MBD question

[SoberParrots]

How long does it take for a chameleon to develop MBD?
after doing hours of reasearch on this forum, I bought better lighting for my cham that’ll arrive in a few days, in the meantime. Should I double up on the lamps to get the right temperature or wait it out? They are a baby (about a week or two) so I want to make sure the lighting is okay for growth and a few days of wonky lighting won’t effect them as much.

 

[Beman]

How long does it take for a chameleon to develop MBD?
after doing hours of reasearch on this forum, I bought better lighting for my cham that’ll arrive in a few days, in the meantime. Should I double up on the lamps to get the right temperature or wait it out? They are a baby (about a week or two) so I want to make sure the lighting is okay for growth and a few days of wonky lighting won’t effect them as much.

So wait the baby is only a week or two old? If this is the case you want UVB only no heat lamp. And you need to accomodate the screen climbing the baby will do.

What UVB did you get? Fixture type and Bulb strength?

Per MBD this is prolonged lack of UVB exposure. your looking at weeks. HOWEVER initial issues can develop with incorrect UVB like lack of appetite, sluggishness, and closing the eyes during the day. Granted babies I would not wait more then a week with due to their growth rate and need for UVB during this period.

 

[SoberParrots]

So wait the baby is only a week or two old? If this is the case you want UVB only no heat lamp. And you need to accomodate the screen climbing the baby will do.

What UVB did you get? Fixture type and Bulb strength?

Per MBD this is prolonged lack of UVB exposure. your looking at weeks. HOWEVER initial issues can develop with incorrect UVB like lack of appetite, sluggishness, and closing the eyes during the day. Granted babies I would not wait more then a week with due to their growth rate and need for UVB during this period.

Yes I did get uvb!! My typing mistake lol. I got a T5 HO UVB. I got the baby yesterday by the way, they had them for about 2 weeks by the look of it!

 

[SoberParrots]

Yes I did get uvb!! My typing mistake lol. I got a T5 HO UVB. I got the baby yesterday by the way, they had them for about 2 weeks by the look of it!

But I haven’t had them a week and the lighting will arrive within 2-3 days. Should I double up on the wonky lighting for now to get the correct lighting or just wait it out?

 

[ElliotG]

Yes I did get uvb!! My typing mistake lol. I got a T5 HO UVB. I got the baby yesterday by the way, they had them for about 2 weeks by the look of it!

Where did you get your Cham? They usually let them grow up a bit before selling. 2 weeks is super duper young. I’d say yours is maybe a month or two old.

 

[SoberParrots]

Where did you get your Cham? They usually let them grow up a bit before selling. 2 weeks is super duper young. I’d say yours is maybe a month or two old.

Oh okay! I got them a breeder (raleighs repticon) I got their card so I can tell you the specific seller if you’d like. They were the older chameleon out of the few. So now thinking about it, yeah they do look a month or two.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Should I double up on the lamps to get the right temperature or wait it out? They are a baby (about a week or two) so I want to make sure the lighting is okay for growth and a few days of wonky lighting won’t effect them as much"...providing UVB and providing temperature are really two different things.

You want UVB to allow the chameleon to produce vitamin D3 and you provide white light for heat to allow your chameleon to adjust its body temperature because it's not warm blooded.

MBD is the result of an imbalance in the calcium, phos, D3 and vitamin A in the chameleon's diet/system. The bones, muscles and other systems are all affected by this. The road to MBD actually starts way before you see the symptoms....symptoms such as crooked limbs, tongue not working properly, crooked casque, jaw deformed, etc.

Once the symptoms are obvious, you can correct some of them but things like crooked/broken limbs possible organ damage, etc. can not usually be corrected and lessen the quality of the chameleon's life.

 

[Pickle-cham]

I believe a vitamin D toxicity by overdose can cause mbd prematurely and or quickest to manifest symptoms.
It would cause the calcium to leach out of bones and calcify organs, something like that.
Its usually a slow build up of calcium deficiencies or high phosphate diet and/or ineffective uvb

 

[SoberParrots]

You said..."Should I double up on the lamps to get the right temperature or wait it out? They are a baby (about a week or two) so I want to make sure the lighting is okay for growth and a few days of wonky lighting won’t effect them as much"...providing UVB and providing temperature are really two different things.

You want UVB to allow the chameleon to produce vitamin D3 and you provide white light for heat to allow your chameleon to adjust its body temperature because it's not warm blooded.

MBD is the result of an imbalance in the calcium, phos, D3 and vitamin A in the chameleon's diet/system. The bones, muscles and other systems are all affected by this. The road to MBD actually starts way before you see the symptoms....symptoms such as crooked limbs, tongue not working properly, crooked casque, jaw deformed, etc.

Once the symptoms are obvious, you can correct some of them but things like crooked/broken limbs possible organ damage, etc. can not usually be corrected and lessen the quality of the chameleon's life.

Thank you so much for this. Very helpful

 

[kinyonga]

You're welcome.