Chameleon Sleeping Weird

[Michael_ChamLover]

Hi all, I just started my winter break from college and when I got home I immediately noticed my cham sleeping in a very odd position. He was sleeping with his tail completely uncurled with two of his legs just dangling which is something I've never seen before. My parents said he's been like this lately where he's clumsy and sleeps in positions like this. I understand the part about him bring clumsy since he is blind in his left eye, and he is turning five soon, but it's still weird. I always make sure his lights are up to date with the correct UVB setting, heat lamp is perfect, supplements on a schedule, etc. Is this something to be concerned about? His name is Rio and he is a male Ambilobe Panther Chameleon.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Are you able to get some pics of him in his sleeping position, as well as some good clear pics of him awake? Unfortunately 5 is considered old for a chameleon, but maybe pics will give an idea of something.

 

[Michael_ChamLover]

Hi. Are you able to get some pics of him in his sleeping position, as well as some good clear pics of him awake? Unfortunately 5 is considered old for a chameleon, but maybe pics will give an idea of something.

The photos with less light are from now and the photos of the day are photos my parents sent me while I was away. Idk if Im just over reacting but I want to make sure he's ok.

 

[MissSkittles]

It’s a bit hard to see, but I was looking for any signs of swelling at his ankles or other joints - a sign of gout. Being 5, he may have arthritis which makes it uncomfortable to grasp on with all feet and possibly even keep his tail coiled. Either of these (gout or arthritis) would also explain increased clumsiness. Your vet could determine what is going on with blood work and x rays. I’m not questioning your husbandry, since you’ve had him for so long, but has anything at all changed in it within the past few months?

 

[Beman]

There is a huge change in his casque between the light and dark photos. Please post more of him now with light and as clear as possible so we can see his overall body condition. Casque now appears to be concave which it should not be.

 

[Michael_ChamLover]

It’s a bit hard to see, but I was looking for any signs of swelling at his ankles or other joints - a sign of gout. Being 5, he may have arthritis which makes it uncomfortable to grasp on with all feet and possibly even keep his tail coiled. Either of these (gout or arthritis) would also explain increased clumsiness. Your vet could determine what is going on with blood work and x rays. I’m not questioning your husbandry, since you’ve had him for so long, but has anything at all changed in it within the past few months?

The only change I can think of is the long stick up top is now two long sticks since when he only had one he would sometimes fall off and with two he stabilizes himself better. There is also less coverage on the top since his main plant outgrew his enclosure and I changed it with a younger plant which hasn't provided as much coverage yet. The bottom of his enclosure has plenty of coverage with two hanging plants and lots of real estate for him.

 

[Michael_ChamLover]

There is a huge change in his casque between the light and dark photos. Please post more of him now with light and as clear as possible so we can see his overall body condition. Casque now appears to be concave which it should not be.

Here are some photos from this morning. The photo of him being all dark (under the heat lamp) is how I find him a lot of the time; hanging on to his own limbs and all curled. The photos with him with brighter colors is his way of saying he hates my phone camera. He always hated my phone so this is normal. As he has gotten older he's gotten more senile which is understandable, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything since I'm only here for another month before he's entirely my parent's responsibility again.

 

[Beman]

Is your UVB light running parallel to the branch or only crossing one on an end?

What UVB are you using and when last did you replace it?

Are your parents supplementing correctly when you are gone and what are the supplements being used along with their rotation?

How much has he been eating and how often? He is looking a little thin in the limbs and the casque is a little move concave then you would see in a healthy cham.

The senile thing I get, I am dealing with very extreme mood changes from my almost 7 year old male.

What I would suggest is adding in a lot more branches. The older they get the more they can miss branches and this can cause a fall.

I would turn off the red LED lights if you can. Red lights are not good for their eyes.

I do not see any signs of gout which is good.

 

[Michael_ChamLover]

Is your UVB light running parallel to the branch or only crossing one on an end?

What UVB are you using and when last did you replace it?

Are your parents supplementing correctly when you are gone and what are the supplements being used along with their rotation?

How much has he been eating and how often? He is looking a little thin in the limbs and the casque is a little move concave then you would see in a healthy cham.

The senile thing I get, I am dealing with very extreme mood changes from my almost 7 year old male.

What I would suggest is adding in a lot more branches. The older they get the more they can miss branches and this can cause a fall.

I would turn off the red LED lights if you can. Red lights are not good for their eyes.

I do not see any signs of gout which is good.

It runs across on the left side, the right has his heat lamp.

I replaced his UVB and plant light in August. He had an Arcadia T5 UVB with an additional plant light, but after taking him to an exotic vet for an issue not too long ago, they recommended zoo med reptisun which is what I have now.

For supplements, he gets multivitamin supplements biweekly, calcium with d3 biweekly, and calcium without d3 every feeding (except for the feedings where he gets the other supplements).

The reason we took him to a vet back in August was because he doesn't eat as much as he used to. To get him to eat, we have to hand feed him, but even that isn't enough sometimes. He does eventually eat by the end of the day.

I'll add more branches soon for sure, I'm probably going to clean out his enclosure and find some sticks for him.

Thank you for letting me know about the red light, I had no idea. I'll make sure my parents know not to turn that part on.

 

[Beman]

It runs across on the left side, the right has his heat lamp.

I replaced his UVB and plant light in August. He had an Arcadia T5 UVB with an additional plant light, but after taking him to an exotic vet for an issue not too long ago, they recommended zoo med reptisun which is what I have now.

For supplements, he gets multivitamin supplements biweekly, calcium with d3 biweekly, and calcium without d3 every feeding (except for the feedings where he gets the other supplements).

The reason we took him to a vet back in August was because he doesn't eat as much as he used to. To get him to eat, we have to hand feed him, but even that isn't enough sometimes. He does eventually eat by the end of the day.

I'll add more branches soon for sure, I'm probably going to clean out his enclosure and find some sticks for him.

Thank you for letting me know about the red light, I had no idea. I'll make sure my parents know not to turn that part on.

Ok so you want to run a branch that runs parallel to that UVB fixture. I would run a few in that area so he has multiple grip spots. Which bulb strength did you get, it should be on the end of the bulb on the glass. 5.0 or 10.0. What is your distance from the fixture sitting on the screen to the branch below it?

Please post pics of the supplements you are using so I can make sure they are not lacking in anything.

Is his tongue targeting correctly? Like shooting out right and pulling back in.

 

[Michael_ChamLover]

Ok so you want to run a branch that runs parallel to that UVB fixture. I would run a few in that area so he has multiple grip spots. Which bulb strength did you get, it should be on the end of the bulb on the glass. 5.0 or 10.0. What is your distance from the fixture sitting on the screen to the branch below it?

Please post pics of the supplements you are using so I can make sure they are not lacking in anything.

Is his tongue targeting correctly? Like shooting out right and pulling back in.

I'll definitely add more sticks for him around his enclosure, and especially the UVB area. The bulb strength is 5.0, and it is 7.5 inches from his branch.

His tongue shoots and retracts normally, but since he is blind in one eye, his accuracy isn't very good. This is part of the reason we need to hand feed him because unless he climbs into his feeder, it'll take him a few tries to hit a cricket.

Here are the supplements I give him. Numbers on the top are there so my parents know when to feed him what with the schedule I provided when im not here.

 

[MissSkittles]

The Exo Terra multivtamin is not needed. The ReptiVite is a combination product of multivitamin and D3 and needs to be given just twice a month (or once every other week if you prefer). He’s getting double dosed.

 

[Beman]

I'll definitely add more sticks for him around his enclosure, and especially the UVB area. The bulb strength is 5.0, and it is 7.5 inches from his branch.

His tongue shoots and retracts normally, but since he is blind in one eye, his accuracy isn't very good. This is part of the reason we need to hand feed him because unless he climbs into his feeder, it'll take him a few tries to hit a cricket.

Here are the supplements I give him. Numbers on the top are there so my parents know when to feed him what with the schedule I provided when im not here.View attachment 361328View attachment 361329View attachment 361330

Ok so you have some duplicates in your supplements. And I would check your dates on the supplements they may be old and need to be replaced.

But the exo terra and the reptivite both have D3. Drop the exo terra... You can do reptivite with D3 although I prefer repashy calcium plus LOD version as it does not have added phosphorus. I also really like repashy supercal NoD for the calcium without D3.

I would look at replacing what your using with these two. Here are the images so you know the exact ones I am talking about.




For the UVB you want a 8-9 inch distance from the fixture sitting on the cage top to the branches below to put him in a 3 UVI level. Keep in mind reptisun bulbs should be replaced every 6-9 months while the arcadia brand 6% bulb you can replace every 12 months. This bulb is the same strength as the reptisun 5.0.