Please help! Veiled Chameleon has refused food and always in the dark.

[Alex7383]

My male juvenile Veiled Chameleon has been refusing food since February. I have been feeding him by carefully opened his mouth and putting the food inside. We feed him crickets (mostly), and (sometimes / rarely) hornworms and silkworms. He ate a few times by himself but now he stays in the dark (bottom of his enclosure) so I usually have to pick him up and take him to the top to bask. Almost if he gets lost down there, when I pick him up, he's cold. The exotic vets here are super expensive so this is basically my only hope. If anyone has any tips or tricks or advice. Please let me know, my chameleons life may depend on it.

 

[Alex7383]

A few more things I wanted to point out is that he got very sick during late November and got better right after Christmas. He was always super active and walked around the enclosure and looked for crickets.

 

[M&M]

Hi! He is such a cute little guy! I'm super new here, but I've seen lots of people filling this out for help and thought I'd share to get you a kick start on care. Wishing your guy the best of luck!

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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.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[Gloriawood]

Hi! Yes, please fill out the form @M&M shared and maybe we can narrow things down a bit. I’m sorry your Cham isn’t feeling well. hopefully we can help figure this out.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. Hopefully we can figure out what may be going on with your guy. Along with answering the questions, it also is a huge help to post pics of the entire enclosure, including the lights and the floor. Often it helps to post a pic of your supplements too.

 

[Alex7383]

Thanks for all the replies

I'll answer the form that M&M has made

Chameleon Info:

He's a male veiled chameleon close to a year old, maybe eleven months. I handle him once every two weeks because he has a huge mood (like a majority of chameleons). We fed him 8 crickets a day, sometimes a hornworm (before he decided to go on a hunger strike). We gut load the crickets with mandarins and sometimes other fruits as well as the Repashy Superfoods superload. We sprinkle the Feeders with Earth Pro's calcium and repashy vitamin A plus. We use a fogger at night and a sprinkler that sprays 7 seconds every hour. He drinks from the sprinklers droplets and from leaves. His droppings are white and brown and is very mushy. We haven't tested him for any parasites as like mentioned, vets are very expensive and far here. Two or three months after we purchased him, he closed his eyes and never moved around. We opened his mouth to put food in and gave him medicine and treatments. And on the day after the Christmas, he opened his eyes and began hunting again (and got his attitude again)

I'll put Enclosure info too.

 

[Alex7383]

Enclosure info: His enclosure is a screen enclosure from the ReptiBreeze starter kit. We don't know what the lights are. It's the expensive Pro T5. The top is around 85° and the floor is around 60° (hence why he is so cold when I move him, he probably gets lost down there or too cold.) The lowest temperature overnight is around 60°-70°. We measure the temperatures with a thermometer from Presto. The driest that the humidity has gotten has been 60% and the highest it's been 85-90%. We use a sprinkler in the day, and a fogger at night (the fogger makes the chameleon go down to sleep). The presto thermometer also have a measurer for the humidity as well. We are using live plants like pothos, monstera, and other plants (from the top of my head). We've done our research and all of the plants are chameleon friendly / safe.) The enclosure is located next to our living room TV and next to a window. Probably 4-6 feet above the ground. We live in the northeastern US.

I'll take pictures of the enclosure tomorrow because he is currently sleeping and I don't want to wake him up.

 

[Alex7383]

The problem we are facing is that he used to be super active and now he stays at the bottom of the enclosure and he has refused any sort of food without me, my dad and my mom opening his mouth to feed him. (I'll be pretty heartbroken if he were to die or get into a worse situation. Any information that you guys can provide will be super useful and well appreciated.)

Praying for Nico.

 

[Alex7383]

This is the enclosure at night, I'll get a photo during the day.

 

[Gloriawood]

Does your calcium have D3? Are you using both the calcium and vitamins at every feeding, or what is the schedule? If possible could you share a photo of them?

 

[Alex7383]

I'm not sure if the calcium has d3. We don't use the vitamins during every feed, probably 25-50% of feeding we do. Here's what we use.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello there! I'll go through your husbandry, see my response below in bold. Also, when you get time tomorrow can you take pics of the back of your chameleon's feet? I may be too tired right now but I feel like you maybe have a female not a male....

He's a male veiled chameleon close to a year old, maybe eleven months. I handle him once every two weeks because he has a huge mood (like a majority of chameleons). Chameleons are typically shy lizard and handling them often can cause unnecessary stress. Does your chameleon often want to come out of the enclosure? Usually that can be a sign that there is something they are trying to get away from or are trying to get to. We fed him 8 crickets a day, sometimes a hornworm (before he decided to go on a hunger strike). We gut load the crickets with mandarins and sometimes other fruits as well as the Repashy Superfoods superload. With a veiled that is almost a year old you'll want to cut back on feeders, you'll want to feed your cham every other day no more than 3-5 bugs. If you do have a female there is a slight change to how much you feed her. We can go over that once we know what you have. We sprinkle the Feeders with Earth Pro's calcium and repashy vitamin A plus. The earth pro you will want to use on each feeding. The Repashy vitamin A plus I am not familiar with. All the vitamins and D3 you will need for your cham I know for sure is acutally the Repashy LoD (it has a picture of a jacksons chameleon on it). You should use the Repashy LoD on the 1st and 15th of each month. The D3 is super important so we need to check on that ASAP. The other concern I have with the Repashy Vitamin A plus is that vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin and gets stored in the body. You can overdose your cham if given too much. We use a fogger at night and a sprinkler that sprays 7 seconds every hour. He drinks from the sprinklers droplets and from leaves. His droppings are white and brown and is very mushy. Perfect! We haven't tested him for any parasites as like mentioned, vets are very expensive and far here. Two or three months after we purchased him, he closed his eyes and never moved around. We opened his mouth to put food in and gave him medicine and treatments. And on the day after the Christmas, he opened his eyes and began hunting again (and got his attitude again). This is interesting to me to hear, did you chameleon climb all over the enclosure? Did it seem restless?

 

[elizaann2]

Enclosure info: His enclosure is a screen enclosure from the ReptiBreeze starter kit. Unfortunatly that enclosure is only a good size for a young veiled for a few months. Your little one will need to be in at least a 2x2x4, if you can go bigger, do. We don't know what the lights are. It's the expensive Pro T5. You are welcome to send me pictures of the lights as well, this is also something super important with chams. Take a picture of the hood and the light, there should be some information on the light that tells you what brand and type of UVB light it is. The top is around 85° and the floor is around 60°. Oh wow thats a drastic temp drop during the day. The basking branch you want no hotter than 80 degrees, the coldest you want at the bottom of the enclosure is 72 degrees. 60 degrees is literally perfect for night time (hence why he is so cold when I move him, he probably gets lost down there or too cold.) The lowest temperature overnight is around 60°-70°. We measure the temperatures with a thermometer from Presto. I am not familiar with that brand, you will want something that is super accurate as temps and humidity levels is very important for reptiles. The driest that the humidity has gotten has been 60% and the highest it's been 85-90%. During the day you will want 30-40% humidity, at night 85-90% is perfect . You dont want high temps and high humidity at the same time, this can cause Respiratory infections and it creates an environment in the enclosure where mold and bacteria can grow easily. . We use a sprinkler in the day, and a fogger at night (the fogger makes the chameleon go down to sleep). The presto thermometer also have a measurer for the humidity as well. We are using live plants like pothos, monstera, and other plants (from the top of my head). Perfect!!We've done our research and all of the plants are chameleon friendly / safe.) The enclosure is located next to our living room TV and next to a window. Probably 4-6 feet above the ground. We live in the northeastern US.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Just want to jump in and advise that you will want to stop giving the additional vitamin A. If you use the suggested Repashy calcium plus LoD, it already contains preformed vitamin A and no other A is needed. Being fat soluble like D3, it can quickly build up to toxic levels.

 

[elizaann2]

Thanks Miss Skitttles!

 

[Alex7383]

Thanks both of you! Hopefully my Cham gets better. I'll try to buy a bigger enclosure and LoD. Fingers crossed

 

[Beman]

Hey there welcome to the forum. Since you are giving repashy vitamin A plus and you said at 25% of the feedings you are doing this. This has extremely high levels of vitamin A. Levels that chameleons can not handle. This would definately cause a complete shut down in response the vitamin A toxicity. Unfortunately the only fix for this is time, it can take months for this supplement to clear from the chameleons body. It is fat soluble so it is stored in the tissues.

Pull him off all multivitamins that contain A or D3 for the next 6-8 weeks. Do not ever give this one again though. You would buy repashy calcium plus LoD version. That would be given 2 times a month only say the 1st and the 15th. BUT do not start this one until 6-8 weeks have past from the point of no longer giving the vitamin A plus. His levels have to clear.

You would only use the arcadia calcium. This is a plain no D3 calcium. You would use this at every feeding very lightly dusted on the insects.

He will either slowly start to rebound or he will degrade further from the over supplementation. This depends entirely on if this is the only issue and how extreme the toxicity is.

Please post pics of the chameleon so we can see his current condition.

 

[Alex7383]

Thanks, I'll post some pictures of him.

 

[Alex7383]

Here's the best picture of the chameleons foot without having to tear up the place as @elizaann2. Tried to get a picture of his whole body but he's super stubborn and I don't want to add any unnecessary stress to him.

 

[Alex7383]

This is a picture of him from yesterday