Veiled Cham poops now smells bad.

markettradenews

New Member
Hi all im after some help here with my Veiled Chameleon:

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, 1year and 2 months, been in our care for just over a year.

Handling - As often as he wants. Usually every day because he greets me.

Feeding - Locusts, between 10-15 per day, he has the occassional wax worm, he wont even look at crickets fussy lil thing. He gets fed in the morning, Locusts are fed on Carrots, Kale, Collard Greens and Pro Rep Bug Grub

Supplements - ProRep Calci Dust every feed Nutrobal multivit every two weeks

Watering - Hand mist twice a day 5 mins in morning and 5 mins late afternoon. Have reptifogger running for 30-50 mins each day when shedding. Yes i do see him drink regulary.

Fecal Description - Brown poop with white urate although the poop has a very slight clear membrain over it. Has had fecal done about 3 months ago and all clear. He is very regular and poops every morning within 20-30 mins of heating up.

History - Purchased at a young age, very friendly, brightly coloured chameleon.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Exo Terra Glass 90 x 45 x 90 cm / 36” x 18” x 36” mesh top with front door vents. I have one silent computer fan resting in one corner of the roof which is on for about 3-5 hours per day

Lighting - Arrcadia T5 Canopy i think its 12% (not sure could be 10 %) Heat lamp is komodo 100wat ceramic. Both heat and light are outside the cage? Light and heat is on a timer 8am til 8pm.

Temperature - Basking spot is 33C or 91.4F ambient temp is 26C or 78.8F floor temp is 22C or 71.6F Lowest overnight temp is around 15-17C or 59F - 62.6F temps are taken with a probe.

Humidity - Humidity is average 40% spiking to 80% and above when misted or fogged. I have a digital probe to measure the humidity.
Plants - Either X1 Umbrella or X1 Pothos plant

Placement - Corner of the room, no fan or vents near by. Top of cage is about 1 foot from ceiling and bottom of cage is about 3foot from floor.

Location - England UK.

Current Problem - Like i say he is a very happy chap, always greets me, i see him eat i see him drink. When hes out he always walks down my legs and walks around my living room. The problem is, is that his poop smells now. His poop used to be quite dry with white urates, now its soft (not runny) and has like a clear mucus film over the brown poop but his urates are still white. There is sometimes (not always) a speck of bright red blood on a leaf after the urate has come out. I would think that as the blood is bright and not dark that the blood is more towards his vent instead of in his gut (i could be wrong). The vet suggested wiping his vent with warm soapy water as the blood could be from skin that hasn't shed correctly or could be from his (red stems that protrude as he does his business, i cant remember what they are called). However this does not answer the question as to why his poop has changed and smells.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Put some water on your supplements, and keep the red spots for a few hours. If the red spots are blood, they will turn black or at least dark brown. A lot of supplements turn red when wet, which scares alot of first time owners.
 
Hi and thanks for the quick reply. I'm pretty sure they are specs of blood as they do turn a darker colour when dried out. I will however try what you have suggested tonight when i get home. As for the smelly poop that's still a mystery to me, they never used to smell. Could it be my temps are to high/low ? Or could it be the fact that he only eats locusts? I have tried other feeders but hes so fussy, ive even put crix and locusts in a pot to feed him and he picks out the locusts and leaves the crix. I have fed him marios before after ive crushed their heads which he liked but my pet store cant get hold of them anymore.
 
you might want to have him tested for parasites, sometimes really smelly feces is an indication of parasite infection.
 
Hi and thanks for your input.
I had a fecal done about 3 months ago at the cost of £75 that was for parasites and bacterial and all was clear, i understand that you can be given "false" negatives but not "false" positives if that makes sense.
I know that rule of thumb is that if it smells its more than likely parasites, but could there be another factor that might save me waxing another £75 only for the results to come back negative again ?
 
Well how bad does it smell?

I had th same issue with my adult veiled, his poop reeked, but only when I stuck my face inside the cage for cleaning.

I had him tested, and he was clean.
 
Hi and thanks for your message.
Well i doesn't smell outside the cage, i do a poo patrol every morning, so i stick my face in there every day, its defo the poop and not plants or anything else. 90% of time he poops in the same place so there's never any poop hiding away stinking elsewhere. When i pick it up in a tissue it stinks, real bad, sometimes it makes me gag, but then i have a bit of a weak stomach :)
Like i said when he was younger it was fairly dry looking and had zero odor.
 
I actually just emailed camimom with this question about my veilied yesterday. The poop looks normal except the urate looks to have the clear membrane like you are seeing. Almost like a egg like substance coming out with the urate. Any Ideas on what that is yet?
 
I actually just emailed camimom with this question about my veilied yesterday. The poop looks normal except the urate looks to have the clear membrane like you are seeing. Almost like a egg like substance coming out with the urate. Any Ideas on what that is yet?

I got your email, sorry I totally forgot to respond.

Anyway- if you've been feeding worms lately or hes had a lot of water or any fruit, it can cause the membrane. sometimes, it just means you found the urate right after he passed it.
 
Thanks guys for your help here.
What Iluvheidi has described exactly what im seeing. He really only eats locusts, once a month he may have one wax worm that's it. He doesn't eat any fruit or veg, i have offered it to him but he would rather climb on it. The locusts are loaded well on carrots and collard greens. Could it be the carrots, should i try using a dry gut load for a few weeks and see how that pans out ? He always drinks well either off the leaves or directly from the hand mister.
 
The bugs have a mixed diet, I use the largest cricket pen to house my locusts in, and currently in there is grated carrot, kale, pro rep bug grub and water gel. Some times they get collard greens and sweet spuds depends what i have. I have fed them apples but they don't seem to demolish it as quick as the kale and collard greens.
I clean the pen out once a week and clean the food and water pots out every other day as they get full of frass.
 
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