orange poo?

[mons00n]

I had Kepler outside today for a short period of time while I cleaned his cage (~95-100F)...I was holding him suddenly felt all of his claws dig into me to the point where it became painful. I forced one of his hands off of my finger and noticed that he was still squeezing like a madman. I couldn't figure out what was up with him...until I looked to his rear; HE WAS POOPING ON ME! Luckily I was able to get his butt away from my hand before the poop landed. Oddly enough it had some orange in it and I was wondering if that was normal or not. Here's a pic:

it seems to be encased in some sort of membrane...is this also normal? He seems to be eating, drinking, and acting normally otherwise. Thanks!

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

Both Suzi and i have had this happen once as well.
We assumed it was feeder related.
It was never a big deal for us

 

[Adashek123]

my chameleons poop is like the last three times. it has a white urate, brown turd, and a orange top??? is this bad?????? and a weird white thing came out too that looked like skin

 

[Kate]

Orange urate = dehydration . Up the mistings, dribble warm water over his nose to stimulate drinking. Feed silkworms as they are hydrating.

 

[Kate]

my chameleons poop is like the last three times. it has a white urate, brown turd, and a orange top??? is this bad?????? and a weird white thing came out too that looked like skin

The weird white thing could be a sperm plug which is normal.

 

[Sinfulintent]

I'm not sure it would be dehydration, it looks pretty white to me where the urate is, in between the urate and the poop is that large orange circle... It might be feeder related, what are you giving them? Do your chams have access to anything orange in the viv? Flukers orange feeder cubes?

 

[Psychobunny]

The orange is part of the poop, not the urate.
Natural pigments in foods and in suppliments get concentrated in the gut and come out orange, yellow or red.
Commercial supliments have stuff like dehydrated beets, red sweet pepper and paprika extract.
All that stuff gets concentrated and sits in the intestine until it is expelled.

Not to worry, your animal is likely well hydrated

 

[Adashek123]

The weird white thing could be a sperm plug which is normal.

YES !!! KATE it is a sperm plug. just looked up on google images and he pooped one out the last few times!! is that normal? and when i first bought him, something was hanging out of his butt. looked like a piece of shed skin. i decided to pull it out and looked also, exactly like a sperm plug on google images. But the weird part is that part of his poo is orange, and also appears to be enclosed in a membrane like the persons that posted this thread. Dehydration could be the cause, so i started to mist his cage more frequently now (used to mist 4 times a day for 3 min now i mist 6 times a day for 2-3 min). he doesnt seem to wanna be misted, and whenever i mist him directly, some gets in his eye and he closes it, and wiggles his eyes around. it almost looks painfull lol so i dont mist him directly. i have 2 drippers also, and one is a double one. What could be another cause of his orange poop? by the way, he wont eat crickets much at all. only ate like 2 and thats when im not watching. i do hand feed him superworms daily, about 5 a day to be exact. and im working on getting an order for silkworms and hornworms and possibly some dubia roaches or something more nutrioutious. any suggestions chameleon team?
thanks for the help!!

 

[Adashek123]

heres a pic of my panther chameleons poop and a link to him:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/new...meleon-opinions-103031/index2.html#post946142

 

[dlegare]

I definitely would increase his hydration. Maybe try a nice long shower every 2 to 3 days. Also like others have suggested give a few Hornworms or Silkworms daily as they are loaded with moisture.

Keep us posted.

Very nice pictures. (I can't believe I said that about pics of poo...)

 

[Sinfulintent]

The orange is part of the poop, not the urate.
Natural pigments in foods and in suppliments get concentrated in the gut and come out orange, yellow or red.
Commercial supliments have stuff like dehydrated beets, red sweet pepper and paprika extract.
All that stuff gets concentrated and sits in the intestine until it is expelled.

Not to worry, your animal is likely well hydrated

Thank you someone that addressed the orange as part of the poop

 

[Adashek123]

i will deff keep u posted but i really think its either the superworm diet or dehydration. i don't think a shower would be good for him? are they beneficial? do they like showers? he seems to hate getting water in his eyes, then he shuts them, and wiggles em around for a few secs and opens em up again?

 

[SMCNARY]

Misting lightly directly in a chams face and getting the eyes is fantastic for eye health and eye hydration in general. He may not like it at first but if you use slightly warm water he may tolerate it better and it is very good for his eyes!!! IMHO and also I have been told this by many very well respected breaders on this forum.

 

[DanSB]

The orange, as psychobunny pointed out is not in the urate it is in the feces. It doesn't look like the orange of a dehydrated cham's orangeISH urate and is probably diet related as already suggested.

Dehydrated orange is different than that bright orange...

A shower for a cham is not placing them directly in the stream of a shower unless you have a fine mist nozzle or something. Ideally they are on a plant that is getting indirect splash (off the wall or something) no stronger than rain. The water should be luke warm at most but not cold either. Regardless of hydration level a shower won't hurt most species as far as I know...

 

[ChameleonMom]

YES !!! KATE it is a sperm plug. just looked up on google images and he pooped one out the last few times!! is that normal? and when i first bought him, something was hanging out of his butt. looked like a piece of shed skin. i decided to pull it out and looked also, exactly like a sperm plug on google images. But the weird part is that part of his poo is orange, and also appears to be enclosed in a membrane like the persons that posted this thread. Dehydration could be the cause, so i started to mist his cage more frequently now (used to mist 4 times a day for 3 min now i mist 6 times a day for 2-3 min). he doesnt seem to wanna be misted, and whenever i mist him directly, some gets in his eye and he closes it, and wiggles his eyes around. it almost looks painfull lol so i dont mist him directly. i have 2 drippers also, and one is a double one. What could be another cause of his orange poop? by the way, he wont eat crickets much at all. only ate like 2 and thats when im not watching. i do hand feed him superworms daily, about 5 a day to be exact. and im working on getting an order for silkworms and hornworms and possibly some dubia roaches or something more nutrioutious. any suggestions chameleon team?
thanks for the help!!

Wow! The orange in your guys poop (so long as it appears much like the picture above) is not a sign of dehydration but the concentration of some supplement ingredients being pushed out as waste by your Cham! I think the new misting schedule you have implemented along with two drippers (and one being a double dripper? ) is an invitation for a respitatory infection! While keeping our chams hydrated is very important, I also believe there is such a thing as too much water! JMO, but I think your new watering schedule is going to be too much!

 

[AngieL]

That looks like an ok poop to me! As long as most of the urates are white it's ok. The orange colouring can happen if its been sitting for a while, my girl has bits like that when her poops are less regular

P.s. I agree with mom that its not dehydration. Poop from a dehydrated Cham would have all discoloured urates and wouldn't be so moist looking!

 

[Adashek123]

I only have the drippers on once daily for about 3 hours, and im going to keep misting to around 2-5 times daily depending on humidity. i rele hope he wont get a respitory infection:/