cosimoto
New Member
Hello please be patient with my post, hopefully it's not as long winded to you, as it seems to me.
photo album: http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/andoloro/
First, my chams situation:
I have a male veiled cham, approx 3-5 months old, I purchased him from the Seattle Reptile Expo, from amazing blue reptiles, which came highly recommended from Pam, from Pam's Chams. He is about 8 inches in total length and what appears to be a healthy weight. I have owned him for about 2 weeks. I did a large amount of research; on the web, bought a few books, and read a lot on this forum. His enclosure is fully screened, 24'' high, 18'' wide and 18'' deep. There is UVB lighting, a UVA and basking lamp, and a night heat lamp, everything is on timers; 12 hour cycle. The day temps (measured at the highest and lowest vined point) are 90-95 degrees in the basking zone and 70-75 in the lower limits of the vines. With the night temps between 80-89 high zone 65-70 in the low. He has two drippers, one in his basking space and another away from heat, an irrigation system (rain ring), and I mist twice a day, maintaining the humidity between 50-70% respectively. I clean up any standing water from the pvc bottom of his enclosure twice a day and remove his droppings from plants and etc. He drinks a lot of water and eats vigorously. He eats 15-25 small crickets a day, I dust about 3-5 of them, and they are all gut fed a minimum of 24 hours before feeding. Right now that is all I'm feeding him. He seems healthy in activity, he moves a lot, doesn't sleep during day, regulates himself what seems to be well, well is always at different heights periodically. He also had a shed that seemed to be over in a very healthy period of time; 9am 5 days ago I noticed some of his skin loosening by lights out in the same evening he was just rubbing the last of it off his head on a tree limb. I observe him eat and drink. So why am I concerned???
okay my concerns:
I think he might have a URI, my reasons:
His poop seems odd. To explain, the urate is orange in color. However, it's not 100% of the time, some are whiter with like an orange liquid and some seem to be solid orange. Some are also wetter than would seem normal. Pictures in reference were taken two days ago.
He seems to mouth breathe quite a bit, even when his color doesn't support aggression or feeling threatened. I started looking carefully but he doesn't have any mucous in the corners of his mouth. So it may be just to regulate temp???
His nostrils seems to be clogged with mucous (possibly), it just seems like the nostril hole is white, not like a black hole, like there is stuff in there. Today I had to grab him and used a q-tip to remove what was like a single grain of salt sitting right on his left nostril. He displayed some beautiful angry coloring, but it wasn't to traumatic he calmed after a minute or two and then chilled as I let him crawl my hands for 5 minutes or so before returning him. The pictures in the album titled, left side and right side were taken today during that encounter, so please use these photos as reference if you'd like to look at his nostrils most currently.
I just worry that he may be getting a URI, maybe I'm over worrying I really just don't want him do die. If any of these assumed symptoms worsen or it becomes very evident something is wrong I will take him to a vet immediately.
What I'm basically looking for is a little more info or perspective on my observations. I almost feel like I'm too worried about him, but I'd rather be safe then sorry.
Again sorry for how long this is....
Photo album...
http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/andoloro/
photo album: http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/andoloro/
First, my chams situation:
I have a male veiled cham, approx 3-5 months old, I purchased him from the Seattle Reptile Expo, from amazing blue reptiles, which came highly recommended from Pam, from Pam's Chams. He is about 8 inches in total length and what appears to be a healthy weight. I have owned him for about 2 weeks. I did a large amount of research; on the web, bought a few books, and read a lot on this forum. His enclosure is fully screened, 24'' high, 18'' wide and 18'' deep. There is UVB lighting, a UVA and basking lamp, and a night heat lamp, everything is on timers; 12 hour cycle. The day temps (measured at the highest and lowest vined point) are 90-95 degrees in the basking zone and 70-75 in the lower limits of the vines. With the night temps between 80-89 high zone 65-70 in the low. He has two drippers, one in his basking space and another away from heat, an irrigation system (rain ring), and I mist twice a day, maintaining the humidity between 50-70% respectively. I clean up any standing water from the pvc bottom of his enclosure twice a day and remove his droppings from plants and etc. He drinks a lot of water and eats vigorously. He eats 15-25 small crickets a day, I dust about 3-5 of them, and they are all gut fed a minimum of 24 hours before feeding. Right now that is all I'm feeding him. He seems healthy in activity, he moves a lot, doesn't sleep during day, regulates himself what seems to be well, well is always at different heights periodically. He also had a shed that seemed to be over in a very healthy period of time; 9am 5 days ago I noticed some of his skin loosening by lights out in the same evening he was just rubbing the last of it off his head on a tree limb. I observe him eat and drink. So why am I concerned???
okay my concerns:
I think he might have a URI, my reasons:
His poop seems odd. To explain, the urate is orange in color. However, it's not 100% of the time, some are whiter with like an orange liquid and some seem to be solid orange. Some are also wetter than would seem normal. Pictures in reference were taken two days ago.
He seems to mouth breathe quite a bit, even when his color doesn't support aggression or feeling threatened. I started looking carefully but he doesn't have any mucous in the corners of his mouth. So it may be just to regulate temp???
His nostrils seems to be clogged with mucous (possibly), it just seems like the nostril hole is white, not like a black hole, like there is stuff in there. Today I had to grab him and used a q-tip to remove what was like a single grain of salt sitting right on his left nostril. He displayed some beautiful angry coloring, but it wasn't to traumatic he calmed after a minute or two and then chilled as I let him crawl my hands for 5 minutes or so before returning him. The pictures in the album titled, left side and right side were taken today during that encounter, so please use these photos as reference if you'd like to look at his nostrils most currently.
I just worry that he may be getting a URI, maybe I'm over worrying I really just don't want him do die. If any of these assumed symptoms worsen or it becomes very evident something is wrong I will take him to a vet immediately.
What I'm basically looking for is a little more info or perspective on my observations. I almost feel like I'm too worried about him, but I'd rather be safe then sorry.
Again sorry for how long this is....
Photo album...
http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/andoloro/
Last edited:
Usually they just need a longer amount of time misting to stimulate them to drink.
