Not eating help:(

[Dizzylady]

Cage Type -18x24x24 Glass exo-terra with Screen top and front doors
Lighting - Lighting- Exo terra repti glow 5.0 13w, Exo terra repti glow 2.0 13w and 75w spot bulb( exo terra or zoo med brand) these three are on 12 hours and 50w zoo med infared at night time for 12 hours
Temperature - right now i just have a thermometer on the side of cage in middle that reads usually about 85-90 during day and 75 at night. i will look into getting more acurate temps
Humidity - 25-30 measured by hygrometer on side of cage. i mist 3x/day and there is a running waterfall in cage
Plants - Hybiscus plant that graze on
Location - cage is in my room with 2 other cages(another vieled and a bearded dragon) but there is black bristel board on outside of cage so that the chameleons can't see each other, not near fans or vents( is a vent in room but not right be cage) height of the top of the cage relative to my room floor- 6"

Chameleon Info: Chameleon - vieled chameleon, Female, 51/2-6 months is an estimate they were very tiny when i got them and the pet store didn't know exact age bt i have had them for about 5 months
Handling - I use to take them out twice daily for feeding but as they aged they don't like the handling as much but i still usually handle them 1x/day during feeding
Feeding - I was feeding 2x/day at noon and at 6. The crickets on a daily basis, reptivite powder with d3 on crickets 3x/week (mon, wed, and sat)and meal worms 2x/week (tues and sat)I am gut loading crickets with gut loading green cubes that are moist i'm unsure of brand at this time but it is made for gut loading.

Watering - I have a flowing water fall going 24/7 and i also mist there cage 3x/day i have seen one drinking from the water fall once but the usually lick their lips after misting.
Fecal Description - dark brown to black firm with white at end (sometimes gel surrounds white part).never been tested for parasites
History - did have an eye abbcess when i first got & treated with ocuflox drops wich is a broad spectrum antibiotic from a veterinarian.

Current Problem - My one vieled has gone off her food. she won't eat any crickets for past 1-2 days and was only eating one or two for 3-4 days before that. i can get her to eat the odd meal worm cuz she loves them but her appetite has dropped dramaticly she not even eating her hibiscus leaves which she loved. Her colours have changed, shes usually a light green but has now got blue and orange spots, is this age related because my other one is starting to get blue on her and she is a bit smaller. Is she wanting to mate or is she wanting to lay eggs?
I have placed a small container in with moist coconut husk bedding in it to see if the are wanting to dig & they havn't touched it.
Both seem to be hanging around the bottom more and my smaller one keeps clawing at the front of the cage ( is it to hot?)

What is going on please help !!!!!

 

[jukeboxpunk]

You should

You should have a screened enclosure for a chameleon and not a glass one. Glass maybe on one side is ok, but not fully enclosed. The cham may be stressed by reflections. He/she may also have insufficient air ventilation and humidity. 25-30 is low. I would try to recreate its' environment as though it were in the wild. Have it the humidity around 50-60 in the mornings and evenings. Dry throughout the afternoon (mist occasionally).

I am a first time cham owner and the information above is just what I have been noticing other cham owners on this site inform others about.

 

[toddmkeller]

For starters, I would keep only your basking spot around 85, your ambient temp should be closer to 75 degrees. Try using a 20w-40w incandescent bulb instead of that 75W. Please remove the waterfall, these can get feeders, or feces in them and just breed bacteria. This can be a serious issue. You should consider a dripper, if you don't want to buy one you can take any plastic container that you can put a pinhole in, then poke a hole in the bottom (from the inside) and adjust the size of the hole to drip every 5 seconds or so. You can have this cascade off one of your plants so that she can drink it off of the leaves of the plant. Next your supplements, try to dust with a calcium without d3 almost every feeding. A light dusting, not to make your crix look like ghosts. I would only use a calcium with d3 no more than 3-4 times a month and multivitamin no more than 2-3 times for a growing juvenile and then 1-2 times a month as an adult. (the amount of supplementation depends on the nutritional value of your gutload and the amount of food your animal is eating) Next is your gutload. I would try to use some mustard greens, turnip greens or romaine lettuce, and a combination of carrot, yams, kiwi, opitunia, limes, blackberries the list goes on (just search for gutload on this forum) I like to change up my wet mix (vegtables and fruits) weekly so that my chameleons get a good variety. They seem to be very happy with this method.... Also, sometimes juvenile chameleons will go on a "hunger strike" and this is caused by many things, but the most common is boredom of food... If you ate the same thing every day you would get bored. Try getting some house flies (not ones you catch) you can buy the pupae at http://www.mantisplace.com/ or some silkworms are great too.

ok i will stop rambling now

Todd

 

[Dunnigan]

I have never own a female but the egg theroy seems like a possibilty to me.

Also i have a male veiled, almost a year old, and at some times he just decides to stop eating and gets a little slow (this has happened 2 times now), I feed him some wax worms and he gets back into a normal eating schedule.

Can they see the bearded dragon?I have a turtle and for a time my guy could see the turtle and had similar behavior (hanging out low in the cage not going to one side, he was trying to hide from the turtle) , once i made a visual barrier, he started acting "normal".

 

[panthercham]

Chams do go off their food for a variety of reasons - boredom with feeders, weather getting colder and eat less as they get older.

It sounds like she is gravid though. I would replace the coconut husk with play sand and give her some privacy, she will find it and use it. Does she look fatter?

Also if both of the chams are in the same cage you will need to seperate them as if she is wanting to lay eggs she probally wont with the other one in there and then you risk her getting eggbound, a trip to the vet and possibly her dying.

 

[Dizzylady]

the one actually can see the bearded dragon , i never really thought it would bother her because its a different species, why i thought that i have no idea but i will block the beardie from her sight asap. I am going to the city today to change to the mercury vapour bulb so i can get all the other lights off the top so the air can flow better. i heard the coiled bulbs arn't good anyways.I am also going to look in to buying a digital thermometer so i have better temp ideas.

Gutloading my crickets with different things will get them to eat better??? i just figured that a product made for gutloading would make sure they got everything they needed but i will try to switch it up.

Thanks for all ur input

 

[emessis]

Unfortunately, many of the commercial gutloading products (wet or dry) are more of a maintenance diet for feeders. They don't get a chance to fill up with all the good nutrients that your chams need and can get from feeders that have been gobbling up tasty veggies and fruits. Kenya and I use a wet gutload that she makes every couple of months from 10-20lbs of a wide variety veggies and fruits. We freeze nearly all of it and dole it out as necessary...seems to work very well thus far. Definitely do a search for gutload on the forum as recommended, you'll get some great ideas for what all you can put in your own.