IS my chameleon a midget??

[AReptile]

I got my baby veiled chameleon in mid january and she is this big after having her for over 6 months. I feel like she is growing very slowly, she has grown since I got her but not much. Does she seem small for her alleged age? Saying alleged because I am uncertain how old she was when I purchased her. Head to tail length around 7 inches i believe.

 

[Olimpia]

I'm in the same boat, I have a male panther that's 8 months old and hasn't grown very much. It could be her and whatever is causing her to grow slowly, or have stunted growth. But if you want you can fill out the "ask for help" form in the health section and we can see if it's not something to do with your husbandry that can be easily corrected.

 

[laurie]

Can you get a picture of her on or near a ruler? For me that makes it much easier to realistically judge her size versus age. The info you gave does make her sound small. How old did they say she was when you got her?

 

[AReptile]

Well I got her from a petstore and she was in there with other small chameleons and the guy who sold her to me claims they were 3 months then, so if that's correct she is roughly 9 months old.... which i doubt heavily i mean look at her size lol. So I would like to assume she is a bit over 6 months old in reality. She has only shed 3 or so times since I got her, I feed her 8+ small/medium sized crickets every day with a dusting schedule recommended to me from someone on here when I first got here. Every now and then she gets a house fly or wax worm.
edit: I'll fill out the help form shortly, I just changed her husbandry around 2 weeks ago or so anyway so it's time for an update.

 

[AReptile]

Bump, does anyone else have an opinion on her size? I wanted to ask this question two months ago actually but I had to get my computer fixed so I had to wait lol. She did get longer between that time but her body hasn't grown at all to a point where she can eat adult crickets.

 

[FFSTRescue]

Can you do Laurie's suggestion and put her next to a ruler? If you don't have a ruler available, could you take a picture of her on your hand so that we get a general idea of size? It is hard to tell from a picture of just the chameleon

 

[dodolah]

Areptile, can you give us a clear picture of her limbs (especially the front right arm)?
If my suspicion is correct, it will probably explain the reason why your cham's growth is stunted.

 

[ajacobson]

The Veiled I had (now Thompson has), was teeny tiny. Sometimes they are just small. However, pet stores are notoriously bad at giving correct information, she could have been younger than they said.

 

[AReptile]

I can try to get her on my hand or by a ruler but she kinda hates both -_-. She didn't have any supplements in the pet store and her movement was very weird until I was able to get supplements for her. I am sure she has some MBD due to that, but she has very strong grip and she can move rather quick when she wants to. I'll attempt to get a better picture tomorrow after work though.

 

[Elizadolots]

If she won't cooperate with another picture, you could put a ruler in the plant, the same place she was standing...that would help with sizing.

 

[AReptile]

Alright I got 3 pictures with the assistance of my mom, but I almost lost a couple of fingers in the process. I forgot how much my chameleon hates me until 20 minutes ago lmao... Seriously my pit bull is nicer and I would rather be bit by him then my chameleon.

But here she is:

 

[laurie]

I have a male just under 5 months who is about that size. Don't worry, I have had several forum members send me "midget" chameleons that just would not grow. I love little chams and everyone of those midgets started growing for me. Some took longer that others and the last one I have is still pretty small but she has tripled in weight. They grow when they want, not when we plan.

 

[dodolah]

Alright I got 3 pictures with the assistance of my mom, but I almost lost a couple of fingers in the process. I forgot how much my chameleon hates me until 20 minutes ago lmao... Seriously my pit bull is nicer and I would rather be bit by him then my chameleon.

But here she is:

Just as I suspected, she has a Metabolic Bone Disorder, or she is probably a survival of the disease. This explains her stunted growth.
Chances are, she probably already have MBD while she was under the care of the pet store.

My suggestion is to put her in outside cage to giver her as much natural sunlight she can get (as long as the weather permit her to be outside).
Make sure she gets the proper lightings, gutload regiment, and supplementation.
And, you might want to bring her to the vet for xrays (and do some sort of general checkup just in case).

 

[Ellron]

I have a male just under 5 months who is about that size. Don't worry, I have had several forum members send me "midget" chameleons that just would not grow. I love little chams and everyone of those midgets started growing for me. Some took longer that others and the last one I have is still pretty small but she has tripled in weight. They grow when they want, not when we plan.

Same with me. My 6 month male veiled is about that size.

 

[Symbiot]

I doubt he's a midget. Looks to just be a fairly slow grower. Give him some more time.

 

[Jonah S]

Just as I suspected, she has a Metabolic Bone Disorder, or she is probably a survival of the disease. This explains her stunted growth.
Chances are, she probably already have MBD while she was under the care of the pet store.

My suggestion is to put her in outside cage to giver her as much natural sunlight she can get (as long as the weather permit her to be outside).
Make sure she gets the proper lightings, gutload regiment, and supplementation.
And, you might want to bring her to the vet for xrays (and do some sort of general checkup just in case).

I'm no expert by any stretch but when I saw that last picture with the arm kind of bowed out that was my first thought as well.

 

[AReptile]

I'm probably the most amateur chameleon keeper in the thread considering this was my second chameleon ( first one had to be returned) but I knew 2 weeks after I got her and registering on this forum that by her odd movement she had a case of MBD from reading about it on here. I have had her on a good dusting schedule since then though and I think she has improved. Her grip is very strong and she can move fast when she wants to, eats and drinks perfectly fine. Her attitude sucks though!

Is it possible that she grew slowly to accomodate her previous enclosure? Right now she's in a 3 foot tall screen cage, her last enclosure she was still fitting in it when i moved her but still i noticed her growing was a bit slow. Also now I'm having problems finding her urates, and she seems to be too lazy to actively hunt all of her crickets down now lol.