Sleeping during the day, hasn't eaten in days

SilverWolf

Member
(PLEASE HELP)Sleeping during the day, hasn't eaten in days

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Jackson Chameleon, male, one year old. Been in my care for one year.
Handling - When I hold my hand out he will walk on it all the time. However, I tend to only handle him when I want to take him out to eat or if I am taking outside for some natural sunlight. I never handle him if he appears stressed and he never seems to be when he's with me.
Feeding - Medium sized crickets usually, but they vary in size. I feed him 4 - 6 a day but the past few days he has only eaten two a day, because he does not seem interested in them, unless they're in a container or if they're in my hand. Before, he'd eat a cricket no matter what. Now he only eats it if it's out of my hand and he will just walk over and look at the ones in a container. When he does eat out of my hand, they sometimes fall to the bottom and hide and I cannot get them. If they ever crawl in plain site the next day (and they do sometimes) he doesn't seem to care about them.
Supplements - Exoterra. Calcium, powdered on crickets once a week.
Watering - I mist quite often to ensure the humidity never is too low, and he has plenty of water to drink off of the leaves. He also always tries to go to the bottle to get water, so he often drinks straight from my spray bottle.
Fecal Description - Urates white, sometimes half of it orange, and fecal matter seems fine, like brown beans.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zoomed screen cage, 18x18x36.
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0, Zoomed 60w Daylight Blue bulb. Both are on 10-12 hours during day, off all night.
Temperature - Temperature at basking spot around 82 degrees fahrenheit. Restof the cage around 75 or so in fahrenheit, and the temperature drops to about 65 degrees fahrenheit at night time.
Humidity - 60 - 70 Percent. Misting with spray bottle very often.
Plants - Pothos
Placement - Cage about 58 inches off ground, on a sort of dresser (more of cubby holes though) and next to some gaming consoles and a television, that do not affect the temperature. Also next to a window.
Location - California.

The first thing that was a concern, was that he started sleeping during the day. At least that's how it appeared, since he had his eyes closed often. This has been the case for about two weeks now. It's like "cat naps."

The next thing that started concerning me is his lack of interest in food. 2 days went by where he did not eat at all, no matter what method I used to feed him (free range, hand feed, cup feed). On the third day, he did eat a cricket dusted with calcium but then refused to eat any of the others. now it has been about 4 days since then, and he has showed no interest in any of the crickets. Other than sleeping during the day, and not eating everything else seems so normal about him. He walks around his enclosure occasionally, goes up to bask, drinks from the spray bottle and off the leaves (I have started giving him distilled water recently) and looks perfectly healthy. I wish I could say that sleeping during the day is simply a quirk of his, but that in addition to his appetite depleting, I am concerned.

I've switched his light bulbs recently, gut load the crickets with apples, butternut squash, carrots, bell peppers and turnip/collard greens. I mix all of this up and freeze them into cubes so I can one at a time out when I want and put it in a dish for the crickets. I have to switch them out because this last batch I made, I added too much water and it molds quicker. Do you suppose he got ill from a batch that consumed some mold? Or perhaps he is simply bored of the crickets, that's really all he's ever eaten aside from a few instances where a wild fly flew into the room. Do stores like Petco or Petsmart have flies that he could eat so I could get some tomorrow instead of having to wait for a shipment of blue bottle flies? Although I certainly should just go ahead and order some regardless. But does Petsmart or Petco near any of you carry them?

The only thing I can think to do now is to take, Tricky to a veterinarian. Hopefully then I can have a diagnosis that I am struggling to find.
 
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I would try to get a stool sample to the vet to check for parasites, and probably a visit, too. His sleeping during the day worries me. I hope he feels better soon, and that you can figure out what's bothering him.
Does he have any swelling around the corners of his mouth? Sometimes they can get temporal gland infections.
 
Pictures of his limbs and jaws please.


I saw what you gut load the feeders with, do you ever use a muti-vitamin supplement? I use one twice a month on my chams. Only one possibility.

My supplementation: Straight calcium daily on at least 1-3 food items (sometimes they like it plain). One week they get one feeder with Repashy calcium w/ medium D3. The following week they get one feeder with my Multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. I do gut load all my feeders

You've had him for a year, parasites are a long shot but still worth checking for. That is unless you know you did something that would expose him to them. If so focus on that line of thought.

I'd lean more towards a nutritional issue based on just what you typed. Pictures can say a lot. Also any animal can come down with a random illness. Ever catch a cold? I have. I've seen many times over many chameleons that sometimes even when cared for properly they can catch something and if treated quickly they make it over the hump.

I'm not a vet, but I'd recommend you get him on a general oral antibiotic for the "shotgun" approach and combine that with offering some other food items. Ever try Dubia roaches or silkworms? Both are very solid as far as feeders go. Hopefully you have a good reptile vet and not just a dog/cat vet to go to. I can tell you right now if you go to a general vet you will most likely be given Baytril. Which by the way is a good med, however I've always felt it can pretty hard on a cham. Works great on a boa, chams are a bit trickier.
 
Pictures of his limbs and jaws please.


I saw what you gut load the feeders with, do you ever use a muti-vitamin supplement? I use one twice a month on my chams. Only one possibility.

My supplementation: Straight calcium daily on at least 1-3 food items (sometimes they like it plain). One week they get one feeder with Repashy calcium w/ medium D3. The following week they get one feeder with my Multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. I do gut load all my feeders

You've had him for a year, parasites are a long shot but still worth checking for. That is unless you know you did something that would expose him to them. If so focus on that line of thought.

I'd lean more towards a nutritional issue based on just what you typed. Pictures can say a lot. Also any animal can come down with a random illness. Ever catch a cold? I have. I've seen many times over many chameleons that sometimes even when cared for properly they can catch something and if treated quickly they make it over the hump.

I'm not a vet, but I'd recommend you get him on a general oral antibiotic for the "shotgun" approach and combine that with offering some other food items. Ever try Dubia roaches or silkworms? Both are very solid as far as feeders go. Hopefully you have a good reptile vet and not just a dog/cat vet to go to. I can tell you right now if you go to a general vet you will most likely be given Baytril. Which by the way is a good med, however I've always felt it can pretty hard on a cham. Works great on a boa, chams are a bit trickier.

Well as soon as I got home from school I called a vet that apparently deals with both birds and reptiles. Over the phone she asked some general questions about him, such as his sex, age and my concern. She didn't seem to ask about the species or if I gutload the crickets etc., so I'm a bit worried that some of you here may be even more knowledgeable than she is. She asked me if I've ever tried "force feeding." I haven't heard of forcing a chameleon to eat before. Other than maybe, putting a piece of fruit up to their mouths to encourage them to bite it, but, Tricky doesn't eat fruit directly anyway. Of course, I'm not going to judge this based off of the phone call alone.

The good news is, Tricky has not been sleeping today. I hope he stays awake until later tonight when he's supposed to sleep. Now I was at school for a bit in the afternoon, but before and after coming home, he seemed wide awake. He's still drinking fine, and I brought him outside with me earlier for some natural sunlight. He seemed to enjoy that, puffed up a bit on his side to absorb some more heat, along with turning slightly darker on whatever side he wanted warmth on.

So right now, the most concerning thing is just his lack of eating for nearly a week now. Here are some pictures of him just a few minutes ago.
 

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Hi man, i'm not sure about jacksons that muhc, but he looks a little skinny and dehydrated, i would up on the water. just a quick advice.
Hope your little one gets better soon.
 
I would offer him supers, silks and BB flies. One of those may stimulate his appetite. Also I would ditch the blue light and use a white incandescent bulb instead. I have never given my Jackson vitamins. I have a males from all three subspecies that are over 5 years old and going strong. I do gut load pretty good though and offer as varied a diet as I can. Hope he perks up soon.
 
I would offer him supers, silks and BB flies. One of those may stimulate his appetite. Also I would ditch the blue light and use a white incandescent bulb instead. I have never given my Jackson vitamins. I have a males from all three subspecies that are over 5 years old and going strong. I do gut load pretty good though and offer as varied a diet as I can. Hope he perks up soon.

Does it say I use a blue bulb? I stopped with those a long time ago, I've got a 60W "reveal" brand of light bulbs, just a typical one you'd find in a lamp and such I suppose. I've been using this sort for a while now, because they are cheaper, last longer and more convenient to get.
 
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Does it say I use a blue bulb? I stopped with those a long time ago, I've got a 60W "reveal" brand of light bulbs, just a typical one you'd find in a lap and such I suppose. I've been using this sort for a while now, because they are cheaper, last longer and more convenient to get.

You said
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0, Zoomed 60w Daylight Blue bulb. Both are on 10-12 hours during day, off all night."

I use the same bulbs you're using, usually in 40w though. My new quad t5 setups put out so much heat I stopped using the spot lights for now. Do you use a dripper at all? I would be concerned about being able to consistently provide enough water using a hand sprayer.
 
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You said
Lighting - Reptisun 5.0, Zoomed 60w Daylight Blue bulb. Both are on 10-12 hours during day, off all night."

I use the same bulbs you're using, usually in 40w though. My new quad t5 setups put out so much heat I stopped using the spot lights for now. Do you use a dripper at all? I would be concerned about being able to consistently provide enough water using a hand sprayer.

I have a dripper and had been thinking of using that again for a while now. My reason for stopping was simply because he wasn't using it anymore. I still see him drink off of the leaves, and whenever I come to spray (and I do spray often) he will go over to the bottle to drink directly that way as well. After the veterinarian visit, I will set up the dripper again and see how that goes.
 
I have a dripper and had been thinking of using that again for a while now. My reason for stopping was simply because he wasn't using it anymore. I still see him drink off of the leaves, and whenever I come to spray (and I do spray often) he will go over to the bottle to drink directly that way as well. After the veterinarian visit, I will set up the dripper again and see how that goes.

Not all chams use a dripper reliably, so don't assume he'll use it again. If he's drinking directly from the sprayer or off his foliage that's great.
 
What does his poop look like? I'm not seeing dehydration in the photos, and if he were malnourished, he wouldn't stop eating unless there was something else going on. Did you notice the sleeping first, or the not eating? I noticed with oliver, my late baby panther, that he stopped eating first and then started sleeping, which may have been caused by lack of energy from lack of food.
I'm so sorry to hear about Tricky, I remember when you first got him and I want him feeling better asap :(
I'm sure with all of our combined might he'll be back to his old self very soon:)
 
What does his poop look like? I'm not seeing dehydration in the photos, and if he were malnourished, he wouldn't stop eating unless there was something else going on. Did you notice the sleeping first, or the not eating? I noticed with oliver, my late baby panther, that he stopped eating first and then started sleeping, which may have been caused by lack of energy from lack of food.
I'm so sorry to hear about Tricky, I remember when you first got him and I want him feeling better asap :(
I'm sure with all of our combined might he'll be back to his old self very soon:)

I believe that he started sleeping first. It has been a week now since he ate, and when he did eat last, it was only one cricket. He had eaten nothing 2 days before that. I am in class right now, but afterwards I am taking, Tricky to the veterinarian. I hope something good comes of it.

As for his fecal matter, it normally looks fine but since he stopped eating, I haven't seen any of it.
 
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