My cham holds food in his mouth like a chipmunk?

[herpluva]

My male Tarzan has become a free roaming chameleon. I know its not the best but it is the only way he is not stressed. He stopped eating about 1.5 to 2 weeks ago. I have been syringe feeding him a mixture of chicken baby/butternut squash baby/ applesauce baby food /acidopholus and a drop of electrodize. I have been syringe feeding him water too. If I don't he would probably just give up and die. Since he is out all the time and is a free he has become quite the personable guy. He would rather ride on my shoulder or make a trip across the room to go some where I am not sure of but I find him in all kinds of places.
I noticed a few days ago that when I squirt food in his mouth or water he holds it in his mouth for about 20 minutes? Why does he do that? He has been doing it for days now and I cant figure out why?
I switched just now from baby food mixture to throwing worms in his mouth and he holds them in there? Can someone tell me why he does this?
He will eventually swallow but it makes feeding a pain in the butt. I am feeding him little amounts like every hour to make sure he gets enough. He is a very time consuming animal and can not quite figure him out?
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lonomac]

My Amilobe does something similar but with live food. He will zap a cricket, and let it wiggle in his mouth for a full minute or two before he'll start chewing. Almost like hes enjoying the kill lol. I think its hilarious really, but not sure why they do that. My other cham would gobble them right up and not waste time so its a personality thing I think. Since your feeding him an odd source of food, maybe hes not sure he wants it so it take him a bit to swallow?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Have you tried letting him eat and drink on his own recently?
He really doesn't look dehydrated to me in any pictures I've seen of him.
How is the color of his urates?

-Brad

 

[herpluva]

I have tried. He will not eat or drink. He had lost a bunch of weight and is picking it back up now the past few days that I have really kept on top of feeding and hydrating him. You can still see his spine all the way down his back and tail but his ribs are no longer visible.
He has gotten use to me handling him so if I gently wrap him in a towel he will open his mouth and I will throw a worm in that I injected about a 1/2 cc of water in the worm. I have done that about 6 times today. The second I back off of feeding him he starts to get skinny and his eyes shrink in his head to the point of the end of his eye ball being level with his socket.
I really do not know what else to do with him. I am just gald he is green all day now. I never saw him green till I let him just roam free on ride on my shoulder.
It is kinda frustrating having to put soooo much time in him but I can't just let him die.
I have never seen a cham go downhill so quick and recover quickly to only go down hill again. It is a vicious cycle seems like.

Oh, his urates are white and runny.

 

[Julirs]

Have you taken him to the vet? He could have parasites of some kind?

 

[Sage]

why do you have a cup in the one plant and why do you have plants outside your cage?

 

[herpluva]

Yeah, my vet came to check him out. He does not live far from me. He did a fecal a while ago on him and he was fine.
All that stuff is outside his cage because that is where he hangs out. He stresses non stop in a cage and this is the only thing so far that has worked with keeping him stress free. The cup holds his crickets and worms.

 

[dodolah]

so the vet gave him a clean bill of health?
hmmm... he might just being spoiled... I second what brad says about letting him eat on his own..

 

[Brad Ramsey]

so the vet gave him a clean bill of health?
hmmm... he might just being spoiled... I second what brad says about letting him eat on his own..

Yeah...well, obviously that's not working.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............I'm assuming since the vet checked him out there is no sign of any kind of infection (ie: URI..etc) .........
Have you seen him use his tongue?....I mean is it working?
I'm happy to hear he is reacting positively to his new freedom.....have you stuck a silkworm on one of those outside branches?

-Brad

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Is he thermally basking long enough to get up to "operating temp"? Is he getting plenty (hours and hours) of close exposure to the proper type of UVB? What make/model/age/distance of UVB tube does he bask under?

Take advantage of any sunshine where the air temp is above 70F and let him bask outdoors for as many hours available. Even if it is only an hour, it can make a difference.

I've seen some of the sickest Veileds show their best colors so don't let that fool you .

These suggestions may have nothing to do with his current situation but they are all worth noting anyway .

 

[herpluva]

He has a reptisun 5.0 fluorescent UVB bulb and a uvb/uva fluorescent plant bulb just to help brighten. Both bulbs are not but maybe a month old. They are directly above his basking area and until he had free roam he was under them 12 hours a day. I have tried to just let him eat on his own and he just walks all over the food and acts like he does not see it. I have tried horn, silk, butter, wax and super worms along with crix.
I put him back in his cage yesterday and raised it two more feet. He has been dark brown and pacing since. I have not force fed him today and he has yet to eat or drink. I have misted him three times today and he has a humidifier on him. If I notice he has not eaten by tomorrow afternoon then I will go ahead a force feed him some hornworms. If I leave him in his cage then I know by Monday he will look like he is dyeing again.
Here are some pics I took today of Tarzan who is now back to dookie brown cham.

 

[MdngtRain]

I read through this thread, and am a bit confused as to why you put him back in his cage if it seems to stress him. Is there a reason you cannot set up his lighting to allow him to free-roam? I understand that you are having trouble feeding & keeping him hydrated, but being in a cage doesn't seem to help with that.
As for feeding, what size prey are you using? I've noticed some 1/8-1/4" crix in some of your pictures. I know with my older cham, he won't go for any prey that is too small to make the work of getting it too much in relation to the reward. Have you tried using larger (like 1") crix or worms with him? Have you tried hand-feeding with the use of tongs? Also, someone did bring up the question of wether or not you have seen him use his tongue... He may have injured or damaged his tongue, and cannot shoot it out at prey. My first cham had this problem, and did not eat the crix I offered him. Once I figured out he could no longer use his tongue properly, I started feeding him worms using a feeding tong (the pressure of the tongs make the worms squirm, which got him interested in them).
I know all of this may sound kinda dumb, but I'm tryign to offer some other suggestions in hopes that something will work for you. Good Luck, and keep us posted.

 

[herpluva]

I put him back in his cage to make sure he was heating up properly. I have tried all food that you can think of in every size. I have 3 different size crix now just to see if he would eat and I have 5 different types of worms. I have not seen him use his tongue lately but he use too. He does prefer to free roam but due to him dropping to the ground and walking about at will I thought it would be safest for him to go back to his cage. I will let him out for exercise but I found him on my dragons heat lamp and he could have seriously burned himself. For his safety he needs to be in a cage. I have 5 dogs and 1 cat that have free roam too. I will let him free roam when I am in the office and the second he is out or on my arm he turns green.
To tell you the truth I have run out of ideas and I can't seem to quite find what it is he needs. I raised his cage as high as I could to see if that would help when he is in it. I also replaced his plants with much smaller ones so he would have more open air space to see if that is what he wanted. It was suggested by a member here that I had to much in his cage. I am burning out quickly on new ideas and worrying about him. I am devoted and dedicated to him but tired at the same time.
I really love and want the guy but I would not mind seeing him go to a very experienced keeper at the same time. I have been waiting since I got him for him to find a routine like my other guys but no such luck.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a more promising day.
I am open to all suggestions.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

I went back to your first post in this thread where you mentioned that he stopped eating 2 weeks ago but I may have missed how long he had stopped eating before you began the baby food treatment. From the photos, he doesn't look underweight. If anything, he may be on the heavy side . Often when chameleons get overweight, they stop eating or at least become very picky. I've monitored healthy but overweight chameleons' weight when they stop eating. If I withhold food their weight drops very slowly. If yours weighs 200 grams, it might take 5-10 days for him to drop as few as 5 grams without food. At the time that I decided several of my chameleons were becoming overweight, I dropped their feeding down to 2 large feeders every other day and have kept feeding to that level for over a year. If I recall, it took many weeks to get their weight down from around 275 grams to about 250 grams. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that without being there myself and personally taking-in the whole situation, I'm just wondering if this is his own way of trying to cut back on his food intake... I understand your concern about the whole situation though.

 

[herpluva]

I can see his ribs and also his spine. I cant on my other two chams that eat everyday.
I was told that a 6 month old cham should eat several feeders a day. He was way healthier looking than he is now. I use to not be able to see his ribs and spine. The thing that worries me more than that is how dehydrated he gets with it. Sometimes he looks normal but then the next morning his eyes will be so far in his head it looks like they disappear.
I was thinking about leaving him in his cage for a few days and not force feeding him and see if he wont get hungry enough to eat on his own. He has gotten to the point that when I hold him a certain way he opens his mouth because he knows what I am doing. He does not hiss but open it now and I drop in a worm.
I wish you were here so you could give me a seasoned opinion on him.
Gosh, I have never owned a cham like him. Well I have owned his type but not personality.
I am going to take your advice and back off feeding him a couple days.
Thanks

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Chameleon illnesses are hard for vets to uncover especially if they haven't seen hundreds of them. The list illnesses is long and often not detected except through a necropsy. Blood tests can uncover certain problems including bloodborne parasites. Usually, when husbandry is under control then nothing goes wrong. When something does go wrong it is often some sort of disease that we really can't do much about. If husbandry is out of whack then there is something that can be modified that hopefully is caught in time to restore health. Tough spot .

 

[PantherVeileD]

If you hand feed him.. do it and leave him alone..

Sometimes when I hand feed my cham..he will strike the food off my hand and then stare at me and not chew his food.. He got the expression "what the hell are you looking at." I take a few steps away and then he will chew and finish his food.