should probably remove that. Normally, with chameleons, substrate is not advised.

Here is a great site you should review for information on habitat, feeding, supplements, etc. Looks like you've done a great job so far! http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[kinyonga]

What brand and type (compact or tube/linear) of UVB light are you using? Basking?

You said..."uva/uvb bulb and a basking lamp, on for 8 - 10 hours"...generally its said that the lights should be on 12 to 14 hours a day.

You said..."no live plants"...I'm not a fan of fake plants for veileds since they do eat vegetation. I have heard of some of them trying to ingest fake leaves.

You said..."crickets are gutloaded with a mixture of homemade grain gutload, and tropical fish flakes, ground up cat and dog food, alternating, carrot, green kale"...most of the fish flakes are not recommended nor is dog or cat food. Cat food contains quite a bit of preformed vitamin A which can build up in the chameleon's system. You can gutload with a wide assortment of greens (dandelion, kale, endive, escarole, collards, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red peppers, zucchini, etc.).

You said..."Supplements: Calcium(rep-cal) mon-friday, Multivitiman or saturday and no supplement on sunday"...be careful of anything with preformed vitamin A, phosphorous or vitamin D3.

Re: watering...do you mist the cage as well as use a dripper? Be careful when watering the chameleon that it doesn't aspirate the water.

You have substrate on the floor of the cage....I don't recommend using a substrate with arboreal chameleons because it might be ingested and cause an impaction.

 

[summoner12]

Please read, then ask more questions if ya need to.

The link provided by Gesang is VERY informative. Because it is so full of great info I will provide it to you again. Please read through this site and take everything close to heart, this is your little guy after all.