My chameleon

[podsklepemnaj]

Hi, 3 weeks ago I bought my first chameleon, it was a 12 weeks old veiled chameleon, he seemed very healthy and happy, he wasn't scared of us and he loved sitting on our heads, unfortunately after 5 days he died, we have no idea why. He was eating fine. The only weird thing we noticed was that he was drinking a lot, all the time. He was even licking all metal things ( buttons and stuff) thinking it was water but we didn't think anything of it. The morning he died he seemed fine, I gave him some water and let him sit on my head for a few minutes, an hour later he was lying on his sand, dying. We rang the pet shop we bought him from and spoke to their reptile expert but he gave us no hope. Few minutes later he died. We cleaned his viv properly, bought a new, better uv light ( 10% ) and Putted extra vents and decided to try again. We went to the same pet shop and bought his brother he's a lovely little boy called Hugo. But there are some things that really worry me, or maybe I'm just being paranoid? Since we bought him we dusted his food oNce, 4 days ago, with calcium +d3 and after that I noticed some white stuff around his nose. He also falls asleep when he's out of his viv, and apparently that's not a good sign. Last time he fell asleep on my glasses and slept there for like an hour? He also does that weird thing, it looks like he's stretching his chin with his tongue? And then opens his mouth really wide... I'm really worried because of what happened to the other chameleon, he broke my heart when he died and I don't want anything bad to happen to my Hugo. Ill add some photos of Hugo where you can see his nose and him sleeping on my glasses :d

 

[Simon1986]

Heya sorry for your loss it's a horrible experience.

What is his basking tempreture? His day/night ratios? How often are you supplementing him?

 

[carol5208]

First of all, so sorry for your loss. A couple of things....you mentioned you have sand in your viv. There is a possibility that he ate the sand and became impacted. Sometimes chameleons will eat soil and sand for whatever reason. I would remove that if you have it in the viv with your new one. The white around the nose is nothing to worry about. It is their way of expelling excess salts and minerals. You should be supplementing your chameleon everyday with plain calcium no d3. A calcium with d3 and a multivitamin twice a month is what most of us forum members use successfully. The sleeping thing is not good. Seeing that the brother died unexpectedly, I would get a fecal sample from this chameleon if possible and have him checked for parasites.

 

[podsklepemnaj]

Thanks for your replies guys his basking temperature is around 95 and temperature in the middle of the viv is 80, i use a 100w red light that is on for the whole time ( that's what a reptile expert at the pet shop told me to do, not use a heat mat but have the basking light on for the whole time). I have his 10% uv light on for 13 hours and off for 11. The same reptile expert told me to use his calcium+d3 twice a week when he's young and once a week when he's a little bit older as he said he doesn't need more with his 10% really long uv light, I also use some calcium conditioner for the water, i might buy him some plain calcium now you said that. And the sand I use is a komodo 100% calcium sand, do you think I should get rid of it? I'm just so worried about him coz he's such a cute little guy, I would hate to see him die or be ill he looks really healthy, he's usually proper nice, pale green. The thing that worries me the most is what he's doing with his chin/throat It looks like he's just pushing it down with his tounge? Like he's stretching it? Do you know what it might mean? Thank you so much for your answers

 

[Action Jackson]

Please read this care information.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

This information was collected and put together by REAL chameleon experts. Red lights on for 24 hrs is bad! As is over supplimentation and using sand.

 

[carol5208]

You definitely do not want to leave his basking light on 24/7. That would not make any sense. Does the sun shine 24 hours in nature? no... You are trying to replicate nature as best possible, so night time drop in temp and darkness for sleeping. Also a red light is not what you want to use for basking. A white housebulb is all you need. I would probably drop those temps about 10 degrees also. So 85 basking and 75 ambient which should come down once you lower the basking temp which is heating up the cage. There is a reason why he is closing his eyes and seeing that it is not the lights in your cage causing it leads me to believe he is ill. He is closing his eyes outside of the cage you say right??? As far as the uvb light 10% is ok. Some members opt to use the 10.0 but most of us use the 5.0's. They get d3 naturally from uvb lighting so it is not necessary to supplement with d3 that often. I do not know what brand you are using, but some of them contain higher levels of d3 than others and can be harmful if used too often. We can only tell you what is proven successful from our experiences. Obviously there is something not right with the chameleons the reptile store is selling if you lost one and the other appears to be ill also. I do agree with your "expert" on not using the heat mat. I will give him that one.