Not eating

[Ravn]

Hi! i have a veiled chameleon about 1,5 years of age. my curent problem is that he is refusing to eat! he has had problems with mbd in the past and this resulted in his toungue not fullt extending and he ca only cupfeed. he wont eat any of the food i offer him(roaches, worms, superworms, crickets.)
i Live in norway where all reptiles are illegal so taking him to the vet is only a possibility when REALY nessesary.

any tips and clues to get him to eat again?
sorry for my bad english by the way


Ravn

 

[jannb]

Filling out this form would really help the members here to try to figure out what's going on with your chameleon. Pictures are alway helpful, too.

How long has it been since he ate? Does he still drank water?



How to ask for help

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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.


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.

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?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful

 

[Ravn]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male. 1,5 years of age.
Handling - rarely
Feeding - 5 superworms every other day with vitamin/and or calcium with d3 about once a month. he will only eat superworms.
Supplements - nekton rep and trex calcium
Watering - mist two times a day with spray bottle and he drinks from a suringe twice a day.
Fecal Description - usually black with white urates. now brown and jelly like with white urates.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? yes none where present
History - stopped eating about a year ago, couldnt use toungue. tourned out to be mbd and gave him liquid calcium in a syringe for two weeks. got well after that.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -glass terra( i live in norway) 70cm high, 70cm wide and 50cm depth.
Lighting -two exoterra 5.0 tube lights and a 60w spotlight. light is on 16 hours a day
Temperature -temps are all in the range, cant remember the fahrenheit numbers as i use celcius.
Humidity -50-80%
Plants - only fake ones
Placement -in a quiet place far away from other animal and people
Location - norway

Current Problem - wont eat and has weird poop.

 

[Ravn]

a bad pic of his poo. photo of the chameleon is my avatar

 

[kinyonga]

I used Nekton Rep many years ago and I had calcium issues with some of my chameleons...I don't know if the formula has changed over the years or not. Can you tell me what it has in the way of prEformed vitamin A and D3?

Can you post some pictures of him please?
What are the temperatures? (I can cope with them in F or C.)

 

[Ravn]

i dont have the original box it came in but i only use small amounts of the nekton-rep about once a month. this is where he gets his d3 from. the vitamin a he gets from his food wich i feed on mainly carrots and oranges.

the sunspot is about29-34c and the coolside about 22c.
at night it all drops to 20c-18c.

he seems very healty in all other ways so i dont think he is sick. maybe just on a hungerstrike. athough he has actually eaten 3mealworms and a small cricket today!

 

[kinyonga]

There are two "types" of vitamin A...prEformed and prOformed. PrEformed comes from animal sources and palmitate and acetate, etc. and prOformed comes from plants/greens/veggies.

PrEformed can build up in the system but prOformed won't. Excess prEformed may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD.

Maybe you can tell me which one of these (if any) you use...
http://www.shopwiki.com/Nekton-Rep+Vitamin+Supplement

If his tongue is still not able to shoot out far like it should, then he may still be having calcium issues. This might be playing a part in his lack of appetite since calcium plays a part in muscle activity.

Do you have a substrate in the cage? Is he pooping?

 

[Ravn]

i use two types mixed togheter. boh contains betacaroten(vitamin a) thats all i know. he gets water with calcium twice a week as recomended by my vet. this is calsium without d3 by the way. he has bark as substrate but has never eaten or gotten it in his mouth. we have taken x-rays on several ocations and he is fine. only thing is weak skeleton due to the calcium levels being of. but they are only getting better and as my vet said, there is no quick fix to his problem, and he may never be able to shoot his toungue all the way out. he has also eaten today, a snail and a mealworm so i think he is sick of the feeders i am offering him. i havent given him snails since last summer and he came running when i put it in his terrarium


first pic is him a year ago, last is from this month

 

[graydon]

i use two types mixed togheter. boh contains betacaroten(vitamin a) thats all i know. he gets water with calcium twice a week as recomended by my vet. this is calsium without d3 by the way. he has bark as substrate but has never eaten or gotten it in his mouth. we have taken x-rays on several ocations and he is fine. only thing is weak skeleton due to the calcium levels being of. but they are only getting better and as my vet said, there is no quick fix to his problem, and he may never be able to shoot his toungue all the way out. he has also eaten today, a snail and a mealworm so i think he is sick of the feeders i am offering him. i havent given him snails since last summer and he came running when i put it in his terrarium


first pic is him a year ago, last is from this month

Chams tend to get sick of the same food being offered to them on a daily basis. They eat over 40 different insects in the wild. Variety is key.

 

[kinyonga]

The quickest way to correct a calcium deficiency is for the vet to give the chameleon injections of calcium until the blood calcium levels are high enough that the chameleon can be given a shot of calcitonin to draw the calcium back into the bones quickly.

Best of luck!

 

[Ravn]

Chams tend to get sick of the same food being offered to them on a daily basis. They eat over 40 different insects in the wild. Variety is key.

yes i am very aware of that but thank you. the thing is he would ONLY eat superworms and mealworms and show NO intrest in anything else offered to him. i was actually expecting him to get sick of his regular feeders by now.

 

[Ravn]

The quickest way to correct a calcium deficiency is for the vet to give the chameleon injections of calcium until the blood calcium levels are high enough that the chameleon can be given a shot of calcitonin to draw the calcium back into the bones quickly.

Best of luck!

Yes that was one of the options we had but because there is a risk to this, and a sertain stress to his body we desided it would be better to do this the "hard" but safe way. i am happy he is eating again and pretty sure i just need to change feeders. summer in norway means butterflyes(we havent got any toxic butterflyes or grasshoppers here)
but there is one thing i have been wondering about. in the states you seem to gut load your wc feeders, why?! wc animals are like superfoods with a million different vitamins and minerals in them and you wait until they get it all out of their system and then offer them a carrot? weird people