How do I deal with MBD?

[veggie_val]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon , female, almost 7 months old. I've had her for 3 months.
• Handling - 2-3 days a week
• Feeding - 4-6 dusted crickets in the morning, available meal worms all day.
• Supplements - Zoo Med's Reptivite without D3 dusted crickets every other day
• Watering - Automatic mister goes off for 12 seconds every hour.
• Fecal Description - normal brown with white urate
• History - From a breeder

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Large reptibreeze cage, screen all the way around.
• Lighting - large UVB dome lamp and heat dome lamp. Also on an automatic timer that comes on at 7:30am and off at 7:30pm
• Temperature - ranging from 70 at the bottom of the cage to 85-90 degree basking at the top.
• Humidity - accurate
• Plants - potted Umbrella plant, basking branch and fake foliage.
• Placement - on a stand in my bedroom by a window
• Location - San Diego, California

Current Problem - My dear Pascal was acting strange a couple days ago. She wasn't eating her dusted crickets, so I cup fed her with a calcium drop. The next day she started hanging upside down and was staying toward the bottom of the cage. Thinking she may be gravid, I put a laying bin in there. However the next day she was having trouble climbing and I figured it was MBD.

My question: I took her to the vet yesterday and she in fact does have Metabolic Bone Disease and they came me more calcium medication. I brought her back home and took out the potted plant and rearranged the cage so she can be low in case she falls. This morning I found her in the sand, it seems she has no grip at all. My concern now is how can she regulate her heat if she can't climb in the time being? Any advice or tips on how to deal with MBD would be great

 

[Virgil1972]

I would stop giving your cham so much reptivite. I would get some regular calcium with out d3 to give her everyday, and give the reptivite about 2 to 3 times a month. I would also get rid of the CLF UVB bulb and get the regular tube type bulb. They put out much more UVB and spread it out much better then the CLF bulbs.

 

[veggie_val]

I would stop giving your cham so much reptivite. I would get some regular calcium with out d3 to give her everyday, and give the reptivite about 2 to 3 times a month. I would also get rid of the CLF UVB bulb and get the regular tube type bulb. They put out much more UVB and spread it out much better then the CLF bulbs.

I give the Reptivite every other day and it does not have D3. I also tried a regular calcium supplement but for some reason it was actually killing the crickets and I didn't like the looks of that. But thanks for your advice, I will get a better UVB bulb ASAP

 

[Virgil1972]

If you can get her outside that would also help a lot. Or if she is exposed to sunlight when the window is open that would also help. The window has to be open because the glass filters out the UVB.

 

[kiwilulu]

Sorry about your cham.
What bulb do you have in that lamp? You say uvb/heat but I would like to know the specifics

 

[veggie_val]

If you can get her outside that would also help a lot. Or if she is exposed to sunlight when the window is open that would also help. The window has to be open because the glass filters out the UVB.

I will definetly take her outside now that the weather is warming up. She was born in the fall and growing through the winter and it was too cold to take her outside. But I should be able to now

 

[veggie_val]

If you can get her outside that would also help a lot. Or if she is exposed to sunlight when the window is open that would also help. The window has to be open because the glass filters out the UVB.

I just finished editing the details after you posted. I'm worried she won't be able to regulate her heat if she's just laying in one spot.

 

[Andee]

Reptivite is a multivitamin, she absolutely needs plain calcium at every feeding reptivite only 2 times a month and a calcium with D3 2 times otherwise she is only going to get worse. The plain calcium is killing your crickets because you are putting it on to thick. Have you been gutloading your crickets and meal worms at all? I would suggest changing out the meal worms for something else and not having it available all day. Overfeeding can lead to larger clutches.

 

[Extensionofgreen]

If it were me, I'd be seeking out commonly available feeders with high amounts of calcium, such as black soldier fly, butterworms, and silkworms. I would switch to sticky tongue farms indoor and outdoor calcium or Repcal, the one with D3 and one without. I'd change my supplementation schedule as indicated, gutload my crickets of dandelion, mustard, and collard greens, and build and outdoor cage. I'd also look into getting the 70 Watt Mercury Vapor bulb from lightyoureptiles.com. Your care regimen is what got you here, that's not to be insulting, but it speaks to you having to change your supplements and current care routine, so you should be asking how you can avoid the crickets dying from the calcium, instead of saying you don't want to use it. You've gotten good advice, let's see how your chameleon does in 6-8 weeks, with you implementing that advice.

 

[kiwilulu]

Some previous posts have addressed the need for calcium and VitD.
The other key aspect is the light! I have to insist: what bulb are you using?
This is a young cham with advanced MBD and limb deformities. Something is not right with your husbandry.

 

[jannb]

I'm sorry to hear about your chameleon. You have received some good information above. I just wanted to provide the link below for additional info about MBD.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-like-how-it-happens-and-how-to-fix-it.95071/