I am a new owner of a female chameleon that is about 12 weeks old or so. I have had her for about three weeks and everything was going great until a few days ago. I came home to find her on the bottom of the cage in the plant containor rolling around in dirt. She had some dirt in her mouth and begain retching when I placed her on her leaves under the warming light to warm her up. She seemed to be doing ok until later that night when I found her on the cage floor yet again looking cold and very stressed. I put her in a critter keeper overnight to help keep her warm. I let her back in the pen and she was very weak and unable to clasp onto the leaves very well. I thought she might be impacted but she is drinking and deficating. Overall she seems alot better but she is not eating! I have a screened inclosure, I dust my crickets with calcium powder every other feeding. I water her once a day with a drip system. the humitidy averages b/w 20-30% and the basic temp is between 70-80 degrees. i use a heat bulb, and uv bulb and a red light at night becuase its cold were I live. I tried keeping crickets in a container for her but she has never liked that, should I try force feeding? or wait a little longer? its been about 3 days in a row of not eating she usually eats every other day and did just shed not to long ago if that makes a diffrence?
not eating
- Thread starter winters24
- Start date
Elizadolots
New Member
Hi! Welcome. I'm so sorry your new chameleon is giving you problems.
You covered a lot of information in your post, but it would be better if you completed the "How To Ask For Help" form. Just copy the questions, paste into a reply and type your responses. Be as detailed as possible. "Fecal description" means "tell us what the poop looks like" (don't say "okay" or "normal").
If it were me, I would cover the soil up with rocks or nylon net to keep her from getting in there again. I question whether you really do need additional heat at night, but if you do, I suggest you get a bulb that emits heat without light. There are ceramic heat bulbs that screw into a regular socket and bulbs that are coated black to prevent any light from getting through. It's been shown on this board that lights at night disturb them, particularly young ones.
It helps if you post pictures. To do that, have the pictures on your computer. Use the POST REPLY button (not the handy quick reply box). There is an icon in the toolbar that looks like a paperclip. Click that and follow the prompts to get the picture from your computer. Note that the picture won't show until you SUBMIT your post.
You covered a lot of information in your post, but it would be better if you completed the "How To Ask For Help" form. Just copy the questions, paste into a reply and type your responses. Be as detailed as possible. "Fecal description" means "tell us what the poop looks like" (don't say "okay" or "normal").
If it were me, I would cover the soil up with rocks or nylon net to keep her from getting in there again. I question whether you really do need additional heat at night, but if you do, I suggest you get a bulb that emits heat without light. There are ceramic heat bulbs that screw into a regular socket and bulbs that are coated black to prevent any light from getting through. It's been shown on this board that lights at night disturb them, particularly young ones.
It helps if you post pictures. To do that, have the pictures on your computer. Use the POST REPLY button (not the handy quick reply box). There is an icon in the toolbar that looks like a paperclip. Click that and follow the prompts to get the picture from your computer. Note that the picture won't show until you SUBMIT your post.
If she's rolling around on the floor and not able to grip I think I would be getting her to the vets asap....then I would be looking at her husbandry to see if everything is okay. You aren't giving us enough details of the husbandry to know what's going on...exact temperatures, brand names of supplements, lights, etc.
