Need help so bad

[Jericholic]

Hi guys,

I'm beginner of chameleon owner, i bought my female fischer chameleon two days ago and she was active but today i found she don't even like to move. She didnt eat for a day, and i saw she kept rubbing her eyes. She slept for almost 12 hours yesterday until i woke her up. I need help, what are happening with her.

 

[CBPanther]

Please tell us about the cage and temps in detail

 

[suzi]

Please fill out this form
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Jericholic]

i can post a picture here but i dont know about temperature

 

[suzi]

It is really important to know the temp, you can purchase a temp and hygrometer(for humidity) all in one at home depot or lowes for 10 bucks, please fill out the form I gave you above so we can help you

 

[laurie]

i can post a picture here but i dont know about temperature

Hello & welcome. Where are you located? The most information the better we can help you. Has your chameleon changed co
Ora since you bought her? Did you buy her from a store or a breeder? Have you has chameleons before? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to help you.

 

[Jericholic]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Fischer Chameleon , i took her 2 days ago

Handling - more than two time per day

Feeding - Live crickets, 1 crickets and 3 times per day

Supplements - I not sure about it

Watering - Very often i watering the fake flower, but i don't see my chameleon drinking

Fecal Description - She always green in color

History - no

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass Terrarium 30 x 30 x 45

Lighting - I didn't use any lightning

Temperature - Not sure

Humidity - I don't even know humidity are needed

Plants - Fake plants

Placement - On the table and nothing around the table

Location - I'm living in Malaysia

 

[Jericholic]

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z355/shinhwa988/IMAG0199.jpg

here is the picture of cage

 

[mbondy]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Fischer Chameleon , i took her 2 days ago

Handling - more than two time per day

Feeding - Live crickets, 1 crickets and 3 times per day

Supplements - I not sure about it

Watering - Very often i watering the fake flower, but i don't see my chameleon drinking

Fecal Description - She always green in color

History - no

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass Terrarium 30 x 30 x 45

Lighting - I didn't use any lightning

Temperature - Not sure

Humidity - I don't even know humidity are needed

Plants - Fake plants

Placement - On the table and nothing around the table

Location - I'm living in Malaysia

Sounds like you should've done all your research on husbandry prior to purchasing your cham. Unfortunately pet stores don't usually know what they are talking about which just costs you more money.

You've been handling your cham way too much, you should let her settle for a few weeks and handle her minimally. You should get real plants in your enclosure which should be a screen enclosure instead of glass. Chams need lot's of air circulation which you may be unable to provide if this is your first cham. Fischer's like a wetter and cooler climate with lots of humidity, you need to read your temps and humidity asap. You need a UVB light (5.0 tube) and maybe a basking light, I'm not sure what the temps are in Malaysia. Remove the substrate, she could accidently digest the wood and choke to death. You need lot's more foliage and vines, like I said preferably live plants. Mist at least 3-4 times a day for a few minutes. What do you have in the back of the enclosure? You should buy a screen enclosure, fill that in with lots of live plants and vines if you want her to thrive.

Other's will chime in!

 

[Jericholic]

Hello & welcome. Where are you located? The most information the better we can help you. Has your chameleon changed co
Ora since you bought her? Did you buy her from a store or a breeder? Have you has chameleons before? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to help you.

Hi laurie,
i bought her from store. The salesman is such an idiot, even i ask him a question he can't answer me. I never have chameleon before.

 

[suzi]

Hi again! Hopefully Laurie will chime back in as I believe she owns a Fischer! I have panthers and just did a quick search for you on fischers and there care seems very similar. As stated above a screen cage would be better and UVB light and basking light. Vitamin supplements phosphorus free calcium without d3, one with d3 and multi vitamin. They can eat more also, do you know how old it is? When you said fecal - green most of the time you may have meant the color of the chameleon and not the poop, at least I hope lol i am going to look back to the thread and see if Laurie is back yet lol and welcome to the forum! I would do a search for proper vitamin schedule for a Fischer, I don't want to recommend one in case it may be different then panther. I think your temps should be around 85 at top and 70 at bottom.

 

[Jericholic]

Hi again! Hopefully Laurie will chime back in as I believe she owns a Fischer! I have panthers and just did a quick search for you on fischers and there care seems very similar. As stated above a screen cage would be better and UVB light and basking light. Vitamin supplements phosphorus free calcium without d3, one with d3 and multi vitamin. They can eat more also, do you know how old it is? When you said fecal - green most of the time you may have meant the color of the chameleon and not the poop, at least I hope lol i am going to look back to the thread and see if Laurie is back yet lol and welcome to the forum!

I ask the salesman how old she is and he answered me maybe 6 months. I doubt he know it. Last few hour i saw her changed to yellow for a few minutes and changed to green back after that. I will get a light tomorrow, i hope she can stay alive . I like her so much but too new for chameleon.

 

[Jericholic]

Sounds like you should've done all your research on husbandry prior to purchasing your cham. Unfortunately pet stores don't usually know what they are talking about which just costs you more money.

You've been handling your cham way too much, you should let her settle for a few weeks and handle her minimally. You should get real plants in your enclosure which should be a screen enclosure instead of glass. Chams need lot's of air circulation which you may be unable to provide if this is your first cham. Fischer's like a wetter and cooler climate with lots of humidity, you need to read your temps and humidity asap. You need a UVB light (5.0 tube) and maybe a basking light, I'm not sure what the temps are in Malaysia. Remove the substrate, she could accidently digest the wood and choke to death. You need lot's more foliage and vines, like I said preferably live plants. Mist at least 3-4 times a day for a few minutes. What do you have in the back of the enclosure? You should buy a screen enclosure, fill that in with lots of live plants and vines if you want her to thrive.

Other's will chime in!

thank you so much for the info

 

[mbondy]

Hi again! Hopefully Laurie will chime back in as I believe she owns a Fischer! I have panthers and just did a quick search for you on fischers and there care seems very similar. As stated above a screen cage would be better and UVB light and basking light. Vitamin supplements phosphorus free calcium without d3, one with d3 and multi vitamin. They can eat more also, do you know how old it is? When you said fecal - green most of the time you may have meant the color of the chameleon and not the poop, at least I hope lol i am going to look back to the thread and see if Laurie is back yet lol and welcome to the forum! I would do a search for proper vitamin schedule for a Fischer, I don't want to recommend one in case it may be different then panther. I think your temps should be around 85 at top and 70 at bottom.

I've a fischer's as well, not an expert as Laurie but I was/and am doing the same temps as you stated, 85 at the top and close to 70 at the bottom. My guy basks at 85, sometimes prefers going to a lower branch at 80.

I hope your little girl makes it! The fischers' are fantastic little chams

 

[mbondy]

thank you so much for the info

Yes of course, pet stores really tend to not know much about chams and give you info that isn't correct at all. Props to you for seeking help some people would just not look into the info!

 

[suzi]

I've a fischer's as well, not an expert as Laurie but I was/and am doing the same temps as you stated, 85 at the top and close to 70 at the bottom. My guy basks at 85, sometimes prefers going to a lower branch at 80.

I hope your little girl makes it! The fischers' are fantastic little chams

Oh cool , they are cool looking! I wasn't sure if it was the same care as panthers, I did a quick search and it seems very similar

 

[mbondy]

Oh cool , they are cool looking! I wasn't sure if it was the same care as panthers, I did a quick search and it seems very similar

The fischers are super cool, I call mine the spider monkey as he moves so fast forward and sideways! They're similar to panthers but like it cooler and wetter, I have a baby panther as well so there temps are about the same just a little warmer at the bottom for my panther. It'll be interesting once my little guy grows up to keep the temps high for him and low for the other I do have to bring both in the shower as they both aren't great drinkers at the moment.

 

[suzi]

The fischers are super cool, I call mine the spider monkey as he moves so fast forward and sideways! They're similar to panthers but like it cooler and wetter, I have a baby panther as well so there temps are about the same just a little warmer at the bottom for my panther. It'll be interesting once my little guy grows up to keep the temps high for him and low for the other I do have to bring both in the shower as they both aren't great drinkers at the moment.

Is there supplement schedule the same?

 

[suzi]

I ask the salesman how old she is and he answered me maybe 6 months. I doubt he know it. Last few hour i saw her changed to yellow for a few minutes and changed to green back after that. I will get a light tomorrow, i hope she can stay alive . I like her so much but too new for chameleon.

In the form you filled out they asked about the fecal color. They were talking about the color of the poopies what is the weather like where you are from?

 

[kinyonga]

I've kept Fischer's quite a few times over the last 20+ years. I kept them all in glass cages with ventilation in the front and with screen lids...and they lived long healthy lives. They were all WC's too.

As was already said...you are handling her too often, UVB either from direct sunlight or from a UVB light (that does not pass through glass or plastic), she needs proper supplementing, no substrate (since it can be ingested and lead to an impaction). Since you've only had her two days, the only part of this that could/would have had an impact on her is the handling or the substrate, if she ingested any of it.

What is wrong with her may not be your fault at all...when dealing with WC's there can often be health issues....parasites, bacteria, stress that puts the immune system down, etc. She looks older than 6 months IMHO too. Fischer's often suffer from a "failure to thrive" in captivity too...which is another reason for not handling her often.

Do not put her outside in a glass cage...you will need a screen one if you are going to leave her out for a while...and part of it should be in the shade so she can escape the sunlight if she needs to. If its very hot where you are living, she will also need to be kept well watered/misted while she is out there.

It would be helpful if you could provide her with more greenery and branches in the cage so she has places to hide if she wants to.

The following is information you will need to keep her properly...
She needs gutloaded/well fed insects, water supplied through misting and dripping...and since she's an egglaying female that is obviously big enough to reproduce, a place to dig in the cage so that she can lay eggs if she needs to.

You need to know the temperatures in the cage too. The basking temp should be in the low 80'sF and the rest of the cage in the mid to high 70'sF.

Here's some information that I hope will help...
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

Hope this helps!