whats wrong?

[JoshS]

Ok Im here to figure out whats going on with my chameleon and to see if I should take her to the vet or just wait it out awhile.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - A jacksons chameleon. I think a female. I've had her since August 5th, and she was born June 5th. she is a baby and about 3 inches head to tail long

Handling - once a week
Feeding - started out fruit flies. then progressed into baby crickets and pill bugs. Today I started offering phoenix worms
Supplements - Multivitamins twice a month, calcium twice a week, and calcium with D3 once a month (since she's outside so much, I use it once a month now)
Watering - drip system on days with lots of sun, and misting 3-4 times a day
Fecal Description - black and white droppings. not tested yet
History - All I got was that she was born at Petco june 5th and the lady I bought her from had just fed fruit flies with a uvb bulb and no vitamins

Cage Info:
Cage Type - shes in a full mesh cage. I'm not sure about the dimensions but its big enough for a 2ft plant to sit in
Lighting - right now i've been keeping her outside during the day and bringing her in at night. so only night does she have a 60 watt dark bulb
Temperature - day temp is about 80 now because shes outside, but only about an hour in the full sun with water. at night outside its been in the low 60s so I've been bringing her in.

Humidity - I live in Georgia so its pretty humid. Not sure of the exact humidity but the drip system makes in humid inside the cage
Plants - two umbrella plants, a parlor palm, I've got another plant in there but forgot the name but I know its approved as a safe plant
Placement - cage sits on the ground inside of a screened in patio.
Location - georgia. above atlanta

Current Problem - she has a been a great eater since I got her. And when I started putting her outside because it was hot, she was an even better eater. Then this week about monday she was eating less and less. I was already worried because the most crickets shes ever ate was about 4 in one day and maybe a pill bug. But now she only eats one cricket a day and I find the crawling on the bottom of the cage. I figured she was getting bored and ordered some phoenix worms. Today I gave her some and she only ate one and no crickets. I misted her and noticed her licking the leaves and so I brought out the drip system and it turns out she was really thirsty.

I'm just worried because shes a good color still and there is still poop in the cage but shes not eating that much and from what I read, shes no where near the time for her feeding to slow down. I haven't been using the drip system because i's been mid 70s so I figured misting was helping. Should I wait a couple of days before I start to really worry, because maybe she was dehydrated? Thanks for your help

 

[Carlton]

She should be getting plain calcium (no D3) daily...not a huge heavy coating but some. The first thing to focus on is getting her hydrated. Dehydrated chams lose their appetite and have more trouble catching prey. Don't overwhelm her with many feeders at the same time. Sometimes young chams just sit and watch all the movement unable to focus on any one of them. Maybe the size of the feeders is a bit large for her. Smaller feeders have more surface area to hold nutrients and dusts than large ones do. Something could be distracting her...maybe the cage changes? Jax can be overheated to the point they stop eating too.

 

[Solid Snake]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - A jacksons chameleon. I think a female. I've had her since August 5th, and she was born June 5th. she is a baby and about 3 inches head to tail long

Handling - once a week
Feeding - started out fruit flies. then progressed into baby crickets and pill bugs. Today I started offering phoenix worms
Supplements - Multivitamins twice a month, calcium twice a week, and calcium with D3 once a month (since she's outside so much, I use it once a month now)

This chameleon needs calcium on all feeders, and multi once every month to six weeks (I recommend six weeks) and if she is getting more than 8hrs real sun a week, no D3 is necessary. They overdose on the D3 much easier than most chameleons. Supplemented D3 will build up in their system, and they will use it until they need more. D3 from sunlight cannot be ODed on, and will only be produced as needed. Real sun is much healthier, so I would leave the D3 out for now.

Most feeders have the opposite calcium to phosphorous ratio that is necessary for proper calcium absoption. This is why you need to dust the feeders. Not to add calcium to thier diet, but so that they can actually absorb and use the calcium in thier diet. So, I recommend a SMALL amount on most feeders. Phoenix worms do not need dusting. To dust crickets and roaches, place the feeders in a glass jar, then add a SMALL amount of calcium to them and swish them. If there is any calcium left in the bottom of the jar, youve used too much. You want them to be barely coated, and that is all. So adding exremely small amounts to the jar and swishing is a good way to get it right. Jacksons tend to have issues with added supplements, so this is not a species you want to over do it with.


Watering - drip system on days with lots of sun, and misting 3-4 times a day

How long are these misting sessions? Id recommend one a day be at least 10 min. and the rest at least five. Especially if shes outside, get a large pesticide style sprayer ($8 at walmart) and give her the business!

Fecal Description - black and white droppings. not tested yet
History - All I got was that she was born at Petco june 5th and the lady I bought her from had just fed fruit flies with a uvb bulb and no vitamins

Cage Info:
Cage Type - shes in a full mesh cage. I'm not sure about the dimensions but its big enough for a 2ft plant to sit in
Lighting - right now i've been keeping her outside during the day and bringing her in at night. so only night does she have a 60 watt dark bulb

She needs no light at night, and even the red/dark bulbs they suposedly cant see can bother them, and keep them up. Additionally, you want a 10 degree temp drop at night. This will promote healthy eating behavior, and digestion. If your ambient temp is 75F during the day, then the ambient at night needs to be 65F, or thereabouts. I would leave the animal outside at night if I were you, as long as you have a safe place for her to be. If you dont think its safe, then bringing her in is ok, just place her somewhere very dark, and cool.

Temperature - day temp is about 80 now because shes outside, but only about an hour in the full sun with water. at night outside its been in the low 60s so I've been bringing her in.

They can handle temps down to 55F safely, provided they get to warm up properly during the day. I would leave her outside now, but if it gets any cooler, you may want to start bringing her in.

Humidity - I live in Georgia so its pretty humid. Not sure of the exact humidity but the drip system makes in humid inside the cage
Plants - two umbrella plants, a parlor palm, I've got another plant in there but forgot the name but I know its approved as a safe plant
Placement - cage sits on the ground inside of a screened in patio.

The higher up the better. She will feel safer, and more relaxed, thus she will spend more time doing what she needs to do. Like eating, thermoregulating, and drinking and such.

Location - georgia. above atlanta

So, maybe she will improve after those changes.

They don't always eat consistently, but at a young age they shouldn't be slowing down much.

These "pill bugs", are you catching them yourself, or is someone raising them? If its rollie pollies youre talking about, terrestrial isopods, the ones you find outside will have too many heavy metals in them, so they should not be fed. If you are getting them from someone, or raising them yourself, make sure youre using an appropriate diet for them. Im not sure what that is exactly, but sandrachameleons blog on it has all the information you may need.

 

[JoshS]

Carlton:

Ok thanks! I felt really bad that she was acting so thirsty! I thought that the misting was enough since their wasn't much sunlight out. Today after her long drip session, she was climbing all over the cage again, so it definitely helped.

Solid Snake:
Thank you for the very detailed answers! I feel like now my answer and how to raise her better is more unique to where I live and my particular chameleon, rather than a generic answer!

You guys are the best!!

 

[Solid Snake]

Good deal.

To clarify, you wouldnt want to spring those kinds of temps on the animal all of a sudden. Like if it was 80F one night, and then 54F the next. That could be bad, and cause health issues. They would tolerate a gradual drop though, as they would experience such in the wild. I wouldnt want them to experience say 55F for weeks though, and then it get colder and have to be brought inside, and then all of a sudden experience a night time temp of 70F again, as it can be hard to get a house down to that temp, and live comfortably. So there is a margin you have to judge, ideally anyway. Now, if you have a spare room to keep them in, and can crack a window in said room, thats different. Youll have to judge your individual situation, and do whats best for the animal, as you can manage it.

Your husbandry will never be as ideal as their natural environment, but you have to try. The goal is to just keep the animal "happy", giving it what it needs to take care of itself, and then the animal will do just that. Youre "keeping" the animal, not caring for it.

Here we can see that you can expect to have to bring her in sometime in mid October. Then take her back out around April. Then, through May to August you will have to watch temps closely, and employ shade tarps and more frequent mistings on hot days(click record high to see such) and on very hot days possibly bring her in. http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USGA0028

 

[JoshS]

Since you guys have helped me all this time, is it normal for her to stop eating while shedding. I had a snake and this is almost a guarantee a snake will stop eating until done. She didn't eat anything, which is when I noticed she was really shedding. Today most of the dried skin was off, plus it was hot, so she got a nice and long drip session. Yesterday she didn't eat anything offered. Today she at one of the phoenix worms.