PicklesParents
Member
Any help/advice/knowledge shared is VERY much appreciated!
Quick background. Adopted him about 36 hours ago from "the local petstore" that my friend works at. They said they tried to get him into the vet on Friday AM (symptoms started Thursday PM) but the vet had no more availability until Monday AM. I knew the little guy wasn't going to make it in the tiny 10 gal aquarium, below sub-par UVB light they had him in, so they let me adopt him out and I got him a proper (for now) Chameleon enclosure. I am totally a newbie when it comes to Cham's, I have a Ball Python and currently have 2 Redfoot Tortoises now though so I have a few years experience with reptiles.
I've been lurking the Forum here for the past day to get a basic idea of what I'm dealing with and am now ready to ask you all for your help!
Chameleon Info
My Chameleon: Veiled, was told Male but I think Female, was told <8 months but looks like 3-4 to me?
Handling : a few times to move him from one enclosure to the next, and a few other times to make sure he's still got dexterity (he does, but it's a little on the weak side)
Feeding : currently won't eat. Last ate Wed/Thurs according to them. Previously being fed 5-7 1/4" crickets a day from pet store.
Supplements : as far as I know they don't dust their crickets, but if they did it would be your basic Reptical w/o D3 (hopefully) or something along those lines.)
Watering : Can't speak for this before I picked him up. However I gave him a "bath" as soon as I got home, and then misted his enclosure the until the spray bottle was empty (about 12 oz. of H20). Sprayed yesterday 5-6x for 3-4 mins each time with reptile-treated H20. This AM I sprayed him with warm, treated H20 and within the first minute I saw him drinking it! So I just kept spraying until he stopped drinking, which was about 5+ minutes.
Fecal Description : in his enclosure at the pet store, I saw slimy brown stool w/ yellow heated. Yesterday AM I saw darker brown & more solid stool w/ yellow+white urates. Nothing yet today.
Unknown his he's been tested for parasites.
History : Kind of touched on this but I'll try to give more details here. They noticed his eyes were staying closed for longer periods of time on Wednesday and becoming a little lethargic. They moved him to another enclosure in the back to monitor him. Thurs his eye would open a little bit when being held, but continued to get progressively worse by Fri AM. I have personally not seen his eyes open yet. He is not interested in food since I've had him. He wasn't drinking water, I tried giving him water via syringe tube (didn't try to open his mouth or anything, just put it near him). But like I said, as of this AM he drank a lot of water, still no food though. His activity has been slowly increasing since I put him in his new enclosure 24 hours ago. This AM he was the most active and colorful since I've had him.
Cage Info :
Cage Type : Previously in a 10-15 gal aquarium with 1-2 branches, and some plastic plants. CURRENTLY (and for 24 hours) he's been in a 16"x16"x30" Zoomed Reptibreeze Chameleon enclosure.
Lighting : Previously pet store UVB so not sure, the UVB he was in when I got him didn't even say on the bulb what it was. Looked generic. I'd say 40/60W heat bulb probably and they had a nighttime bulb for him. CURRENTLY : He's got a ReptiSun 5.0 Compact UVB (should I get a tube instead? Read some issues people had w/ Cham eye problems and compact bulbs.) and a ZooMed Daylight Blue 60W bulb. I have no problem splurging for the tube, this just came with the Chameleon kit I bought. I knew he needed something fast and that this would be better than what he was previously in.
Temperature : basking spot is reading 83.5 F bottom of the cage was reading 71-72 F using ZooMed Digital Thermometer.
Humidity : Humidity is at 70%-80% while I'm misting him and around 50%- 60% otherwise. Using Exoterra Humidity dial gauge, nothing fancy.
Plants : No live (yet, will be purchasing some Pothos tomorrow) rest are plastic and 1 Silk plant.
Placement : Cage is located in my Sun room Hallway. It gets lots of indirect sunlight. He's on the bar (pictured below)for now. There's a small vent in that room not directly above him, but that part of the house gets much less cold than the other fridge parts (I like my house around 70F cause FL summers suck a sweaty butt Lol). Traffic isn't high.
Location : America's Sweaty Butt aka Florida
Current Problem: Young Veiled not eating, obviously dehydrated, probably Vitamin drficient as well? Drank this AM but hasn't eaten yet. Somewhat lethargic but improving.
Quick background. Adopted him about 36 hours ago from "the local petstore" that my friend works at. They said they tried to get him into the vet on Friday AM (symptoms started Thursday PM) but the vet had no more availability until Monday AM. I knew the little guy wasn't going to make it in the tiny 10 gal aquarium, below sub-par UVB light they had him in, so they let me adopt him out and I got him a proper (for now) Chameleon enclosure. I am totally a newbie when it comes to Cham's, I have a Ball Python and currently have 2 Redfoot Tortoises now though so I have a few years experience with reptiles.
I've been lurking the Forum here for the past day to get a basic idea of what I'm dealing with and am now ready to ask you all for your help!
Chameleon Info
My Chameleon: Veiled, was told Male but I think Female, was told <8 months but looks like 3-4 to me?
Handling : a few times to move him from one enclosure to the next, and a few other times to make sure he's still got dexterity (he does, but it's a little on the weak side)
Feeding : currently won't eat. Last ate Wed/Thurs according to them. Previously being fed 5-7 1/4" crickets a day from pet store.
Supplements : as far as I know they don't dust their crickets, but if they did it would be your basic Reptical w/o D3 (hopefully) or something along those lines.)
Watering : Can't speak for this before I picked him up. However I gave him a "bath" as soon as I got home, and then misted his enclosure the until the spray bottle was empty (about 12 oz. of H20). Sprayed yesterday 5-6x for 3-4 mins each time with reptile-treated H20. This AM I sprayed him with warm, treated H20 and within the first minute I saw him drinking it! So I just kept spraying until he stopped drinking, which was about 5+ minutes.
Fecal Description : in his enclosure at the pet store, I saw slimy brown stool w/ yellow heated. Yesterday AM I saw darker brown & more solid stool w/ yellow+white urates. Nothing yet today.
Unknown his he's been tested for parasites.
History : Kind of touched on this but I'll try to give more details here. They noticed his eyes were staying closed for longer periods of time on Wednesday and becoming a little lethargic. They moved him to another enclosure in the back to monitor him. Thurs his eye would open a little bit when being held, but continued to get progressively worse by Fri AM. I have personally not seen his eyes open yet. He is not interested in food since I've had him. He wasn't drinking water, I tried giving him water via syringe tube (didn't try to open his mouth or anything, just put it near him). But like I said, as of this AM he drank a lot of water, still no food though. His activity has been slowly increasing since I put him in his new enclosure 24 hours ago. This AM he was the most active and colorful since I've had him.
Cage Info :
Cage Type : Previously in a 10-15 gal aquarium with 1-2 branches, and some plastic plants. CURRENTLY (and for 24 hours) he's been in a 16"x16"x30" Zoomed Reptibreeze Chameleon enclosure.
Lighting : Previously pet store UVB so not sure, the UVB he was in when I got him didn't even say on the bulb what it was. Looked generic. I'd say 40/60W heat bulb probably and they had a nighttime bulb for him. CURRENTLY : He's got a ReptiSun 5.0 Compact UVB (should I get a tube instead? Read some issues people had w/ Cham eye problems and compact bulbs.) and a ZooMed Daylight Blue 60W bulb. I have no problem splurging for the tube, this just came with the Chameleon kit I bought. I knew he needed something fast and that this would be better than what he was previously in.
Temperature : basking spot is reading 83.5 F bottom of the cage was reading 71-72 F using ZooMed Digital Thermometer.
Humidity : Humidity is at 70%-80% while I'm misting him and around 50%- 60% otherwise. Using Exoterra Humidity dial gauge, nothing fancy.
Plants : No live (yet, will be purchasing some Pothos tomorrow) rest are plastic and 1 Silk plant.
Placement : Cage is located in my Sun room Hallway. It gets lots of indirect sunlight. He's on the bar (pictured below)for now. There's a small vent in that room not directly above him, but that part of the house gets much less cold than the other fridge parts (I like my house around 70F cause FL summers suck a sweaty butt Lol). Traffic isn't high.
Location : America's Sweaty Butt aka Florida
Current Problem: Young Veiled not eating, obviously dehydrated, probably Vitamin drficient as well? Drank this AM but hasn't eaten yet. Somewhat lethargic but improving.