Sick veiled chameleon

S

Sherellefred

New Member
Our veiled chameleon seems very weak and lethargic. We manually fed her a cricket but it took her almost an hour to get it down. Ive been giving her water and baby food with a dropper like our book said we should. I cant afford a vet and the closest one is an hour away and closed until monday. What can I do?
 
Fill out the questionnaire in the thread "how to ask for help" at the top of the health forum please. Please be specific about the supplements by giving the names and how often you use each, brand and kind (compact, long linear, spiral, etc.) of UVB lights you use.

It could be a number of things that are causing it and unless we have lots of information its hard to be sure.
 
Female veiled about 7 momths. Shes handled about omce a month, max. We feed her crickets. A dozen every 2 days or so. Once a week she gets her crickets dusted with repto cal calcium and d3. We hava a drip system and I mist her 2 or 3x a day. Her poo is white. Shes in a screened terrarium thats about 2x2x3. Shes about 6 inches stretched oit from snoit to the end of her tail. We use a fluorescent heat light, an incandescent uv light and a ted night heat lamp. she has a geranium. Its been in there for a few months. Her cage is on my desk, that o dont use. The top os about 4 ft up. Her temp is usually in the upper 80s during the day and upper 70s at night. We live in eastern ks.
 
That's a lot of d3, It's usually recommended once a month, with plain calcium daily. The poo is mostly brown with a white end? How long since you noticed the problem? Pictures of the Cham and the setup you have would be very useful
 
Just noticed today. She hasnt been eating asuch for the last week or so, bu tv she was sstill eating. Today I found her laying in the bottom of her cage.
 
We got her for our daughter just before christmas. She was fine yesterday. She seems to be taking baby food pretty well, but shes getting mad at me. The only thing in jannbs blog that we havent been doing correctly is supplements. Apparently I was wrong aboit how often my husband dusts the crickets. Its once a month, but we do ise a calcium fortified water source. Flukers cricket quencher. And flukers high calcium cricket diet dry cricket food.
 
Do you know for sure this is a female? At her age, she might be needing to lay eggs (hence being at the bottom of the cage). You should have a bin of moist sand (12 inches deep if possible) for her. Reptiles are like birds, they will lay infertile eggs.

I think you should discontinue the night heat lamp. Unless you live in an igloo and don't heat your home at night, she actually needs the drop in temps to keep her body regulated.
 
No eliza, we are not sure. But she was laying on her side. From reading our books, based on the size of her casque and absence of a tarsal spur. When I tried to rest her on a branch, she didnt keep her balance well. She wouldnt grip with her back feet, so she so[rt of dangled there.
 
Okay, if you've done the "tarsal spur" test then I think you can safely say it's a female.

It sounds like a sudden downturn which is worrisome.

Pictures would be helpful.

However, I reiterate that I think she should have a laying bin in there. Even if it's not deep enough for laying, she needs a place to let you know she needs to lay (she will scratch at the sand).

**edited to add**

To post pictures: first get them to your computer, not your phone or camera. Then click POST REPLY. Do not use the convenient "quick reply" box at the bottom of the thread. In that box you will find a toolbar with lots of other options. One is the PAPERCLIP. Click that. It will let you upload the image from your computer. It will appear to us as a thumbnail which will enlarge when we click it.
 
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If you've only been giving her a calcium supplement once a month (with the D3) then she may have MBD. How do you ensure that she gets the calcium from the water? How do you know how much she gets from the water?

You said..."Shes about 6 inches stretched oit from snoit to the end of her tail"...that seems quite small for her age.

You said..."We use a fluorescent heat light, an incandescent uv light and a ted night heat lamp"...never heard of a fluorescent heat light. Not sure what you mean by incandescent UV light either.

You said..."Her temp is usually in the upper 80s during the day"...I usually keep the warmest temperature at the mid to low 80's.

I would recommend that you get her to the vets right away! If you don't I don't think she will have a chance.
 
One light is a blue bulb that gives off uv light, the other is a coil bub mainly for heat. A vet os not exactly an.option for us. The crickets are the ones that consume the calcium water. She seems to have perked up a bit with some extra heat, I forgot to mention her terrarium is near the ac. Ive gotten her to eat some baby food with a bit of the calcum dust in it.
 
I would move her cage away from the AC right away. It may be giving her a draft. IMHO she still needs to see a vet.

Here is some information that I hope will help explain supplements and a couple of other things that are indirectly involved....its one area that newbies seem to have a hard time with...
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
Okay....

Can you post pictures to a photo site like Photobucket? Because if you can do that then you can give us the link to those pictures.

There are multiple kinds of UV...sadly, you often need more than one bulb to get it all.

I have a reptisun 5.0 fluorescent bulb for UVB and an incandescent (the kind you have in your reading lamp) bulb for UVA and heat.

You absolutely do not need a light bulb for heat at night. It's just not a good idea. Even if you let your house get below 50 degrees at night, you shouldn't use any sort of light for heat in the chameleon cage. You should get a ceramic heat bulb which uses the same fixture but gives off no light.

However, I doubt you let your house get that cold at night so it probably isn't an issue. Let the chameleon sleep in the dark and coolness. That is what they are used to.
 
Thanks guys. At the immediate moment im worried about her lethargy. She doesnt seem to want to hold onto anything. I fed her, so I suppose ill.put her back in her cage and turn her lights off. Set.an alarm and check on her in an hour or so. I just got through both of my kids bein sick, its after 1 here, so im really getting exhausted myself.
 
"She doesnt seem to want to hold onto anything"...or maybe she can't? If it is a calcium issue...and I'm not a vet and I haven't seen pictures of her so I can't be sure...lack of calcium affects the muscles as well as other systems in the chameleon.

If you haven't been giving her enough calcium, then giving her some liquid calcium sandoz or calcium gluconate might help. You can buy it at the pharmacy. Its syrupy though, so if you decide to use it ease it in a little at a time using a dropper or a needleless syringe.

Her problem could also involve egg production...but I can't tell that for sure either.
 
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