urgent help needed for cham...

[gregormith2394]

i bought an adult male cham about 3 weeks ago from a lady in glasgow. wen i got him he was very under-wieght. i got him back to my house but he will not touch food. its been three weeks and he hasnt eat anything, im starting to get very worried that i might loose him!
ive tried covering him and ive tried most tpes of food but he just walks away from it!
and advice would be greatly appreiated!
thanks

[littlefoot]

We need to know the set up,the temps,and u.v strength and a pic of set up and chameleon will also help.3 weeks is a long time to go without food !
Is he drinking?

[gregormith2394]

as far as i know he is drinking (im spraying him daily)
and about the set-up. the u.v is 10.0 and is on about 12 hours
the heat-its a 100w bulb and its goin up to about 28-30c

any suggestions?
cheers

[littlefoot]

Can you post pics of set up and cham?

[gregormith2394]

il go and take sum snaps now--be up in about 30 mins!
thank you very much for your help

[gregormith2394]

this is his flexi


and this is him. you can see how thin he is..he was like this when i got him!

[chameleon_keeper]

Not the worse i've seen a Yemen! And your setup seems fine asthetically. All i will say is that as it's a flexarium just make sure its warm enough in there with no draughts or other stresses.

I am not making this up but my male Yemen went through a 3 week spell where he didn't eat AT ALL. I moved him up from one small viv to his 260 Gallon Flexarium, his first 3 weeks in that flexarium he never touched anything which sent me potty as he was such a good feeder. After 2 weeks of shoving food in there, trying new foods etc i said 'sod it', removed every single cricket and hopper etc, stopped presenting him with waxworms and mealworms and simply let him spend a week being misted and relaxing. After that week (now his 3rd week without food) i put 2 hoppers in there, he hadn't seen food for a week and suddenly he ran down towards them and scoffed them both within minutes.

It worked for me, so maybe it will do for you. I put it down to him settling in, every animal takes time...some more than others. I think having loads of crickets and hoppers in there when he was trying to settle just added to the stress, he didn't see them as prey items but more as annoyances.

Every now and then even now he goes through lenghty periods of fasting, i've got to know him well and his little traits and so dont panic half as much as i did then.

Good luck, hope he munches on something soon!

[gregormith2394]

thank you very much for ur help. how were you feeding him?-coz every time ive gone in with a hand then he sh*tes himself and hides. ive also tried tongs but he's scared of them too and ive tried puttin a tub of crix in but the just run awy and burrow!
thanks

[littlefoot]

Hi have you got a dripper and any live plants? Put a bunch of water cress within easy reach.Have you tried locusts and wax worms?

[gregormith2394]

yeh i have tried waxys,crix and locust!- and he has a dripper but he is scared of it so its off most the day. would he eat the watercress?