3 months old veiled chameleon acts strange

[Ennenenen]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? - Veiled chameleon, male about 3 months old, i think i had him for almost a month
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? - Atleast 3 times a week i try to handle him for some days and then leave him for a couple of days if i stressed him
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? - Only tried crickets, 8 crickets daily at 8 in the morning i have thing called bug juice? I think, and the cricket bedding? Powder? Im sorry i dont know what its called im not english
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? ZooMed repticalcium and vitamin i havent used calcium yet ( in my country we powder the insects with vitamin daily and with calcium like once or twice a month)
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? - When i first got him i always saw him drinking but now not really, i spray him atleast 4 times a day (now even more since im concerned about him if hes dehydrated)
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? - Never tested, poop is normal brown color the pee is half white half wet-like yellow, he strangely pooped yesterday two times and never seen the pee part
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. - Hes been normal ever since i got him and now i was on vacation with my family and left my cham with a relative (whom i just taught how to feed my cham). She says she often forgot to take out the plastic bottle thingy (in which i put the crickets cuz i dont like leaving them in the cage cuz im afraid i leave some in) and my cham once fell in the plastic box and couldnt get out but i think he was eating normally

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? - Glass terrarium 50x30x30 (cm)
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? - Exoterra lights from 8 AM to 8PM, Reptile UVB 150 13W (desert...) and Daylight basking spot 25W
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? - I use an analog thermometer on the top of the cage its around 32 celcius on the bottom i dont know and ive never looked whats the temperature at night
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? - The same thermoteter (it shows humidity) its around 60% i think but i doesnt really pay attention to humidity cuz i read it doesnt really matter...
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? - I had ficus but it died so now i use fake plants
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? - its on my desk around chest height, no lights, fans, traffic
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Hungary

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about:
Since i came home from vacation he doesnt eat (now for 4 days) and i try to mist the cage a lot in hope for seeing him drink again but nothing yet. He acts strange shows signs of dehydration or mbd or its normal i dont how. I was lying in my bed and heard a sound (when i place my hand in the terrarium and he opens his mouth and puffs or blows air at me, when hes defensive) and he just did this sound when no one was near him es next i hear a thud, he fell, not to the bottom cuz he grabbed the plants and saved himself but it was his second fall that day. I ve seen him fall but never this much. Then he opened his mouth and shook his head left and right like he was trying to get something off of him, never seen him doing this before. And he always gulps like he ate something but like i wrote he havent eaten for days and thats where i think he might have something wrong with his mouth or tongue. He did this shaking for like 15 seconds and never again and im happy cuz it was frightening to see him doing that. He still doesnt eat, i left the box in the cage in hope if he wants to eat, i will try some roaches if he just got bored of crickets and maybe get him to a vet but unfortunately todays a holiday and everything is closed. Some more things, he always tries to climb onto my hand and tries to escape the cage which he never wanted and always sitting under one of the lamps like hes cold? but he has normal color and sometimes tries to climb onto the net on the cage. I dont have pictures of him bloating his chin but he always does that

 

[Ennenenen]

And sometimes hes stomach looks relly thin and hanging like hes dented? It shows a little on the first picture. In the same picture you can see something in his nose, since i got him he always has them and i dont know whats that, if you can help me with that too?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

He’s puffing is meant to intimidate you, he sees you as a predator. The white in his nose is excess mineral built up in his system.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Your Cham is nearly full grown, not 3mo.

His falling is due to insufficient calcium in his diet and an excessive amount of other vitamins. He his over dosing on supplements. Post a picture of the supplements your using and your entire viv.

Post a pic of your uvb, not familiar with what your using but I believe it’s too intense.

What do you gutload with?

 

[Ennenenen]

And how can he be almost full grown? They said he born on may 10. Im gutloading with stuff they made for insects and said they are enough and dont need real food like carrot. Last pic is what the crickets eat

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Your Cham has MBD.

 

[Ennenenen]

And what can i do for him to prevent it being more severe? Ill try to get a vet appointment for tomorrow but is there anything i can change and help him?

 

[Ennenenen]

And its just mild mbd right? I can still save him? Hes normal now and despite what happened yesterday and that hes not eating hes behaving normally

 

[cloverthechameleon]

IF he has MBD you can still save him yes. You need to read through these forums, theres tons of information on this website. Your chameleon is also not even close to fully grown. He will double in size and probably tripple in weight. That being said hes also not 3 months old, he looks to be about 5 or 6 months old. Youre overdosing him with the vitamins. Doesnt matter what country youre in you dont use a multivitamin daily. Use a plain calcium daily, not the one you have, you have a calcium with d3. This in correlation with incorrect lighting may be whats causing his strange behavior. He needs a linear UVB not a coil like you have, he needs a bigger enclosure with live plants, he needs better supplements and a proper supplement schedule. Also read into gutloading your feeders and varying his diet.
Theres work to be done and a vet appt with chameleon experience is reccomended. I believe if you fix your husbandry your chameleon can still live a long happy and healthy life

 

[Ennenenen]

IF he has MBD you can still save him yes. You need to read through these forums, theres tons of information on this website. Your chameleon is also not even close to fully grown. He will double in size and probably tripple in weight. That being said hes also not 3 months old, he looks to be about 5 or 6 months old. Youre overdosing him with the vitamins. Doesnt matter what country youre in you dont use a multivitamin daily. Use a plain calcium daily, not the one you have, you have a calcium with d3. This in correlation with incorrect lighting may be whats causing his strange behavior. He needs a linear UVB not a coil like you have, he needs a bigger enclosure with live plants, he needs better supplements and a proper supplement schedule. Also read into gutloading your feeders and varying his diet.
Theres work to be done and a vet appt with chameleon experience is reccomended. I believe if you fix your husbandry your chameleon can still live a long happy and healthy life

THANK YOU!! <3 I will do everything for my baby or not really baby i just hope everything goes well cuz im new to reptiles, i started with a leopard gecko. And omg the calcium part i cant, i asked everywhere where i went and they had reptiles and everyone said the daily vitamin and nothing about calcium without d3 and i always found it strange that the same animals the same products but on english pages i found daily calcium but in my country the people say daily vitamin.

 

[cloverthechameleon]

THANK YOU!! <3 I will do everything for my baby or not really baby i just hope everything goes well cuz im new to reptiles, i started with a leopard gecko. And omg the calcium part i cant, i asked everywhere where i went and they had reptiles and everyone said the daily vitamin and nothing about calcium without d3 and i always found it strange that the same animals the same products but on english pages i found daily calcium but in my country the people say daily vitamin.

Daily plain calcium. Multivitamin 2x per month, calcium with d3 (the one you have) also 2x per month. If you can get your hands on some repashy calcium plus loD you can use that as an all in 1 supplement on every feeding. No other supplements will be needed. Some keepers do this, personally I haven’t made the switch and don’t plan to. I still use the “old” 3 supplement schedule.

 

[kinyonga]

In addition to fixing your supplement schedule I would advise you to feed/gutload your crickets with a wide assortment of greens (dandelion greens, collards, endive, escarole, kale, etc Not spinach)and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, zucchini, squash, etc) and a little bit of fruit (berries, Apple, pear).

 

[Ennenenen]

Since i havent seen him drink, sprinkled a little water in his mouth and i saw a little red thing on his down front lip maybe he damaged his tounge somehow and that why he doesnt open it? Or is that nothing? Or just more problems? The vet doesnt pick up the phone so im gonna go buy calcium and uvb

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Does he spend a lot of time on that thermometer?

 

[Ennenenen]

Does he spend a lot of time on that thermometer?

For the last couple of days yes, he always tries to climb on it

 

[Brodybreaux25]

IF he has MBD you can still save him yes.

There is no question if he has MBD, the only argument here is the severity of it.
-virtually no calcium
-CFL UVB
-Glass top allowing zero UVB penetration
-4x the recommend dose of D3 for 3 months
-crazy high vitamins OD

Either of these last 2 errors alone would be enough to cause serious neurological issues, ie: falls.

Yes, I did generalize a bit too much on where he is developmentally but he’s still way closer to adulthood than a 3mo.

Fully agree that he should be started on plain(no D3) calcium now but he should also be removed from the vitamins completely for the next few months.

I know he’s not wanting to drink, you’ve pointed out several signs of dehydration presenting, but you’ve got to run as much water through him as you can to flush out all the OD’ed supplements.

 

[Ennenenen]

There is no question if he has MBD, the only argument here is the severity of it.
-virtually no calcium
-CFL UVB
-Glass top allowing zero UVB penetration
-4x the recommend dose of D3 for 3 months
-crazy high vitamins OD

Either of these last 2 errors alone would be enough to cause serious neurological issues, ie: falls.

Yes, I did generalize a bit too much on where he is developmentally but he’s still way closer to adulthood than a 3mo.

Fully agree that he should be started on plain(no D3) calcium now but he should also be removed from the vitamins completely for the next few months.

I know he’s not wanting to drink, you’ve pointed out several signs of dehydration presenting, but you’ve got to run as much water through him as you can to flush out all the OD’ed supplements.

I have a vet appointment for tomorrow morning. Ill take your advices thanks. And the top has 2 nets so it lets through the uvb and i ve always planned a full screen enclosure when hes bigger.