Chameleon suddenly ill..

[Shelby]

I can't believe this.. this is my third animal that is sick now. I wonder if it's me.. or just a real nasty coincidence.

I have a male jackson's chameleon. I've had him for around 6-7 months. From the beginning he was a good feeder, and I've seen him drink on numerous occasions. He is in a 22gal screened enclosure, with a ficus and a schefflera plant which the dripper drops his water onto. It is of course refilled daily. He also has a UV bulb, and several climbing branches all over his habitat. He is not handled much at all as I know they are easily stressed.

As the weather turned colder, he was showing little interest in his food. I know they can be picky about what they eat, so I've tried crickets, mealworms/beetles, superworms, waxworms, potato bugs (roly polys), and houseflies. Now, he wil ALWAYS eat a housefly when we catch it. I suppose it's constant movement captures his interest.

I fed him one three days ago. The day after, I found it regurgitated on the cage floor. Since then, he hasn't eaten anything. His ribs are showing too.. he hasn't eaten much lately at all. But before I fed him the fly, I had gotten him to eat crickets for several days consistently.

The worst part is that yesterday I saw him in the middle of the day, with his eyes closed. A bad sign. And today he's doing the same thing, but both of his front feet are off of the branch, and are hanging down.

I can't get him to the vet until tomorrow.. he looks so awful. Any ideas as to what's wrong here?

[Marla]

Are you sure you don't have a mite infestation? It's awful unusual for so many animals to fall sick in such a short span of time unless they're all exposed to an adverse condition of some sort. I am no cham expert at all, but I would strongly suggest getting him to the vet and mentioning the others while you're there. Maybe you've had a recent visit from pest control or something?

[Shelby]

Woud I be able to see the mites on him? I don't really know what to look for. How do I get rid of them if I have them?