New Baby Ambilobe - not eating!!

[JennyBug]

So this past Sunday, I picked up a 3 month old male blue bar ambilobe baby from a woman on CraigsList. I got him home, and we have crickets small enough to feed him, but he doesn't seem to be interested in eating. He's in our living room, away from the other, bigger chams, and his cage is good sized, but not so big he's getting lost in it (my husband made a cage for him for when he gets bigger). I know he was eating crickets at his old home, so he's seen them and eaten them before. He gets misted twice a day.

We don't want to lose this little guy! Is it just the shock of moving? He was eating really well at his old home (his chubby tummy showed that), so I'm hoping he's just nervous about his new surroundings. Any input is welcome!

 

[jannb]

Sometime it take a day or two for them to settle in before they will eat.

 

[JennyBug]

Still not eating... should we try smaller crickets? When would it be necessary to go on a liquid diet? We really want to keep this guy healthy!

 

[chambabysitter1]

Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
* Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
* Location - Where are you geographically located?


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
* Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful

Try filling this out, usually people get more detailed responses after they fill one of these out, clearly and concisely.

 

[JennyBug]

Sorry, we saw him eat and drink, but he's stopped again. I think our house might be too cold for him at night.

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - two part: 10 gallon glass aquarium on bottom, wire add-on on top (it's like a two story tall ten gallon)
* Lighting - We use reptisun for both UVB and heat. He has light from 6:00 am until about 10 pm
* Temperature - Highest = about 80-90, lowest about 65
* Humidity - we have live plants for humidity and he is misted 3x a day
* Plants - live plants = ficus
* Placement - Cage is in a high traffic area (living room) in order to keep him away from our big male veiled cham. The cage is on a table that is about knee high
* Location - Southern Indiana (Lawrenceburg)


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Male blue bar ambilobe, four months old at the end of April. We have had him for two weeks
* Handling - Not often since we don't want to stress him more
* Feeding - gut loaded crickets (using fluker's) = 3 crickets twice a day (morning and evening)
* Supplements - Reptical dust in the morning
* Watering - We mist three times a day: in the morning, when getting home from work, before bed. Yes, we have seen him drink A LOT
* Fecal Description - small (but he is a small guy), brown and white, slightly shriveled
* History - he was probably given to the woman we got him from at about 1 or two weeks of age (he was eating fruit flies). He had an intended mate, but she died a few days after the woman bought them.
* Current Problem - He is not eating. We saw him eat a couple of times, but lately he has just been sitting near the top of his cage all day. He drinks just fine, but when it comes to crickets he is no longer showing interest. He is also very cold to the touch when we do handle him. I think our house might be too cold for him, would using a night heat lamp help with that (low light so he could sleep, of course)? He is very active when we handle him, so he's not just sitting there limp while in our hands; he moves and runs around.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[toddmkeller]

JennyBug,

I have had situations with little ones where the will refuse crickets at first. My favorite food for small chameleons is fruit flies, or blue bottle flies. Do you know any other keepers in your area that may have some flies?
Also, you said you use rep cal dust. Which rep cal dust are you using? Please explain what type of bulb you are using. Is it linear (tube) or a compact? I would also HIGHLY recommend putting him somewhere that isn't high traffic especially until he is acclimated. Sorry for the ramble I just woke up


I hope this helps,

Todd

 

[BocaJan]

I keep my very little ones in a plastic shoe box with a nylon stocking for a top. I put a few plastic vines in there so they can climb and hide, and then put some fruit flies in with them. It is easy to see if they are eating and drinking because the poop (oops, feces) falls to the bottom. I put a paper towel on the bottom so I can see easily. This is a good way to check. When you are sure they are eating then transfer them to a small wire cage, again where you can monitor eating and defecating well. At this stage you can give them crickets/ I am using 1/4's on 3 mo. old, but I just started.

 

[codiwatkins]

I just recently got a Ambilobe Panther cham as well. When I got him home he refused to eat or drink too.......He actually went for 2 weeks before i saw him drink on his own. I took him to the vet to make sure everything was fine with him. They gave me neocal and gave him a fluid shot to make sure he didnt get dehydrated. So Id wait it out. If you can take him to the vet do so. It made me feel WAAAAYY better to get him a well Cham check up!! Plus I got to here an expert tell me he was OK

PLUS now I have some neocal or hand just in case he seems down in the dumps again.......

 

[JennyBug]

He's drinking just fine, in fact, I've seen him drink more during the two weeks he's been here than I've seen either of my others drink (they mostly eat plants to get their water). He will actually lap at the water on the leaves of the real and face plants. We will try putting him in a smaller carrier, I think maybe this one is just too big (especially since he generally stays in one area). I just worry about our house being too cold for him at night. We have to have the temperatures lower in our house because of our chinchillas (they tend to die at higher temps). We will try putting him in a critter keeper for a while.

P.S. The bulbs are compact bulbs for those of you who asked. We dust the crickets with calcium dust that has D3. He is too big for fruit flies now, so we've been feeding him very small crickets (they would fit in the space between his eyes, which a breeder told me was the way to measure).

 

[toddmkeller]

Lights not good!

You need to get a linear 5.0 reptisun tube. The compacts are dangerous and should not be used. They cause eye problems, among other things. As for a basking bulb you need to be careful if you have him in a tub (critter keeper etc...) because it can over heat pretty dang quick... I use very low wattage bulbs on my juveniles when they are in tubs. Make sure the ambient is no higher than 80 degrees (that is on the high end of temps)
So is he eating anything yet? You said he is too big for Fruit Flies? What makes you think that? I have a couple Mellers who are about 10 times the size of your guy and will still eat them if I throw them in the cage. If he isn't eating anything Fruit Flies will almost always work. At 3 months old he is definitely not too big for FF's. (they are cheap too!)

Good Luck,

Todd

 

[JennyBug]

We have a linear reptisun on order from our local pet store (should be in tomorrow). We were only using the compact bulb until the linear came in. We are going to get fruit flies tomorrow. Still haven't seen him eat, but we put him in our bedroom (a much quieter area with little traffic), gave him some more fake vines and plants to play on, misted him with warm water, and put in a few crickets.

It looks like his eyes might be starting to bug out a little. What is this typically a sign of? We do have a reptile expert at our exotic vet's office, so we can take him if necessary.

Keep the suggestions and input coming!

 

[JennyBug]

Here is a picture of our little buddy (we're waiting for his coloring to come in to properly name him... we want to be sure the name fits!) Right now he's probably just nervous and upset from the move, but we're going to get some fruit flies tomorrow and see if that helps. Like I said, we saw him eat a few days ago, but he's just not eating anything now... He's still drinking, though.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Are you cup feeding? or letting a few loose in the cage? Let a few small crickets climb up the side. They should catch his/her eye.

 

[JennyBug]

We let 3 - 4 small crickets loose. When we put him in the new cage, we thought he was eyeballing one, but he let it crawl right under him and didn't make any move to eat it...

 

[JennyBug]

We got some fruit flies, and while he didn't snack on any last night, he seems much more alert this morning and I think I might have seen him snap one up.

I just worry when we turn the lights off because he seems SO cold in the morning, and really sluggish until I physically put him under the heat lamp. He perks up then. Is our house just too cold for him at night?

 

[lrg83caleb]

What is the nightime temperature in his cage?

 

[JennyBug]

Our house is usually around 65 - 70 degrees. He also seems to be shying away from the heat lamp. He will crawl and hang out on a branch or in a corner where he is hidden from either lamp. He's just sleeping A LOT. When we get him out, he acts fine; he moves, crawls, and changes colors. He just seems so bummed in his cage...

We do have a vet appointment for him on Tuesday (our reptile specialist is also a livestock specialist and will not be in the office until then), and I think he will be okay until then.

 

[chambabysitter1]

You might be stressing him out with all that handling.
My house is 70 at night, and on the coldest nights dips to 65. This is just fine according to the kitty blog.(Source)

It takes them a bit to get moving in the morning. Mine takes anywhere from 40 min to about 2 hours before he moves directly into his basking spot.

Is he sleeping in the day? That doesn't seem to be a good sign.

 

[JennyBug]

Finally!!

Well, we are still taking him to the vet tomorrow for an overall wellness check (and to make sure he is a boy... man, working without heel spurs is tough! ), but he IS eating now! We got him some 1/8 inch crickets, have been gutloading and dusting, and he has been eating like a champ for the past two or three days. He looks a little skinny, but he is eating, drinking, and moving around like there was never anything wrong. Hopefully he'll stay that way!

Thank you to all of you who helped and showed concern!!