Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - Besides her being inconsistent with eating, She has a big white patch of skin on her head. It looks like dry skin. She has had it since the day I bought her. When I asked the Petsmart employee about it he said it was just stuck shed and that it would come off when she finished shedding, since she was shedding when I got her. She has since finish that shed, and had another, and it still hasn't come off. So I'm starting to think it isn't shed. Also another thing I've noticed is that the part of her tongue that stretches out when she shoots it is dark purple and the round tip of her tongue looks normal pink. She shot her tongue at a hornworm on a branch today and it hit the worm, stuck to it, and when she tried to pull it back to her her tongue let go. It didn't let go immediately though. I wasn't sure if it was the hornworm's grip or a tongue problem.
- Your Chameleon - My Chameleon is a female Jackson's, unknown age, bought her from Petsmart a month and a half ago
- Handling - I handle her once a week. I bring her to her shower tree to let her enjoy a gentle lukewarm shower, then I bring her back to her cage. She hates when my hands are anywhere near her though. But she loves her showers.
- Feeding - I feed her mostly crickets, I usually put 14 in per day, but she doesn't always eat all of them. There are a few clever sneaky ones that have been living in there for weeks, since I always leave cricket food in there. I was gutloading with flukers cricket food (the dry stuff from petsmart) but I just got a pound of bug burger in the mail so I'm going to be feeding them that from now on. She has been on and off her food the past 3 weeks though, she hasn't been eating every day. Maybe every 3 days or so. I still offer food every day, and have offered other foods like superworms, silkworms, wax worms, phoenix worms, hornworms, and dubia roaches. She would eat 3 (tried offering more than 3 but she wouldn't eat more) of the superworms and silk worms for a day or two and then she'd go back to not eating. She ate 7 waxworms today, she wouldn't eat more then that. But someone on this forum told me those are not good for her to eat very often.
- Supplements - I dust calcium without D3 3 times a week, and multivitamin and calcium with D3 twice a month. Both my Multi vitamin and Calcium with D3 are Reptivite brand. Calcium without D3 was also Reptivite but I am switching to Repashy.
- Watering - I have a Reptirain mister that I usually set to mist every 3 hours for 45 seconds, but the past few days I have set it to mist every hour because her urates were orange. I also usually mist her with a pump sprayer once a day until she starts drinking (which can take up to 2 minutes for her to start). I just got my Little Dripper in the mail and I set it up today. She immediately climbed right up under it and started drinking. She even shot her tongue at where the drops were coming from.
- Fecal Description - She poops every other day. It's funny because she has a routine for it. She climbs down right when the lights go on, down to the lowest branch. Same branch every time. Her poop is solid. Her urates have been white for most of the time I've had her except for 3 days ago they were orange. She hasn't had any testing done for parasites yet, I haven't had any luck finding an exotic vet in my area. I have checked both the reptile vet association list and the vet sticky thread on this forum. I asked the vet I go to for my cats and she said she doesn't know of any exotic vets and said to try the Petsmart vet. I don't consider petsmart vet to be a very good option...
- History - She's from Petsmart. She was the only cham there at the time. She was dark brown, huddled in the corner, eyeballing me with both fear and distain. She was in the middle of shedding. She has had one more shed since I've had her.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Screen cage, 18x18x36
- Lighting -Basking light is an All Livinf Things 50watt blue daylight bulb, and it's in the Zoo Med Tropical uvb & heat dome fixture. I don't have the uvb bulb side of the fixture on. I have a T8 All Living Things Reptile Terrarium hood with a Reptisun T8 5.0 UVB bulb in it. All lights are on a 12 hour timer, 8:30am to 8:30pm
- Temperature - Basking spot temp runs 82-80 degrees, bottom of the cage runs 76-73 depending on outside weather. Overnight temps are 70-67. How do you measure these temps?
- Humidity - My humidity gage says 60% but it's a very cheap one from Petsmart, it won't stick to the side of the cage. Honestly all of the ones that my local Petsmart stocks look too cheap to work, but if there's a brand that works well that they carry or that Petco carries that someone could reccomend that would be great. Cheap and working thermometer brands would be nice too, since I only have one digital one right now.
- Plants - I have mostly plastic plants, hard and soft plastic, with a few of them having stiff fabric like leaves. I have a two live plants too because I read they help with humidity. They are small and I don't remember the species, but I do remember that I checked online that they where chameleon safe before I bought them.
- Placement - Currently on my dresser, which makes the top of the cage 4 inches above my eye level, but about to be moved to my nightstand which is about 6 inches lower. My mom is making me move it. The Reptibreeze cage didn't come with a drainage system, so when my cham gets misted it just leaks everywhere. I tried to put a towel under it but it soaks the towel and is ruining my wooden dresser. It is by the window, which she can't see out of. Her cage is in about the middle of my room, so I have a walk by it somewhat regularly. I usually stop and talk to her for a second every time I pass it.
- Location - Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. If you know of any locally owned reptile shops or a reptile vet in Puerto Rico please tell me.
Current Problem - Besides her being inconsistent with eating, She has a big white patch of skin on her head. It looks like dry skin. She has had it since the day I bought her. When I asked the Petsmart employee about it he said it was just stuck shed and that it would come off when she finished shedding, since she was shedding when I got her. She has since finish that shed, and had another, and it still hasn't come off. So I'm starting to think it isn't shed. Also another thing I've noticed is that the part of her tongue that stretches out when she shoots it is dark purple and the round tip of her tongue looks normal pink. She shot her tongue at a hornworm on a branch today and it hit the worm, stuck to it, and when she tried to pull it back to her her tongue let go. It didn't let go immediately though. I wasn't sure if it was the hornworm's grip or a tongue problem.
