Toilet issues

veiledmaggiemoo

New Member
Should i be concerned if my veiled chameleon isn't pooping that regularly. she used to pretty much every day but now she's leaving a week or so inbetween. She's perfectly healthy eating drinking etc and has not long been to a vets for a general health check. thanks
 
How old is it? How often does it eat? What temperature is its basking spot?
What does the poo look like?
 
when she does poo its the usual brown about an inch long then the white stuff. she's coming up to one years old and eats about 4 locusts every day he also drinks everyday her basking spot is around 80.
 
Sounds like compaction, but i don't think theres enough details to determine anything yet. try filling out those "how to ask for help" questionairs.
 
80 sounds slightly lowish, 90 might be better.
At a year old, it may be slowing down its growth and eating, so toilets will be less frequent also. 9 days is a little long though, are you sure you havent missed poo somewhere? branches, plant pots etc?
If its eating 4 locust everyday, there should poo. Are you certain its actually drinking?
There may be some female issue Im unaware of, in which case Others here may be of more help.

For now if you could fill out the 'ask for help' questionaire as best you can you, add anything you think might be important, this will give a more detailed overlook which may shed some light on this. Is your lizards vent/cloaca/backside clean? no debris?
Is her behaviour normal? Is she basking more or less often etc.

A photo of her might be of help also. I dont have a female myself, but a photo can often give clues.

It may be a good idea to cease feeding temporarily, till we work out where its going. :)
"Impaction' is a possibility but until we get a broader picture, its speculation.
 
Last edited:
Cage Type - 3 walls are mesh one glass with glass bottom. its roughly 17 inches tall, 30 inches wide and 8inches wide.
Lighting - both heat lamp and uv are exo terra make, uv is 5.0 and my heat buld is sun glo 100w.
Temperature - temps checked by thermometer around 8s at the minute in basking drops to about 60 at night.
Humidity - she has a dripper and is misted up to 5 times a day, humidity is aroound 40-50
Plants - artificial planting used.
Placement - her cage is in my bedroomfairly low trafic she seems toenjoy watching me do my thing, she is on a set of drawers that are a meter tall.
Location - west midlands, UK.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - veiled female chameleon, coming upto 1 year of age, owned by myself for around 9 months.
Handling - She is only really handled when her cage is being cleaned out, on a weekly basis.
Feeding - she has 4-5 locusts or crickets daily as well as wax worms and moths occasionally.
Supplements - i dust her food with T-rex chameleon calcium plus every day.
Watering - I often see her drinking especially now its getting warmer here. she is also misted as stated.
Fecal Description - normal faeces brown with a white end.
History - we took her to a vet around 2 months ago as she stopped eating for which she was given a calcium and vitamin d boost she now eats fine.
Current Problem - Lack of pooping after 8-9 days now.

i will try to pop up pictures now!
 
A warmish bath/soak is normally great for getting them going, so to speak, though im not sure how easily that might be accomplished with a chameleon, but others do it.
Has she been less active recently? Is she looking more 'bulky' at all?
I suppose its possible her food is going toward the production of her first batch of eggs (they dont need to be fertilised), though I still think there should be some poo however minimal.
Id be inclined to try the bath trick first. Locust have a fair ration of chitin, so impaction, despite drinking must atleast be considered a possibility. Hold off the locust a while, perhaps feed some softer foods and locust less often if possible.
If it dosent drop a poo after a nice bath or two, Id be inclined to have her looked at.
To cease feeding for a few days wont hurt her and may be a good thing incase it is impaction, you dont want to worsen the situation.
Your ventilation sounds good, but you dont mention if shes basking more often or for longer? Perhaps boost the basking temp by 5-10f , so long as she can get away to cooler areas.
Might be good to include a tub of soil for her just in case, as she is certainly old enough by all accounts to produce eggs.
 
thank you i shall attempt the bath trick although she wont be impressed with me at all! but got to help her. she doesnt seem to be moving around as much, but then she went through a stage of never keeping still which i heard was a bad sign? she does move quickly when food is available however. and she spends most of her day basking. i did suspect she may have had eggs when i last took her the vet which they said the calcium boost would help if she had any. after leaving her with a lot of sand nothing ever happened. so now i'm pretty confused. also does anyone know how to post images i think it may help i have a good close up of her!
 
Spending much of the day basking suggests perhaps the basking temperature may be a little on the low side. 90f is perhaps better than 80f.
See above for adding pics info.
 
If she is otherwise healthy I would double how much water you've been giving her every day and hold off on feeding for a day or two. Our Meller's used to go everyday like clockwork but now that he's grown some his schedule has changed to once a week. It concerned us too, but a 1-2 day fast and more water always helps for us.

Luis
 
Back
Top Bottom