Possible MBD

Hbomb326

Hbomb326

New Member
Hello, I am new to the forums and new to caring for chameleons. Just last night I recived a year and a half of Panther chameleon. The previous owner informed me that he has been sitting on the bottom of the cage and thought he was ill. I offered to take him in and try to get him healthy. Although I have never owned a chameleon before I own numerous other reptiles. He is currently housed in a 2x2x4 foot mesh cage with vines and a mister and a UVA and UVB light. The previous owner always used UVB, or so I've been told. I have an automatic mister that goes off every hour for 5 seconds. I think my chameleon has MBD for a couple of reasons. He lays at the bottom of the cage and appears to have a hard time moving. He will grab his face with his front legs and his back legs are kinda sprawled. His front legs make an L shape so that's good but I'm not sure about his back. I will attach some images. The previous owner fed their crickets those little gel cubes and I'm not sure how often they dusted their crickets but obviously not often enough. I am sitting outside with him as I type this in attempt to get some extra vitamin D into him. I have also noticed that his head and limbs get shaky every once in a while. I am going to try everyth
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ing possible to get him back up to health. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. He ate one super worm today but that's all. I will try and feed him more when I go back in.
 
That poor guy is in rough shape. Honestly, I could lay out a ton of things for you to do. But the best thing at this point is to get him to a vet. He needs to be thoroughly checked over over to see how extensive the damage is. They will administer calcium and other nutrients that he needs in office.

I'm glad you took him in. He was obviously getting neglected at his previous home.
 
I agree with, @jpowell86, he needs to see a vet, and soon. there are so many things from just looking at these pictures that are a concern, his legs, his ankle, his eye.

Something you can do in the immediate is up the mistings. 5 seconds every hour is not nearly enough. He needs at least 2 longer sessions of 4-5minutes or more and then the rest set at 30-60 seconds. I have that schedule for every 2 hours. That is not going to do much for him unless you get him seen by a vet, but at least it gives you somewhere to start.
 
Peachypink said:
I agree with, @jpowell86, he needs to see a vet, and soon. there are so many things from just looking at these pictures that are a concern, his legs, his ankle, his eye.

Something you can do in the immediate is up the mistings. 5 seconds every hour is not nearly enough. He needs at least 2 longer sessions of 4-5minutes or more and then the rest set at 30-60 seconds. I have that schedule for every 2 hours. That is not going to do much for him unless you get him seen by a vet, but at least it gives you somewhere to start.
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I will up the mistings and hopefully that can help him in the meantime. I am currently trying to find a vet, I hope he can be helped and doesn't have to be euthanized. I can tell from his skin that he is dehydrated so I need to try to get some water in the poor guy. It's such a shame his previous owner didn't give him the care he deserves.
 
Hbomb326 said:
I will up the mistings and hopefully that can help him in the meantime. I am currently trying to find a vet, I hope he can be helped and doesn't have to be euthanized. I can tell from his skin that he is dehydrated so I need to try to get some water in the poor guy. It's such a shame his previous owner didn't give him the care he deserves.
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Where are you located? I believe there is a list of vets on here somewhere, I would have to do some searching, but I think it's here. The sooner the better to get him in, like yesterday....
 
Just be careful how you go about misting him. His inability to move properly will make him stressed, especially if he is wanting to get out of the mist and physically can't.

Hopefully you will find a vet soon and they can give sub-q fluids.
 
Peachypink said:
I agree with, @jpowell86, he needs to see a vet, and soon. there are so many things from just looking at these pictures that are a concern, his legs, his ankle, his eye.

Something you can do in the immediate is up the mistings. 5 seconds every hour is not nearly enough. He needs at least 2 longer sessions of 4-5minutes or more and then the rest set at 30-60 seconds. I have that schedule for every 2 hours. That is not going to do much for him unless you get him seen by a vet, but at least it gives you somewhere to start.
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What eye is concerning you? I know one of them has dead skin on it because he is molting but the other one seems much larger and swollen. It appears to get smaller occasionally only to get bigger a couple minutes later. It's such a shame that a chameleon is in this condition, especially one so friendly.
 
Hbomb326 said:
What eye is concerning you? I know one of them has dead skin on it because he is molting but the other one seems much larger and swollen. It appears to get smaller occasionally only to get bigger a couple minutes later. It's such a shame that a chameleon is in this condition, especially one so friendly.
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the one without the shed. It looks really swollen.

I don't know the Atlanta area. @jannb just gave you the name of a vet she knows to be good. there is also a resource for vets listed in a thread under the Health Clinic forum.
 
After placing him on the carpet and watching him walk a little I feel like the main problem isn't MBD. I feel like he is mainly just weak and needs to be nourished more. I will just have to wait and see what the vet says
 
His legs and eyes look puffy, but I am new to this too. Could it be edema from something?
 
Hopefully you can do something for this cham. I don't understand why someone would spend the money on this animal and their supplies just to let it waste away like this.
 
Virgil1972 said:
Hopefully you can do something for this cham. I don't understand why someone would spend the money on this animal and their supplies just to let it waste away like this.
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Yes... It was they didn't even take care of it! People should be more responsible and if you spend like $1,000 on this thing don't just let it die! who cares about the money though, it's all about the Cham!
 
Update: Just got back from the vet. Rango was prescribed some calcionate syrup and was x-rayed. He definitely has MBD but with the right care I think we can get him healthy again over the course of a few months. Thank you all for your help, I will keep you updated :)
 
Make sure you lower all of this things to climb on and possibley fall or put vision at the bottom his cage so if he falls he doesn't break anything else is he still eating ? You're giving him calcium right
 
Hbomb326 said:
Update: Just got back from the vet. Rango was prescribed some calcionate syrup and was x-rayed. He definitely has MBD but with the right care I think we can get him healthy again over the course of a few months. Thank you all for your help, I will keep you updated :)
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Good luck! I hope you can help nurse him back to health. Glad you found a vet. Did they say anything about his eye?
 
Peachypink said:
Good luck! I hope you can help nurse him back to health. Glad you found a vet. Did they say anything about his eye?
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They told me his eye is due to lack of calcium and not to worry about it too much unless it gets worse. Sometimes his eye will be swollen, other times I can't even tell the difference
 
Haileybug said:
Make sure you lower all of this things to climb on and possibley fall or put vision at the bottom his cage so if he falls he doesn't break anything else is he still eating ? You're giving him calcium right
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The doctor gave me some liquid calcium to give him twice a day. I offended some dusted crickets earlier but he wasn't too interested. I'm going to try again in an hour or so. Just don't want to stress him out too much by handling so often but he needs to eat and needs his medicine. I am going to be moving his cage outside everyday to help give him an extra boost of UVB light even though he has a UVB bulb above his cage.
 
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