She won't drink!!!!! Mucous poop Yellow Urates

[HakunaSquamata]

My chams info: Petunia
1.5 year old Jacksons female
She has only been in my care 6 months. I live in Austin Texas. I rarely if ever handle her.
Enclosure:
18X18X24 Exo-terra (I am aware that glass is not ideal) It has been custom drilled with holes at the bottom for ventilation and water to drain out the bottom. She also gets fresh air everyday. I leave the doors open and open the back door so gets "real"wind.

Plants: Umbrella, Ivy, bamboo

Lighting: Heating, UVA 13W 12hours a day-somtimes less heat when hot. She also get direct sunlight into about 1/4 of her enclosure. She is by the back door so I just open my door and her doors and she LOVES it!!!

Temp:Max temp at baskin 90-92F

Watering: I spray her 2-3 times a day for 5 minutes. She is currently only drinking in the mornings directly from the air/off her body. If I spray her in the evening she hunkers down and has no interest at all!! She will only drink warm water and only a certain consistency of water. Too misty? she won't drink. Too drippy? she won't drink. Only if its a mix of light sprinkle will she drink and will only drink directly from the air/off her skin. Did I mention filtered water only? I also have a full crystal glass of water in there for the dripper to give a *sparkle* effect. She won't drink from leaves and won't drink from the dripper. I am in a never ending battle with her about drinking
I even give her showers for 10-15min which was what I did in the beginning to get her to drink now when I do that she runs off the plant into the tub away from the shower in a stressful panic.

Food: Crickets: gut loaded with oatmeal, dog food, apples, black beans or other fresh veg.
Dubia roaches: gut loaded with same as crickets
meal worms: gut loaded with oatmeal, dry dog food.

Thank you friends for taking the time to read and respond! I feel so Stuck as what to do next. As of today I started injecting the cricket with water using a small 1mL syringe just to add additional hydration.
Her temperament and energy level seems normal but these poops are not sustainable so I gotta fig out something!!
Cheers
Sara

 

[happy]

Personaly, id stop gutloading with dog food. its made for dogs, not chameleons.
she does not look dehydrated to me. id start off by removing the fatty dog food from the crickets diet, it may cause issues.... there is a very good blog entry with a very nice gutload recipe, and good gutload foods from member sandrachameleon. If i was a betting man, which im not, id say the dog food is causing an issue. if i remember correctly fatty liver disease, is caused by fat, dog food is loaded with fat... i think the liver is taking a beating.
just one mans oppinion....

she does look very nice to me.

 

[dlegare]

Yellowing of the urates is a clinical sign of dehydration. Nice to catch it early. The big problem with fixing things when the chams show signs is that by the time they start acting sick they are usually very very very sick.

Better nip things in the bud sooner than later.

I agree with not using the dog food. Lots of fat and other crap. And it has quite a large amount of animal sterols (A form of vitamin D)

 

[jajeanpierre]

Now, I'm pretty much a novice, but to me, everything looks normal.

The yellow at the beginning of the urate is quite yellow, but the end is bright white. It is normal to have the beginning part yellow. Also, there is a lot of urine dripping off the urate. To me, that animal is very well hydrated.

The stool doesn't look like there is mucus--that looks pretty normal to me. But, keep in mind, I'm not an expert.

 

[johnnyev]

Your basking temp, if accurate, is a little on the warm side. Mid eighties max ideally. Whats your ambient temps & what low night time temps does she have?
Try (if you haven't already) misting/spaying (lightly) through the mesh roof, letting the drops drip down onto her. As opposed to spraying directly through the open door/s.

 

[HakunaSquamata]

Thank you guys so much for your help! I will change the gut load immediately and lower basking temp as well. One more thing. She has been sitting with her mouth open under the basking light. If she is hot why wouldn't she just move away from the basking light? She only opens her mouth under the basking light. No discharge, or any other clinical signs of an Upper resp. infection. Thanks again!!

 

[happy]

if she is gaping, it could mean more than just heat. could indicate respiratory ailments. but with the temps, id say thats the cause. there may not be another location she finds suitable to bask... Chameleons are funny creatures...