WelshOneEmma
New Member
About one month ago, I noticed a small amount of bright red blood in Hugo’s poo. Rushed him straight to the vets, who said he looked healthy and sent it off to be tested. All was fine with it, so said it was where he had eaten a cricket that may have been a little large. I noticed this morning that the same thing had happened, and am a little worried. As I was checking his cage for poo this morning, I also emptied out the towel that is in there that catches the water. We are having teething problems with the dripper (he climbs on the tube, which eventually gives way) in that he keeps moving it, so I try to set it up that it drips into a plant, but it gets moved to drip in the cage. We have started getting a small pool of water in the cage (hence the towels to mop it up) and the other day I thought I noticed the tiniest worm in the water (maybe 2mm long, very thin, almost transparent). As I was cleaning up this am, I noticed a dead cricket (wasn’t there yesterday am when I checked) and it was covered in these worms. Is it likely they are just something that has been laid in the water, or something in the crickets? I know most people are going to say “take him to the vets”, but its £125 per fecal, so I wanted to check first if it sounds like it could be parasites. The only change I have notice in him recently is that he seems to be a little darker (but the temps are down, when they are at 30°C he is fine) and is aggressive with me, but not my boyfriend. He also got aggressive with my mum but not my dad – go figure! 
Cage Info:
• Cage Type – 2ft x 2ft x 3ft Plywood cage with glass sliding doors. Two large ventilation holes on both left and right side of cage. Please be aware that I am in the UK, so this type of cage is standard due to needing to maintain temps.
• Lighting – We have a linear Repti-sun 5.0 UVB light at the top of the cage, no plastic / glass in the way. It is on from 8am to 9.45pm. We also have a standard 40w bulb to the right and front of the cage for him to bask under, which is about 6 inches above the vine. This is on from 7.45am to 10pm.
• Temperature – General cage temperature ranges from 21°C to 25°C with the basking spot usually ranging from 31°C to 35°C (anything over 35.5°C and he gapes so we keep an eye on this!). As it is summer, we have been leaving the living room door open, which is throwing his basking temps down to 28°C, so about to change his light to a 60w for the summer period. At nights his temps go down to about 18°C. These are measured using a digital thermometer.
• Humidity – Humidity stays at around 50%. We mist 3 times a day and have live plants in there to help keep it up. We also have a home made dripper which currently gets refilled twice a day. Since adding the dripper in, we no longer see him drink. When misting this usually spikes to about 60-70%. This is also measured via a digital thermometer/hygrometer.
• Plants – He currently has 3 x Ficus’, 2 x Dracaena, 1 x Hibiscus and 1 x Passion Flower in there.
• Placement – Cage is in the corner of the living room. Quite low traffic although he does watch the cats from time to time, but they aren’t interested in him. Top of Cage is about 6ft from floor.
• Location – ‘Sunny’ Winnersh, near Reading, Berks, United Kingdom.
Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon – Male veiled, about 7.5 months old. We have had him since he was about 6-8 weeks.
• Handling – For the first four months, very rarely (about twice). When he got a bit older he had been coming over to us and climbing on us when we mist him, so he was handled then, but only when he came to us. He has now started getting aggressive again, especially with me, so I rarely handle him. Still goes to my boyfriend though, so I would say maybe 2-3 times a week at present, for about 5 minutes max each time.
• Feeding – He is fed on locusts and crickets, with waxies for the occasional treat. We put in about 6 large locusts or crickets every other day. Sometimes he will eat all of them, some days he will have one or two. On these days I leave it maybe 2 days before feeding him again. Occasionally will eat all his food. They are put in about 9am and taken out at about 8pm. We alternate them, so one feeding will be locusts, the following feeding will be crickets. All crickets are fed on a mix of cricket diet (vitamins and minerals), bug grub (bran), fresh vegetables such as carrots, Kale, a little cabbage, salad, grapes etc plus bee pollen and have bug gel for hydration. All locusts are fed on a mix of lettuce / salad leave, cabbage, kale, carrots. Basically depends on the fruit and veg that comes in the veg box! Waxies are fed on bee pollen. If any waxies pupate the cocoons go in there, so he also has the occasional wax moth, although he is currently quite partial to the cocoons. All feeders are gutloaded a minimum of 2-3 days before being fed to him.
• Supplements – We currently dust the feeders with either Calypso Calcium dust (just calcium) and Nutrobal. They are dusted with 2 dustings of Nutrobal to one of Calcium dust. Nutrobal contains 200mg calcium, 150IU D3 plus vitamins A, E, K, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, folic, nicotinic & pantothenic acids, biotin, choline, niacin and minerals Na, Fe, Co, I, Mn, Zn, Se and Cu. The breeder we got him from told us to supplement with Nutrobal at every feeding!
• Watering – He is misted min 3 times a day, for 3-5 mins. I usually try to empty at least half of the spray pump in the cage. Also has a dripper in there. Never see him drinking these days. Water is boiled before going in the moister, and the water in the dripper is boiled and left to cool.
• Fecal Description – Poo is dark, and poo-like! Usually large urate attached (sometimes it separates), very white! Was tested for parasites 1 month ago and it was (the words of the vet) “perfectly healthy and normal looking chameleon poo”. Well worth £125!!
• History – Usually quite skittish, never been a fan of being handled. He has started patrolling a lot more and is getting very aggressive with me in particular. Now refuses to take waxies off me and regularly goes for me. Seems to like my other half though.
• Current Problem –possible worms?
Cage Info:
• Cage Type – 2ft x 2ft x 3ft Plywood cage with glass sliding doors. Two large ventilation holes on both left and right side of cage. Please be aware that I am in the UK, so this type of cage is standard due to needing to maintain temps.
• Lighting – We have a linear Repti-sun 5.0 UVB light at the top of the cage, no plastic / glass in the way. It is on from 8am to 9.45pm. We also have a standard 40w bulb to the right and front of the cage for him to bask under, which is about 6 inches above the vine. This is on from 7.45am to 10pm.
• Temperature – General cage temperature ranges from 21°C to 25°C with the basking spot usually ranging from 31°C to 35°C (anything over 35.5°C and he gapes so we keep an eye on this!). As it is summer, we have been leaving the living room door open, which is throwing his basking temps down to 28°C, so about to change his light to a 60w for the summer period. At nights his temps go down to about 18°C. These are measured using a digital thermometer.
• Humidity – Humidity stays at around 50%. We mist 3 times a day and have live plants in there to help keep it up. We also have a home made dripper which currently gets refilled twice a day. Since adding the dripper in, we no longer see him drink. When misting this usually spikes to about 60-70%. This is also measured via a digital thermometer/hygrometer.
• Plants – He currently has 3 x Ficus’, 2 x Dracaena, 1 x Hibiscus and 1 x Passion Flower in there.
• Placement – Cage is in the corner of the living room. Quite low traffic although he does watch the cats from time to time, but they aren’t interested in him. Top of Cage is about 6ft from floor.
• Location – ‘Sunny’ Winnersh, near Reading, Berks, United Kingdom.
Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon – Male veiled, about 7.5 months old. We have had him since he was about 6-8 weeks.
• Handling – For the first four months, very rarely (about twice). When he got a bit older he had been coming over to us and climbing on us when we mist him, so he was handled then, but only when he came to us. He has now started getting aggressive again, especially with me, so I rarely handle him. Still goes to my boyfriend though, so I would say maybe 2-3 times a week at present, for about 5 minutes max each time.
• Feeding – He is fed on locusts and crickets, with waxies for the occasional treat. We put in about 6 large locusts or crickets every other day. Sometimes he will eat all of them, some days he will have one or two. On these days I leave it maybe 2 days before feeding him again. Occasionally will eat all his food. They are put in about 9am and taken out at about 8pm. We alternate them, so one feeding will be locusts, the following feeding will be crickets. All crickets are fed on a mix of cricket diet (vitamins and minerals), bug grub (bran), fresh vegetables such as carrots, Kale, a little cabbage, salad, grapes etc plus bee pollen and have bug gel for hydration. All locusts are fed on a mix of lettuce / salad leave, cabbage, kale, carrots. Basically depends on the fruit and veg that comes in the veg box! Waxies are fed on bee pollen. If any waxies pupate the cocoons go in there, so he also has the occasional wax moth, although he is currently quite partial to the cocoons. All feeders are gutloaded a minimum of 2-3 days before being fed to him.
• Supplements – We currently dust the feeders with either Calypso Calcium dust (just calcium) and Nutrobal. They are dusted with 2 dustings of Nutrobal to one of Calcium dust. Nutrobal contains 200mg calcium, 150IU D3 plus vitamins A, E, K, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, folic, nicotinic & pantothenic acids, biotin, choline, niacin and minerals Na, Fe, Co, I, Mn, Zn, Se and Cu. The breeder we got him from told us to supplement with Nutrobal at every feeding!
• Watering – He is misted min 3 times a day, for 3-5 mins. I usually try to empty at least half of the spray pump in the cage. Also has a dripper in there. Never see him drinking these days. Water is boiled before going in the moister, and the water in the dripper is boiled and left to cool.
• Fecal Description – Poo is dark, and poo-like! Usually large urate attached (sometimes it separates), very white! Was tested for parasites 1 month ago and it was (the words of the vet) “perfectly healthy and normal looking chameleon poo”. Well worth £125!!
• History – Usually quite skittish, never been a fan of being handled. He has started patrolling a lot more and is getting very aggressive with me in particular. Now refuses to take waxies off me and regularly goes for me. Seems to like my other half though.
• Current Problem –possible worms?
