4-3-09 Vet Visit

[luckykarma]

I would concur with what Dave said, mainly because he's smarter with better intuition than many bogus vets in the area.

On the matter of lighting. You may want to hold your praise of Zoomed and distain of others based on what Kevin found with new Zoomed bulbs. He can elaborate but the short of it is there's a quantity out there that are defective displaying 50% less than they should.

While UVB meters are considered a luxury previously with all the issues of lighting problems they're getting to be a necessity.

 

[Docility]

I would concur with what Dave said, mainly because he's smarter with better intuition than many bogus vets in the area.

On the matter of lighting. You may want to hold your praise of Zoomed and distain of others based on what Kevin found with new Zoomed bulbs. He can elaborate but the short of it is there's a quantity out there that are defective displaying 50% less than they should.

While UVB meters are considered a luxury previously with all the issues of lighting problems they're getting to be a necessity.

after having a very helpful forum member talk to me about my isses for about an hour plus i did a few things today that really really seemed to have helped. first off i removed the Zilla bulb, and he started to open his eyes almost immediately. i then proceeded by taking him outside for 2hours since it was 72F today instead of the predicted 50F, and HE LOVED IT! he had his eyes open, and was running about the bushes i have in the front yard, and hes being much more active to night in his cage than the past 3 days put together. im happy, and hes showing great signs to improving. he has not ate on his own yet, but i can feel it coming along soon =)

note on the the zilla 36in the filter had streaks in it unlike the reptiglo i bought. its a solid filter which is what i thought it should look like. im happy hes getting better, and hes not acting negatively to the new bulb ( i took it back and traded it for the only other one in stock of a different brand we do not carry zoomed at petland)

if the forum member wishes me to use his name i am more than happy to give him credit for the help

 

[luckykarma]

That's great news. This shows the importance of knowing about your lighting. I ordered a few extra Solar Meter UVB 6.2 meters in our bulk order for the club. If you're interested PM me.

I'm concerned my new Power Suns are too strong. Dave Weldon alerted me to this when UK members commented on the ones made this year. One cham is avoiding it and I caught another with one eye closed. They were out most of the day. I can't wait for the meters to come to see if this is an issue.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...if the forum member wishes me to use his name i am more than happy to give him credit for the help

Howdy Ben,

You're welcome ! It sounds like things are headed in the right direction. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he continues to recover back to full health. This forum has seen big improvements and then big crashes before so we "don't count our chameleons before they hatch" .

 

[luckykarma]

We are all so very lucky to have Dave on this board and head of our Chameleon keeper club. I suspect I'd have a couple deceased chams if it weren't for Dave.

 

[Docility]

We are all so very lucky to have Dave on this board and head of our Chameleon keeper club. I suspect I'd have a couple deceased chams if it weren't for Dave.

very intelligent person. provided me with help, and answers to many questions i had about things, and questions my vet refused to answer.

Thank you very much for the help!

Karma if i wasnt so broke i would be investing in one myself. seems you cant trust anything anymore, and have to double check everything to make sure its doing its job

 

[greeneyes78]

she said to soak him for 20 min a day? she didn not specify what she ment, and said this would allow his body to absorb the water he needed, and i think i read somewhere before that they cant do this efficient enough to even amount to anything.

I know she didn't specify and I've never tried it with a cham, but maybe she meant to soak it like you would a beardie? If you put them in warm water they can absorb it through their vent (cloaca). Maybe that's what she meant.

 

[Docility]

I know she didn't specify and I've never tried it with a cham, but maybe she meant to soak it like you would a beardie? If you put them in warm water they can absorb it through their vent (cloaca). Maybe that's what she meant.

i dunno, but trying to get one of those to lay in water sounds very difficult to me, but that would be for dehydration which i ruled out his urates are white nor does he show signs of it. i had 3 different pairs of customers come in yesterday saying they took their reptile to the same vet and she carbon copied the same response to all 4 of us!? the thing is is between a Chameleon/Bearded dragon/ Iguna/ Ball python . The treatment should be varied depending on species of reptile. She referred to all of us characteristics such as weight, and length that should only be used with iguanas. 3 out of 4 of the peoples animals are still living mine included the only one that died is the one that continued to go back to see her, and follow her advice. I really mean carbon Copied advice too. we could quote each other it was rather sad. i really wish we had a qualified herpetologist in the area we need one.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

D3 form UVb is better, but I'm going to always use some repcal with D3 in it. I have seen several animals raised with 5.0 and 10.0 bulbs, good gutloads, and calcium powders, and they get MBD. These UVB bulbs do not produce enough radiation to be an adequate substitute for the sun. They help reduce the amount of artificial D3 required - which is a very good thing - but they will not always work on their own.

For best results, use UVB lights (zoomed is hands down the best, they work, where many others do not really put out en ough radiation to do much good at all).
For supplementation, use calcium WITH D3 in conjunction to a calcium without D3. Most of the time give them the calcium, every week or every other week, a tiny bit of calcium wiht D3 dusted on a cricket is good, safe practice.

By my experience startign out, I can tell you it is extremely unlikely that anyone is going to oversupplement with vitamin D3 (in veiled chameleons) if they're using it once a week or less.

I raised hundreds of babies, heavily dusting every feeder from birth to death, with repcal. from their first fruit flies and pinheads, till adulthood. I had many long lived animals, and never had any of the show signs of calcium or vitamin imbalances.

An dI KNOW I was giving them more than 10X what they were requiring!

 

[Docility]

hes doing better, and becoming more active. im going to wait 3 days to see if he willingly eats on his own since hes keeping his eyes open. i changed the bulb out, and have been taking him outside. im so happy he seems to be on the right track, but im not ruling out a crash for a few weeks