Veiled Cham w/ Poop Pics

[frankyfong36]

Hello again,

Some of you have requested pics of Jack and also suggested posting pics of his excrement to help identify if he is drinking enough. This feces pic is pretty common. A few times it had been mostly white, but this is the norm. Thanks in advance for your help. Also, any guesses on his age?

 

[pssh]

His urates indicate that you should be giving him a bit more water. White means they are hydrated, yellow means they need more water, and orange means they are dehydrated. Also, how often does he deficate? Sometimes they will come out more yellow or orange if they sit in the body for a longer period of time.

 

[FroggtheCham]

His urates indicate that you should be giving him a bit more water. White means they are hydrated, yellow means they need more water, and orange means they are dehydrated. Also, how often does he deficate? Sometimes they will come out more yellow or orange if they sit in the body for a longer period of time.

This is very true!! You may want to post your supplements and schedules for people to look at for you. Over supplementing can give "orange-ish" urates as well. If you're not sure of his age, and oversupplementing..... you get the idea. This has happened with my Frogg as he has gotten older. When I hit his threshold, some of the urate is yellow/orange. Welcome to the forum!!!

 

[luckyy15]

Hope you don't mind me asking but I have a similar question my chams urate has a little tint of orange but I see him drinking when I mist, I mist 3 times a day minimum of 5 mins each time and he has a dripper running in the day he isn't showing signs of dehydration e.g very alert not lathergic eyes are not sunken and skin goes back quickly and is not wrinkled. He is 9 months old and i feed him every other day therefore he normally defaecates every other day. I was wondering if this could affect the colour as it's inside for a period of time ?

His supplement schedule is Komodo crick dust which is calcium without d3 with every feeding (which is every other day) and nutrbol vitamin supplement with d3 vitamin A once a week is this too often should I only be using the vitamin with d3 once or twice a month ?

Many thanks

 

[FroggtheCham]

I believe the key to figuring this out is moderation. Every cham's needs will be a little different, and locale will make a difference. My cham's get very little natural sun light, since it is too cold most of the year to have them out. This requires me to use more D3 than others. If you believe you are hydrating well, go lighter with dusting feeders, and don't dust them all. If you are properly gut-loading your feeders you won't need as much supplement. It's a balance that you'll have to figure out. Watch your cham. He/she will be telling you what they need. Increase access to water, either by more misting sessions or showering to clear urates. If urates continue to be colored, no matter how much you hydrate cut back a day on dusting. Give some time before decreasing days. I would say a good week. It will take about that long to completely clear excess supplements from their system. As your cham gets older, it will require less supplements. That doesn't mean none. Just less. Again, you will have to adjust and figure it out.

FYI--- Just so this does not cause confusion, colored urates are a "sign" of dehydration, it just may depend on what type. By this I mean either you are not hydrating properly with good supplementing, or you are over supplementing which is not allowing the cham's body to excrete excess supplements in moderation. What goes in, must come out in some way shape or form. Long term health risk with either "form" of dehydration will result in renal damage/ failure from A. not enough water for the kidneys to function properly or B. too many supplements jamming up the system making the kidneys work harder to perform a task it will never be able to do. A cham's body will only use what it needs, store what it can, and needs to excrete the rest. On the same note, a cham can only drink so much water. So don't screw up!!!

 

[luckyy15]

Thank you for your reply I've been giving him a shower every couple of days as well just in case but he just tries to walk up the side of the shower and doesn't say on his plant but I keep trying as I know it's beneficial for him.

He is a 9 month old red bar ambilobe chameleon so not a adult yet but I'm going to try reducing the amount of supplement used as I do gutload his feeders with fruit and veggies e.g orange apple carrot pear greens etc and bug grub so he probably gets most of the nutrients from feeders anyway. I'll try reducing the vitamin to twice a month and having one day a week with no calcium supplement aswell as reducing the amount used when supplementing and see how we get on.

Thanks again