Help friends MBD cham

[bluegoldfish]

Hi, Looking after my friends cham - he is gona take it to a vet cause it def needs to go!
But he aint here at the mo,
Basically my cham is doing fine he has a strong grip, bulging eyes, gets his food dusted with calcium, correct uv lights etc etc.

My friend just brought his cham over here about an hour ago, it is a male, ambilobe panther about 10 months old i think, is smaller than my cham who is about 7 months old. He is also a bit wobbly, but can still grip but not as tightly as mine. he started shaking his head a bit. I told my friend he has progressive MBD by looks of it, esp as his limbs look slightly swollen.

So in the meantime before my friend can get bk to take him to the vet, which will be this afternoon.

I have given him a shower, which he liked, but didnt drink. His eyes look fine and his colour is still bright he doesnt look dehydrated. i have put him in my chams cage, n put my cham in his old cage with a screen so they cant see each other. He has uv lights on, and a basking lamp, in a 2x2x4 mesh aluminium cage he is sitting on a branch by the uv lights at the top at mo, and has stopped shaking his head.

have offered him normal and calcium dusted crickets but he isnt hungry i think he has already eaten this morning at my friends house?
Tried offer him water from syringe not thirsty
Tried to give him liquid calcium but he wont open his mouth, n dont wana stress him out more by forceing him.

Am so gona have a go at my friend for letting his cham get like this!
But that aint gona help the poor cham in the meantime...
Can i do anything else to help before he goes to the vet???

 

[Julirs]

I would leave well enough alone until you see the vet. Sounds like the shower was an OK thing to do. Did your friend not have proper lighting or supplements?

 

[bluegoldfish]

He had a uv light but hadnt reguarly dusted any of the food he was giving him, also i think the food he has been giving his is too big for his chameleon. He was so shocked at the size and grip of my chameleon compared to his.

I've left him in the cage alone now, with the uv lights on and the basking lamp, i think he has calmed a bit now, but still think he has mbd, because of the muscle tremers he must have been having when he was shaking his head earlier, prob due to the low calcium? (he's stopped doing that now)

ooh! just seen him climb down the branch towards the pot of calcium dusted crickets that have been jumping up and down (fingers crossed he will eat one or some!)

 

[dodolah]

i think you have done the best you can.
Also make sure, once you are done with taking care of his chameleon, clean your cage thoroughly (maybe use 10 to 1 bleach solutions). I know that MBD is not contagious.. but you never know if your friend's cham has parasites, mites, or something that can cross contaminate yours.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

When you refer to you and your friend having UV lights for your chams,
what light are you referring to, specifically?
There are a lot of different ones, and several that aren't so good.

-Brad

 

[bluegoldfish]

Thanks for the advice, we both use the repti-glo tubes i had a 8.0 on mine, i dont know what my friend had, i have just invested in some new tubes for my new viv.
We both also have basking lamps. I know my friend hasnt reguarly dusted his chams food though and also mainly feeds him on locusts which he doesn't gut load himself. Whereas i have dusted the food with calcium powder, and then sometimes nutrobal, and i keep a small colony of crickets which i gutload and feed calcium cricket food too. And have tried to feed my cham a mixed diet of brown/blackcrickets, mealworms, waxworms, butterworms, locusts, and butterworms etc.

 

[Ashley]

So, what was the fate of the little guy?

 

[bluegoldfish]

He's geting better, been to the vets over several periods had a few calcium injections, n my friend is making sure they dust their chams food reguarly now. He seems to have got some of his grip back and hopefully on the way to some recovery but i think it will be a way off yet.