My meller won't drink

[Battlecat29]

After giving my meller a shower almost every day since I had him which is 3.5 weeks , I only witnessed him drink mayb once or twice. He ate twice but now he won't eat or drink. I've tried numerous things, he won't drink. Does anybody know any tricks to stimulate drinking. Any help would be great.

 

[laurie]

How are you giving him water? If one method doesn't work switch to another. I made a shower for my meller as he did not like being watched and did not like his mistking. I took a gallon milk jug, put about 12 to 15 small holes in it and sat it on top his cage. The water was just a tiny bit above room temp as he did not like cold water. I put it on top his cage and it only took about 4 minutes to drain completely. I did it twice a day but if you have time do it 4 times a day until you know he is drinking.

Can you post a picture of your mellers and tell me what his poop looks like? Also what have you been trying to feed him?

This is the best site I have seem for all things meller
melleridiscovery.com

Let me know how he is doing.

 

[Battlecat29]

His number 2's don't look right. Liquidy and runny. But the roaches exosketon was Almost completely intact. May be digestive pronlemsI've tried feeding him horn worms he don't even look at them . But he ate a few Dubai from my hand and couPle crickets from a cup. I plan on taking him to the vet. For parasite test.
Took him there once already and they gave him meds. He is done with the mess now. I tried showers . He just sits there with head up, but sometimes opens mouth to let water in. I poked a hole in a cup and let the water drip out onto leaves above him and it dripped onto him. I will try to get a picture up . Not real good at that kinda stuff .

 

[bradley]

You are right getting him checked for parasites as this is a likely cause of the runny poo.

 

[Chameleonmaster]

Most Mellers come in heavy with parasite.

 

[Battlecat29]

So obviously that's what is diminishing his appetite?? Have any of you guys ever used reptaid, ya think that would help

 

[carol5208]

as far as the drinking.... Try dripping water directly on your chameleons nose. It may take a little while but they usually will start drinking.

 

[laurie]

I have used reptaid and it is very good. But for parasites you need panacur. But it where they sell stuff for dogs or horses. Just a very small pea of panacur on her mouth should help, usually they eat it, it is a paste.

 

[Battlecat29]

How many ml of panacur. How many days should I treat

 

[Dr O]

I have used reptaid and it is very good. But for parasites you need panacur. But it where they sell stuff for dogs or horses. Just a very small pea of panacur on her mouth should help, usually they eat it, it is a paste.

whoa whoa, slow down here. panacur (fenbendazole) only treats a certain family of parasites. it would have little to no effect on most common tapeworms, coccidia, many protozoans, or other one-celled organisms. even if those families of parasites were sensitive to panacur it would require a completely different dose and dosing schedule than "common worms". and being WC he certainly may have multiple species of parasites!

i know you had mentioned that when you had more $$ you would bring him back to the vet. however, almost every vet will run a fecal and only charge you for that if it’s dropped off at the practice. so if you’re tight on money but need an answer quickly (and i think you do), that is what i would suggest right now. we can’t work with completely dried out poo. but if you get something fresh (whether solid/runny/mucousy/whatever), ziploc it and remove as much air as you can from the bag, and it will hold in the fridge for up to 48 hours until you can drop it off. and we don’t need the chalky white urate portion at all.

all of the water advice mentioned is great, but he has got to be checked for parasites. most vets typically will run a set of tests that are about 80% accurate, but if you want they can send it off to their lab which brings the accuracy well into the upper 90’s. but it will cost a little more. and of course if he needs meds that price will vary.

i’m also going to PM a member who recently bought 2 Melleri and see if she has any personal advice on the drinking situation.

keep us apprised, and we’ll work through this as the situation changes—

o-

 

[Battlecat29]

Thanks dr.o, Sounds good I will move forward with the parasite test and medicate appropriately . I will keep you posted for sure!

 

[Olimpia]

How are you giving him showers? Are you moving him into a bathroom to do so or are they in his cage? Also, are you using cold water?

In my limited experience with Meller's I have found that they don't like to be moved, pretty much at all. Not always but most of the time, and I feel that my female loses all track of what she was interested in doing if I move her because she gets nervous and distracted. So if you can manage to keep him in one place permanently as much as you can, do it. Whether it means moving her permanently into the bathroom or what, but she won't drink and drink well if she doesn't feel stable and safe. The more you move him around the more he might be stressing out and the more the parasites might be taking over.

Also, all three that I've had seemed to be very temperature picky, as well. Very Goldilocks, really. The water couldn't be fresh-out-of-the-tap cold but it couldn't be warm either, they all liked it a little warmer than luke-warm. It seems like a silly detail but Meller's seem to be very persnickety so you have to indulge them.

 

[Battlecat29]

I finally got 'em to drink!!! I agree that the less moving him around the better. I just wanted to get him properly hydrated. So when he was in the shower I held a big leaf over him and let the water trickle down on his mouth. It took awhile but he drank. He defiantly got his fill that's for sure. So then I applied the same concept Shen he was out of the shower. Just held a leaf over his mouth, sprayed water on the leaf and let it drip down. Your right though, water has to be warm. And has to be slow trickle. A pretty good technique .Just gotta take care of parasites and we should be all good.