Calcium over-kill?

[jp279]

Is it possible to over supply Calcium to your cham?
I dust my grasshoppers (he won't eat crickets) for every feed with either straight calcium or Repton multivitamin (having 126000iu/kg of D3 as well as 220g/kg of calcium), and recently I bought some exa-terra liquid calcium supplement, which I put in his mist water and still water (I have seen him drink several times before putting it in) but this stuff tastes absolutely disgusting, I tried it. I'm hoping it won't put him off drinking.
The reason for all this calcium is, while he still has a strong grip and hearty appetite (I limit him to 10 grasshoppers daily, he'd love to eat twice that but I don't want him to get fat), when he is moving in a hurry or reaching for branches quickly, the outstretched limb shakes, which I have read as a sign of calcium deficiency.

He is a 4/5 month old Yemen/Veiled cham and I have a 100W ZooMed Powersun mercury vapour UVA, UVB and heat bulb.

Also as a side note, he never quite gets rid of skin on his side, but I think this could be a problem with humidity. When I bought him he had a tiny piece of skin still stuck on his side which stayed until his next shed, so I think he's just not very good at getting rid of his skin.

 

[jannb]

Yes you can over supplement your chameleon. If he's healthy.....no mbd, I see no reason you would need to give him liquid calcium. You should very lightly dust his feeders with calcium without d3 at just about every feeding until he's 9 months old. Then start with everyother feeding. He needs calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit. once a month......no more than twice a month.

A 100 watt sounds very hot for a 4 to 5 month old. His basking temps should be about 84 or 85. He should have a cooler area that he can go to in the mid 70's. How do you check his temps?

For the shedding problem try longer mistings and mist more ofter. NEVER pick at or pull off the left over shed. My vet once had me take a Qtip wet with hot water and rub off a small piece of retained shed on my chams nose. You probably need a higher humidity. What kind of plants are you using? Has he had a vet visit lately?

 

[jp279]

I've got a thermometer at the level of the basking spot, it's currently reading somewhere in the mid 90s. 100w is the lowest they make. Could the high temp be causing shaking or other problems? He only really does it just when he's about to put his foot down on something.
I've never attempted to peel the skin off, but from watching him neither has he. He just doesn't seem to be bothered.
He seems to hate misting and always runs away and hides, no matter how warm the water is. I still try to mist 3/4 times a day though to keep the humidity up.
I only have fake vegetation in there at the moment, but would like some live stuff for him to snack on. Any recommendations?

 

[jannb]

Pothos work great and holds allot of mositure. I also use Ficus and Hibiscus.

Do you have a dripper? When I mist......I mist my chameleons and all their plants. You need some live plants.

The shaking could be mbd. Could you post some pictures of him and get some good ones of his legs.

 

[bradleymarky]

I've got a thermometer at the level of the basking spot, it's currently reading somewhere in the mid 90s. 100w is the lowest they make. Could the high temp be causing shaking or other problems? He only really does it just when he's about to put his foot down on something.
I've never attempted to peel the skin off, but from watching him neither has he. He just doesn't seem to be bothered.
He seems to hate misting and always runs away and hides, no matter how warm the water is. I still try to mist 3/4 times a day though to keep the humidity up.
I only have fake vegetation in there at the moment, but would like some live stuff for him to snack on. Any recommendations?

the best plants we have in the uk are umbrella plants and also the weeping fig is good value and can be eaten akso it holds water very good, can be found at homebase or b@q.
my veiled hates the misting and will often flare up at me

 

[kinyonga]

Be careful with the Repton if it has prEformed vitamin A in it....and you only need to use a vitamin and D3 twice a month.

Its not that easy to overdo the calcium compared to how easy it is to overdose D3 and vitamin A (both of which are fat soluble).

Here are some sites...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/supplementation-mbd-1-a-2451/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html

 

[jp279]

The shaking could be mbd. Could you post some pictures of him and get some good ones of his legs.

He doesn't look particularly MBDish to me but I'm not an expert

This is him a few weeks ago before his latest shed, not very pleased to be photographed:

Here are some closeups of legs:

Notice all the crusty shedding yet to fall off.

 

[Crazy Pet Lady]

When you say still water, does that mean you have water dish?? A definite NO-NO. It becomes a bacteria breeding ground and chams don't drink from pools, not many of those in the wild canopy. They drink from water on the leaves. Up your misting schedule to several times a day but not so late that it doesn't dry before lights out. He looks a little dehydrated to me. Hope this helps.

 

[jp279]

Although I have seen him drink on numerous occasions, bacteria definitely sounds like something I don't want.