Something's wrong?

vangarret2000

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon -
The species: Ambilobe blue bar CB,
sex: told it was male and age: 12 months
How long has it been in your care? Only 6 weeksish

Handling -
How often do you handle your chameleon? We don't handle him. We have only picked him up because it seemed like something was wrong

Feeding -
What are you feeding your cham? Mostly crickets. One day gave a horn worm and a few superworms.
What amount? Seems like he was generally eatting around 10-12 crickets a day. What is the schedule? Been every other day
How are you gut-loading your feeders? Leafy greens, carrots, potatoes

Supplements -
What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repashy calcium plus every feeding

Watering -
What kind of watering technique do you use? He has a terrible mister he came with that sprays for a minute every hour, it isnt great so i also mist him for a couple minutes 2-3 times a day with a spray bottle. We also have also set up a dropper that drips 24 hrs on his tree
Do you see your chameleon drinking? Not recently

Fecal Description -
Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. They have been normal. Formed and brown
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? We got the vet to test for parasites but never received a phone call back (horrible vet)

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
I just got him recently. He came with his set up which wasn't ideal. So we have since switched him to a new zoomed enclosure

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage type : zoomed all screen.
What are the dimensions?24x24x48
Lighting -
What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? Reptiglo 5.0 uvb tube. Not sure exactly on the heat bulb that it came with, looks like a day glo tight beam exo terra light.
What is your daily lighting schedule?12 hours 9am-9pm
Temperature -
What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Basking is around 90-95. Closer to the basking is low 80's .The rest of the tank is low to mid 70's. The floor does seem to get to the high 60's
Lowest overnight temp? Usually mid 60's. If it seams like it might be a cooler night I put a 50wat infrared bulb in the tank to not let the temp drop too low. How do you measure these temps? Temp gun. Mastercraft

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? Not sure the exact number. I just go by recomemded mistings.
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? I have the mister that isnt great so i also spray by hand throughout the day. As well as the dripper running What do you use to measure humidity? Nothing

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, ficus
He also has some fake vines.

Placement - Where is your cage located? In spare bedroom with 2 other reptiles
Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? Very low traffic and the farthest point away from the air vent (about 8-10ft)
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? About 7ft

Location - Where are you geographically located? Medicine hat alberta Canada.

Current problem.

He started a shed a while ago and had problems removing the shedding around his eyes. We have been doubling our regular misting since he has been in shed but nothing has seemed to help. He has become very lethargic and just lies in the bottom of his cage in the planter. We are wondering if he is dehydrated (it's not for lack of mistings). Tonight when we picked him up he wouldn't hold on with any of his feet and just sat in our hand. We are very worried and don't know what to do

Pictures
Will post shortly
 
Hi.

I strongly suspect that any and all problems are related to the people who had him before.

I'm going to suggest that you drip water on his nose. Get a plastic eye dropper (you can ask the pharmacist for one or buy a cheap kid's drug like baby tylenol...one will be in the package). Fill it and drip water drops on his nose. That should almost force him to drink.

I do want to know more about your heat bulb. This board recommends just a regular household incandescent (like you can get at the grocery store). I wonder if the bulb, in combination with the ReptiSun, might not be giving too much of one sort of radiation (I don't even pretend to know if that's the case...I just wonder about it).
 
His enclosure
d0c9285c.jpg


This is what he looked like the about the past ten days. He she's his head but his eyes stuck. During this ome is when he started spending more if his time at the very bottom of the ficus tree or just sitting in his plant. I picked him up Wednesday to have a look at his eyes and he didn't seem to move much. My g/f picked him up last night and he isn't moving or grabbing on to anything. She removed his stuck shed but he still sits at the bottom of the plant. I tried positioning him on his basking spot this morning but he still won't move or grab anything.
With stuck eyes
bb4f35e3.jpg


915528eb.jpg


This was him last night after the shed was removed
a6f966ce.jpg


ae9df7ab.jpg


02597372.jpg
 
Hi.

I strongly suspect that any and all problems are related to the people who had him before.

I'm going to suggest that you drip water on his nose. Get a plastic eye dropper (you can ask the pharmacist for one or buy a cheap kid's drug like baby tylenol...one will be in the package). Fill it and drip water drops on his nose. That should almost force him to drink.

I do want to know more about your heat bulb. This board recommends just a regular household incandescent (like you can get at the grocery store). I wonder if the bulb, in combination with the ReptiSun, might not be giving too much of one sort of radiation (I don't even pretend to know if that's the case...I just wonder about it).

This is what we had on him
74e1623a.jpg


We switched it to this today
f9c1d2b6.jpg
 
thats a pretty lil dude but he is dehydrated it looks by the sunken eyes.

you don't need a hi end basking light btw... a regular household light bulb will work, may have to check and see but most likely a 40-60watt incandescent would be fine for that guy. Those concentrated lights really put out a beam of heat and they will suck the humidity out of that basking spot real fast. A normal light bulb will disperse light/light more evanly and radiate out from the center better imo.

You need a hygrometer, you cant judge humidity by misting intervals, as i said the light/heat will eat the humidity up and then there's the number of plants and room humidity etc... that will impact the enclosures rh.
 
thats a pretty lil dude but he is dehydrated it looks by the sunken eyes.

you don't need a hi end basking light btw... a regular household light bulb will work, may have to check and see but most likely a 40-60watt incandescent would be fine for that guy. Those concentrated lights really put out a beam of heat and they will suck the humidity out of that basking spot real fast. A normal light bulb will disperse light/light more evanly and radiate out from the center better imo.

You need a hygrometer, you cant judge humidity by misting intervals, as i said the light/heat will eat the humidity up and then there's the number of plants and room humidity etc... that will impact the enclosures rh.

My g/f thought he might also be dehydrated because of the shrunken eyes. She tried giving him the "shower" in the bath tube last night to try to get him to drink. I will switch bulbs tonight. Any techniques I can use to get him rehydrated? He also isn't eatting right now.

Question: if he is dehydrated would that be what is causing him to not move and not be able to grab anything?
 
yeah if he is dehydrated it could cause him to lack energy I would think. Not knowing your humidity and him being dehydrated those could be compound issues. I know my cham's do not eat when they are shedding and takes a day or so after to get back in the munching, but good soft worms usually get their attention. Mine love butterworms for treats.

I do not know how your cham responds to misting but mine understand that it means its water time, but they dont really like the misting. If I mist above the screen and let it drop thru its like rain and they seem to respond better and drink more.

Get the water dripping on those highest leaves and try to make it just cascade down leaves. the movement of the water on the leaves will get his attention, or should.
 
i LOVE the pics that you posted of him with his shed off. with his mouth being open like that, i can't help but think that he's saying "HEY LOOK AT ME! it's finally off!" but i always put words in my chams mouth like that sooooooooo ;)
 
Man, I have never seen a shed around the eyes like that! It looked pretty creepy.

All jokes aside, it looks pretty dehydrated. When I got my Senegal, it was pretty dehydrated from the shipping process and would only drink the minimum amount of water it seemed. So I asked forum members (like you did, good job, btw) what to do. They recommended the shower chamber method.

So I got home from work early one day, put on some swim trunks (I wasn't about to go full nude around a chameleon I just met, we didn't know each other well enough) got a vine, suction cupped it to the shower wall, climbed in and started the mist. It took a few minutes, but it seemed to love the warm water being on it, and started gulping up the water. I kept this up until it stopped drinking. It then kind of closed its eyes like it was satisfied and that was when I shut off the water. After that, things turned around pretty quick, now I have a happy and healthy chameleon.

It will take time, and probably a few showers, but it will drink. My main recommendation, though...bathing suit. You never know what they may try to grab onto while this is going on. I got lucky that it was only a bit of chest hair that was clung to.
 
Becuase he has been in shed the last 2 weeks almost, I have been misting him more then normal. He also has a dripper set up all the time. So he has plenty o chances to drink, so why would he not be drinking?
 
As I mentioned before, I suggest dripping water directly on his nose. They seem unable to avoid licking their lips. Severe dehydration can prevent an animal (even a human) from doing pretty much anything.
 
As I mentioned before, I suggest dripping water directly on his nose. They seem unable to avoid licking their lips. Severe dehydration can prevent an animal (even a human) from doing pretty much anything.

I'll try it with the dropper when I get home from work. When ever I had been hand misting him I was always spraying him directly too but he wouldn't drink that.

When he gets defensive and opens his mouth is it bad to spray water in then? I haven't been doing that but was wondering if it is a way to get some fluids in him.
 
never spray directly in their mouth they can aspirate on it.

Looking at the enclosure a nice fat pothos up top with the mister/dripper cascading off the leaves would be enticing to a cham.

Use luke warm water vs out the tap directly to help entice him when dripping via dropper etc
 
I found this on a chameleon illness site.

"Treatment: Increased accessibility to water and increased humidity. For immediate treatment, soak in pedialite solution (found in the baby section of any drug store) and administer orally as well. You can also offer your chameleon plants (hibiscus) and fruit/vegetable baby foods via an eyedropper!"

And also
"Treatment: For a mild case, orally administer electrolyte solution (Pedialyte). You can also soak your chameleon in this (note, once opened the container must be used with in 24 hours!). You should also heavily mist the enclosure and alter your water system. For advanced cases, your vet can inject saline solution subcutaneous."

Would this soaking in pedialyte actually help if I can't get him to take water from a dripper or the shower technique?

How do you tell how extreme the case is? The fact that he won't move or grab into anything is what really has my worried.
 
When I got home from work yesterday I put a dropper dripping in his head for a couple hours until he went to sleep. Not sure if he actually drank or not. I can't watch him as he doesn't eat or drink when watched. Couldn't get him to eat. I tried to pick up some silk or horned worms last night but the one store doesn't carry them and the other was closed. I am gonna try to get some today. Do super worms have lots of moisture or are the just fatty? I have those. He got hooked on the before but I would rather that happen them him die.

I am gonna put a dripper on his head while I am at work today.

He doesn't seem to be my better then he was yesterday. Worse even. He won't move whatsoever on his own. He just sits in the bottom of the ficus pot. The most he will do is puff up a little if touched but he doesn't move whatsoever and doesn't even attempt to grab anything.

I am really worried about him. To me it looks like he won't make it but I really don't know how to tell. He just seems bad to me.
 
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