baby cham not eating

[mlewis81]

i bought a veiled cham the other day, and prior i did a ton of research, i have a screen cage, fogger, dripper, i spray twice a day, on my temps, i just raised the basking site from 90-95 degrees to 95-100 degrees droping down the high 70's at the bottom. all this and my cham is not eating i have only put in a few crickets at a time and not noticed any missing. its been three days. the cham is alert eyes look good and is climbing around help me, will she eventually eat or should i bring her back

 

[pohcy]

How big is your cage?? because i am having a similar problem as you when i had my veiled... the main problem i notice is that he could not catch the cricket because the cage is too large and the crickets are running around at the bottom while the chameleon stayed ontop of the branch... i might suggest you make yourself a feeding cup and placed it near the favourite branch your veiled perched!....Usually i placed about 5-8 small cricket in the cup and check on it to see the food intake....

Secondly, your chameleon might be still new to her cage...so give her couple of days to get used to the environment.... she might started to feed!!

here is the site from screameleon on how to make a DIY feeding cup!!
Good Luck!!
http://www.screameleons.com/portal/alias__Screameleons/lang__en-US/tabID__3525/DesktopDefault.aspx

 

[mlewis81]

Thanks for responding pohcy, didn't think anybody could help me. My cage is 18"wide X 12"deep X 20"high, i don't think thats the problem. I do have a small cup for the crickets in a good spot. The crickets do get out after a while but she never makes an attempt. I even put her on the edge of the cup and she walked away after about 10 minutes. I also tried wax worms in the cup and sat her on the edge, the only thing eating the wax worms is the crickets. Its now been four days no eating, got any other ideas I could try. Thanks again.

 

[Dave W.]

Howdy,

On the surface, it sounds like yo have things set up well. But just in case, post a few (well focused) photos of the setup and the cham. Someone may spot something. How old and what size is your veiled? And, just for the heck-of-it, what is your UVB source? If your critter is big enough, you could try superworms. Many chams love them far more than crickets. Do you see him taking in water? Photos will show his coloring and your plant setup.

 

[mlewis81]

She ate one, I think, I only saw the wiskers as they were going down. She seemed to be strugling. I put a bigger cup for the crickets so they don't get out as easy but I don't know if the cham can reach them. How long are cham's tounges??? I hope this worked but there is suppoesed to be a pic here. Thanks for responding Dave. I have a 2' floresent as I hope you can see in the pic, the cage has hiding spots for the cham, so good I sometimes can't find her. My cham is only a few months old and she is 4" tops, snout to tail tip. The pic's I took of her didn't come into focus well, but she is a good color green. Superworms are too big, I feed my bearded's those. As for water intake i havn't seen her lick droplits. Is that bad???

 

[Dave W.]

Howdy,

Okay, you've got a very young 4" veiled. That will help pop-up some more ideas from out there (right?) Assuming that your misting process deposits nice small droplets on the leaves, then she should have ample opportunity to lick up enough water to stay hydrated. Keep a close eye on that. Take a good look at her poop. If the white urates aren't white but orange, then that is supposed to be a sure sign of dehydration. Dehydration is still possibility even without that sign.

If she is 4" tip to tip then her body is about 2" which means that her prey needs to be crickets that are 1/4" long or smaller, maybe even pinheads. I believe that at that age, her tongue is between 1 and 2 times her body length (not including the tail.)

Is the plant from an organic grower? I've seen whole clutches wiped-out by insecticide residue left from a non-organic grower. I always wash new, questionable, plants with a mild soap, re-pot in organic potting soil and sometimes even let them sit another month just to be sure. (Probably not your problem here but...)

(Which tube manufacturer/model? Reptisun 5.0?) She needs to be able to get within 6"-12" of the UVB light source for it to do any good at all. This is important for long-term health but I wouldn't suspect it as a cause for this situation.

I remember from reading it somewhere, she shouldn't be showing ribs through her skin, otherwise she isn't keeping her fat/muscle levels up. She may not have lost any substantial weight yet, but if she is thin then that makes the situation even more of a concern.

Are you dusting with Calcium/D3 and adding a vitamin supplement?

Is she keeping her eyes open all day? That's a good sign if she does.

See if you can post a much bigger enclosure photo and other photos of your veiled. A photo hint is when taking a photo of these critters, auto focusing digital cameras need good light to focus and you'll need the critter right in the center otherwise you're likely to end up focused on a background item. For a close-up shot (12" away for example) try the macro setting.

Good luck!

 

[mlewis81]

Dave thanks again for the response. Let me try to answer all the questions now. Hydration I don't believe is a problem, I spray in the morning and in the evening making the leaves inside drip. I also have a drip system i made that drips on to the leaves inside the cage. I leave it on for about 20 minutes at night. Keeping in mind not to spray or drip directly onto her. The crickets I got at first were pinheads, then I just got slighly larger ones. I am sure they are small enough. As for the plants inside the cage, they are fake. The floresent I have is a ESU Reptile 2' and most of the cage is within 12" of the light. As I was just looking at her she didn't have her ribs showing but I think i remember seeing them on. On dusting the crickets I do this every meal. Her eyes i can't always tell but I do think they are closed sometimes. OK I an't great w/ the camera thats my dads think but I will try next time. Like I said before though she doesn't look sick she just isn't eating. Thanks again Dave for the response I look forward to reading from you again on any more advice.

 

[Dave W.]

I spray in the morning and in the evening making the leaves inside drip. I also have a drip system I made that drips on to the leaves inside the cage. I leave it on for about 20 minutes at night.

As for the plants inside the cage, they are fake.

The florescent I have is a ESU Reptile 2' and most of the cage is within 12" of the light.

Her eyes I can't always tell but I do think they are closed sometimes.

Like I said before though she doesn't look sick she just isn't eating.

When you post photos, we may be able to spot something with the setup and/or the critter...

For the long run, think about a live ficus or one of the recommended chameleon plants. Make sure it is free of pesticides.

In the meantime, although I don't know if it has anything to do with the eating issue, I would suggest setting the dripper to run in the morning and/or afternoon. Usually chameleons are ready to sleep in the evening and may not be sufficiently interested in drinking as much as in the morning and afternoon. Many of us run automated misting systems (9am, 12pm, 2pm for 10min).

Sorry to tell you but the ESU UVB tubes aren't known for putting out sufficient UVB-1 band radiation. http://www.testudo.cc/ is a study on the subject. If your tube is older than 6 months, you probably need to replace it anyway. For your application, the Reptisun 5.0 is your best bet. Shop for price. If that has been her only UVB source for many months then this can be a health problem. Weather permitting, taking the cage outside for hours of sunlight can definitely help. Make sure that she can find shade from the sun when she wants it. Oh, make sure that the UVB tube light is coming in from the top and not from the side (I couldn't tell from the photo.)

Generally, closed eyes are not a good sign. I may be more concerned here than I should be since I don't know how much of the time they are closed. It's also important even if one eye is closed. Tell us more about that situation.

 

[Sammy Bava]

How big are the crickets you're offering? They may be too big for her.
I chameleons tongue is pretty long BTW, about as long as they are. Have you noticed any signs of dehydration or parasites like yellow or orange urate, sunken eyes, problems with shedding, sleeping during the day?
You seem to have done your homework well, it may that there has been something wrong with her since before you got her.

Good luck!

Suzanne

 

[Sammy Bava]

OK, oops I didn't realize that there were two pages to the thread until after I posted my reply and most of my questions/suggestions have already been answered.
I will add this though; it's not always easy to tell on the outside if there's something wrong with your chameleon.
I recently discovered that my chameleon has hookworms. He wasn't really looking sick, but his appetite had gone down and to me something didn't seem just right.
I took the chameleon and a fecal sample to the vet. The vet said he wouldn't have guessed there was something wrong with him if it hadn't been for the fecal sample which contained worm eggs.

Anyway, good luck with her,
Suzanne

 

[mlewis81]

Well I would like to thank everybody for the help but my work is done. When I came home this afternoon her eyes were closed, poop was hanging from her rear, and she still hadn't eaten. I tried all I could in a weeks time and I had no luck. I feel Suzanne has something there about the hookworms and I will mention that to the pet store. Tonight the cham goes back.