Sick Veiled Chameleon

Sarahmarie307

Sarahmarie307

New Member
I took my veiled chameleon, Eva to the vet a couple days ago because I woke up and she had fallen off her branches and was laying on the ground. Honestly I thought she had died :( I took her in, and we had her X-rayed and she has no broken bones but she does happen to have MBD. So the vet and I have worked out a plan to get her calcium levels up and I'm waiting on a prescription to come in for her, but she's just very lethargic and slow the last few days. I've been trying to feed her crickets and she isn't interested in them. The only thing I can get her to even slightly tolerate is little pieces of mangos. I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do for her while I'm waiting for her prescription to come in? She's just laying down on her vines and I'm worried about her.
 
Sarahmarie307 said:
I took my veiled chameleon, Eva to the vet a couple days ago because I woke up and she had fallen off her branches and was laying on the ground. Honestly I thought she had died :( I took her in, and we had her X-rayed and she has no broken bones but she does happen to have MBD. So the vet and I have worked out a plan to get her calcium levels up and I'm waiting on a prescription to come in for her, but she's just very lethargic and slow the last few days. I've been trying to feed her crickets and she isn't interested in them. The only thing I can get her to even slightly tolerate is little pieces of mangos. I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do for her while I'm waiting for her prescription to come in? She's just laying down on her vines and I'm worried about her.
Click to expand...
Hey im very sorry to hear that thanks for sharing your story maybe if you filled out how to ask help form and post it here people can tell you how it happened and how to prevent it from furthering.
 
Sarahmarie307 said:
I took my veiled chameleon, Eva to the vet a couple days ago because I woke up and she had fallen off her branches and was laying on the ground. Honestly I thought she had died :( I took her in, and we had her X-rayed and she has no broken bones but she does happen to have MBD. So the vet and I have worked out a plan to get her calcium levels up and I'm waiting on a prescription to come in for her, but she's just very lethargic and slow the last few days. I've been trying to feed her crickets and she isn't interested in them. The only thing I can get her to even slightly tolerate is little pieces of mangos. I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do for her while I'm waiting for her prescription to come in? She's just laying down on her vines and I'm worried about her.
Click to expand...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/
 
Have you been dusting the mango at all? I strongly recommend that. I also recommend real natural sun. If your temps are in 75+ area that is perfectly fine for basking on a supervised level.
 
Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry to hear about Eva. Do you have any pictures of her? I'll link some good info about MBD below. Is the liquid calcium the prescription that you are waiting for? I know this has been on back order for all vets for awhile now. I might know one vet that has some. She should be on that now. Normally the vet will also give an injection that draws the liquid calcium back into the bones and that makes it work faster. Make sure to make her a hospital cage so she want fall anymore. You can turn her cage on the side and take out any high branches. I'd also put some towels in the bottom to cushion her fall.....in case there's another one. As for her eating you can try some silk and horn worms but for right now get some ReptaBoost. You can buy it on line or get it at most PetCo and PetSmarts Mix her some of that and put a small amount of gatoraid in it for hydration. You can also mix her calcium without Vit. D in the ReptaBoost and feed her some a couple times a day to boost her back up. Please fill out the Ask For Help form so we can see if there's anything you need to change in the way you are keeping her. How old is Eva? Around 4 to 5 months old she will need a laying bin in her enclosure at all times. Females lay eggs without a male even being around and can become egg bound and die if they don't have a proper place to lay their eggs.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/
https://www.amazon.com/Fluker-Labs-...TF8&qid=1485732677&sr=8-1&keywords=reptaboost
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-like-how-it-happens-and-how-to-fix-it.95071/
 
Last edited:
Joseph 1233 said:
Hey im very sorry to hear that thanks for sharing your story maybe if you filled out how to ask help form and post it here people can tell you how it happened and how to prevent it from furthering.
Click to expand...

  • Your Chameleon - Female Veiled Chameleon, about 11 months old, she's been in my care for 5 months.
  • Handling - She's very social, and likes to come out daily
  • Feeding - I feed her meal worms, superworms, crickets, and fruits and veggies for a treat. I dust the insects with calcium, as well as feed them fruits and veggies too.
  • Supplements - I dust the insects with repticalcium with D3, and recently got reptile multivitamin for her.
  • Watering - I have an automatic mister that I usually have set to go off every 3 hours, but the last couple days I set it to go every hour because her eyes are sunken and I think she may be dehydrated too. I normally see her drink a little while it's spraying, but usually not really after.
  • Fecal Description - Her fecal matter is usually pretty normal, white urates. However, I haven't seen her poop since she fell the other day, but when we took her to the vet and got her x-rayed the vet said besides her bones being fragile she looked okay.
  • History - I took her to the vet back in November because she wasn't eating or going to the bathroom and they said she was plugged up so they gave me a vitamin that got everything moving through her system. My vet mentioned that she had the start of MBD back then and so I made a bunch of changes to her husbandry, got her a new enclosure and misting system and a new UVB bulb, and it seemed to be helping a lot until she fell the other day and the vert confirmed that it was MBD. Also she's about 11 months old, I got her from the pet store when she was 6 months old and they didn't tell me if she'd already laid a clutch of eggs or not. So I do have a laying bin at the bottom of her enclosure, ready whenever she is. When we got her x-rayed at the vet I asked if she saw any eggs in the films and she said no. But I've been trying to watch her carefully there, as well.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Her cage is a screen cage, about 4 feet tall.
  • Lighting - I have a heating lamp as well as a 5.0 UVB light. I turn her lights on at about 8 in the morning and then turn them off at 8 at night.
  • Temperature - The temp in her basking area is about 80-85 degrees during the day, about 70 at the bottom of the cage, and at night it goes down to about 60. I have a temperature and humidity gauge to measure.
  • Humidity - The humidity I'm still trying to work on. I live in Wyoming and we have really dry air here, so the humidity right now is at 40%, which is also why I have the automatic mister going every hour right now.
  • Plants - My ficus plant died, so I'm going to be getting a new one next time I head to the store to help with the humidity also.
  • Placement - Her cage is in my room because it's the quietest place in the house where there's not a ton of people walking around all the time. There's no vents or anything near her but I do have her next to a window because she likes to look outside and watch everything going on.
  • Location -I'm in Laramie, Wyoming, so I can't really take her outside and let her bask naturally in the sun right now, and won't be able to bring her out until like mid June, when the temperature is warm enough for her.
 
20170129_172700.jpg
20170129_172709.jpg
 
I would be wondering if she isn't overdosed on the d3? How often do you do the repticalcium with d3 and do you ever dust with just plain no D3 calcium?
 
To correct MBD it's recommended that you use a liquid calcium like calcium sandoz or gluconate....which I assume your vet is getting.
Once the bones are strong again it's important to use proper supplements, make sure the chameleon gets proper UVB light and gutload\feed the insects properly tonkeep it from returning. Appropriate temperature are important too to allow for proper digestion.

I feed/gutload the crickets, roaches, superworms with a wide assortment of greens, veggies such as dandelion greens, collards, kale, endive, carrots, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, etc and a bit of fruit such as Apple, pear, melon, berries.

Since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous it's recommended that you dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder to make up for it.

A proper UVB light to allow the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system. Since it's not certain that a chameleon gets enough from the UVB lights used we recommend dusting twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure it gets it without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to MBD so we only do it twice a month and leave the chameleon to get the rest from the UVB light. As long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB at will it won't produce too much D3 from the light.

I also recommend dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed source) form of vitamin A. Vitamin A from prEformed sources build up in the system and lead to health issues...so by using this type of vitamin powder it leaves it up to us to decide if/when the chameleon needs it. There is controversy as to whether all/any chameleon s can convert the beta carotene.

Regarding eating...lack of calcium not only affects the bones it affects muscles and other things in the chameleons system...so if it's muscles are affected it will slow it's digestion.
 
Hey @kinyonga ? Was wondering, since I was never positive of this. I know overdosing of D3 can cause MBD symptoms, but does this also cause the xrays to show MBD? Does the D3 actually leach calcium from the bones?
 
I honestly don't think her arms (from what I can see) are bowed at all... more swollen? Which I would think leans more to overdose of D3. Why did the vet think she had MBD? Did it show specifically on the xray, it should have showed... ummm less noticeable differences between bones and muscles? (does this make sense?) idk I assume most people know what I am talking about but I don't think I made a good description at the moment...
 
Andee said:
I honestly don't think her arms (from what I can see) are bowed at all... more swollen? Which I would think leans more to overdose of D3. Why did the vet think she had MBD? Did it show specifically on the xray, it should have showed... ummm less noticeable differences between bones and muscles? (does this make sense?) idk I assume most people know what I am talking about but I don't think I made a good description at the moment...
Click to expand...

From what I understood, the vet looked at the xrays and said the bones were so light that she could barely see them.
 
I would assume she would have more folding even if she didn't fracture them from falling (which sounds very unlikely from the sounds of that xray). But she saw it not me. Usually when xrays are that bad I see more curves and sometimes even such dramatic curves they could be considered another elbow. But if she was that bad they very rarely need to be xrayed at that point *gazes fondly at Hope*. Anyway since your vet said that, I would rely on her. So I will now address the next most likely thing that could have caused poor absorption other than off dusting. (definitely get plain calcium if you don't already have it though) When did you last replace your uvb light? It is no older than 6 months?
 
Andee said:
I would assume she would have more folding even if she didn't fracture them from falling (which sounds very unlikely from the sounds of that xray). But she saw it not me. Usually when xrays are that bad I see more curves and sometimes even such dramatic curves they could be considered another elbow. But if she was that bad they very rarely need to be xrayed at that point *gazes fondly at Hope*. Anyway since your vet said that, I would rely on her. So I will now address the next most likely thing that could have caused poor absorption other than off dusting. (definitely get plain calcium if you don't already have it though) When did you last replace your uvb light? It is no older than 6 months?
Click to expand...

I will get some plain calcium, because no I don't have any. And I just got my UVB light towards the end of November.
 
It may also just be the general of everything together. Captive bred veileds have tons of obstacles to jump over. If you have the money (it's not that expensive considering what you get out of it) you might want to look into Light you reptiles. They carry arcadia brand uvb which is the best uvb you can get. 6% arcadia I would say is better than a 10.0 reptisun linear uvb any day and it's not nearly as harsh on their eyes. You would have to buy a good and light, but the lights can last up to passed a year though replacing it around every 12 months is best. Talk to the actual owner, his name is Todd, he can likely give you the best set up for her.
 
Can you post a photo of he with her elbows not bent and showing her back legs please?
Can she stand up on her legs with her belly off the surface?
 
Thanks so much, so much knowledge is learned pretty much every day from keeping these guys. Generally my head is exploding from just today alone ^^ so happy to have the forum so I can share with like minds and get general opinion/help
 
kinyonga said:
Can you post a photo of he with her elbows not bent and showing her back legs please?
Can she stand up on her legs with her belly off the surface?
Click to expand...

She lays on her belly all day and when she walks, it's in short bursts and then it's like she has to rest. She's actually asleep right now and I don't want to disturb her but I will post a picture in the morning.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

aduesler93
Sick veiled girl
Replies
13
Views
506
Beman
Beman
SunkistCham
I think my female veiled is dying
Replies
3
Views
469
kinyonga
K
Kimflores789
Chameleon overheating or gasping for air?
Replies
3
Views
281
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
B
Ate sand, now taking laxative per vet
Replies
7
Views
340
Beman
Beman
Eliza4310
Rescue Cham W/ stomatitis?
2
Replies
20
Views
803
Sonny13
Sonny13
Back
Top Bottom