CreatureFeature
New Member
I own a rather small female Jackson chameleon, Creature, which I noticed about three weeks ago, had lost some weight. Being a first time chameleon owner I rather dumbly thought little of it since several weeks before a few people who’d seen her had remarked how Creature looked over weight. However today I noticed Creature on the bottom of her cage and took her out to make sure she wasn't injured from possibly slipping off her favorite branch. But when I took her out I found she’d had a sudden and very noticeable drop in weight. So much that she looks almost skeletal. I also found her to be lethargic and to have a weaker grip then she normally has. And showed no interest in performing her habit of mountain climbing from my hand to the top of my head to see what was going on.
I have at no point during this time frame changed her feeding habits or the amount she’s been fed. She just eats normal store bought crickets dusted with calcium power. And she seems to be eating however continues to drop in weight. She’s also misted two – three times a day depending on the humidity or whenever she wants to drink. The humidity always lands at around sixty - seventy five percent. And her temperature at its highest point is always between seventy five – eighty degrees at any given time with her day or night lights.
She inhabits a one foot six in wide by one foot eight in tall square upright tank with a screen lid and air vents on the warmest low traffic side of my room. I rotate a number of chameleon safe plants also with two fake plants for her to climb and bask on. On the bottom of the tank is a Zoo med reptile carpet with a basking rock in the warmest part of the tank and a very shallow water dish in case she gets thirsty and I’m not home to spray her. And when I cleaned her cage today she appeared to be relieving herself normally with no discoloration or odd droppings.
I handle her often because she normally begs to come out and sit on top of my head when I’m working on the computer or walking around the house. But I had to veto handling her for the last week since she was going through an extremely difficult shed and I did not want to stress her out while she was shedding.
Unfortunately I’m not fully aware of her exact age. I was given her in October by a friend of the family who had bought her from a chain pet store in the area. I was however made aware of the fact that she’d apparently been pregnant when she’d come to the pet store, had the babies the week before, then was place on display to be sold. Upon picking her up to be brought home I was told that if she died in the next sixty days it would be dew to that and was handed a flimsy “You’re now the owner of a Jackson Chameleon” pamphlet which I found completely useless. From the pet store also came a document stating that she was free of all illnesses and/or parasites so I can only assume she was tested for them at some point in time. What’s concerning me most now at the moment is I have a male Jackson who is in the exact same conditions and he is thriving with no loss in weight or energy and I don’t know of an exotic reptile vet in the immediate area. And would prefer not to drag her across two cities in this condition to take her to the one I know of. I could really use some help.
I’m not a first time reptile owner but I’m completely lost as to what’s going on with my chameleon. Does anyone know of a reason a Jackson chameleon would lose so much weight in such a short time? Is there some condition I need to be aware of that might be causing it? Or any possible ways to help her gain back the weight quickly?
I have at no point during this time frame changed her feeding habits or the amount she’s been fed. She just eats normal store bought crickets dusted with calcium power. And she seems to be eating however continues to drop in weight. She’s also misted two – three times a day depending on the humidity or whenever she wants to drink. The humidity always lands at around sixty - seventy five percent. And her temperature at its highest point is always between seventy five – eighty degrees at any given time with her day or night lights.
She inhabits a one foot six in wide by one foot eight in tall square upright tank with a screen lid and air vents on the warmest low traffic side of my room. I rotate a number of chameleon safe plants also with two fake plants for her to climb and bask on. On the bottom of the tank is a Zoo med reptile carpet with a basking rock in the warmest part of the tank and a very shallow water dish in case she gets thirsty and I’m not home to spray her. And when I cleaned her cage today she appeared to be relieving herself normally with no discoloration or odd droppings.
I handle her often because she normally begs to come out and sit on top of my head when I’m working on the computer or walking around the house. But I had to veto handling her for the last week since she was going through an extremely difficult shed and I did not want to stress her out while she was shedding.
Unfortunately I’m not fully aware of her exact age. I was given her in October by a friend of the family who had bought her from a chain pet store in the area. I was however made aware of the fact that she’d apparently been pregnant when she’d come to the pet store, had the babies the week before, then was place on display to be sold. Upon picking her up to be brought home I was told that if she died in the next sixty days it would be dew to that and was handed a flimsy “You’re now the owner of a Jackson Chameleon” pamphlet which I found completely useless. From the pet store also came a document stating that she was free of all illnesses and/or parasites so I can only assume she was tested for them at some point in time. What’s concerning me most now at the moment is I have a male Jackson who is in the exact same conditions and he is thriving with no loss in weight or energy and I don’t know of an exotic reptile vet in the immediate area. And would prefer not to drag her across two cities in this condition to take her to the one I know of. I could really use some help.
I’m not a first time reptile owner but I’m completely lost as to what’s going on with my chameleon. Does anyone know of a reason a Jackson chameleon would lose so much weight in such a short time? Is there some condition I need to be aware of that might be causing it? Or any possible ways to help her gain back the weight quickly?