Vitamin A deficiency in a Chamelon

thechameleonghost · Jul 28, 2014

Your Chameleon - It is a Veiled chameleon 6-12 months I am pretty sure its a male I have had him since march
Handling - I use to do it daily for a few minutes. I do it every feeding because he has to be force fed
Feeding - I am feeding him meal worms soon to be crickets. I dust them every feeding and gut load them with carrots and lettuce
Supplements - I use exo terra calcium and calcium d3 I have not been using any multi-vitamins but I am going to get some
Watering - I use a zoo med little dripper and I mist whenever his cage is dry. I used to see him drink but now I hold him up to the dripper and open his mouth for him to drink.
Fecal Description - Plain its not droopy or anything
History - I would dust the meal worms with calcium every feeding and calcium d3 twice a month but for about 2 months awhile ago I slacked on dusting the meal worms. He also has had crickets sometimes those will be his stable feeder soon.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - It is a Reptibreeze 18x18x36 screen cage
Lighting - http://www.petsmart.com/reptile/hea...6-5195504/cat-36-catid-500011?_t=pfm=category that is his lighting I use a 60watt night bulb at night.
Temperature -Up top is 80-95 degrees below is 65-75 degrees
Humidity - I am misting daily and have a zoomed little dripper running His humidity is 60-80
Plants - No live plants plan to get a ficus if he gets well
Placement - On a small table about 2.5 feet above my floor 5.5 feet exact including cage
Location - Northern U.S 75-80 degrees in summer 10 to 40 degrees in winter
I am for sure he has vitamin A deficiency I need help on how to cure it.

Lazy Boy · Jul 28, 2014

Fill this out and it will help people help you. https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

thechameleonghost · Jul 28, 2014

Lazy Boy said:
Fill this out and it will help people help you. https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Thanks I hope it helps me

camimom · Jul 28, 2014

what makes you so sure he has a vit a deficiency?

That is something usually seen in panthers, not veileds.

In regards to your feeding, you need to stop feeding so many mealworms, and start feeding more crickets and roaches, and other bugs. a well rounded diet is essential to his health.

for supplementing- you need to be dusting with a calcium with no d3 every day, a calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.

fecal description is asking about his poop, not him.

too many mealworms can cause impaction.

if you want help on gender and age, post photos. 6-12 months is a HUGE gap.
if hes over a year old, that size cage is too small for him.

your lighting is ALL wrong.
first you dont have a desert animal.
second NO LIGHTS AT NIGHT. NONE. EVER.

you need a regular house bulb for basking, and a uvb bulbm reptiglo or reptisun for UVB. these are both on for 12 hours, and off for 12 hours.

DO NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

many veileds wont drink in front of people. just offer water and leave him alone. dont force him, you could drown him doing what youre doing.

temps- 95 is too hot for a veiled. i dont let my veileds get over 88.

ridgebax1 · Jul 28, 2014

You will definitely need a bigger cage with proper lighting; I used to keep a dripper and had a monsoon for automated misting, which was a piece of crap! Once I got a quality misting system (aquazamp with raindome) the boys would run into the mist and actively drink from the droplets on their leaves.

You need to improve the diet. Think of mealworms and superworms as going to a McDonalds for all your meals. It might taste good but is not really doing much but making you gain weight. I fed crickets, horn, silk, phoenix, and butter worms. They did not really care for the roaches.

Check out Sandrachameleon's blogs for gutloading tips.

thechameleonghost · Jul 28, 2014

camimom said:
what makes you so sure he has a vit a deficiency?

That is something usually seen in panthers, not veileds.

In regards to your feeding, you need to stop feeding so many mealworms, and start feeding more crickets and roaches, and other bugs. a well rounded diet is essential to his health.

for supplementing- you need to be dusting with a calcium with no d3 every day, a calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin twice a month.

fecal description is asking about his poop, not him.

too many mealworms can cause impaction.

if you want help on gender and age, post photos. 6-12 months is a HUGE gap.
if hes over a year old, that size cage is too small for him.

your lighting is ALL wrong.
first you dont have a desert animal.
second NO LIGHTS AT NIGHT. NONE. EVER.

you need a regular house bulb for basking, and a uvb bulbm reptiglo or reptisun for UVB. these are both on for 12 hours, and off for 12 hours.

DO NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.

many veileds wont drink in front of people. just offer water and leave him alone. dont force him, you could drown him doing what youre doing.

temps- 95 is too hot for a veiled. i dont let my veileds get over 88.

About the water and feeding his eyes are pretty much completely CLOSED One is about a quarter inch open probably less. And he only sticks to the screen of the cage. He doesn't rarely move

sharp229 · Jul 28, 2014

You should have no light at night as others mentioned, however that bulb combo could work if set up properly with basking spots at the right spots. I have seen people here using the Reptisun 10.0 successfully. However, a 26w ReptiSun 5.0 would be better if you are going to use CFL, and a tube 5.0 bulb would be the best.

Does he have any other symptoms besides keeping his eyes closed (popping sounds, holding his head up, gaping, mucous, bubbles)? If so, he may have a respiratory infection instead of vitamin A deficiency. Can you post a picture of his eyes? If they are swollen or irregularly shaped this is probably an infection and not vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin A deficiency usually starts with just one eye closed and then both will close if not treated soon enough. My veiled had this exact problem. See post #6 in the article below for more info and treament:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/cham-keeps-closing-one-his-eyes-66576/

sandrachameleon · Jul 28, 2014

thechameleonghost said:
About the water and feed his eyes are pretty much completely CLOSED One is about a quarter inch open. And he only sticks to the screen of the cage. He doesn't rarely move

thechameleonghost · Jul 28, 2014

sharp229 said:
You should have no light at night as others mentioned, however that bulb combo could work if set up properly with basking spots at the right spots. I have seen people here using the Reptisun 10.0 successfully. However, a 26w ReptiSun 5.0 would be better if you are going to use CFL, and a tube 5.0 bulb would be the best.

Does he have any other symptoms besides keeping his eyes closed (popping sounds, holding his head up, gaping, mucous, bubbles)? If so, he may have a respiratory infection instead of vitamin A deficiency. Can you post a picture of his eyes? If they are swollen or irregularly shaped this is probably an infection and not vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin A deficiency usually starts with just one eye closed and then both will close if not treated soon enough. My veiled had this exact problem. See post #6 in the article below for more info and treament:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/cham-keeps-closing-one-his-eyes-66576/

So First of all, about the lighting I am thinking about buying a reptisun 5.0. And there are not any other symptons the eyes are just closed I will try to get some pictures tho

thechameleonghost · Jul 28, 2014

sandrachameleon said:
sounds like you need to take him to a vet
if you are having to force feed and his eyes aren't open, something is seriously wrong.

not sure why you jumped to the conclusion that vitamin A is the issue, but if that is indeed the problem you can provide via supplement (power or an oral solution your vet can make up based on weight or using a tiny tiny amount from a gel cap placed under the wings of a cricket or roach). Im glad you will get a vitamin supplement soon, and will start offering more than mealworms. You will also want to start gutloading better.

be cautious about putting water directly into his mouth the way you describe - he could easily aspirate.

you should not have a light on at night.

here are some links re vitamin A that you may find useful:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/seriously-worried-22697/index3.html#post199819
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gutload-vitamin-27997/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/food-thought-12472/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-scares-me-12395/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chams-eye-doesnt-want-open-21534/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/carrots-vit-23572/
http://jgp.rupress.org/content/47/3/433.full.pdf
https://www.chameleonforums.com/insects-vitamin-other-nutrients-37090/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamins-othr-nutrients-62080/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-supplements-dr-ivan-alfonsos-blog-64145/

here are links to gutloading and nutrition info:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/nutritional-information/

here is some info on prey choices:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

supplement info:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html

Hi, thank you for your response. The reason for jumping to the vitamin a deficiency is because before posting this I did some research. And I looked at a lot of other forums and I could match him to what other people were saying to a vit a deficiency. I decided to post this to find out how to fix it

sharp229 · Jul 29, 2014

Did he start with just one eye closed and then later both? Pictures would definitely be helpful.

thechameleonghost · Jul 29, 2014

sharp229 said:
Did he start with just one eye closed and then later both? Pictures would definitely be helpful.

Yes it started with one then both I will try to get pics

camimom · Jul 30, 2014

he could have an eye infection, or sinus infection.

but without a vet doing a check up, you shouldnt treat under the assumption he has a vit a deficiency.

thechameleonghost · Jul 31, 2014

Well today I reliezed his bottom left leg is shaking when he walks and it is stretched out, Possibly MBD?

kinyonga · Jul 31, 2014

Can you post some recent photos of him please?

camimom · Aug 1, 2014

are you sure its not the leaf walk?

Chams are notorious for that.

we really need pics to see, and you should see a vet.

thechameleonghost · Aug 5, 2014

Hi thank u guys for the reply's I bought some sterile eye drops I am giving him them twice a day and his eyes are recovering. I am giving him lettuce and feeding him crickets. thanks for the help

Vitamin A deficiency in a Chamelon

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