Leon seems sluggish

[Nal0114]

So I’ve noticed the last few days that Leon seems to be moving slower. Eating fine, eats like a little pig. But he just seems sluggish. Some mornings it takes him an hour just to get to wanting to move to his basking branch and some days he gets it in gear and he’s up there within a few mins.

But I’ve just never noticed this with him before and Jade never did this stuff. He also does this weird thing when he walks he rocks back and forth, I’ll have to upload a video I have of Jade doing it to show you what I mean he only recently started that too.

He gets calcium powder everyday
And vitamins & Minerals once a week (vitamins have D3 in them)

He’s having normal BM

And from what I can tell he looks plenty hydrated from those BM

He’s not losing weight I weight him every Sunday.

 

[Nal0114]

Here is what I was talking about this was Jade doing it and she didn’t all the time.

 

[Beman]

So I’ve noticed the last few days that Leon seems to be moving slower. Eating fine, eats like a little pig. But he just seems sluggish. Some mornings it takes him an hour just to get to wanting to move to his basking branch and some days he gets it in gear and he’s up there within a few mins.

But I’ve just never noticed this with him before and Jade never did this stuff. He also does this weird thing when he walks he rocks back and forth, I’ll have to upload a video I have of Jade doing it to show you what I mean he only recently started that too.

He gets calcium powder everyday
And vitamins & Minerals once a week (vitamins have D3 in them)

He’s having normal BM

And from what I can tell he looks plenty hydrated from those BM

He’s not losing weight I weight him every Sunday.

It is normal behavior for them to slow down a bit with seasonal changes. Your ambient temps and humidity can change quite a bit when you start running the heat at night in winter. The rocking is normal as well. As long as he is eating and not closing his eyes during the day then it would be normal.

Your supplements are off though. Not sure what exactly you are using but D3 once a week is not recommended with most options available. This overloads their system with oral D3. Can compromise their bone strength as too much D3 can actually pull calcium from the bones to compensate. D3 and vitamin A are only to be used 2 times a month because both are fat soluble which means they store in the body and do not flush the way the water soluble vitamins do. You want calcium without D3 at all feedings and then a good multivitamin with D3 and A 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th.

 

[Nal0114]

It is normal behavior for them to slow down a bit with seasonal changes. Your ambient temps and humidity can change quite a bit when you start running the heat at night in winter. The rocking is normal as well. As long as he is eating and not closing his eyes during the day then it would be normal.

Your supplements are off though. Not sure what exactly you are using but D3 once a week is not recommended with most options available. This overloads their system with oral D3. Can compromise their bone strength as too much D3 can actually pull calcium from the bones to compensate. D3 and vitamin A are only to be used 2 times a month because both are fat soluble which means they store in the body and do not flush the way the water soluble vitamins do. You want calcium without D3 at all feedings and then a good multivitamin with D3 and A 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th.

Currently I have Jurassivite and reptical but he is fixing to get switched to Arcadia brand stuff. I just had so much of this and no one to give it too figured I’d finish it up.

But when we bought him from Petco he was a no sell he wasn’t on the floor at all for sale they had him in the back they said he was at the vet for shakiness and having troubles and they took him to the vet where they were told to give him calcium/D3 everyday. They said doing the increase helped him a lot I felt like that was way too much.

I bumped that way back to once a week.

 

[Beman]

Currently I have Jurassivite and reptical but he is fixing to get switched to Arcadia brand stuff. I just had so much of this and no one to give it too figured I’d finish it up.

But when we bought him from Petco he was a no sell he wasn’t on the floor at all for sale they had him in the back they said he was at the vet for shakiness and having troubles and they took him to the vet where they were told to give him calcium/D3 everyday. They said doing the increase helped him a lot I felt like that was way too much.

I bumped that way back to once a week.

So the Jurassivite is not one we recommend for chams. Specifically because they do not actually add preformed vitamin A. Only beta carotene which has not been proven to work the same way. You were absolutely correct to not give everyday but even weekly can be too much oral D3.

The issue is with over supplementing D3 is you can make other aspects of health worse. Such as bone integrity. But also D3 toxicity can cause issues of appetite, sleeping during the day, and not being as active. Because it stores in the tissues it can take many weeks for their body to balance to more normal levels. So him being less active could be contributed to D3 toxicity.

Simply providing the correct supplement types with frequency needed for the species and ensuring that UVB is on point is the better route to go. Petco and petsmart are known for not providing the correct UVB lighting. Most run T8 lighting which at the distances the fixture sits above the cages barely puts out any usable UVB within the cage. This is almost always the main cause of sick chams from big box stores.

I would go ahead and pull him off what you have been giving. If you have the arcadia supplements these are pretty specific with their 8 feed cycle. Good thing with these is the D3 and A levels in the revitalizeD3 are extremely low and much harder to overdose even if given weekly. Granted that is not their recommendation of supplementing. But the main thing with their supplements is you have to have the UVI level perfect due to the much lower levels in the supplements.

Arcadia supplements information:

So arcadia is a 3 product system done in an 8 feed cycle. This is why you want to chart it on a calendar. It is in the following rotation and you stay in that order no matter how many feeding days are skipped.

EP-A 1st feeding
EP-A 2nd feeding
EP-A 3rd feeding
Calmg 4th feeding
EP-A 5th feeding
EP-A 6th feeding
EP-A 7th feeding
Revitalize D3 8th feeding
Cycle starts again from the beginning.

Arcadia revitalize is your multivitamin. It has very low levels of D3 and A so you have to ensure that UVB is spot on.

For some this 8 feed cycle can be a bit much to have to track so they will use the EP-A at all feedings then use repashy calcium plus LOD multivitamin 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th.

 

[Nal0114]

His UVB is the Arcadia t5 output it’s still brand new so I know that thing still works.

I had to order the Arcadia Brand online no where around here sells it in store. Don’t hasn’t arrived yet. I couldn’t find on the packaging tho the feeding step so I gotta pick up some revitalize still.

 

[Beman]

His UVB is the Arcadia t5 output it’s still brand new so I know that thing still works.

I had to order the Arcadia Brand online no where around here sells it in store. Don’t hasn’t arrived yet. I couldn’t find on the packaging tho the feeding step so I gotta pick up some revitalize still.

The cycle I included above is how they recommend their supplements are used for chameleons.

Make sure your distance for the uvb is spot on. If you are using the recommended 6% bulb then you want a distance of 8-9 inches from where it sits on the aluminum screen to the branch below it for them to be in a 3 UVI level.

 

[Nal0114]

The UV bulb is about 10 inches off where he sits.

 

[Beman]

The UV bulb is about 10 inches off where he sits.

Is it a 6% bulb? With uvb and especially with the arcadia multivitamin supplements you have to have the UVB perfectly spot on.

 

[Nal0114]

It’s a 6%.

 

[Beman]

It’s a 6%.

Ok so with a 6% you want a measured distance of 8-9 inches from where it sits on the screen down to the branches directly below the UVB fixture. If you have the fixture raised off the top of the screen you need to measure screen up to fixture then screen down to branches and add. If your distances exceed 9 inches you have to make the adjustments to have it in that 8-9 inch distance range. Farther away the UVI is going to reduce not providing the right levels. Too close and the UVI increases too much and can put them in over exposure levels.