Worried about my chameleon!!!

[DeeJ8708]

I've had my chameleon for about a month now, he's a male graceful chameleon, and I'm starting to worry about him. He never has been on a regular schedule with his bowel movements, but he hasn't pooped in week. I recently switched from feeding sm/md crickets to md/lg crickets and he doesn't eat as much, I assume bc of the larger food. I also went to feeding him every other day instead of every day due to his seemingly lacking appetite. Also he used to display dark green stripes and dark spots, but now he's just a pale green. I have a dripper system set up for him and I see him drink at least once a day, he doesn't appear to be dehydrated his eyes aren't sunken and his skin isn't overly wrinkly. Also he isn't as active as he used to be, he mainly hangs out on one vine, next to his dripper, most of the time and isn't under his basking light a whole lot. His cage is close to the tv and the main walk way through the house, could he just be under lots of stress and that is what is causing this or could there be something more? This has only been going on for a little over a week and that is where his cage has always been. Any advise would be more than appreciated. If his condition doesn't change by Monday I plan on taking him to the vet to see if there is a problem with him medically.

 

[dominicthechameleon]

I've had my chameleon for about a month now, he's a male graceful chameleon, and I'm starting to worry about him. He never has been on a regular schedule with his bowel movements, but he hasn't pooped in week. I recently switched from feeding sm/md crickets to md/lg crickets and he doesn't eat as much, I assume bc of the larger food. I also went to feeding him every other day instead of every day due to his seemingly lacking appetite. Also he used to display dark green stripes and dark spots, but now he's just a pale green. I have a dripper system set up for him and I see him drink at least once a day, he doesn't appear to be dehydrated his eyes aren't sunken and his skin isn't overly wrinkly. Also he isn't as active as he used to be, he mainly hangs out on one vine, next to his dripper, most of the time and isn't under his basking light a whole lot. His cage is close to the tv and the main walk way through the house, could he just be under lots of stress and that is what is causing this or could there be something more? This has only been going on for a little over a week and that is where his cage has always been. Any advise would be more than appreciated. If his condition doesn't change by Monday I plan on taking him to the vet to see if there is a problem with him medically.

IMHO, you should move him to a quieter place, he will definitely start to change. You should also try holding him and letting him get to know you. Try hand feeding or cup feeding.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I've had my chameleon for about a month now, he's a male graceful chameleon, and I'm starting to worry about him. He never has been on a regular schedule with his bowel movements, but he hasn't pooped in week. I recently switched from feeding sm/md crickets to md/lg crickets and he doesn't eat as much, I assume bc of the larger food. I also went to feeding him every other day instead of every day due to his seemingly lacking appetite. Also he used to display dark green stripes and dark spots, but now he's just a pale green. I have a dripper system set up for him and I see him drink at least once a day, he doesn't appear to be dehydrated his eyes aren't sunken and his skin isn't overly wrinkly. Also he isn't as active as he used to be, he mainly hangs out on one vine, next to his dripper, most of the time and isn't under his basking light a whole lot. His cage is close to the tv and the main walk way through the house, could he just be under lots of stress and that is what is causing this or could there be something more? This has only been going on for a little over a week and that is where his cage has always been. Any advise would be more than appreciated. If his condition doesn't change by Monday I plan on taking him to the vet to see if there is a problem with him medically.

Not sure if I am right this one but he kinda looks like a she... I couldn't see his spurs and by the size of him I would imagine his casque would be bigger, and I would move him away from the main entrance if it has a lot of traffic, it might be causing her/him stress. If it is a girl she might be old enough to be holding eggs and if that is the case she may be acting weird because she wa ts to lay her eggs in that case lol you need an egg laying bin, those are just my thoughts on it

 

[DeeJ8708]

Thank for the input!!!!

Just an update on the situation I did move his cage to the other side of the house last night. From all the research I've done on graceful chameleons I'm pretty sure it's a male. It didn't say anywhere, that I saw, that he should have spurs, also from what I read gracefuls don't get the larger casque like the veileds. Plus it said that their neck pouches would be bright orange or yellow when puffed up on the males and it is definitely bright yellow. I'm not saying I'm 100% right but I think it is a male. I really do appreciate the input if anyone has any other ideas of what could be wrong let me know!

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Just an update on the situation I did move his cage to the other side of the house last night. From all the research I've done on graceful chameleons I'm pretty sure it's a male. It didn't say anywhere, that I saw, that he should have spurs, also from what I read gracefuls don't get the larger casque like the veileds. Plus it said that their neck pouches would be bright orange or yellow when puffed up on the males and it is definitely bright yellow. I'm not saying I'm 100% right but I think it is a male. I really do appreciate the input if anyone has any other ideas of what could be wrong let me know!

Oh I am so sorry lol after reading the post again I think i just realized that I misread that he was a graceful chameleon, my apologies lol but I hope that your new placement for him does a lot for his stress that he seemed to be having again my apologies.

 

[Ryan8283]

As far as I know (I could be wrong) male gracefuls have spurs... at least ours does and our two females do not. Our male also has a yellow chin like both our females they are very shy chameleons by nature let us know how he does we have a trio that just starting breeding a couple weeks ago any questions feel free to pm us Im no expert on gracefuls but am willing to help good luck with him. Keep us posted and good luck with everything.

 

[DeeJ8708]

He pooped!!!!

Gizmo pooped today finally!!! It looked healthy, the urate (don't know if I spelled that right) was 99% white but it was quite a LARGE poo. I couldn't get an appointment with the vet today, but I did set up one for Thursday. As far as him/her being male or female I chose to go the safe route and put a thing with dirt in the cage today, just in case. If it is a her I haven't seen her displaying any breeding colors or anything either. Hopefully the vet will be able to settle the debate for me on Thurs, for now I'm goin with he lol. After the one comment about not knowing if it was male or female I did some more research and I couldn't find anything about spurs but that doesn't mean anything, I can't find a whole lot of info on gracefuls on the net, and I've looked everywhere. As far as the moving around in the cage goes he moved around a little more today, still didn't go far from the dripper. I took him outside and let him explore in the grass for a little while. Also I started offering to feed him out of a cup I use to dust the crickets in and he ate 4 right out of the cup. It is such a relief to see some improvement!! Thanx for all the input I REALLY do appreciate it. I'll give an update on his/her condition on Thurs. after the visit to the vet.

 

[Elizadolots]

Hi!

They can go really scary lengths of time without pooping...I'm sure it's part of their plan to drive us insane. And inevitably, when they poop, it's ginormous.

You're right, there isn't a lot of info on Gracefuls which is sad because they are so pretty and are one of the more commonly available chameleons.

 

[DeeJ8708]

Well he definately scares tha crap outta me when he does that. It's actually quite annoying that I never can find any info, a lot of what I've learned about chameleons is a mixture of all species put together. Is there any reason they do that or do they just something random theydo every now and then?