Many problems with veiled chameleon

E

EvilEva69

New Member
Ok so i am a first time reptile owner and have recently received a veiled chameleon (female, 1 year old) from a friend. I have done as much research as possible on chameleons to better understand how to care for her. Her former owner was not taking proper care of her (kept in a 10g fish tank all of her life, fed only meal worms with calcium powder, normal light bulb not UV or UVB, all artificial plants) she is now in a full net 5ft-4ft-5ft cage with real branches and plants, i have a good reptile light for her and am feeding her fruits/veggies/gut loaded crickets/meal worms/plants in her cage (checked to make sure not toxic and in proper rock covered soil). However she still seems to be sick. She wont try to eat food unless it is approx 2in from her face. She sometimes spits her food back out. She only occasionally turns a darker shade of green, but that's it for color changing. She is not growing, at 1 year and she is less than 6in (head to tail). She falls off of her branches. She sleeps a lot during the day. And I've noticed her clawing at her face (not drawing blood but still didn't seem normal. Short of a trip to a vet, can anyone recommend what i could do in addition to improve her health? I appreciate any advice given. Thanks =]
 
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have it all

from what i can tell i have everything i need based on reading your blogs. Her former owner told me that he had sand in her cage but that she has never laid eggs. Should she have by a year old or is it to soon still?
 
Please post some pics as it sounds your chameleon could have MBD which is short for metabolic bone disease. Considering she was never exposed to UVB for a year the odds are against her. If that is the case you are going to need to get her to a vet and get some liquid calcium injections. She probably cannot shoot her tongue well which another sign of the disease or some other dificiency which explains why her food has to be right in front of her. Sounds like you are on the right track now which is great but alot of damage has already been done it seems. You are a good person for taking her and it sad that your friend was so lacking in the knowledge department on how to take care of this amazing creature. A 10 gallon tank is just a horrible environment for a chameleon. Thank god you got her out of that situation.
 
how to post pictures

i will post pictures immediately as soon as i can figure out how it is done. I was very sad to learn as well that my friend had been taking such poor care of her. I just hope i got her in time to save her, couldn't resist her sweet little face, plus as a vet to be it's in my nature to try and save any animal that i can. thanks for the vet advice, just hope the trip isn't to crazy expensive.
 
Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Veiled. Female. 1year old. Less than a week i've had her.
* Handling - never, as i was told it stresses them, though her former owner handled her multiple times a day.
* Feeding - A combo of crickets, mealworms, fruit and veggies all dusted with calcium. I usually make a small salad of these and put it in her cage where she consumes about half or more.
* Supplements - flunkers. everyday.
* Watering - i have been misting the cage 5+ times a day for 3min. as i have yet to figure out the making of a drip system. i've never seen her drinking.
* Fecal Description - never been tested. tri-color. brown/black/white
* History - none other than the above posted


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 5-4-5 screen
* Lighting - i'm not sure of the brand but the woman i spoke to at our local country max who owns several chams recommended it so i assumed it was a good brand. i turn the light off from 9pm-7am
* Temperature - therm in her cage says bottom basking area is 80. Top of cage is around 85.
* Humidity - Not sure of how to test hummidity levels, but was told live plants help humidity so i have two in her cage.
* Plants - two pothos plants
* Placement - the cage is in my basement bedroom no fans except the one pointed very far away at me during the night.
* Location - rochester, ny
 
As someone who recently rescued a veiled from a similar situation, thank you. Mine is still not great, but much improved. Pics would definitely help, especially ones where we can see if there is any bending in the legs (MBD). Sounds like she is in a much better situation. You will need to get a gauge where you can monitor humidity (many affordable digital ones online). And see if you can find out exactly what kind of uvb light you have. I wish her all the luck!:D
 
legs bending

her legs are almost always bent in an elbow like fashion, is this not normal? how do i go about posting pictures, im having difficulty figuring it out.
 
When you post your reply, there is a button to "manage attachments". Hit that and upload pics from your computer. Hit the upload button and close the window.
 
showimage.php
 
You might could create more of a temp gradient so there are cooler places at the bottom of the cage for her to get to. Also, for suppliments you should use regular calcium without d3 lightly at every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multivitimin twice a month. Crickets are okay and gutloadable, but mealworms are not the greatest feeder. Some of the site sponsors here sell bugs, silkworms are a good high-calcium option, along with other things like super worms, and hornworms, roaches etc. For a dripper you can just poke a little hole in the bottom of a cup and let it drip onto a plant, no need for a commercial one. Most people here use a normal incandescent bulb for basking and a ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 bulb for UVB.

While those details are pretty important, it sounds like you're really on the right track and your husbandry is pretty good. SO SO much better than what she had before. I think that many of the problems she is having now are a result of the previous owner and not having a UVB light or proper supplimentation/nutrition for the first ear of her life.

I think at this point a vet visit is in order, if she has MBD you can stop the progress but not really reverse it so better safe than sorry, I think.

It was very good of you to take her in. She must feel so much better now. :) Good luck with her.
 
Yeah I can't see the pics either her posts just look blank. This is not the first time people are talking about a picture that is totally invisible to me, haha.
 
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