My own horror story..

[SarahcoadunatioZac]

So the Petco I work at is very good on the husbandry of the various animals, and perhaps because I have the "chameleon virus" seeing a baby female, possibly just over a month old veiled chameleon with standing water, mealworms and a thick mesh that likely blocks UVB in an aquarium at another Petco in town made me sick. Not to mention no dusting at all. I was close to buying her just to save her, didn't help that she was basically hugging Sarah's finger fighting to stay out of the glass cage.

I told both managers that she was dehydrated and showed them how to tell, told them that 20% humidity is too low and that they require UVB and calcium dusting. Doubt they did anything to remedy the situation.

So glad my last day is Saturday.

 

[Creative1]

How do you tell if they are dehydrated?

 

[Olimpia]

This is a common issue, these chain pet stores (and indeed, many small ones) do not care for their chameleons at all like they should. But buying to save them will only encourage the company to replace it and sell another one.

How do you tell if they are dehydrated?

There are two ways to tell:
1. Their eyes will sink in a little. A normal, healthy chameleon will have eyes that bulge out of their skulls a certain amount, and photos of animals will show you what that normal is. However, a dehydrated chameleon will sink their eyes in, and it should be obvious when they do.

2. Their poop comes in two portions: the brown waste part and the white urine part. The urine part should be while, or white with a tip of yellow. If the color is more like a dark yellow or orange, then you know that your chameleon is dehydrated. It's like us - if we drink enough our urine should be clear or almost clear, if not, it's very yellow.

 

[Creative1]

Thank you Olimpia for the quick reply. Going to check poop now.

 

[laurie]

We are a poop culture here- no pun intended. People post pictures of poop all time for help determining if the cham is dehydrated. It is one of the easiest things in pictures to see and for the keeper to correct.

 

[Hoj]

We are a poop culture here- no pun intended. People post pictures of poop all time for help determining if the cham is dehydrated. It is one of the easiest things in pictures to see and for the keeper to correct.

Hey who doesnt love a nice healthy cham poop

 

[SarahcoadunatioZac]

Haha.. How true that is.