flapneck chameleon with swollen neck that is not eating.

[rmn88]

Please can somebody assist urgently, my previous post was totally ignored and is now gone for some reason. Attached are pictures of my cham, I am unsure if icarus is male or female but he does have a thicker tail base or so it seems to me. He has started having a swollen neck issue from late last week. It goes away and returns, I've read that this happens with excessive vitamin A or gutloading crickets with too much carrots. Please can somebody assist in confirming icarus's sex so I can deduce if the lack of eating and the neck issue are linked to being gravid for example.

 

[DragoLikesReptiles]

Looks like your chameleon has gular edema. Gular edema is the swelling of the neck usually caused by too much or too little vitamin A. Do you supply a multivitamin such as Reptivite or Herpitive? Your chameleon looks like a female (no hemipenal bulge). I'd recommend a laying box just incase.

 

[kinyonga]

Can't tell the sex from the photos...sorry.

If the "edema" is coming and going then I don't think it's real edema.

From your previous post you need to change your supplementing. We recommend that the insects are dusted just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings. Twice a month its recommended that you dust with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A.

Gutloading with carrots should not cause an overdose of vitamin A because beta carotene sources of vitamin A do not build up in the system. I don't know why people keep being concerned about carrots when it comes to vitamin A.

If you think it is possibly a gravid female then why not put an egglaying bin in the cage?

 

[rmn88]

Thank you both for taking the time to respond, I was starting to think I wouldn't get any feedback. Today Icarus's neck is normal, this morning it was swollen but its seem to have cleared, I dust with pure calcium twice a week calcium and D3 twice a month and unfortunately I have not been able to find anything in terms of a mutivitamin powder, I have a reptione water dechlorinator with added vitamins which is what I use to spray my ficus plan to encourage drinking and I gutload with egg carrots spinach and some high quality flake food and I know this is not an alternative to a proper multivitamin powder however I have only found specific vitamins for bearded dragons thus far and the people in the pet stores are unsure if it could be used on a cham so I didn't want to experiment. I've been advised that even if icarus is a female its winter and not breeding season so its unlikely that the signs are a result of a gravid female along with his estimated age of 6-9months. I will definitely put in a breeding bin just in case, I haven't done so in fear of him becoming impacted. I know, I'm very ocd, but I just want to avoid as many issues as possible considering I cannot get a vets assistance directly,

 

[kinyonga]

The vitamins you spray on the plant...do they contain prEformed vitamin A or D3?

Calcium should be dusted on the insects at most feedings...not just twice a month.

What is the flake food you use? Does it have prEformed vitamin A or D3 in it? Spinach is not good to use often as a gutload because it binds calcium. You can use dandelion greens, kale, endive, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, collards, etc to gutload with.

There is a type of sand produced by Kings that comes in a white bag with blue, red and yellow sand box toys on it that I have used and it has never impacted any of my chameleons.

6 to 9 months is not too young for that species of chameleon to breed BTW.

Hope this helps.