Is He OK? Please Help!

[sassysnake]

I have a male veiled that I got about two months ago, and he was living at my boyfriends house. Just recently (about two ish weeks ago) I went to visit him and he looked too skiny, so I got mad and brought him home with my other herps, where I figured I could care for him better. He is pretty hand shy, so I haven't bugged him AT ALL, and he drinks and poops and everything (I fill his dripped about twice a day), plus he climbs around, but I took this picture today of him stretched out, and he just looks sooooo skiny to me that I'm worried..........I offer food at least once if not twice a day, but he doesn't eat very much (about 6 worms a day, and a couple crikets) I powder (calcium) his food..............What am i doing wrong? Is this just the way he looks? Could he have internal parasites?.........Please, any advice would be great, I normally have snakes and chams are very new to me, although I did a lot of research before I picked him up.....I just don't know if he's ok or not! Ok, giving up on the picture idea now.... I will try to post the pic later........very frustrating!

[Zoe]

Since he's pooping, perhaps a fecal exam is in order. Stretched out, they always look skinny, but he could be eating more. A fecal can help you, at least narrow down what may be wrong. Not too expensive ,either.

Zoe

[jazzmachine]

A fecal would definitely be recommended for him. Also what is his set-up like? He may just be stressed from the moves and whatnot? Is he c/b or w/c? Always make sure the temps are right, and that he has lots of humidity besides a dripper. Details will definitely help to hopefully solve the problem. good luck.

[labomb]

I couldn't see the pics, but one of my males looks skinny when he stretches out. he also can make himself very thin when trying to hide or make himself invisible to me. He is three years old, I have had him one year and he seems healthy otherwise. He doesn't eat alot comparing him to my younger male whom I also had one year and the younger one is quite plump, not shy at all and eats like a pig, but only if I hand feed the spoiled guy. Since you have not had your cham very long, a fecal would be a good idea to be safe.

[sassysnake]

Thanks so much to all you guys who responded. I feel better about the info you gave, and I'll get that fecal done anyways, just to be safe

[kinyonga]

You don't mention the temperatures in the cage....both basking and ambient.
Temperature is important since these critters need to warm their bodies to digest their food. Hydration is important too.

You don't mention whether you provide UV light or direct sunlight for him. Chameleons need the UV either from a bulb or the sun so that they can make vitamin D so that they can use their calcium.

Do you gutload the insects before you feed them to him? Healthy insects help to make a healthy chameleon.

You said that you use calcium to dust the insects, but do you use calcium/D3 and vitamin and mineral dusts as well?

Assuming that you mean mealworms when you say worms, 6 mealworms and a couple of crickets should be enough for him per day. You should try to give him as wide an assortment of insects as possible...superworms, silkworms, wax worms (fatty...so just a treat), tomato horn worms (captive raised ones only), etc.

Being that he is a veiled, he could be getting greens (dandelion, mustard, kale, collards, ROMAINE lettuce, etc.), veggies (diced red pepper, squash, sweet potato, carrot, etc.) and fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.) as well as being provided with a pothos plant. (He can eat other non-toxic plants and flowers too.) Make sure that any plants you use in a veiled's cage are non-toxic and well washed on both sides of the leaves.

A couple more things....veileds are prone to eating the dirt. Some dirts can cause impaction...so I recommend that the soil be covered with stones big enough that the chameleon can not ingest them.

I never use substrates with veiled chameleons because many (if not all) of them can cause impaction too.

Hope this helps.