Urgent Care Sheet needed please!

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

Hi Guys,

Just visited a well renowned exotic pet shop yesterday who has for sale 2 chameleons .They are advertised as Blue Chameleons (see picture attached ) ....they are housed individually in a all screen cage and seemed fine until a week ago... Yesterday i went to buy some crickets and had a look at them again and noticed that one of them had black sunken in eyes and was pale and motionless while the other seemed fine. I told the guy who works there so that I can have a look and was going to show me the healthier one....told him that I wanted to see the one that does not seem fine and it turns out he was dead!!

When I asked him to see the other one, he seemed to have signs of dehydration as one of his eyes is sunken in and he is not plums and his colour is also not right...wish I had the money to just take him away but most I can do now is go personally to him with a proper care sheet and arrange things myself if need be.

I gave him some suggestions to not leave the basking spot higher than 85F and see that he sprays regularly since they are only about 4 months old but need to determine the species so that I can have an appropriate care sheet to forward since I didn`t find the proper species for blue Chameleon on the net. P.S. he misted in front of me and the cham was drinking immediately !!

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

....just to give you an idea they're basking spot is 3 inches away from a red 75watt basking spotlight!!....guessing way over 110F

 

[Ferrah88]

I don't have a care sheet, because for these types of chameleons, there's not too many. I will try and find the links I used when I first started taking care of Marimo.

My Blue chameleon (T. Ellioti) never has his terrarium above an ambient temperature of 23°C. That would be around 73°F. His basking spot is not much higher, more around the 78°C range. His basking bulb should be a 35 or 40 Watt bulb, they like it cooler. His bulb is fairly close to the basking spot, but it only covers a very SMALL amount of his terrarium. He goes up, basks a bit, and moves off. Again, the basking spot is less than that of a veiled or panther because of the low wattage.

Humidity should always be moderate-high, around the 70% Mark. Up to 100% wouldn't hurt, but it shouldn't be any lower. I have Marimo in a glass cage, because a screen could not keep the humidity as high as the Ellioti's require.

Night time temperatures can reach around 16°C (60°C). Anything around 20°C (68°F) really!

Regarding misting, Marimo gets around 3-5 mists a day, depending on the humidity in the house. I always mist him longer, as he loves drinking from the leaves.

I feed him flies and smaller crickets. I find they don't go after grubs... might just be Marimo, but he will not even look at them. Flies are the way to go!


I'll see if I can find those links that I was directed to. In the meantime, do you have any pictures of the chameleon in question? That way we can help determine the species The one in your picture is certainly a T.Ellioti, so if it looks like that, then that is what it is!

::EDIT::
Here's some of the links:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/collection-chameleon-care-questions-elliots-chameleon-98616/ (My post, asking for information)
https://www.chameleonforums.com/looking-info-ellioti-3887/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/elliots-chameleon-c-t-ellioti-58542/
http://web.archive.org/web/20090617073716/http://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chellioti.html


Hopefully these help you

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

I don't have a care sheet, because for these types of chameleons, there's not too many. I will try and find the links I used when I first started taking care of Marimo.

My Blue chameleon (T. Ellioti) never has his terrarium above an ambient temperature of 23°C (Well, sometimes it CAN reach 25, but NEVER for a longer period of time.) That would be around 73°F. His basking spot is not much higher, more around the 78°C range. His basking bulb should be a 35 or 40 Watt bulb, they like it cooler. His bulb is fairly close to the basking spot, but it only covers a very SMALL amount of his terrarium. He goes up, basks a bit, and moves off. Again, the basking spot is less than that of a veiled or panther because of the low wattage.

Humidity should always be moderate-high, around the 60 to 70% Mark. A bit higher wouldn't hurt, but it shouldn't be any lower. I have Marimo in a glass cage, because a screen could not keep the humidity as high as the Ellioti's require.

Night time temperatures can reach around 16°C (60°C). Anything around 20°C (68°F) really!

Regarding misting, Marimo gets around 3-5 mists a day, depending on the humidity in the house. I always mist him longer, as he loves drinking from the leaves.

I feed him flies and smaller crickets. I find they don't go after grubs... might just be Marimo, but he will not even look at them. Flies are the way to go!


I'll see if I can find those links that I was directed to. In the meantime, do you have any pictures of the chameleon in question? That way we can help determine the species The one in your picture is certainly a T.Ellioti, so if it looks like that, then that is what it is!

::EDIT::
Here's some of the links:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/collection-chameleon-care-questions-elliots-chameleon-98616/ (My post, asking for information)
https://www.chameleonforums.com/looking-info-ellioti-3887/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/elliots-chameleon-c-t-ellioti-58542/
http://web.archive.org/web/20090617073716/http://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chellioti.html


Hopefully these help you

Thanks a bunch that`s great...I am sooo tempted to give him an offer to take him away!!

ANY SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME?

 

[Ferrah88]

Finally something I can properly help with

Supplements really depend on the gutloading of the food and other factors. Marimo is on the same as most every chameleon on here: Calcium daily, Calcium with D3 and Multi-Vit every 2 weeks. (I do Calcium with D3 every second Saturday, while doing the milt-vit the Saturdays I'm not doing the D3).

I updated my previous post a tiny bit. I am at work and was writing a bit too quickly, and ended up mistyping and mixing up other values

The most important parts of Ellitoti's really are: Cooler temps (Under 80°F, even basking), high humidity (70%+ when possible), low night time temps (Under 70°F) but obviously not too cold (Above 60°F).

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

No problem still very helpful...I have a Jacksons which as you know is also montane and have similar care / temps / and supplimenting

 

[Ferrah88]

No problem still very helpful...I have a Jacksons which as you know is also montane and have similar care / temps / and supplimenting

They should be similar, yes I have never owned a jacksons, however, so I will not be as bold as to say for certain! I only know how to care for my Ellioti and am learning how to care for my evil Veiled. Glad to be of some help Not ever day I can actually answer someone with certainty


My bet is that the chameleons you saw were just WAY too warm and the humidity was far too low. Recommend covering 2-3 sides of the terrarium with plastic wrap or something similar, it helps keep the humidity up. Replace that high wattage bulb with something around the 25 - 35 watt range, and keep a steady monitoring of the temps.

Are there any live plants in the enclosure? Those REALLY help with humidity. Marimo and Yuki only have live plants, I didn't even bother with any fake ones, except the vines

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

They should be similar, yes I have never owned a jacksons, however, so I will not be as bold as to say for certain! I only know how to care for my Ellioti and am learning how to care for my evil Veiled. Glad to be of some help Not ever day I can actually answer someone with certainty


My bet is that the chameleons you saw were just WAY too warm and the humidity was far too low. Recommend covering 2-3 sides of the terrarium with plastic wrap or something similar, it helps keep the humidity up. Replace that high wattage bulb with something around the 25 - 35 watt range, and keep a steady monitoring of the temps.

Are there any live plants in the enclosure? Those REALLY help with humidity. Marimo and Yuki only have live plants, I didn't even bother with any fake ones, except the vines

No they dnt have any live plans...the terranium they are kept in is beautiful looking but not adaptable....no live plants or coverage whatsoever !

I will Take the info you gave me and and it over to him personally ... Thanks again

 

[Ferrah88]

No they dnt have any live plans...the terranium they are kept in is beautiful looking but not adaptable....no live plants or coverage whatsoever !

I will Take the info you gave me and and it over to him personally ... Thanks again

You're welcome Hopefully you can save that little one!

 

[ChameleonMom]

Oh brother! Another dreaded pet store story! Save him if you can!! My bet is that even if you take a care sheet in for the poor little guy he will be further neglected. The almighty dollar wins every time! Grrrrr!