Need help with ill Chameleon. Trying find a local vet also.

CarMore

New Member
Simon is about 5 years old, never has been sick. Noticed he started falling off branches within about the last month or two. Not an everyday occurence, bit seems in the past 2 weeks to be more. He hasn't eaten in 3 days. He gets water droplets (from a tank above his cage as his main source of water. But we recently removed the plant bc it looked like it was getting white mites on it. Son has now been misting. Today I noticed his eyes have been closed and he hung out on the bottom of the cage for a good portion of the afternoon with his eyes closed. About 6 he started crawling up the side and heading for the top toward the light. Usually he hisses if you put a hand in there and he's not even bothered. My son put his hand in to make sure he didn't fall since he seems weak and brought him outside into the sun (we'rein AZ, so it's already getting hot). His eyes also look sunken in so we looked it up and we read he could be dehydrated, so after he was brought back inside we gave him water through an eyedropper. We got a few good droppers in but he didn't seem interested. His diet consists of mealworms with crickets as well. They are sprinkled with calcium: ReptiCalcium with D3. His cage is about 3-4ft tall and 1.5-2ft across with screen. He has lights on top and they've been changed about 2 mos ago.
We have 2 UV Zoomed lights 25w (not changed in 6 mos) and 2 Zoomed 60w lights that have been changed out about 2 mos ago. Overall he's lethargic, sunken eyes, not going after food and just not acting normal.
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The bottom image is about 7:15pm and the rest are from this 7 AM, this morning.

Crickets have probably not been properly gut loaded. And mealworms are from the jar.

We just put his water on and he crawled over to it, now moving away. Eyes fluctuate between open but more so they are closed. My son noticed his tail is just hanging, it's not curled up.

Any help would be grateful. Looking for a local vet.
 
I'm afraid he's in a very bad way and if he doesn't get to a good chameleon vet.. like yesterday... he's not going to make it.
Where do you live?
 
I'm afraid he's in a very bad way and if he doesn't get to a good chameleon vet.. like yesterday... he's not going to make it.
Where do you live?
Goodyear, AZ
I called 1 vet that's says they treat exotics on their site and called - they don't treat reptiles at all.
 
I'm afraid he's in a very bad way and if he doesn't get to a good chameleon vet.. like yesterday... he's not going to make it.
Where do you live?
And sorry, I meant to thank you. What do you think of his color? He's trying to make his way up the cage.
 
You're welcome for what little I did.
I don't know any exotics vets in Az unfortunately but maybe @jannb will.

Your chameleons tail is quite thin....how long has it been like that?

In the top photo is he hanging on with his back legs or just letting them hang?

Holding his head back like that is a big sign that he's very sick too. The tail not curling is another sign of illness.
He's not very long for this world I'm afraid.

I can't really comment on his color since I haven't seen him before.

Sorry I can't give you better news.
 
You're welcome for what little I did.
I don't know any exotics vets in Az unfortunately but maybe @jannb will.

Your chameleons tail is quite thin....how long has it been like that?

In the top photo is he hanging on with his back legs or just letting them hang?

Holding his head back like that is a big sign that he's very sick too. The tail not curling is another sign of illness.
He's not very long for this world I'm afraid.

I can't really comment on his color since I haven't seen him before.

Sorry I can't give you better news.
Not sure I can give an an accurate answer on thickness of tail. Just noticable he isn't curling it. He was hanging on by all limbs in the pic, while upside down. I've read lifespan is 5-7 years. We got him from him Petsmart so not truly a reputable place. What is the accurate lifespan for thos of you who owned Veiled chameleons? This is our first.
 
I didn't see the list of vets until just now. I did call a vet this AM and they don't take reptiles. I'm going to.go through the list provided. Thank you. He made it through the night.
 
So we get this right the next time around assuming he survives this - when times of day do you recommend feeding? Should it be everyday? We normally feed every other. When well, he will eat up to 10 crickets or 5 large worms. Thank you.
 
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