Vitamins/Calcium & Diabetic symptoms?

[symphonica]

Alright, so not quite diabetes...

I have been giving my panther liquid vit and Ca for the past two days. Was doing powder up till now, but he was starting to spit out the powdered food. I don't blame him - I wouldn't want to eat ground up chalk, either.

Anyways, liquid's been worse. He'll immediately spit his prey out and go to get a drink. He'll start drooling thick, stringy, bubbly saliva and will walk around to new spots to lap water from. He then looks up with his mouth open.

This goes on for about ten mins. And even in between feelings during the day, he's drinking excessive amounts of water.

Is the liquid variety supposed to get them to drink more water? Or is he simply trying to get rid of the taste in his mouth? How else can I deliver vit and Ca to him?

 

[symphonica]

He's only 6 months old, btw.

 

[fluxlizard]

Not really the answer to your question- but I've never seen a lizard act like that in response to powder.

That fact, combined with the response to the liquid would have me wondering and checking into if there is possibly something else going on with the chameleon other than distaste for supplements- maybe a sore in the mouth or something...

 

[redsfandrew]

What i find that works well for me is.. I pull out crickets, dubia or supers, what ever I will feed off the next day, and I mix up a semi dry gut load. I use bug burger. Its a relatively small amount of food. I then take my Polyvisol or Calcium glubionate, whatever supplement I am using, then i mix it in the gut load. They gobble most of it up and by morning I feed them off. It may not be the best way, but its what works for my chams.

 

[camimom]

are you sure you arent over dusting them?

chams will spit the out if over dusted.

you want the bugs one shade lighter than their natural color, not coated and white.

 

[Trace]

He'll immediately spit his prey out and go to get a drink. He'll start drooling thick, stringy, bubbly saliva and will walk around to new spots to lap water from. He then looks up with his mouth open.

Is the liquid variety supposed to get them to drink more water? Or is he simply trying to get rid of the taste in his mouth? How else can I deliver vit and Ca to him?

Chameleons have a poor sense of taste so he's probably not getting rid of the taste in his mouth. However the bubbly saliva, drool, skypointing, open mouth and excessive thirst all point to an Upper Respiratory Infection and vitamins will not cure that. You will need a vet appointment and antibiotics.

 

[ataraxia]

Chameleons have a poor sense of taste so he's probably not getting rid of the taste in his mouth. However the bubbly saliva, drool, skypointing, open mouth and excessive thirst all point to an Upper Respiratory Infection and vitamins will not cure that. You will need a vet appointment and antibiotics.

Trace hit it right on the head. Your chameleon more than like has a RI and will definitely need to see a vet. You will also need to correct what ever is causing this also. Could be from being in a enclosure with little air flow and too high of humidity. Could be that your spraying water into the chameleons mouth. Could be from a variety of issues but you will need to correct this to prevent it from happening again.

 

[symphonica]

Also forgot to mention that he came to me with a tongue injury where he only has a tongue that extends 1.5" max. He basically has to scoop food up with his lower jaw to get it. Tip of his tongue is black and split in two, like a snake's.

 

[symphonica]

Are the signs of URI the drooling/mouth open part, or is the mere fact of drinking excessively also a symptom? This is only a problem AFTER eating prey with liquid supplementation on them. None of these Bx are seen after eating uncoated prey. Dusted prey is spit out immediately.

 

[Carlton]

Are the signs of URI the drooling/mouth open part, or is the mere fact of drinking excessively also a symptom? This is only a problem AFTER eating prey with liquid supplementation on them. None of these Bx are seen after eating uncoated prey. Dusted prey is spit out immediately.

Drinking excessively is NOT a sign of a respiratory infection. Dehydrated chams often drool quite a bit while they are actively drinking, but once they stop drinking so does the salivation. The saliva is clear and runny.

The type of salivation you would see with a respiratory infection is different and other behavior would back up that diagnosis. Here's how I'd describe a cham with a RI:

Sitting dark and quiet under the basking light for hours regardless of temps or light level, not reacting to stimuli around the cage.
No appetite, no attempt to drink.
Eyes shut, gaping constantly, snout tipped straight up, gulping for air over and over.
Mucus in the mouth tends to be thicker and stickier and can appear down in the throat as well. As it gets worse there may be foam and bubbling along the lip line, sometimes pink tinged. The nostrils are often blocked too.

 

[symphonica]

Thanks, Carlton. Definitely not a URI then. He's got a great appetite and drink excessively. He's free-ranged 24/7 - no cage whatsoever. Humidity's not easy to maintain, but there is a MistKing. He's fairly quiet under the basking lamp, though, because he's in a very quiet, low traffic, isolated room. There's really not much stimuli. He's super friendly so he doesn't really react to me, but he will flare up and show me his colors when I instigate him, sometimes even hissing and trying to bite

I've been feeding him prey with no calcium or vitamins for 3 days in a row now, because I felt bad that he wasn't eating. Great appetite and went for everything moving, but would spit it up and drool every time I put any additives on his prey. Clear drool, but would hang. And then he'd just go to drink ridiculous amounts of water. He'd keep drinking water excessively for about 3 hours after feeding.

I really think he just can't handle the additives to his food. Maybe because his tongue is so short and deformed, the powder/potent liquid bothers him somehow?