very sick baby veiled, thoughts appreciated

[yoshimoto0]

hello!

my girlfriend had posted on here before about this chameleon, and since then, nothing has changed with this little guy. she is in constant tears worrying about him.

with our current financial situation, we cannot visit a vet. please give me your ideas and suggestions on what we can do at home.
i got him when he was about 2 months old (said to be born in September), got him in December. since then, he has not shed at all but has seemed to grow a small amount. he is 6inches from head to tail.

here is his info and some pics:
and his little spurs

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - pascal is male, veiled chameleon. he is five months old, and i’ve added him for 5-6 weeks.
• Handling - I try not to handle my chameleon very often, and if I do I make sure that he walks onto my hand so that I am not forcing anything upon him.
• Feeding - he will only eat about 4-6 small crickets every other day. he also tends to struggle swallowing after eating. sucks his throat and stomach in kinda to swallow.
• Supplements - I use calcium weekly. I alternate between D3 calcium and multi vitamin every other week. I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium Without D3” “Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamin and Mineral Powder Reptile/Amphibian Supplement” and I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3” [I use normal calcium everyday with a light dusting, and alternate every other week between the other]
• Watering - I mist my chams tank, and I use a dripper aswell. i mist 2(usually 2)-3 times a day. i do see him drinking.
• Fecal Description - white, sometimes slightly yellow

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptile Habitat Screen Cage - Open Air Screen Cage Reptile Terrarium Aluminium Scren Habitat, 17.7 x 17.7 x 31.5
• Lighting - I use a Reptisun T5 Ho Terrarium Hood 24 Inch, I keep it on for about 12 hours a day. (6am-6pm)
• Temperature - The temperature on the upper part (basking area) is usually 80(83ish)°F and the lower parts are 70°F. It drops cooler at night.
• Humidity - i spray 2-3(usually 2) times a day. i use a dripper as well.
• Plants - i have “devils ivy” or pothos, and a very large umbrella plant.

i do understand he is not eating enough at ALL. but he will not eat anymore. he has constant access to food and will barely ever touch it.
i have also stopped doing full calcium and only do it a few times a week because he will eat one cricket and struggle so much to swallow it and the calcium makes the swallowing worse.
(the crickets are smaller than the length between his eyes and are a small size)

he sleeps all night, and on and off during the day. he’s awake fully for about 8 hours a day.

please let me know what you think. i really do appreciate you reading this

 

[Bazelthechameleon]

hello!

my girlfriend had posted on here before about this chameleon, and since then, nothing has changed with this little guy. she is in constant tears worrying about him.

with our current financial situation, we cannot visit a vet. please give me your ideas and suggestions on what we can do at home.
i got him when he was about 2 months old (said to be born in September), got him in December. since then, he has not shed at all but has seemed to grow a small amount. he is 6inches from head to tail.

here is his info and some pics:
and his little spurs

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - pascal is male, veiled chameleon. he is five months old, and i’ve added him for 5-6 weeks.
• Handling - I try not to handle my chameleon very often, and if I do I make sure that he walks onto my hand so that I am not forcing anything upon him.
• Feeding - he will only eat about 4-6 small crickets every other day. he also tends to struggle swallowing after eating. sucks his throat and stomach in kinda to swallow.
• Supplements - I use calcium weekly. I alternate between D3 calcium and multi vitamin every other week. I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium Without D3” “Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamin and Mineral Powder Reptile/Amphibian Supplement” and I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3” [I use normal calcium everyday with a light dusting, and alternate every other week between the other]
• Watering - I mist my chams tank, and I use a dripper aswell. i mist 2(usually 2)-3 times a day. i do see him drinking.
• Fecal Description - white, sometimes slightly yellow

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptile Habitat Screen Cage - Open Air Screen Cage Reptile Terrarium Aluminium Scren Habitat, 17.7 x 17.7 x 31.5
• Lighting - I use a Reptisun T5 Ho Terrarium Hood 24 Inch, I keep it on for about 12 hours a day. (6am-6pm)
• Temperature - The temperature on the upper part (basking area) is usually 80(83ish)°F and the lower parts are 70°F. It drops cooler at night.
• Humidity - i spray 2-3(usually 2) times a day. i use a dripper as well.
• Plants - i have “devils ivy” or pothos, and a very large umbrella plant.

i do understand he is not eating enough at ALL. but he will not eat anymore. he has constant access to food and will barely ever touch it.
i have also stopped doing full calcium and only do it a few times a week because he will eat one cricket and struggle so much to swallow it and the calcium makes the swallowing worse.
(the crickets are smaller than the length between his eyes and are a small size)

he sleeps all night, and on and off during the day. he’s awake fully for about 8 hours a day.

please let me know what you think. i really do appreciate you reading this

Hi! So there is a lot of husbandry issues that are most likely responsible for your chams issues. There is a lot of misinformation out there and I’m afraid you may have fell victim to this. It will cost significant money to make the changes needed for your cham. I’ll start with the things that most urgently need to be fixed. First of all your supplements need to be fixed. You should be dusting with plain calcium (no D3 or vitamin A) at EVERY feeding. Then one day every other week you will dust your feeders with calcium containing D3 and vitamin A. I would also recommend implementing a bigger variety of feeders in order to improve your chams diet and potentially encourage it to eat more. Dubias and silkworms are also great staple feeders. Also, are you gutloading your feeders? That is crucial to making them nutritious for your cham. I will leave the lights situation to @Beman as they are the expert, but those also need to be corrected asap. Finally, the sleeping during the day is quite concerning and a sign of a very sickly chameleon. The lack of growth also may indicate parasites. If your financial situation improves, I would recommend getting your cham to a vet as soon as possible. Good luck!

 

[MissSkittles]

Poor baby isn’t looking good at all. I reviewed all of your husbandry with your last post and at current it looks pretty good to me. I had thought that perhaps the feeders were too large and/or that it was possible parasites were an issue. I do still wonder about parasites, but only a vet visit can determine that. I’m also now wondering about if your chameleon has some sort of stricture or other anatomical defect to his throat/swallowing. Again, only way to determine is with a vet visit. I’m not sure what else to tell you at this point. Maybe giving him some liquid nutrition will help as a very short term solution. You could try this https://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/bug-juice.html To avoid causing aspiration, make sure to aim for the very back of your chams throat and only give a couple of drops at a time. The airway is in the front of the mouth. @kinyonga may have better advice than I.

 

[Beman]

Supplements - I use calcium weekly. I alternate between D3 calcium and multi vitamin every other week. I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium Without D3” “Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamin and Mineral Powder Reptile/Amphibian Supplement” and I use “Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3” [I use normal calcium everyday with a light dusting, and alternate every other week between the other]

Can you take pics of what all you have so I can see the labels... Tell me with these exactly by name how often your using them as well please.

Lighting - I use a Reptisun T5 Ho Terrarium Hood 24 Inch, I keep it on for about 12 hours a day. (6am-6pm)

Please tell me the bulb strength of your uvb. Should be written on the end of the bulb. 5.0 or 10.0.. Also please measure from the branch to the screen top below the UVB. I need to know how far away it is to know if it is correct for your bulb strength.

i do understand he is not eating enough at ALL. but he will not eat anymore. he has constant access to food and will barely ever touch it.
i have also stopped doing full calcium and only do it a few times a week because he will eat one cricket and struggle so much to swallow it and the calcium makes the swallowing worse.
(the crickets are smaller than the length between his eyes and are a small size)

With the crickets for the babies size your looking at 1/4 inch sized feeders at the largest. babies have a really hard time getting down larger feeders.