What more can I do to encourage WC to eat?

[rshewfel]

What chameleon doesn't need special care? I would not consider a chameleon a pet.

I meant special care as far as chameleons go. They need time to acclimate. I let my cb chameleons settle in a few day, but Wild caughts I hardly look at for at least a month. I have had several chameleons in the past that I considered pets. Chameleons can become extremely tame. I've had chameleons that I let wander my chameleon room. They would walk over to me and climb up me when I walked in the room. I'm sure they just associated me with food, however, I considered them a pet. I guess it depends on your definition of pet.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thanks a ton. I was hoping others who have acclimated wild caughts would share the details of what they did or are doing. Hearing the details of those working with this shipment is a bonus. Your time and effort helping isn't wasted, honest.

Funny you should have Ebola on her cage. I almost called him Ebola, because that is how I am treating him.

What relative humidity are you keeping her at? My levels are kept pretty high, 50% at the lowest and about 100% after misting. The humidity levels stay up in the 90% range for a long time with the three sides and live plants.

My misting system was supposed to arrive over a week ago but hasn't yet so I am hand misting. He tolerates it well. I work hard not to stress him and always work from well below him and don't spray him directly. I will be really happy when it arrives.

I mist so the leaves are dripping, both the tops and the undersides. I do that many times a day. He readily drinks from the leaves. I think his hydration is good based on the two white urates I found. I just wish I had some stool. I haven't put a dripper on his cage but that is easy enough to do.

I'm worried that my temperatures are on the low side. I think he's learned which light gives him heat (I have a lot of light, some LED, plus the Reptisun tube and one 60 watt incandescent. I have the thermometer and hygrometer probes tucked up in the top bracket on the left (close to where he was in the picture). The incandescent light is on the far right. Daytime temps are about 71F taken at the top of the cage but not under the light, so the basking spot will be warmer. He goes up to the basking spot in the late morning and will turn his body to it to warm up. Night temps are mid 60s.

I was thinking about how to deal with the natural plants considering his likely parasite load. I don't know if I'll just toss them and replace them a few times as we go through our deworming program or if I'll completely strip off their soil, wash them with soap and water a few times over a few weeks and reuse them. I'm leaning towards tossing them.

I'm really happy with his demeanor. He doesn't seem terribly stressed by me although he certainly notices if I am looking at him and he watches me. He's in the open much of the time. Right now he is sleeping where he was in the picture. I take that to be a good sign.

It helps me a lot to hear your protocol and just the ins and outs of how yours is eating.

Thanks.

I don't see anybody from the Quad collective posting as of yet. I know more than a few of us posted to help in another thread.


All I'm going to do is share what I have going on with my animal from the very same shipment you got your extremely nice one from. Take what you want you want from it. Nice set up by the way.

The fecals from this shipment were taken to Dr. Greek. You know, a serious reptile vet who has earned my respect as well as many others with exotic animals. His office prescribed one medication so far. Panacur. Nothing else in the fecals so far has warranted any other meds being prescribed. I know from many many past imports that giving both Panacur and Flagyl at the same time can cause issues in a weakened import. There are also instances where it won't cause issues. However for my animal I'm not giving both at the same time. I'm giving my animal three doses of Panacur over six weeks while monitoring her. Her first dose was a bit of paste on a cricket which she ate and gave me the look of "WTF is this American crap you call food?"

She is isolated from all other animals and has "Ebola" taped across her cage just in case the other animals in my reptile room can read. I know other parasites were present on this shipment, specifically a bright cherry red thing that looks like a mite but is actually far worse. Be sure to look for those under the chin around the eyes or armpits. Any folds in the skin are where they like to hide. I have precautions in place just for crawlers like these which involve a deep moat infested with piranha. My Q measures are elaborate.....


My animal is eating about 3 gut loaded crickets a day. She only eats them when I let them go one at a time across a screen where she will swing out and hit them from. She grabbed a dubia this way as well. She ate a few tomato worms I left on a branch within reach. She doesn't like cup feeders. I have only put some multi vitamin power on three food items in total since she arrived as I don't want to overdose her. The gut loaded feeders are fine at this point. Water is a bigger deal.

She is hooked up to my Mist King system. So she gets a few 5 min mistings per day plus a few 1 min mistings. I don't rely on that for her to drink however. I have a dripper that gets filled once a day and drips for about 25 mins. I've seen her drink from that and overall she does not show any of the signs of dehydration.

Unlike you, I have not weighed mine. I'm leaving it alone for the first month. I would intelligently place her weight at 20-25g currently.

She hides in the back, uses her plants for cover. She's in a Q unit so all her plants are plastic and the branches are artificial. I can sterilize things as needed and I don't have to worry about her fecal samples landing in a potted plant possibly (super small chance) and re-infecting her later if a feeder walked across it or such.


Temps are 78-82 during the day, 75+ at night. I like to keep it stable with fresh imports.