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 #461999


Zoo_Underground
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 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, I hope you can help me out with any knowlege you may know about how to help me resolve my problem.

I purchaced my Chameleon at an Expo on July 9, 2005. He has been eating great and was doing awesome till a month ago when his heating bulb burned out. I bought a different bulb and it was worthless, didn’t give off enough heat. Then I finally found the original type bulb he was doing well with before. Even though I have his cage back to normal, his appitite he used to have of eating 2-4 worms is now 1-2 every 3rd day sometimes longer then that. Since I cannot get him to eat from my hand barely, I placed his food in a little dish, but now another problem comes along... sugar ants. I cleaned out his cage and the ants still return. And another problem that I recently found on Aug 29th. My Chameleons right eye is completely shut. He itches it and won’t eat. I’m very troubled by this and I know there has to be something I can do to cure this. My question is what is the cause of this and what can I do to cure and prevent this from progressing to much worse.



08/31/05  11:39am

 #462054


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 461999


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Sorry to hear you’re having such a hard with your chameleon. I have been keeping chameleons for a few years and eventhough I’m not really an expert, I might be able to help.
First of all, tell me about your set up: cage, lights, temps, plants, food, water.
One of the most common problems with chameleon husbandry is dehydration. Chameleons don’t drink standing water, so they need to be misted several times a day. In additions dripcups helps with providing them with a constant supply of water.

Anyway, I you give a full description of your set up we can hopefully help. Unfortunately chameleons have very specific requirements.

good luck,
Suzanne
08/31/05  12:46pm

 #462271


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 462054


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Suzanne,

Thanks so much for dropping in to help! I just cleaned out my chameleons cage, and I took some pictures of the cage set up as well as the lizard. I have some pictures of the lizard when I first got him and then ones from today. The pictures will be in my profile shortly. Soon as I figure this out. You asked me to give you some details about his set up. Here it is...

1) Screen cage (front & Back: 30x30inches) (Top/Bottom & Sides: 18x30)

2) His lamp is a clip on lamp with a red 60Watt heating bulb. It’s about the size of a regular bulb.

3) Temperature is 80 degrees in our house, I do not have a temperature strip for his cage. I am guessing he is getting 4 degrees more then 80 degrees?

4) He has a dripper system, which falls off one section of the plants in the cage and falls down into a bowl at the bottom of the cage.

5) I have been misting his cage as well as him every morning. But Now that I see he needs misting more then just once a day, I will be misting him 3 times a day if that’s enough. morning/noon/night.

6) His cage is all artificial plants

7) Huge log with branches

8) He also has a UVB light on top of his cage

9) His diet has been consisting of majority wax worms I have just placed an online order for silkworms which will be arriving to me within a few days.

Not sure if I missed anything else to mention to you. But basically that’s my set up for him. Today I soaked him in warm water and tried to rub some water into his eye. with doing that and cleaning re-arranging his cage a bit, I think he perked up a bit. His eye is still shut, He did not eat from my hand today nor last 3 days. I placed a wax worm on his branch and walked away and I do not see the worm anywhere so I assume he ate it. Does any of this help you decipher what might be the issue here?

BTW, you got gorgeous lizards! What healthy guys they are. WOW... is all i can say lol really nice job in keeping them like that. It’s not easy!
I want my guy to be huge and pretty ::sigh:: Hope I can get him feeling well again.



08/31/05  04:36pm

 #463355


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 462271


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

That’s a cute little veiled. And fairly tame, considering she will eat while sitting on your hand.

Anyway, back to the set up.
1) perfect
2) I would use a regular day light lamp, not a red heating bulb, but I’m not sure if it really make a difference
3) You should realy get a digital thermometer/hygrometer. Or even beter, a tempgun. it’s important to make sure there is a temperature gradient in the cage and if the ambient temp is 80 you want to make sure the basking spot doesn’t get too hot.
4) sounds good
5) make sure you mist with warm water and mist for at least 5 minutes at a time. It can take chams that long to start drinking. Make sure you actually watch him drink everyday.
6) Putting in a life plant (ficus, pothos, hibiscus) will help keep the humidity up (needs to be aroung 50% for veileds).
7) Looks good, but the more horizontal pathways the better. Chameleons are big fans of vines.
8) what type/brand? Reptisun 5.0 by Zoomed is by far the best choice. It’s also important that the cham can get within 6 inches of the bulb to really be able to profit from the UVB.
9)Waxworms are not very good food for chameleons, they are too high in fat and not very nutricious. Silkworms, crickets and roaches and good staples. waxworms, superworms and hornworms are good treats.
feeders should be dusted with cricket dust (I use miner-all I by sticky tongue farms) every other feeding for young chams, twice a week for adults. Crickets should be gutloaded. I buy dry gutload from Wildeyereptiles.com, but you can also make your own.

Closed eyes is sort of a standard "I don’t feel so good" sign, and it doesn’t always mean there’s something wrong with the eye.
Since dehydration is a likely problem it would be good idea to shower your chameleon. Just put him on a plant in the shower and aim the spray at the wall so only little droplets hit the plant. Make sure the water is a little above room temperature. At first your chameleon may hate this, but don’t give up, it is really the best way to rehydrate. Just keep a close eye on him to make sure he’s doing ok. 30 minutes is good, but if he hates it, start with shorter showers.
If the weather allows it put him outside for an hour or so, natural sunlight can work miracles.

Ok, that turned into a longer message than I planned. And I’m not done yet
Check out www.chameleonnews.com, it’s areally good source of information.
A vet visit would probably be a good idea if he doesn’t improve soon. Chameleons are good at not really looking sick till they’re almost dead.

And thank you for the compliments. I really appreciate it. I’m still learning more every day and I have made my share of mistakes. Chameleons aren’t easy to take care of, but they are so worth the effort.

I hope my post makes sense. If you have any questions let me know.
09/01/05  04:31pm

 #464390


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 463355


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Awesome. You gave me alot of great information. More then I got asking the care taker that I bought the chameleon from. I think it’s a great idea of setting the chameleon on a plant in the shower so he can get hydrated. I did that right after I read your post. He ran to one side of the pathos plant to avoid too much water hitting him, but, then he went right back in the spot where most the water was hitting the plant. His color changed from dark to very very light green. I think he seemed to enjoy that :) Right after that, I offered him some silk worms, and he went right for one :P After that, he was rubbing his closed eye on the pathos leaf a few times, then closed his eyes for a night sleep hehe. I think he was happy!

This morning, he ate another silkworm. was opening his shut eye a little more. He still likes keeping it shut, but occasionally will slightly open it to see the food b4 he eats. I made another forum post on Kingsnake.com and a lady also left me a message saying that when her lizard’s eye was shut a vet said that it would be ok if she where to take some Visine to her lizards eye. She wasn’t sure about that and so she never done it, but she thought she would mention it to me in case I was willing to try. Which to me, I don’t think it’s a great thing to even try out. What’s your opinion on that? Right now, I think your right. He has been dehydrated. And with more hydration he will be back to normal again. I’m very pleased with your advise and I think it’s already doing wonders right now. I’m excited again, there is still hope for my lizard :P Thanks alot Suzanne!
09/02/05  02:28pm

 #465719


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 464390


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

You’re very welcome!
I’m glad I was able to help.
I haven’t heard about using visine, but check out the chameleon forum on www.reptileforums.com. I think that forum has a lot more chameleon experts than any other (people FAR more knowledgeable than me). It also has a search function, so you can look for posts of people with similar problems.

I’m glad he’s doing better, but don’t consider yourself out of the woods yet, a vet visit may not be a bad idea at some point, dehydration may not be the only issue. I’m not saying this to be pessimistic, chameleons are just very good at hiding illnesses.

Anyway, I hope to see you and your chameleon around on the forums!

Suzanne



09/03/05  06:07pm

 #477144


Frykitten
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 464390


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

My veiled appears to have some of the same symptoms as yours and I was wondering how yours was doing? Are both of his eyes open now?
09/13/05  12:28am

 #482933


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Frykitten   In reference to Message Id: 477144


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

No, our Chameleons are dehydrated. Best thing we can do for them at this moment, is Keep them watered all the time, My chameleons eye are now both shut. I have to force feed and watering. All I can do for hopes that he will come around. Best thing is to keep researching on help and advise for different ways to keep your chameleon watered best. That’s what I am doing.



09/18/05  06:10pm

 #483842


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 482933


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Zoo, did you take your cham to a herp vet? If not, than I think you should, a chameleon that needs to be forcefed probably has more issues than dehydration.

Suzanne
09/19/05  03:25pm

 #484885


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 483842


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

No I haven’t taken him to a vet, I been discussing that with my husband. He does not think the vets around here where we live will be of any good help to bringing out cham around. He has delt with reptiles for years, and knows there is no good exotic reptile vets around. I live in Orlando Florida, and if you know any good ones... Let me know and I will run it with my husband to take our cham there. We are considering having to put him down.
09/20/05  01:24pm

 #485772


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 484885


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Here is a list of herp vets in Florida, just call the ones that are in Orlando and ask if they treat chameleons.
http://www.arav.org/Members/FL.htm
Good chameleon vets are few and far between, but you should be able to find one in or near Orlando, I would think.
My husband also has years of experience with reptiles and also said he didn’t know a good herp vet in our area for chameleons, but after a little bit of searching we found one anyway. And he taught us a lot about our chameleons that we didn’t know.
Your husband could be right, but it can’t hurt to double check, right?



09/21/05  11:22am

 #486093


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 485772


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Thank you for your persistant help, and that web link. I will definatly see if i can convince my husband to try out a vet. The thing with my Cham is he will eat. But can’t since both his eyes are completely shut. That’s where the serious problem comes in. Like everyone I talked with, even the lady at an expo I went to last weekend said yes, that’s because he is dehydrated. I don’t possibly think it could be from a different problem other then the lack of water he has not been getting. That’s why I said I have been force feeding him. As for getting water when I mist him or put him in the shower, ocassionally I see him open his mouth real fast and then close it shut. I am not sure if he is drinking water that way or if he is doing that for another reason.



09/21/05  05:05pm

 #486985


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 486093


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

I hope a vet will be able to help figure out what the problem exactly is. It can be so hard for us non-vets to tell with chameleons what is wrong or how serious the problem is.
Good luck with convincing your husband, I hope it works. :)
09/22/05  12:40pm

 #486986


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 486093


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

I hope a vet will be able to help figure out what the problem exactly is. It can be so hard for us non-vets to tell with chameleons what is wrong or how serious the problem is.
Good luck with convincing your husband, I hope it works. :)
09/22/05  12:41pm

 #487983


Zoo_Underground
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 486986


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

LoL...thanks, but I ran it over lastnight with hubby... and don’t look like we will be taking him to a vet. He told me him and his friend Tony who was a Herp Vet knew more then any other vets when they where in the reptile business selling thier own reptiles. Only problem is, Tony moved from FL. to TX. few years ago, and we lost contact. Where is Tony???? :( I’m doing what I can to bring him around, if nothing happens and looks like he progresses to worse, I’m just going to have to do the right thing, and let him rest in peace.



09/23/05  09:43am

 #488270


Sepioteuthis
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 487983


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

That’s unfortunate. Veteranary knowledge of chameleons has improved tremendously in the last few years.
Does your husband have a lot of experience with chameleons? How long ago was it that he was in the reptile business?
I don’t mean to sound like I think your husband doesn’t know what he’s talking about, I’m sure he does. It’s just that when I first started keeping chameleons I relied on my husband to have the knowledge (he used to foster reptiles for the humane society) and as it turned out, his knowledge was outdated. It wasn’t until I discovered the forums that I discovered this, but my husband insisted to not trust people on forums. And unfortunately it wasn’t until the vet diagnosed our panther chameleon with kidneyproblems due to hypovitaminosis A and chronic low level dehydration that my husband realized that the people on the forums had been right about some very important things (like the importance of proper hydration and gutloading of crickets).
Anyway, if your really interested in finding out everything there is to know about successfully keeping chameleons join the forums at www.reptileforums.com and www.chameleoninfo.com and bookmark www.chameleonnews.com.
As for what to do with your little veiled, I feel you own that little guy a vet visit, but you must do what you feel is right, of course.
Suzanne
09/23/05  04:23pm

 #1384285


Panther dude
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   Message To: Sepioteuthis   In reference to Message Id: 488270


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

Hi,my chameleon is having the same problem,hes a panther though. I give him showers too,for bout 30-40 min,when i get in there hes asleep,idk if thats good or bad. And i also think he is dehydrated,and he hasnt been able to eat any crickets this past week since his eye has been closed:(. I REALLY hope these showers rehydrate him.
08/01/07  07:33pm

 #1522392


GoogleNinja
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   Message To: Panther dude   In reference to Message Id: 1384285


 My Veiled Chameleon is sick, need urgent assistance please

My Cham has had the same issues. He was very sick for some time. Both eyes are closed and he was very lethargic and emaciated. He would not eat unless I feed him by hand. I took him to the repto-vet and he suggested I buy a well ventilated cage with no glass walls, an all mesh cage Reptoterrarium is Ideal. The reason why he was so ill was because of a mineral poisoning. Basically with a glass enclosure you will get a mineral build up on the glass. Too much of this can cause your Cham to become ill. I am still feeding him by hand because he cannot see, but his energy level has increased and he is climbing to the top branches of his terrarium. My female Cham fortunately did not come down with this illness. I have been showering him several times a day and it seems as if his progress is getting better. I hope this can help some of you out there with the same issues. GOOD LUCK!
11/21/07  07:16pm

 #1633971


Lizzard kid!!
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   Message To: Zoo_Underground   In reference to Message Id: 461999


 I dont think i can help but i have a sajestion!

Hello, well i hope this is some help to you but i dont think it will be but, do you spray your chameleon with warm water and it leaves evey day for... well some time i sand there for 20 mins just spraying till he wont drink any more!

Hope i was some help to you!

xx
02/22/08  08:10pm


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