newby question

[animallover27]

Hi! I've always sort of wanted a chameleon and recently had the chance to receive a rescue flap neck from an animal protection group that seized him from a hoarder who had over 600 animals . . . I just brought him home today . . .
I've had snakes and basic lizards (anoles, skinks, etc . . .) in the past - but nothing this advanced . . .

Needless to say his enclosure is not the greatest, but it is better than I expected - it is way too small, but it is mesh . . . I have ordered a nice zoo med mesh enclosure for him and plan to buy some branches, nice substrate, and a mister for his new cage tommorrow . . .

In the mean time, I wanted to ask a couple of general questions:

1) I know chameleons are very shy and stress prone - do you think it is worth it for me to take him to a vet now, or give him a little time to settle? He is the only reptile I have, so if he has any reptile specific diseases he won't pass them on to anyone else . . . this hoarder apparently had a good 200 snakes, geckos, and lizards . . . so he has been around a lot of other reptiles . . .

2) He is not a very nice color - like a sort of pale yellow green - is this common for a stressed chameleon? Should I suppliment him with any particular minerals or anything? He was quite active when I first got him home, so if he is sick he isn't on death's door or anything . . .

3) Is there a particular food that flap necks like especially? He is a little thin and I've read that they like crickets and mealworms, but I didn't know if you guys, as much more experienced keepers, know of anything he might like especially to help him get used to eating in his new home.

Thanks for your help - let me know if there is anything else I need to know that I'm not even asking

fleur
Fort Worth, TX

 

[Elizadolots]

Hi, fleur. I was born in Fort Worth (worthless piece of information, I know).

If it were me, I would go ahead and schedule a vet visit. Minimally, you want to get a fecal done and obviously, a general check up is in order.

In my experience, wax worms are good for getting a "too thin" chameleon back on track. I would still offer crickets, but a wax worm every day for a bit will help put weight back on him.

You're doing a great thing! Maybe that's why I want to claim some sort of affiliation with you.

 

[camimom]

Hi! I've always sort of wanted a chameleon and recently had the chance to receive a rescue flap neck from an animal protection group that seized him from a hoarder who had over 600 animals . . . I just brought him home today . . .
I've had snakes and basic lizards (anoles, skinks, etc . . .) in the past - but nothing this advanced . . .

Needless to say his enclosure is not the greatest, but it is better than I expected - it is way too small, but it is mesh . . . I have ordered a nice zoo med mesh enclosure for him and plan to buy some branches, nice substrate, and a mister for his new cage tommorrow . . .

In the mean time, I wanted to ask a couple of general questions:

1) I know chameleons are very shy and stress prone - do you think it is worth it for me to take him to a vet now, or give him a little time to settle? He is the only reptile I have, so if he has any reptile specific diseases he won't pass them on to anyone else . . . this hoarder apparently had a good 200 snakes, geckos, and lizards . . . so he has been around a lot of other reptiles . . .

2) He is not a very nice color - like a sort of pale yellow green - is this common for a stressed chameleon? Should I suppliment him with any particular minerals or anything? He was quite active when I first got him home, so if he is sick he isn't on death's door or anything . . .

3) Is there a particular food that flap necks like especially? He is a little thin and I've read that they like crickets and mealworms, but I didn't know if you guys, as much more experienced keepers, know of anything he might like especially to help him get used to eating in his new home.

Thanks for your help - let me know if there is anything else I need to know that I'm not even asking

fleur
Fort Worth, TX

First, hi! welcome to the forums. and congrats on the cham.
I dont know much about flapnecks, but if he seems to be doing ok, i wouldnt risk avet visit this second. However, i would say within the next week get him in and have a fecal done for worms. (this can cause skininess)
chams love crickets. they are their main staple food, dubia roaches too. mealworms are good, however, thye are not nutritious enough for daily feedings.
I would suggest hornworms which can help with hydration.
waxworms, calciworms, hornworms, silkworms, are good treats.
yes you neeed to supplement, however, I dont know what the schedule is for a flapneck. for veileds and panthers, most of us here do a calcium without d3 and phosphorus every feeding, a calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.
What lights are you using? how are you givin ghim water?
what color is his poop and urates? the urate is his pee, the whitish thing attached to poop. if it is yellow or orange, he is dehydrated. if it is white, he is good. also, eyes being sunken in can show dehydration too.
can you post a pic so we can see what colors he is? any new situation will stress them out, and def sounds like his previous home life did.
Good luck!

 

[Ryans reptile room]

hey there!!!!!!! i can speak for all us cham enthusiests when i say thank you so much for rescuing him i previously had flapneck chams so if it were me id make sure to dust w calcium w d3 asap and i would get brand new uvb lighting and basking spot id also get a laser thermometer to make sure his skin temp is good also i never ever use substrate all you need is a umbrella tree from walmart or tropical foliage depending on size of cage and some branches i had several chams die from missing a cricket and getting impacted from the substrate sticking to their toung and of course they have no choice but to swallow so ya as for the food i would swich it up from crickets to wax worms , silk worms butter worms even dubia roaches and walking sticks depending on what your cham will eat in the wild they never get the same bug twice so i try to duplicate that best i can if you have any otherquestions shoot them my way good luck!!!!

 

[animallover27]

In theory I have two pictures of the little guy attached to this message . . . you can see he is totally the wrong color . . . he is still moving around so that is good . . .

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'm going to have to look up what an umbrella plant is - but I've got a Walmart on the way home from the Petsmart . . .

I had all his stuff overnighted so I should have it by tomorrow . . .

 

[camimom]

He does look a bit unhappy. what stuff did you get overnighted for him?

 

[animallover27]

I've got a whole new cage coming and I got him a hibiscus and two lavender plants today (I looked all over for the umbrella plant - apparently East Fort Worth is umbrella plant free or something - fortunately due to the heat the hibiscus has lost some leaves and is perfect for climbing) - this includes new lights, a mister, thermometer, hydrometer, drip waterer (and a drip watering vine - which was only $6 and seems like a cool enough idea to at least try it), and some synthetic vines to supplement the real plants . . .
I got dinky little crickets and some calcium supplements today at the pet store . . . I also got super worms, but I think they may be too big for him (which I'm fairly happy about - they are a little gross) ...
I have wax worms on order, but none of the big box pet stores around here had them . . .

The good news is that he is quite active today and went RIGHT after the dinky crickets (I'm going to have to check Petco tomorrow to see if they have decent sized ones - these are just sad . . .) - I put ten in the cage and I see two left . . . he ate one right in front of me (with one eye on the cricket and one on me) - which was great because I knew he was eating and just looked COOL . . . I also saw him drink after he was misted - and I'm sure he will drink more when he isn't relying on me to mist him . . . so I think he is doing ok given his previous life and his 40 mile ride in a car yesterday . . .

I'm amazed at how well he can see - I can just poke my head in the door and at least one eye moves in my direction . . .

 

[kinyonga]

Your photos aren't clear...but I don't think that's a flap...I think its a Senegal.

 

[animallover27]

yeah - my camera is not very good - let me look up the sengal and see if that looks closer to what he is - with where he came from I wouldn't be surprised at all if they told me wrong . . .

 

[camimom]

what kind of lights did you order?

btw, you can order crickets online in bulk, and not get 'sad dinky' ones. lol
mulberryfarms.com
i buy 1000 crickest, 20 plus shipping. and they last me almost a month.

 

[animallover27]

I got a zoo med combo that is called the basking combo - it is a basking UVB lamp and a inferred heat lamp . . .

I did see where I could get crickets online, thanks . . . I've had creatures that ate crickets in the past and I swear they were not this small - I just wanted something for him immediately since he was roaming the cage this morning looking for something (presumably food) . . . I have no idea when he ate last given the situation he came from . . .

 

[burnedrose]

The fact that he is eating - and in front of you - is a good sign. And he's moving around. I'd wait two or three days and let him just get used to the surroundings before bringing him to the vet.
Has he passed any feces yet? If so, check the color on his urate to make sure he's drinking enough. It should be white - not yellow. Then save the poo for the doc to check out and make sure there's nothing nasty all up in there.

 

[animallover27]

It was cool to watch him eat - he had one eye on me and one on the cricket

He did poop a little and it looks white - though I'll check a little more closely when I turn off his lamp now that I know what it should look like . . .

Thanks for all the help everyone!