Sunken in head...

[ColorCham427]

Heres a good pic of my ambilobe Rocky. You can see how sunken in his head is. I've been giving him 30 min showers, and rarely does he drink. I hold the dripper's hose to his mouth, and only a couple times he drank from it. I mist his cage for a good mintue or two (5-6 times a day)

Please help me.. I want to know how to get his head to fill out and look healthy!

 

[Marc10edora]

He looks really dehydrated. Take him to the vet and they can give him something to hydrate him fast.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

I agree...Vet, I would say showers, but it seems you have tried it. He is definatley a bit skinny too, you can see the outline of his spine.

Jake

 

[Will Hayward]

This happens too often... In my opinion, though hydration has a strong role in healthy digestion, absorption and general health- You can have the most hydrated chameleon ever, and still have sunken head pads, and vice versa is possible too. You can have the most dehydrated chameleon, and still have relatively filled out head pads. Now what does this mean? IFrom experience, in my opinion it means that the problem lies in the diet and food intake, and NOT in hydration (though hydration is important for digestion and nutrient use, but it is not the cause of this). This chameleon, even without looking at the head at all is very apparently thin and needs to put on muscle and mass, as is evident in the spine as Jake pointed out, but also in the saggy tail base and the lanky arms. The head pads appear to act a reserve of sorts, containing nutrients, helping the chameleon survive through sparse times. Your solution in to offer more food, and also a larger variety of healthy foods. Offer some wax worms in addition to the healthiest feeders possible to supply him with the dietary requirements he'll need to fill out the head pads. It will be a slow process building them back up, and this is because the stress he is going through at the moment.

This is often how wild caught chameleons arrive, because they have likely not eaten for a good long while, and have been stressed out in holding pens further diminishing the reserves.

A fecal float and exam will tell you if he has parasites that could be contributing to this. Many parasites live in the digestive track of their hosts, leeching off of the nutrients from food before the chameleon can utilize them. Unless you know for sure why the fat reserves have depleted so much, it would be wise to have a fecal exam done.

 

[kinyonga]

How old is he?

 

[Dean Pulcini]

You can force open his mouth and with a dropper or syringe give him water and food that way. What are you feeding the insects that he eats? Also as already mentioned he could have parasites robbing the nutrients. I treat my chameleons with parazap once a month because crickets carry parasites as do many insects. I would try and feed him some fatty foods like wax worms and of coarse a well balanced diet .

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Hi there ... just wondering if you're currently feeding or is your cham accepting Silkworms? These have a lot of moisture and are very nutritious for your cham. However like others have already stated if it's a parasite I'm not sure how much this would help.

You could also try to feed any crickets that you may be offering to him foods with more moisture such as banana, cucumber ...etc. instead of dried foods!!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[ColorCham427]

Yes.. I got him like this... pretty shitty.. I'm taking him to the vet in an hour. I have been offering him crix and wax worms. Only eats 4-5 crickets a day and won't take any wax worms. I am also looking to buy some small roaches, and silkies.

Thank you all for your concern!

 

[ColorCham427]

I use the cricket chow from cricketfood.com. I like to switch up the cricket's gutload with sweet potatoe, kale, apple, carrot, and a slice of orange as a water source.

 

[ColorCham427]

Thanks alot for all that helpful info Will.

 

[Vibrant Chameleons]

Sounds like he has parasites robbing all his nutrition. You seem to be feeding him plenty by the sounds of it.

 

[Brad]

... I'm taking him to the vet in an hour.

How did it go?


You will get better responses from everyone if you list some details of your chameleon together in one post. Please refer to the link below for ideas.
[THREAD=66]How to ask for help[/THREAD]

 

[PardalisGirl]

How's Rocky?

So how did things go at the vet with Rocky? I agree with everything Will Hayward said in his post. Going to the vet and finding the source of the problem is the main thing. Getting a fecal and bloodwork will go a long way towards finding out what is causing the problem in the first place. Treating the symptoms themselves may not help if there is something major going on in the background. Waiting to hear about the vet visit and thinking of Rocky. He is a pretty boy and I want him to make it!!!!!!!