My Chameleon won't eat.

[CHARLIE NEEDS HELP!]

• Veiled chameleon, female, 6-9 months, he has been in my care for about 4 months
• barley even handle her like once a month
• 6-8 crickets, sometimes 1-2 super worms? Around 3 o clock, Sometimes around 9 o clock I feed the cricket vitamins pellets, then I rub them in calcium dust once a week.
• repashy superfood superload once a week
• I use a spray bottle and mist 4-6 times a day and drop some water on his branches. i don't always see her drinking
• White sacks and brown pieces of poop
• She moves very fast

Cage Info:

• screen not sure on measurements
• Keep main light on for 7 hours then leave the UVB light on for the remainder of the day until the evening lights out at 8 pm til 8 am
• he does have a basking spot and it is around 29-36 degrees At night it becomes 20-25 degrees
• I leave the heater on and leave water droplets to increase the humidity
• I use artificial plants
• No not located near anywhere near fans or the others. It is elevated about 1 meter off the ground.
• B.C.

Current Problem - She won't eat, and she isn't about to have eggs either, I force feed her 2 crickets so she won't die but she drinks plenty.

 

[ERKleRose]

• Veiled chameleon, female, 6-9 months, he has been in my care for about 4 months
• barley even handle her like once a month
• 6-8 crickets, sometimes 1-2 super worms? Around 3 o clock, Sometimes around 9 o clock I feed the cricket vitamins pellets, then I rub them in calcium dust once a week.
• repashy superfood superload once a week
• I use a spray bottle and mist 4-6 times a day and drop some water on his branches. i don't always see her drinking
• White sacks and brown pieces of poop
• She moves very fast

Cage Info:

• screen not sure on measurements
• Keep main light on for 7 hours then leave the UVB light on for the remainder of the day until the evening lights out at 8 pm til 8 am
• he does have a basking spot and it is around 29-36 degrees At night it becomes 20-25 degrees
• I leave the heater on and leave water droplets to increase the humidity
• I use artificial plants
• No not located near anywhere near fans or the others. It is elevated about 1 meter off the ground.
• B.C.

Current Problem - She won't eat, and she isn't about to have eggs either, I force feed her 2 crickets so she won't die but she drinks plenty.

At that age, feed as many items as she will eat. The veiled care sheet here has the proper amount of feeders and how often to feed them. Feed her in the morning so she can bask and digest her food in the second half of the day. Only use superworms as occasional variety, try some more feeders, like silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, black soldier flies and larvae, blue bottle flies and spikes, red runner roaches, orange headed roaches, ivory headed roaches, and dubia roaches (none of these roaches can climb or fly), just to name a few. Every feeder should be gutloaded with either organic fresh fruits and veggies (there’s a gutload list in food and nutrition in the resources tab here) and/or a quality commercial gutload, like Repashy, Mazuri, Pangea, Arcadia, or Cricket Crack, or a specific gutload (for feeders like hornworms and silkworms). Either keep all feeders constantly fed with a quality gutload or separate what you’ll feed your cham the night before and intense gutload them separately so they’re gorged full of nutrients (still keep the rest of the colony fed, though). Dust every feeder right before feeding, not once a week. Put the feeders in a cup, jar, bag, container, etc. with supplement powder in it and shake until every feeder is lightly dusted everywhere, then feed. There are many ways to supplement. 1-phosphorous free calcium without D3 every feeding, phosphorous free calcium with D3 twice monthly, and a multivitamin without D3 twice monthly. 2-phosphorous free calcium without D3 every feeding and a multivitamin with D3 (like Zoo Med Reptivite with D3) twice monthly. 3-Arcadia supplements using the Arcadia insectivore schedule. 4- an all in one supplement every feeding (like Repashy Calcium Plus LoD or Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall-use Sticky Tongue Farms Vitall for gutloading the night before if using Minerall). Make sure to mist for at least 2 minutes, but preferably for 5, each misting. Spray down the entire cage, especially the plants. Gently mist your cham, too, as they need the mist to clean out their eyes. What’s your guess on the cage size? Female veileds need a minimum of 45 cm by 45 cm by 90 cm tall, but preferably 60 cm by 60 cm by 120 cm tall. Chams need uvb and basking together for 12 hours then complete darkness for 12 hours. Get a timer from the hardware store for the lights. What type of uvb light (linear or compact coil, what strength) and color of basking light do you have? The basking spot should be between 32-35*C, get a digital temp gun from the hardware store to measure this. Chams need a temp drop at night, so no heat source is needed at night unless it drops really low, like around 15*C. Get a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo from the hardware store for ambient temp and humidity. Humidity needs to be between 40-70%. Misting longer and live plants help with humidity. Invest in an automated mister, like MistKing, and either a t5HO or T8 linear uvb bulb and fixture, if you don’t have one already. UVB bulb strength depends on cage size. I suggest adding live plants since veileds do eat them. Make sure they are cham safe, though. Do you have a lay bin? Could you post a pic of your cage and cham, please? Have you tested her poop for parasites?

 

[NickTide]

I always recommend letting some black soldier fly larvae (AKA: BSFL, Calciworms, Phoenix worms, Reptiworms) pupate into flies and letting them in there. If a flying insect doesn't trigger a response, something is very wrong. While you are waiting for some flyers, try roaches, silk worms, stick bugs, horn worms or anything else that she might like. She may be tired of crickets. If she will eat other things for a week or two, she will probably start taking crickets again, but mix things up for her.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Not sure what to think about this member, I believe this Cham is way worse off than he is letting on.

Conversation Wednesday, I approached him after a very bleak media post:

 

[ERKleRose]

Not sure what to think about this member, I believe this Cham is way worse off than he is letting on.

Conversation Wednesday, I approached him after a very bleak media post:
View attachment 217811 View attachment 217812 View attachment 217814 View attachment 217815 View attachment 217816 View attachment 217817 View attachment 217818

He/she actually reached out to me and we went over what I listed above and then some, found out the cham was female, and went over basic husbandry, egg laying, and then some, etc. I repetively urged them to make the drive to a vet and to start a new thread so more people could help and then when they do, they’re immediately blasted from a private conversation being shared publicly. I’m urging everyone on this forum to respect privacy and to be supportive and not embarrass or call out people if it isn’t warranted (and yes from your conversation with them, it was warranted, but not to this extent)

 

[Brodybreaux25]

You are right @ERKleRose, that was a bit too far.

@CHARLIE NEEDS HELP! , my apologies, I was out of line.