try putig your entire cage in the shower this reduces stress. i have a mesh reptarium with branches that i use. this make it more like natural rain. at first leave her there for 10 minutes only...if she has relaxed leave here there for 20-30 or until she has moved as far away from the water as she can get. puting the cage in also makes it eaiser to get the water to hit just right. Also try baby food mixed half half with h2o use gerber first foods bananas...works great...
Poor Rosalita :(
- Thread starter Mr Wilson
- Start date
Mr Wilson
New Member
We fed her the food through the syringe and BOY does she look full! She just looks so fat now! The only thing is now she keeps falling off the branches and vines, which she has never done before. Could it be that she is just not use to feeling so incredibly full???
She's still walking around with both eyes closed. I really wish I could find a different vet in NJ.
She's still walking around with both eyes closed. I really wish I could find a different vet in NJ.
Mr Wilson
New Member
Yeah I'm afraid maybe what is on the "prescription" may be too much. It says 1/8 teaspoon of the powder and 1/2 of that of water, twice a day. I may do less tomorrow just because it really did seem like a lot to me. I just hope she gets better. I really don't understand the whole eyes closed thing though. The only thing I can think is maybe she is just so weak. I hear of other people saying their chams eat 5-10 crickets a day! We're lucky if she eats 2 (when eating crickets) or 3 worms! Hopefully this will really help her. I'm also afraid that she'll become dependent on the powdered food, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd rather her be on her real diet, you know?
Edit: They did weigh her at the vets office and she was 9 grams. I have a feeling that is way too light, correct?
Edit: They did weigh her at the vets office and she was 9 grams. I have a feeling that is way too light, correct?
Last edited:
Mr Wilson
New Member
So we fed her today (as well as gave her water through a syringe) less than we did last evening, and we have to admit her energy does seem to be going up. She actually opened up her eyes a few times too! Definitely a slight improvement. Of course we are still worried about her seeing how she is still crawling around her branches and the top of the cage with her eyes closed but every tiny improvement counts, right? I have a drip going right now and she seems to be crawling right towards it. Hopefully that is actually her plan haha.
Keep having your fingers crossed for her!
Keep having your fingers crossed for her!
Elizadolots
New Member
Yay! It sounds like she's making progress.
Mr Wilson
New Member
So she's still has her eyes closed the majority of the day. Her energy is still up which is good. I took her out to feed her and as soon as she touched the carpet she took off running haha. I picked up some waxworms (because of there super soft bodies) to try and hand feed her which also worked well. Its tough to say but i think she's opening her eyes a little bit more, but still only for a few seconds and then she closes them right back up. The only other update is i bought a Zoo Med 75W basking bulb just to see her reaction (i was just using a ceramic heater)... She absolute loved it!!!! I have it located about 4" from the top of her vine and its a little off centered so its not directly beating on her! Now if she would just open her eyes!!!!!
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Glad to hear that she's doing better. Did you ever get this UVB light for her?
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...por-bulbs/-/zoo-med-18-repti-sun-50-uvb-bulb/
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...por-bulbs/-/zoo-med-18-repti-sun-50-uvb-bulb/
Mr Wilson
New Member
Yup i have the exo terra dual canopy top w/ the Reptisun 5.0 & a Naturesun 2.0 both are 15" 14w bulbs
OldSkoolxReasons
New Member
Hey, I read some of the thread but not all of it. So If what I ask ha already been asked then I'm sorry. When you went to the vet idd they test for anything? URI, Parasites, kidney disease? Did they do x-rays? Also have you seen her drinking? Also what is the temp with that 75watt basking bulb? I use 40 and 60 watt house bulbs for my adult panthers here in the dead of winter and they keep it 85 when they are about 5 inches from the basking spot. 75 watts just seems really hott for a 4 month old veiled even if it's 6 inches away, but temps differ everywhere. Also have you tried lowering the overall temperature to see if the cham has heat exhaustion from being at a constant 80 with a basking spot that is probably 90ish? sorry I just want to help, I have seen alot of dehydrated chams/heat exhausted chams act similar except they move around very little. It's just a though. Hopefully you can find a better vet that will treat the underlying issue causeing the closing of the eyes because I suspect it is not just an eye problem is the cham can open them to shoot food and then closes them again. It's completely dark in the cage at night right?
Justin
EDIT: Sorry if I come off rude, I'm on my smoke break at work and didn't have time to read the whole thread but hopefully you little cham gets better.
Justin
EDIT: Sorry if I come off rude, I'm on my smoke break at work and didn't have time to read the whole thread but hopefully you little cham gets better.
Mr Wilson
New Member
No you def didn't come of rude, unlike like most people from Jersey im not gonna jump all over you case hahaha...
First: No, the vet did basically what seemed to be just an extensive external exam, and eye check. He is a very nice guy seemed to know a little something about chams so thats why we went back but im considering going elsewhere to get some test done.
Second: I couldn't really tell if she was drinking around the time this first started coming on, but either way we syringe water her when we have to force feed, so she is getting hydrated.
Third: The temp in the tank is actually the same as it is with the ceramic heater in the same position around 80-83ish. I thought "maybe it might be to much" thats why i off-centered it, plus she has plenty of area to climb away plus branches to hide behind if it was to hot. I basically tried it as a monitored experiment just to see if anything was lacking from the ceramic heater. It seems like there was, cause she was glued to it. Around 7ish i took the basking bulb out and put the ceramic heater back on just cause i figured around that time shes about done basking.
Fourth: she hasnt shot any food for about 3-4 days. (only force fed seeing she wont even look at food put right in front of her) At night time we turn off the heater and let the tank go to room temp about 65 and we leave (the very quite) vent fan on which will bring the humidity down to about 35-40%, so im pretty sure its not heat exhaustion.
I dont really think theres anything left for me to do but bring her form some real test work.
Thank you for the advise. it is def greatly appreciated
OldSkoolxReasons
New Member
Yeah with all that said I would for sure get some tests done. Mainly a fecal, because even if they are CB they can still get parasites from plants, feeders that are kept dirty before you bought them and other things. Hopefully you can find out what it is. how long did you have the coil bulb on the cham before you removed it? Coil UVB's are strong and could have just been too much for a young chams eyes. Hopefully the vet will be able to pinpoint it after some tests are done. Good luck.
Justin
Justin
