Veiled dehydrated

[jrjorgensen2519]

Hello, My subadult/adult veiled layed eggs about a week ago and since then she hasn't really been drinking water. Her eyes are terribly sunken which leads me to believe that she is dehydrated. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[Smitty]

Well, one method is to give her a "Shower". If she is old enough to lay then I would assume she is old enough to do that. I have not attempted this myself but I'm sure you can find information on it in these forums by searching.

From what I understand the shower is with warm water, sprayed indirectly (so not full on hitting the cham). You shower for about 20-30 minutes. This should help the dehidration a lot.

 

[angus310]

Do you still have him in the aquarium? At least buy a topper for it. The heat in there really is pretty drastic sometimes.

 

[Electric]

if she's eating, the least you can do is soak/spray her crickets and food with water so you know she's at least getting those couple of drops on the feeder

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Also silkworms are a great food for helping to re-hydrate (tons of moisture)
The shower, or at least prolonged mistings, to encourage her to drink is a really good suggestion and should be done immediately.

-Brad

 

[PardalisGirl]

Hydration.........

It's really important to get her hydrated ASAP. Sunken eyes are never a good sign. Stick her in the shower as recommended. If that does not work try to get her to drink manually. Will she open her mouth for you at all? You can try to get her to start drinking by putting some water drops into her mouth and see if she starts to drink them. Use a dropper or small syringe. Just put a few drops in her mouth and see what her reaction is. If she looks like she is drinking the water keep putting drops in there. If she gasps or looks distressed stop. You don't want her inhaling the water. If the shower or the manual method do not work you need to get her to the vet right away. He/she will put some fluids under the skin. I'm not sure that I would try to get her to eat until the drinking situation is fixed. If her eyes are sunken and she is severely dehydrating she may be in the early stages of renal failure. Eating will only make this worse. Keep us posted!

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

I've had my animals drink from the tap.
A light flow of water under some sunlight
will usually spark a thirsty cham into action.
I've also forced some to drink by gently parting their lips on the side
of their mouth and letting some water run into (their mouth) from that opening.

Depending upon your animal (mine are used to being held)
This may cause some stress
but I sure find it easier than injecting saline subdermally.

 

[kinyonga]

Is she eating?
How old is she?
How many eggs did she lay?
Did she go through the egglaying process in a normal fashion? (Dug a hole, laid the eggs, buried them, etc.).
(I'm asking all of this because I wonder if she could be retaining eggs.)

 

[jrjorgensen2519]

Ugh...

Well everybody... despite my effots, my cham passed away today. I don't think she tried burying the eggs so I don't know what that says. No, she was not in that aquarium anymore, for the last couple of months she's been in an all screened cage that I made for her. She ate a couple of days ago but since then she had stopped, and she was gasping for air every now and then so i was afriad to feed her water in fear of having her inhale it. I tried putting her in the shower for about twenty minutes but she didn't do anything. I put her back in her terrarium and went to my class, came back an hour later and she was dead. Unfortunately there is no vet here in my home town that works on reptiles.

I love reptiles, bought several books and read many forum threads on this website in preperation for adding chameleon's to my repertoire of reptiles. However, as almost everybody has said, chameleon's are drastically more difficult to take care of than most other reptiles, and I just don't think I'm ready to go back and get another one. Maybe in a few months I'll have read enough to truly feel ready to own another cham but I don't know... they're so ridiculously touchy! It's really too bad that such an awesome animal is so difficult to care for...

 

[lbesok]

I'm sorry Jay . Don't get discouraged it is a learning experience.

 

[Chill]

Hey i built a rehydratin thing for cases like this or if i even think there might be a chnace of my cham being dehydrated. I took a 55 you could use smaller like a 10 and put wire mesh on the bottom propped up as a safety net. I bought a cheap pump and used a fish heater plumped it so the water would pump over the cham threw a PVC tube. i throw some branches in and make sure to use NEW water EVERYTIME. it works for re hydrating and its like a constant rain storm at your disposal. Leave em in for periods of like half an hour a couple times a day and in a coupl of days they shoud improve. Try its worth it. My fischers wasnt eating and was getting bad and i did and now he's eating more and doing better. Still treating though.

Hope it could help,
If you need more specific specs email me.

 

[elise]

Same thing happened to me!!!!

Well everybody... despite my effots, my cham passed away today. I don't think she tried burying the eggs so I don't know what that says. No, she was not in that aquarium anymore, for the last couple of months she's been in an all screened cage that I made for her. She ate a couple of days ago but since then she had stopped, and she was gasping for air every now and then so i was afriad to feed her water in fear of having her inhale it. I tried putting her in the shower for about twenty minutes but she didn't do anything. I put her back in her terrarium and went to my class, came back an hour later and she was dead. Unfortunately there is no vet here in my home town that works on reptiles.

I love reptiles, bought several books and read many forum threads on this website in preperation for adding chameleon's to my repertoire of reptiles. However, as almost everybody has said, chameleon's are drastically more difficult to take care of than most other reptiles, and I just don't think I'm ready to go back and get another one. Maybe in a few months I'll have read enough to truly feel ready to own another cham but I don't know... they're so ridiculously touchy! It's really too bad that such an awesome animal is so difficult to care for...

Hey Jay,

The same exact thing happened to my veiled! She layed her second clutch and was looking a little dehydrated so I was giving her pedialyte with a siringe. She was not looking much better in like a weeks time so I took her to the vet. She was treated for 6 weeks for dehydration, parasites, binding, etc. We were trying to figure out what was wrong with her. After the flaggel meds and pumpkin she was looking an awesome color like she was healthy again. I took her back to the vet on a Friday for a check up and to check her stool. That night she wasn't looking good. The next day she was at the bottom of her cage. I called the vet and rushed her there. They kept her for the weekend. Monday the vet called about noon; she had just passed away. I was heart broken. She was my favorite lizard. I had her for over a year and was very attached. Her mate is doing fine. Maybe one day I will get another like her, but not any time soon. The next day her baby died. It's like she knew. I only have one more baby left she is dehydrated and I am trying everything to keep her alive. It is so important now.

 

[kinyonga]

So sorry to hear that you lost her.

Gasping for air, sunken eyes and didn't bury her eggs all indicate that she was in some kind of trouble. If you take her body in for necropsy you might find out what was wrong.

Again, sorry for your loss.

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss
but am I correct in that you now have a clutch of good eggs?
IF so, take good care of them... she's still with you.

 

[PardalisGirl]

I'm so sorry

I'm so sorry about your loss. You have to find comfort in the fact that you did try to help her and that often even with all the help that money can buy, chams die. Especially females. There are some things that could have happened that only an X-ray (while alive) or necropsy after death would reveal. She could have had a blockage from some eggs that did not come out. An egg or eggs could have burst/ruptured inside her resulting in an infection. Either of those situations are almost impossible to treat successfully. Give yourself a rest for awhile. Then think about getting another cham. A male would probably make a better choice for you. They don't have as many health issues (all the egg issues are eliminated). But for now......take comfort in knowing that we all feel your pain. Most of us have been where you are at one point or another. We understand how you feel