Weirdo or health problems?

[Vert340]

So yesterday when I tried to feed my chameleon I noiced that he seemed a bit wobbly (I'll add some vids and pics). I looked into it and well long story short I kind of think he has MBD, but I'm not sure? He's the right size for a T-hoehnelii, doesn't have any messed up limbs, doesn't have his tongue hanging out.

But there are a few things that make me think he does. 1st and foremost the wobbling, which is what is spooking me and makes me want to take him to the vet. The other things are that when I mist or after he eats, he does poke his tongue out a bit. It doesn't hang out he just pokes it out then goes back in, like as if you yourself quickly stuck your tongue out at someone then put it away.

When i pick him up his grip is fine and he can climb up to my head just fine. Oh also he hasn't eaten in a few days too, but that might be because he started shedding about 4 days ago.

So as you can see I'm a bit stumped if these are just starting MBD symptoms or if my little guy is just weird ( He likes to stare at a wall of doodles my little cousins scribbled on the wall for hours)
Any input is approciated as I'm ofc a bit freaked out and worrid. Does this require a vet visit? I was told by someone that it wasn't MBD and that chameleons shake randomly to help make them seem like leaves blowing in the wind, but that seems kind of whack , so I came here for a 2nd opinion lol.

Here are the vids i tried to capture his wobbbling in. You can see it best in the last one.https://imgur.com/a/YK4rGlL

 

[Fullbackshak]

Hey! I'm fairly new myself so not going to pretend to have the answers, but if you fill out the form below people who do know what they're talking about will be able to help you a lot better.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

For what's its worth, I do believe the wobbling is a normal part of how the chameleons move around, from the videos I've seen of chameleons it seems like they all do it to some extent. All the best!

 

[The Wild One]

He was probably just mimicking a leaf if his grip is fine, Coda does this when she’s hunting. The no eating is probably a hunger strike.

 

[Vert340]

[*]Your Chameleon - T-hoehnelii, male, idk the age, just that he's an adult. I've had him for 2 weeks.
[*]Handling - Once a week, every sunday when I clean his cage basically.
[*]Feeding - Usually the plan is to give him 4 medium sized crickets every otherday, but he started eating less and now that hes shedding he has eaten in 4 days. Dusted ofc. I am barely looking into gutloading, I've been giving him vitabugs for now, since they're suppose to be pretty nutritious supposedly.
[*]Supplements - I have the repti calcium, both of em, the one with and without D3. I also have the repti multivitamin. I use the generic dusting plan, multivitamin and d3 calc twice a month and basic calcium every time he eats.
[*]Watering - Just good ol manual misting with a misting bottle. I most for 30 seconds twice a day. I actually have never seen him drink water while I've misted. I only see him drink from leaves a few minutes after the misting has stopped.
[*]Fecal Description - His poop has been pretty fine overall. The last time i saw it which was about 5 days ago it was a bit yellow at the tip, but overall white.


Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen cage thats 16x16x32
• Lighting - The T5 long bulb thing that has a uvb 5 i think it was.
• Temperature - Generally it's 72 degrees during the day inside the cage and around 40-50 once the cage goes down.
• Humidity - I use misting with warm water and have 2 live plants in there with him.
• Plants - I am using a Pothos and dwarf umbrella tree/plant.
• Placement - It's near one of my windows. Its quite a bit off the ground, I wanna say 26 inches or so.
• Location - Washington! Which os perfect for this little dude since he needs those temp drops at night and we got those.

Current Problem - what's listed above, might not even be a problem

 

[Vert340]

He was probably just mimicking a leaf if his grip is fine, Coda does this when she’s hunting. The no eating is probably a hunger strike.

Ah okay I can see that. He was already doing a bit if a hunger strike starting this week until a random meal worm beetle popped up (well it was one of the mealworms that was able to escape him last week but you know what i mean) and he got interested in it real fast and devoured it lol. So its not crazy to believe that hes back on his strike

 

[The Wild One]

Do you feed mealworms?

 

[Vert340]

Do you feed mealworms?

Yup and crickets. Soon calcium worms too and I'm just getting into gutloading. I've been giving him those vita crickets that are supposedly more nutritious conpared to normal ones in the mean while

 

[Syreptyon]

Yup and crickets. Soon calcium worms too and I'm just getting into gutloading. I've been giving him those vita crickets that are supposedly more nutritious conpared to normal ones in the mean while

Do you have any previous experience with chameleons? T. hoehnelii are not a a beginner species and the enclosure you have set up needs a lot of work to become acceptable for a chameleon to live. They way it's setup now is very ill-suited to a chameleon's needs. Everything needs to be moved up much higher in the enclosure or he will have no useful access to the lights up top (which he requires to survive). He's way too far away from them currently and the whole enclosure is far too bare for a chameleon.

Also, mealworms should never be fed to chameleons.

 

[Vert340]

Do you have any previous experience with chameleons? T. hoehnelii are not a a beginner species and the enclosure you have set up needs a lot of work to become acceptable for a chameleon to live. They way it's setup now is very ill-suited to a chameleon's needs. Everything needs to be moved up much higher in the enclosure or he will have no useful access to the lights up top (which he requires to survive). He's way too far away from them currently and the whole enclosure is far too bare for a chameleon.

Also, mealworms should never be fed to chameleons.

Nope I'm new to this. I was actually gonna get a jacksons instead, but well this little guy was more or less kind of pushed on me. Its a long story and i made a thread about it because I didn't know about this species at all and was freaking out lol.

So move stuff to be a bit higher up got it! I wasn't sure about how high i was gonna make the branches because I don't know exactly how close to the T5 he can be.

Are mealworms bad?

 

[The Wild One]

Are mealworms bad?

Yes, they have no nutritional value at all and are hard to digest

 

[Vert340]

Do you have any previous experience with chameleons? T. hoehnelii are not a a beginner species and the enclosure you have set up needs a lot of work to become acceptable for a chameleon to live. They way it's setup now is very ill-suited to a chameleon's needs. Everything needs to be moved up much higher in the enclosure or he will have no useful access to the lights up top (which he requires to survive). He's way too far away from them currently and the whole enclosure is far too bare for a chameleon.

Also, mealworms should never be fed to chameleons.

Remodeled stuff around real fast before gling out. Made the branche a but higher is this good enough?

As for the bare issue I can't fix until this friday sadly

 

[Vert340]

Yes, they have no nutritional value at all and are hard to digest

Oh okay, ty for telling that. Probably why he just doesnt eat em anymore, he ignores them now and only perks up for crickets

 

[Fullbackshak]

Remodeled stuff around real fast before gling out. Made the branche a but higher is this good enough?

As for the bare issue I can't fix until this friday sadly

I am unsure on this species specifically! But I believe it would be great to get some horizontal perches in there, at different heights. I found where the max temperature my chameleon should bask in and put the highest one there, then several at lower elevations. I just used branches as wide as my enclosure, I cut notches at the bottom of the branch to hold picture hanging wire, and then threaded those through the mesh. I also put thumb tacks through the mesh into the branch for extra security!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/hoehnelii-care.49193/

Also here is an awesome thread with some (I believe to be) good info from Chris Anderson!

 

[Vert340]

I am unsure on this species specifically! But I believe it would be great to get some horizontal perches in there, at different heights. I found where the max temperature my chameleon should bask in and put the highest one there, then several at lower elevations. I just used branches as wide as my enclosure, I cut notches at the bottom of the branch to hold picture hanging wire, and then threaded those through the mesh. I also put thumb tacks through the mesh into the branch for extra security!

Alright I'll try that out ty

 

[kinyonga]

These might help...
https://www.adcham.com/html/taxonomy/species/chhoehnelii.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/chamaeleo-hoehnelii-info-please.3339/