Worried for my roommate's veiled girl

[ConcernedRoommate]

Heya. Thank you for checking this post. I have multiple concerns about my roommate's lizard and I thought I'd ask you all.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, female, about a year and a half old as far as I know. She has owned her for a year.
• Handling - she handles her at least once or twice a week
• Feeding - she's currently not eating. She fed her phoenix worms until she stopped eating them (a few weeks ago) and is now feeding her superworms. Two weeks ago she ate three worms and hasn't eaten since. She doesn't feed her worms anything as far as I know.
• Supplements - unsure
• Watering - I haven't seen her get misted for at least a week.
• Fecal Description - unsure.
• History - has had MBD, not sure if she has fully recovered, because her right arm is a bit shaky.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen with a glass door, I think it's 3' tall and about 15" wide/deep
• Lighting - basic basking bulb and purple night bulb. On a timer for 12 hours each.
• Temperature - basking temp is about 82 degrees, which is really bad. She also isn't climbing lately so hasn't been basking. I don't know anything else
• Humidity - basically none. Like I said, I haven't seen her misted for a week or more.
• Plants - no live plants, only fake.
• Placement - hers is the taller cage, other is her crestie.
• Location - central Pennsylvania

Current Problem - a lot of things. First off, she hasn't eaten in at least two weeks, maybe even three at this point. My roommate doesn't mist her often enough. She cannot climb. She's lethargic and is always at the bottom of the cage. She has a swollen wrist, which I think may be Gout caused by dehydration. She has visible ribs. She has a single spot on her right side that has a bump underneath, which she claims is shed because her rib sticks out right there (which I don't believe.).


Yes, I held her to take these pictures which she was NOT happy about. Please, help me out here, help me convince my roommate to take her to the vet!!

 

[Lennoncham]

Please give that poor girl a really good misting. She not only needs it for humididty but that is also how they get there drinking water. Chams should have a variety of feeders that are well gutloaded not just worms. I would do whatever I had to, to get your roommate to take her to a vet and start taking care of her propoerly. Does she have a laying bin in her cage? Females chams lay eggs even when not mated.

 

[ConcernedRoommate]

Please give that poor girl a really good misting. She not only needs it for humididty but that is also how they get there drinking water. Chams should have a variety of feeders that are well gutloaded not just worms. I would do whatever I had to, to get your roommate to take her to a vet and start taking care of her propoerly. Does she have a laying bin in her cage? Females chams lay eggs even when not mated.

Thank you, I know. I keep telling her to feed her more things than just worms but it took me a couple weeks to get her to feed her something other than the phoenix worms she wasn't eating. I'm gonna be sure she's well hydrated. And no. she doesn't have anywhere to lay eggs. She got her from petco so I'm not even sure she knows they lay eggs when they aren't mated.

 

[Lennoncham]

I also noticed you said she has a night light for her and no uvb light? Chams need darkness and night. They also need lighting that will provide UVB, to ensure proper calcium absorption and avoid conditions such as metabolic bone disease (MBD).

 

[kinyonga]

As you said she has a bump or two on her right hand/wrist and that bump on her side... they should be looked at by a vet.

If she hasn't had a UVB light then it's amazing that she hasn't got MBD although if she was getting enough supplements it's possible.

She looks like she could have eggs so she needs a proper laying bin (opaque, at least 12"deep x8" x8" filled with washed moist playsand) ASAP....if it's not already too late....which may be indicated by her sitting low in the cage and being lethargic and not eating.

Definitely make sure she is well watered too.

 

[Andee]

The swelling in the legs actually looks more like mbd to me than gout. Gout usually has more localized swellings around the join, add the shakiness and dehydration and she could have MBD at the moment and slowly be heading toward dehydration caused gout which means kidney failure. She actually looks like she is dehydrated a bit from a little bit of sunkness in her eyes and the general odd shape to her casque. Some of the places where it dips is where good hydration is shows. Her ribs don't show too much to indicate severe emaciation so at least that's good.

I can't tell with the picture of her wrist if that kind of bump area would be a possible gout area. If you can do it, since you seem more worried about her and she is at a point where I would provide emergency care and then talk to your roommate about it later, I would try and shower her. If you don't think she will fall you can put like a branch of somesort that can stand up in the shower and place some of her fake plants on it, then bounce the water from the shower off a wall near the plastic plants so she can drink. Make sure the lights are on so she doesn't sleep. And make sure the water is warm to the touch where it will be near her. Not hot just a bit warmer than luke warm.

She needs to drink and flush her eyes. If you don't have the ability to get a uvb to her immediately if the ambient temperature outside is around 75 or more you can take her out safely and sit with her, even 30-40 minutes will be a huge help. If the sun is behind clouds don't worry about it, it doesn't filter out enough uvb for it to not be useful. You also might want to try buying like just a dozen crickets and see if that entices her? Crickets don't kill your wallet as long as you only do it once in a while. And see if something more active can interest her. I definitely would gut load them with some healthy veggie and fruit scraps for at least 12 hours before giving it her and only give her like... 6 at a time. If she needs them moving a bit slower you can cripple them by pinching their thighs on their jumping legs and then the leg should pop off. It's a defensive mechanism they have.

 

[Lennoncham]

Looking at your pictures that cage looks fairly empty and I'm wondering if that spot on her side and the discoloured line on her stomach is a burn from climbing to the top of the cage for basking as it doesn't look as tho she has a proper basking spot.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

@Andee has covered what care she needs, but her front leg looks just like my female's did when she had osteoarthritis. That requires lifelong liquid calcium to prevent irreparable joint damage. Dilly was treated very early on, and she still has mobility issues.

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

My heart just breaks for her, you are so sweet to care enough to get some help for her. I hope that you take the advice given and do it yourself instead of telling your roommate what she should be doing. She obviously has lost interest and/or is too busy to care for her

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

My heart just breaks for her, you are so sweet to care enough to get some help for her. I hope that you take the advice given and do it yourself instead of telling your roommate what she should be doing. She obviously has lost interest and/or is too busy to care for her

If she has lost interest, I would take her in a heartbeat and rehab her! I have family in York, so I'm in central PA regularly.