Possible broken leg?

[Lenny the veild]

Lenny is a 5 month old veiled who has been a great picture of health since we got him at 2 months old. He has the ideal screen enclosure with lots of branches and leaves to move around on, and receives the ideal heat and UVB light 12 hours on and off. We gut load crickets with water gel and pro-gut load insect feeder. We dust them with vitamin and calcium supplement every feeding. He also receives a variety of worms appropriate for his size.

Yesterday we let him climb outside in my garden with close supervision, and after a while when we picked him up we noticed him holding his left leg close to his body and slightly dragging it behind. While watching closely while he moved, he continued keeping the leg close to him and barely extending it, and overcompensating with the other leg. After closely observing him since then, his left leg around the knee cap looks a little swollen, compared to the right leg. His appetite wasn't great today, and he doesn't seem to be himself. I also saw him with an open mouth a few times today too, I'm afraid he may be in pain.

Would you recommend a vet visit? Your responses are appreciated!!

 

[kinyonga]

I would take it to the vet. What specific vitamins, calcium, gutloading material are you using?

Does.the UVB pass through glass or what?

 

[Lazy Boy]

Start by filling this out and adding a picture https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Also you should be dusting with calcium no D3 every feeding and calcium W/D3 and multivitamin only twice a month.Here is a good caresheet I would give this a good read over https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/ FYI a lot of info from big box store Petco/petsmart is completely wrong and have put many chams at risk.

 

[Lenny the veild]

We bought our chameleon and all of his stuff from a local reptile store, the owner and staff seem to have a lot of knowledge.

They recommended to us the supplement called Repashy Superfood calcium plus. It is a dusting supplement with, "added vitamins, trace minerals, and carotenoids for dusting insects". It is a "all in one" meant for use with every feeding. We dust his crickets in this everyday for his feedings.

His enclosure is the aluminum screen cage, with an 100-watt heat lamp and a Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 UVB lamp. We do the 12 hours on and 12 hours off. We have a digital thermometer and hydrometer, his cage is around 80 degrees F and around 40-50% humidity.

We did lots of research about MBD, he does not fit any of the descriptions or symptoms of it. However we were worried about his intake of calcium and Vit D because of this injury he has.

His knee cap area is swollen, and he continues dragging it and hanging it off the branch at times. We scheduled an appt for tomorrow to have him looked at, to see if its broken or just a strain.

 

[sharp229]

Calcium Plus is a multivitamin and vitamin D3 supplement. It is recommended to use plain calcium every feeding, D3 supplement twice a month, and multivitamin twice a month. I alternate between Calcium Plus and a standard multivitamin every other week.

Unfortunately unless the reptile store specializes in chameleons, it is likely they don't have the best information. It is good you are taking him to the vet, and it sounds like they gave you better information than most, but you still may want to double check.

I hope he is doing better soon.

 

[Lazy Boy]

I'm pretty sure calcium plus has to much D3 for everyday use. I think you should be using the LoD formula. Does he get any outside time? Cage temp is 80f and you run a 100w basking bulb? It must be way high or your basking temp are high I'm sure. What's basking temps? I really thing he's getting way to much D3.