My veiled stopped eating

Grand

New Member
My veiled, 4 mo male isn't eating. I feed him crickets. He was eating 4-5 3/4" ones each day.
His cage is a big birdcage, 3' x 2' x 4' tall.
He is hanging on the screen porch ceiling.
I have a huge pothos, an asparagus fern and a jade plant in there with numerous branches.
I mist him a few times a day and in the morning he will come to the side of the cage to get drops of water off the leaves and wire of the cage.
I have a ceramic heater laying on top of the cage on all the time since there is space for him to get out of the heat or under it if he wishes.
He stopped eating when the nights got cold, down to 60, and that is when I left the heater on all the time. That was 5 days ago and still no improvement.
I got him 2 horn worms Wednesday and he did eat those.
He won't eat the crickets.
I do not handle him.
Suggestions?
Thank you.
 
is he well hydrated? I know you say he drinks but what colour is the urate? pure snow white? creamy? yellow? orange?

when did he last shed?

what supplements do you use? how do you gutload?

Perhaps he is bored of crickets. I suggest no single prey type make up more than 20% of the chameleons diet, and certainly no more than 50%. So in addition to crickets, you do want to be providing a range of other prey types.
 
Cool temperatures slow digestion down.
Be may not recognize the heater as a source of heat....does he sit near it?
What is the temperature in the rest of his cage? In the porch?
 
Thanks.
He just finished a shed 3 days ago.
He does sit under the heat, but not during the day when it is 78-83 on the porch.
It cools down to 65-70 now at night.
I don't see any poop or urate.
I use cricket gut load, a frozen feed for the crickets. No other supplements.
I will order some silkworms. I can't get them locally.
Should I get him a few more horn worms tomorrow?
 
Went to the pet store today. This is not a chain, but a mom & pop. There is a guy there who has panthers so I talked to him and he had me buy hornworms and superworms. Said I should order silk worms on line and that some chams just don't like crickets.
He also said not to put the food on the bottom of the cage as some chams don't like to go down there looking for food.
Charlie ate 2 hornworms and one superworm and then pooped what looked like a full hornworm right out.
I also bought repti calcicum w/out D3 to dust everyday.
Next week I will get some vitamins.
And I am not misting enough. I am confused about this. It is very humid here so I was only misting a few times a day and when I did I made water drips on the pothos leaves and Charlie would drink those. I have tried to make a drip bottle/jar but even using the smallest needle I can find the water drips out too fast. Can someone help me here? Is there to be water dripping all the time and what is it to drip on for him to drink?
Thank you.
 
They should have drippers at most pet stores for only a few dollars. When i first got my guy and made a dripper i was able to barely poke a hole in the bottom of the cup and make the drip last for a couple of hours. Try poking it with the very tip of the pin and do not push the needle all the way through. People usually place the cup over an area that will let the water drip down and over leaves eventually leaving a trail of drips down to the bottom where you can catch the water in a cup or allow your cage to drain if it is set up for that. Be careful and maybe look into putting a piece of screen over the cup if you have to, I've never used a bottom cup but would think you may need to be careful so the little ones don't fall in. Since you mist several times a day this should be sufficient. If you cant get it to drip to long than as long as you can get it to drip for at least thirty min to an hr and refill it several times throughout the day, this combined with misting should give him enough opportunities to drink throughout the day. try to spread the misting/dripping out so that he has most of the day with access to water. Also, Im not sure what you said your actually temps/basking site temps are but it sounds like they may be a little low, My guy is an adult now so his would be a little higher than what your little guy would need. I think you said you had a juvenile? I usually let my basking temp go from 90 to even 100 and he does just fine. If yours is young you probably don't want to go that high of course but if he is not eating and you also haven't seen any poop this could be very much the problem. They need appropriate temps in order to digest and pass waste otherwise their bodies just won't break down the food and they will not continue to bring food in either. also good idea to bring the food higher but it may not catch his attention down at the bottom very easy. You can try and make a little cricket feeder cup out a milk jug or whatever you want. This will let you sort of monitor his intake and all if you want. good luck and hope he comes around.
 
update on charlie not eating

Yesterday I moved him indoors to a smaller cage (18 x18x24") put ubv bulb on him. Covered 2 sides of the cage with plastic to keep the heat in.
My grandson got him to eat 1 hornworm and I was able to squirt some water in his mouth, not much.
I then set up the drip cup per directions from, gosh I forgot who has the wonderful directions for making a drip cup with a valve to control the drip. Anyways, I set up the drip cup and aimed the drip 1" from his nose. He is clinging to the branch. I turned the light off at 830 pm.
This morning I did see him drink, but not much and then the grandson got him to eat 3 superworms and 1 hornworm but then when he gave him some water he threw up the worms. A few hours later he got him to eat 1 mealworm.
I have ordered silkworms which should arrive tomorrow.
He is very weak and can barely hang onto the branch.he sleeps almost all day, wakes for a few minutes, moves around a bit and then goes back to sleep.
I have got to get him to eat more. How???????
 
I am sorry to say if your chameleon is sleeping during the day that is a big problem. Chameleons never sleep during the day and if they do it is often because they are sick. Throwing up is not normal, nor is feces that is undigested. There is a possibility of parasites here and to rule this out you need to get a fecal sample(fresh as possible) and get it to a vet and have it tested. If you collect one, put it in a zip loc baggie in the fridge to preserve.
 
I am sorry to say if your chameleon is sleeping during the day that is a big problem. Chameleons never sleep during the day and if they do it is often because they are sick. Throwing up is not normal, nor is feces that is undigested. There is a possibility of parasites here and to rule this out you need to get a fecal sample(fresh as possible) and get it to a vet and have it tested. If you collect one, put it in a zip loc baggie in the fridge to preserve.

I know sleeping during the day is a problem, that's why I'm here. He has stopped eating and I need to get food into him. I know throwing up is not normal. I don't mean to sound rude, but who does think sleeping during the day and throwing up IS normal? Telling me it isn't normal doesn't help.
I need to get food into him, now. He isn't eating, so he isn't pooping. He needs to eat! How and what do I get him to eat?
Thank you.
 
No you are not being rude at all. Honestly a lot of people don't know that chameleons do not sleep during the day. Many animals do, dogs, cats, birds, reptiles...that is why I said it. As far as the throwing up I thought maybe you thought he did so because you gave him the water right after eating he threw up. If he won't eat, force feeding is always an option but I am not sure I would go that route. When was the last time he pooped? He has gotten some food in him and maybe he will poop in the next day or so.
 
I am sorry to say if your chameleon is sleeping during the day that is a big problem. Chameleons never sleep during the day and if they do it is often because they are sick. Throwing up is not normal, nor is feces that is undigested. There is a possibility of parasites here and to rule this out you need to get a fecal sample(fresh as possible) and get it to a vet and have it tested. If you collect one, put it in a zip loc baggie in the fridge to preserve.

With all due respect.... I know his sleeping during the day is a problem. I know throwing up is not normal. Who does??
He isn't eating, he isn't pooping.
He needs food.
I need to get him to eat.
How and what is what I need now.
I am afraid he is dying.
How do I get him to eat?
 
Like I said not everyone knows the sleeping thing about chameleons. Anyways,you would have to force feed. Pop the mouth open with a credit card and shove the food in. He still may spit it out though if he does not want to eat. I have never had to do it. I know people have ground up bugs and made a bug juice and fed it with a dropper or syringe also.
 
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