Tongue not retracting!?!

The mega ray bulb is really strong. I talked with the man who makes them and he recommended the lowest megaray bulb they had. Was the 80 I think. I bought it last year, I can't remember the number, it's packed away and since have switched to a 10.0reptizoom. Mercury vapor bulbs are great, if used correctly. But my Cham got really hot from it. I think the megaray bulb will be just fine without the 5.0 bulb too. UVB can kill. Too much is like salt, it can be deadly.Best wishes.
 
Diagnosis MBD

Guacamoles blood work came back with elevated phosphorus levels and he has MBD.

I am going to do everything in my power reverse this and to make sure that he leads a happy good life.

My vet told me that there is not much information on Veiled chameleons and that the numbers were run using the stats from Panther Chameleons. He has been emailing various colleagues about Guacs bloodwork trying to get some answers on that. He told me that he already was ill with MBD when I bought him and that there was nothing that I did incorrectly that caused this.

I am upping my game in the gutloading department and am trying my hand at hatching Blue Bottle flies for him to eat. He had his first Butterworm today and really liked it. I went to Whole Foods tonight and got him some organic collard greens that he has happily been munching on. I read that chameleons really like blueberries so I bought him some organic ones. I sliced one into 4 pieces and he has eaten three of them so far.

He had a shed last night and seems to be doing great (other than being itchy and rubbing everything trying to get the shed off) I will be doing everything humanly possible to lessen/ reverse his MBD. I am optimistic that I can give him the TLC that he needs to get better.

I guess that the one good thing to come out of this is that I can be the cautionary example of why you should never buy an exotic animal from one of the "chain" pet stores. Most employees that work there do not have any idea of how to properly care for these animals while they are living in that store, unless they themselves own these animals as their own pets. I should be angry about this but I am not. I am going to put that energy to better use to help him. I genuinely think that it was meant to be that he is mine and that me going into that store for a bag of catfood that day, seeing him there and deciding to get him was the best thing that could have happened to both of us.

I would appreciate any advice from anyone here on the forum who has knowledge in dealing with having a cham that has MBD and what they did to successfully rehabilitate them. I realize that I have only had him one month and still have a lot more to learn, however I am willing to learn any and everything in order for me to be able to help him get better.
 
Guacs bloodwork

Here are the results of his blood work.

Can any of the senior members or vets here in the forum take a look at his numbers and tell me what I am up against? And how bad are his numbers, is this something that is in its early stages that can be reversed or is his kidney function beyond repair?

The MegaRay SB 100 watt bulb is due to be delivered today via USPS.
I hope that it isnt going to be too strong for him. Should I have gotten him the low UVB one instead, or maybe a lower wattage?
The 100W was the lowest I saw on their website... I dont want to cook the lil guy, he has already been through the ringer.

I bought him his "big boy" cage yesterday in anticipation of getting the Mega Ray bulb so he can thermoregulate himself as needed by climbing lower in his cage if need be. The cage he is in now is the smallest Reptibreeze and the 20" in height that it is really doesnt leave him much options to do so.

I am still cup feeding him at close range in order to make sure that he keeps to short shoots only. I have been giving him 2 organic blueberries a day, each one cut into 4 pieces as his dessert. He loves them! Additionally I have been giving him a small amount of shredded organic zucchini or shredded organic carrots after he eats his crickets/ Superworms. I have also been putting in one organic collard green in his cage (hung with a binder clip) and he goes to town on that, eating at least half of it. Is that too much "greens" for him to be eating? I dont want him having digestive issues if one is too much. They are pretty big. Anyone? I have not been able to find mustard greens or dandelion greens. I am ordering him some Reptile Salad which has both of those in it.

The Blue Bottle Fly larvae I ordered him and are trying to hatch is not going well. The only thing that has spawned thus far is stench. I sorted out the ones that were wiggling and put those ones in the Cup O Flies container/kit in one little cup with the sawdust like it said, and set up the second cup with the grid into one empty cup and the third cup was the sponge/ water. The fourth cup I put the Blue Bottle Fly food (instead of the powdered sugar/powdered milk mix to feed them) but alas, there is nothing to feed.
So much for that!

I am willing to try any and everything to get my boy healthy. Having some sort of game plan would be helpful to me if anyone has one. I realize that all cham species react differently to different treatments, Guacamole is a male veiled chameleon who weighs 38 grams, exact age unknown.

Thank you!
 
Test the basking spot and raise the megaray accordingly to get the temp you need. Just test with a good digital therm. Best wishes.
 
Not sure why the attachments for the files to his bloodwork didnt attach?
Here they are manually.

"Hemolysis index 0
Lipemia index 0
Glucose 319
Calcium 10.9
Phosphorus 17.5
Uric Acid 3.1
Total protein 7.2
AST 286
LDH 896
CPK 4731 (value obtained by dilution)
Alkaline Phosphatase 71
GGT <5

Estimated WBC 2-4 x 10.3 (unit of measure?)
The unopette count was low so a slide estimate was done

Red Blood Cell Count 1.35 x 10.6 (unit of measure?)
Hematocrit 29
Heterophils 76
lymphocytes 24
Azurophils/Monocytes 0
Eosinophils 0
Basophils 0
RBC Morphology Mild Polychromasia
Blood Parasites Negative
Thrombocyte Morphology Normal
WBC Morphology See comment

The majority of lymphocytes observed in the differential were large lymphocytes. This may be indicative of an active immune system response."
 
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