My Chameleon is sick, just want to know your experiences :)

ProudPastry

ProudPastry

New Member
Hello, I have a 13 month old Panther Chameleon. :)
I noticed that he started closing his eyes so I called the vet immediately and had him looked at the next day. They took a blood test and gave me some medicine to inject into his mouth. He hadn't been eating and they said he was a tad underweight and a little dehydrated.

I have a humidifier for him, I mist his cage quite often, and he drinks really well.
He has good colour, and he's active like normal.
His habitat is 18 x 18 x 34, but we're going to be building him a much larger unit.
For now I'm going to buy some plexiglass sheets to put on 3 of the 4 sides of the unit to help keep the humidity high, and I'll be getting him some real plants today as well. :)
He has a ZooMed Reptisun 100w UVB bulb.
I always powder his bugs (crickets, king worms, wax worms) with calcium, and multi-vitamins.

I just want to know if others have had this problem and what they did, what happened, how the chameleon took it.. etc etc, so I know what I expect for my boy <3

Thank you very much for reading and I look forwarding to hearing your experiences!
 
Can you post some recent photos please?

Also...please before specific about dusting...what products do you use and how often for each?? What do you feed/gutload the insects with?
 
Sure thing :) I'll take some photos of him when I get home from work.

I dust his bugs with Rep-Cal Phosphorus-free Calcium with Vit.D3 and Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamins. I feed my king worms Oat Bran, and the crickets get cricket quencher.
He gets this every time I feed him and the instructions say to only use a very light amount.
 
You could very well be overdosing your chameleon on d3. You should be using a calcium that has NO d3. The one you are using contains a very high concentration of d3. This can make your chameleon ill. I would only be using that repcal with d3 twice a month tops. You also need to feed your crickets something other than quencher. Remember the nutrition you feed your feeders gets passed on to your chameleon. Use a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Are you also using the mutli vit every time you dust? If so, that is not good either.
 
Hmm.. I sure hope not.. By the time I give him his bugs (he'll only take them if they're on my hand) the dust has almost completely rubbed off so it's very very little. But thank you for that info! Is there another dust that would be better for me to use?
I also give my bugs carrot shavings, just last night I gave them some :) Sometimes I'll give them left over kale, apple cores... etc.
 
you have to remember they are getting d3 from the uvb lighting we provide. Giving them d3 a couple of times a month just gives them a little boost without over doing it. As with anything, too much of anything artificial can be harmful. I use no d3 at all because I keep my chameleons primarily outdoors year round living in FLA. Were you dusting with this everyday? I use Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall outdoor(no d3) which is a calcium dust with added minerals. As I said, if you look at the label and compare Recal's d3 content with others it is extremely high. It is just a possibility of why your chameleon is falling ill. Was he tested for parasites at your vet? What did the bloodwork reveal? What medicine were you prescribed and why?
 
I just wanted to jump in and say when we wanted to raise the humidity in Pixel's cage, I hung 2 flat garbage bags with tape on the top. I placed on the back and one side. You could probably cut the garbage bags open too and tape real nice all the way around. It's pretty inconspicuous and doesn't look too ghetto...but was a quick, cheap way to just see if it would help and might be easier than going to get cut plexi-glass.

Just my 2 cents!
 
Thanks for all your replies! :) I actually just did something similar today, I duct taped plastic sheets to 2 sides and half of the front. I also added two live plants. It has helped a little.. but not much :( I guess tomorrow I'll tape some more onto the side I didn't cover.

The vet took a blood test to see if there is anything wrong with his kidneys and liver but I haven't heard from them yet. I'm also going to bring in some stool samples.
The vet gave me "Emeraid Carnivore Powder", she told me to mix it one part powder two parts warm water and inject it into his mouth.

And thanks for that link! I'll follow it so closely that I'll make it feel uncomfortable *salute*
 
 
:eek: Hehe Thank you! He is a cutie :3
Yes he has! He's been taking his medicine very well and his eyes are no longer sunken. (not that they were very sunken to begin with) He's more active than before and he's still drinking very well :)

I'm still waiting on the vet to call me back... I phoned them today to see if they had his blood test results back yet but nothing yet :/
 
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