jglefler
New Member
Hello and thank you for this forum. Please forgive me for the lengthy post but I don't want to miss anything that may be needed to help my little boy.
I would appreciate some input on proper care for Marty, my male Veiled Chameleon. Pardon all the detail but I will give a bit of background on him. He is 2 years and 8 months old the best I can tell. I'm not sure of his age because I got him from a pet store. They thought he was 2 or 3 months old when I got him so I am close on his age. I knew very little about chameleons and relied on the pet store for proper housing, feeding, lighting, care info, etc. Turns out they knew almost nothing about chameleons as well. I now know this is typical of pet stores. They even had an incandescent bulb inside the cage with Marty resulting in his little tail getting burned off. Fortunately this healed but now he only has about a 5" tail. Another tragic result of the pet store not having proper lighting, feeder dusting, etc., is Marty had brittle bones. They sold me a glass enclosure, non-UVB lighting, water bowl instead of a dripper... you get the idea. Everything was wrong. The little guy seemed rather shaky and I became concerned so I did some research on the Internet. When I discovered how screwed up the system they sold me was I made them take most of it back and got Marty the proper cage, lighting, etc. Unfortunately he was off to a bad start. He went through things that most chameleons wouldn't have survived over the next few weeks as we nursed him back to health. But, amazingly, he pulled through and has done very well for over two years now.
Marty is an amazing little guy (actually he is quite big now). Once he started feeling better he started begging to come out of his cage. He would reach out and scratch at the cage door or hover off the edge of a vine with his rear feet clinging to the vine as he thrashed at me with his front feet. I would go to the cage and hold out my finger and he would happily climb onto it and come out to play. He would climb around on me, furniture, the floor, bask in front of windows, etc. He seemed to love it and would do this nearly every day. Sometimes he would start begging to come out before I could even get his cage cleaned and get him feed in the morning.
About two months ago he suddenly stopped wanting out. He has gotten lethargic and moves around the cage some but very little compared to what he used to. Around the time this change started he also started to poop about every 10 days instead of every day or two as he used to. He has a dark orange urate, which is no doubt due to dehydration. He never was a great drinker but would usually take 5 or 10 laps of water when I would gently spray the tip of his mouth with water. He stopped wanting water around the same time these other changes started. I have been giving him warm showers as I hold him over the sink to try to get him to poop. I put the faucet on gentle spray and he tolerates it rather well. Sometimes it works but usually does not. I ordered a small artificial tree so I can put him into the shower for 30 minutes or so to see if this gets him drinking and pooping. The tree should be here in a few days. I have been using a hand dripper and hand spray bottle to try to gently wet his mouth and try to get him to drink but he won't. The only way I am getting a little water in him is by turning on his second basking light to raise both sides of the top of the cage to around 85 degrees. He then starts to pant and I sneak up and get a little squirt of water in his mouth before he can close it. He is now getting wise to this game and usually gets his mouth closed before I get to him. I still get him once in a while.
Here is the scary part for me and what I am afraid may be much of the problem. Because Marty had brittle bones from improper care when I got him I was told by another pet store that he needed his crickets dusted with ReptoCal with calcium and D3. While this is true, they lead me to believe this should be done every day. Today as I was trying to find out how I could help Marty with his current problems I discovered this forum. To my horror I see people saying D3 should only be used every other week. Marty has gotten it nearly every day for over 2 years. The only silver lining, perhaps, is he won't eat from a feeder cup. His crickets are free range and he often eats some of them later in the day after most, if not all, of the powder has worn off. He gets 3 crickets per day. He used to eat all three most days. Lately he is still eating well but sometimes will eat every other day or every third day.
His eyes are nice and plump and he looks full and healthy overall. He has a bend in his casque and I don't know if that is from MBD due to not getting D3 along with UVB when he was a baby at the pet store? Or, have I inadvertently caused all sorts of havoc in his body by dusting his feeders every day with calcium containing D3?
From what I can glean here it sounds as if I should dust with a no phosphorus, no D3 calcium every day. Then dust with a D3 calcium every other week. And dust with a vitamin every other week. Is this correct?
Below are the specifications of Marty's husbandry:
> Cage is made of metal screen and measures 18"Deep X 30" Wide X 30" High
> Lighting is one or two 75-watt incandescent basking bulbs (depending on cage temp.) and a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB Bulb, which is changed every 6 months. The top vine where Marty spends most of his time varies between about 6" to 8" down from lighting, which goes through screen. Lights are on a timer for 9 hours a day.
> I have overhead heating elements on the top of the cage, which are hooked up to thermostats for nighttime warming of the cage.
> Temperature gradient is about 68 degrees on the bottom, 70 in the center, and 80 on one side and 85 on the other side of the cage top. Overall temperature drops to around 68 degrees at night.
> Crickets are gut loaded with Nature Zone Bites for feeder insects, carrots, and reverse osmosis water. Sometimes Marty likes wax worms, centipedes, and diced peaches.
> Water supply is reverse osmosis in hand pump and well water in dripper since Marty never drinks from dripper. Dripper drips through a grommet hole in the top of cage via tube and runs off artificial leaves into a covered container. I use a hand pump to sprits Marty and his cage leaves, vines, etc. about 6 times per day. A small stone bowel is on the floor of the cage just for humidity. In the winter I struggle to keep the humidity at 30% as I live in a very cold state.
> No substrate on bottom of cage.
> Cage, water bowel, dripper, spritzer, cage floor, everything, gets cleaned every day.
Thanks in advance for your kind help and, again, please forgive me for such a long post.
Thanks,
John
I would appreciate some input on proper care for Marty, my male Veiled Chameleon. Pardon all the detail but I will give a bit of background on him. He is 2 years and 8 months old the best I can tell. I'm not sure of his age because I got him from a pet store. They thought he was 2 or 3 months old when I got him so I am close on his age. I knew very little about chameleons and relied on the pet store for proper housing, feeding, lighting, care info, etc. Turns out they knew almost nothing about chameleons as well. I now know this is typical of pet stores. They even had an incandescent bulb inside the cage with Marty resulting in his little tail getting burned off. Fortunately this healed but now he only has about a 5" tail. Another tragic result of the pet store not having proper lighting, feeder dusting, etc., is Marty had brittle bones. They sold me a glass enclosure, non-UVB lighting, water bowl instead of a dripper... you get the idea. Everything was wrong. The little guy seemed rather shaky and I became concerned so I did some research on the Internet. When I discovered how screwed up the system they sold me was I made them take most of it back and got Marty the proper cage, lighting, etc. Unfortunately he was off to a bad start. He went through things that most chameleons wouldn't have survived over the next few weeks as we nursed him back to health. But, amazingly, he pulled through and has done very well for over two years now.
Marty is an amazing little guy (actually he is quite big now). Once he started feeling better he started begging to come out of his cage. He would reach out and scratch at the cage door or hover off the edge of a vine with his rear feet clinging to the vine as he thrashed at me with his front feet. I would go to the cage and hold out my finger and he would happily climb onto it and come out to play. He would climb around on me, furniture, the floor, bask in front of windows, etc. He seemed to love it and would do this nearly every day. Sometimes he would start begging to come out before I could even get his cage cleaned and get him feed in the morning.
About two months ago he suddenly stopped wanting out. He has gotten lethargic and moves around the cage some but very little compared to what he used to. Around the time this change started he also started to poop about every 10 days instead of every day or two as he used to. He has a dark orange urate, which is no doubt due to dehydration. He never was a great drinker but would usually take 5 or 10 laps of water when I would gently spray the tip of his mouth with water. He stopped wanting water around the same time these other changes started. I have been giving him warm showers as I hold him over the sink to try to get him to poop. I put the faucet on gentle spray and he tolerates it rather well. Sometimes it works but usually does not. I ordered a small artificial tree so I can put him into the shower for 30 minutes or so to see if this gets him drinking and pooping. The tree should be here in a few days. I have been using a hand dripper and hand spray bottle to try to gently wet his mouth and try to get him to drink but he won't. The only way I am getting a little water in him is by turning on his second basking light to raise both sides of the top of the cage to around 85 degrees. He then starts to pant and I sneak up and get a little squirt of water in his mouth before he can close it. He is now getting wise to this game and usually gets his mouth closed before I get to him. I still get him once in a while.
Here is the scary part for me and what I am afraid may be much of the problem. Because Marty had brittle bones from improper care when I got him I was told by another pet store that he needed his crickets dusted with ReptoCal with calcium and D3. While this is true, they lead me to believe this should be done every day. Today as I was trying to find out how I could help Marty with his current problems I discovered this forum. To my horror I see people saying D3 should only be used every other week. Marty has gotten it nearly every day for over 2 years. The only silver lining, perhaps, is he won't eat from a feeder cup. His crickets are free range and he often eats some of them later in the day after most, if not all, of the powder has worn off. He gets 3 crickets per day. He used to eat all three most days. Lately he is still eating well but sometimes will eat every other day or every third day.
His eyes are nice and plump and he looks full and healthy overall. He has a bend in his casque and I don't know if that is from MBD due to not getting D3 along with UVB when he was a baby at the pet store? Or, have I inadvertently caused all sorts of havoc in his body by dusting his feeders every day with calcium containing D3?
From what I can glean here it sounds as if I should dust with a no phosphorus, no D3 calcium every day. Then dust with a D3 calcium every other week. And dust with a vitamin every other week. Is this correct?
Below are the specifications of Marty's husbandry:
> Cage is made of metal screen and measures 18"Deep X 30" Wide X 30" High
> Lighting is one or two 75-watt incandescent basking bulbs (depending on cage temp.) and a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB Bulb, which is changed every 6 months. The top vine where Marty spends most of his time varies between about 6" to 8" down from lighting, which goes through screen. Lights are on a timer for 9 hours a day.
> I have overhead heating elements on the top of the cage, which are hooked up to thermostats for nighttime warming of the cage.
> Temperature gradient is about 68 degrees on the bottom, 70 in the center, and 80 on one side and 85 on the other side of the cage top. Overall temperature drops to around 68 degrees at night.
> Crickets are gut loaded with Nature Zone Bites for feeder insects, carrots, and reverse osmosis water. Sometimes Marty likes wax worms, centipedes, and diced peaches.
> Water supply is reverse osmosis in hand pump and well water in dripper since Marty never drinks from dripper. Dripper drips through a grommet hole in the top of cage via tube and runs off artificial leaves into a covered container. I use a hand pump to sprits Marty and his cage leaves, vines, etc. about 6 times per day. A small stone bowel is on the floor of the cage just for humidity. In the winter I struggle to keep the humidity at 30% as I live in a very cold state.
> No substrate on bottom of cage.
> Cage, water bowel, dripper, spritzer, cage floor, everything, gets cleaned every day.
Thanks in advance for your kind help and, again, please forgive me for such a long post.
Thanks,
John
