help?

ziggsta1

ziggsta1

New Member
the background of my chameleon is,he was givin to me by a friend of mine and he was already full grown hes 2 years old now,now i dont think my friend took very good care of him,but im not sure,well my chameleon is a male,hes a veild,i take him out of his cage everyday for 20 minutes,i feed him crickets,i put 30 in his cage,every 3-4 days,i dont gut-load,the calcium brand is rep-cal,i give a tiny bit of the calcium powder then a tiny bit of herptivite,i powder his crickets every time i get him crickets for him but i dont powder them a bunch,i water him out of a spray bottle,yes i have seen him drink,i water him everyday,and his cage is screen.....he has a bent cask,crooked jaw,and a lil white dot on his bottom lip.
 
Well for a start....why are you not gutloading your feeders and what lighting do you have?

Can you post a pic of your cham and his cage?

You really need to fill in the how to ask for help form.
 
nvm i do gut-load my crickets-i gut-load them carrots and my pics wont upload for some reason sorry
 
and the lighting i have is the heat lamp tht i keep on all the time and then i have a the light tht exzaturates the sun wich i keep on from 7:30a.m.- 7:30p.m.
 
To upload your pictures, do not use the Quick Reply box, use the POST REPLY button. That will take you to a separate screen with a more elaborate reply box. One of the tools will be a paperclip. Click that, it will let you browse your computer to find the pictures and upload them. They will appear as thumbnails in your post which enlarge when we click on them.
 
I would really like to help you and I am sure there are others that feel the same but we can't with out specific details.

You are obviously worried and concerned about your boy so please try and fill that form in. Without specifics we are just taking blind guesses.

What is your lighting brand and is it a linear tube? You are in Cali as I am....what is the lowest temp in your house at night? Veileds need a good drop in temp at night so you may not need it.

You should be gutloading with more variety than just carrots. Try adding kale, apples, yams, orange etc.
 
ok thanks man,does it really matter the brand of the light and yea its in the tube thing,usually at night the temp in my house drops to about 62 so shuld i turn off his heat light at night then?
 
yeah turn the heat off it can drop to 55-60 degrees and do u have calcium with d3 ? u should use it twice a month and the herpitvite twice as month as well calcium without d3 almost every feeding
if his cascade is bendable he most likely has early signs of metabolic bone desease which will need to be treated by a vet with calcium injections
 
Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Couple of comments...there should be no lights on at night...if your room temperature falls below the mid 60's so that you need a source of heat its best to use a ceramic heat emitting "bulb" (I say bulb because it screws into a light fixture).

Most people only use vitamin powders a couple of times a month...see below for information about supplements and gutloading. You will also find a link to information about lighting and how some of the UVB bulbs have caused health issues.

Here's some information that might help.......
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/

Hope this helps!
 
thank you guys all. i have heard my chameleon has mbd so i am gonna try my hardest to kep him alive and healthy again.thanks everyone
 
dehydration

I had a hard time getting my chameleon to drink. It takes patience and preserverance!! I have a spray bottle that i mist the top and sides of the cage with i do this until its raining inside the cage. the droplets make the chameleon want to drink. he starts licking his lips. i have gotten to the point when this happens i turn the misting to a thin single stream and point it so it gets in his mouth. when i notice he rubs his body at the water excessively along the cage but does not drink i soak him in 85 degree water. chameleons absorb water well this way just make sure you hold him so he clutches onto you and keep his head above the water!!!! He seems to get to a dehydration point where he doesn't drink so after the soak it brings back up to his normal level of thinking.
 
dehydration

I had a hard time getting my chameleon to drink. It takes patience and preserverance!! I have a spray bottle that i mist the top and sides of the cage with i do this until its raining inside the cage. the droplets make the chameleon want to drink. he starts licking his lips. i have gotten to the point when this happens i turn the misting to a thin single stream and point it so it gets in his mouth. when i notice he rubs his body at the water excessively along the cage but does not drink i soak him in 85 degree water. chameleons absorb water well this way just make sure you hold him so he clutches onto you and keep his head above the water!!!! He seems to get to a dehydration point where he doesn't drink so after the soak it brings back up to his normal level of thinking.


the urate should be whitish big indicator if hes drinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This is the 5th thread you've made about this....it would help if you would fill out the "how to ask for help" questions as has been suggested to you and to keep all the posts about the same issue in one thread.

Once you are sure your chameleon has MBD you need to correct the imbalance to stop it from getting worse and at the same time, you need to fix the husbandry so it won't happen again.

The quickest way for it to be corrected is to give the chameleon injections of calcium until the blood levels are high enough to give it a shot of calcitonin to draw it quickly back into the blood.

Regarding the husbandry...
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
 
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