Worried

[janjan20]

I’m at work so I can’t go through your entire husbandry right now. Start with getting more plants. Watch the videos to get an idea for how to setup the enclosure. I would also schedule a vet appt with a reptile vet to rule out MBD. Her ribs look a little weird too but it could just be the angle she is sitting.

 

[Joseph123456]

No worries! Thats good news. Look over some of the stuff @janjan20 posted and you can get to a good start. You will need to buy some calcium without d3 asap.

i bought the calcium

 

[Joseph123456]

I just bought 2 golden pathos plants, the calcium without d3 and some artificial vines.

I’m at work so I can’t go through your entire husbandry right now. Start with getting more plants. Watch the videos to get an idea for how to setup the enclosure. I would also schedule a vet appt with a reptile vet to rule out MBD. Her ribs look a little weird too but it could just be the angle she is sitting.

 

[BCboom]

I just bought 2 golden pathos plants, the calcium without d3 and some artificial vines.

sounds good!

 

[Joseph123456]

 

[CasqueAbove]

Corrections need too be made. @janjan20 is very good listen to her. She can be ok but by looks she needs imitate changes mentioned. The last pic defiantly shows mbd

 

[Kam0408]

She does not

You need a lay bin no question

 

[MissSkittles]

You have that beautiful XL enclosure and are using only the bottom of it. Chameleons live in trees...you need to provide her a simulated tree with lots of branches and vines up higher. While you may have the correct uvb light, it isn’t able to reach her with adequate levels so low down. Basking area needs to be around 8-9” down from your lights. Dragon ledges make hanging branches and plants up higher so much easier. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ You want your enclosure to look somewhat like this.

 

[janjan20]

Sorry for the abbreviated review, I'm going off of what you gave me. I may have missed some stuff but this is the basics to get you back up and running properly. It is VERY important that changes are made ASAP so you should not order too much online vs going to the store today. Having a female time is of the essence due to egg production and becoming egg bound. I also forgot to add earlier to get rid of the substrate at the bottom when you make your changes. Please follow up with pics when you are done and let us know if you have anymore questions. We are here to help and want the best for you and your chameleon!!

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? female veiled chameleon. It has been in my care since august 2020
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? i almost never hold it,
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Crickets, mealworms, and hornworms. I give her vitamin supplements and once every 2 days. Females require a different feeding schedule to keep the clutch size down. They will lay infertile eggs like chickens roughly every 3-4 months. The goal is to reduce feeding and temps to keep them from ovulating. Right now since she may have MBD I would continue to feed her daily but 2-3 large crickets. Dust with plain phosphorus free calcium daily. Dust one day with D3 everyother week. So every other Saturday. Then the alternating Saturdays dust with a multivitamin NO D3. I would switch from meal worms to super worms but only as a treat, once a week. Hornworms are good for hydration but have little nutritional value so they should not be used as a staple feeder. Gutloading I recommend bug burger from Repashy alternating with fresh veggies. I will put the pic below.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I mist her for 2 minutes every day 2 times a day. Mist morning before lights come on 2-3 mins and in the evening. Look into nighttime fogging for hydration as well. You can find that info on chameleonacademy.com.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Never been tested for parasites. Brown poop. Not smelly. Poop should be formed with a white/yellow urate. There are posts and a video on Neptune the Chameleon you can watch.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. No
Cage is 24 x24x28

Humidity: 30-50 % daytime, nighttime 70-100%
Temps: 80 Max basking for a female, look into getting a digital thermometer and hygrometer.
Light: 10.0 is equivalent to a 12% bulb which has strong output of uvb so you are going to need to prop it up off the screen or get a 5.0 bulb.

 

[janjan20]

Got this from another thread about lights. Credit to @Beman for the great info:
“For a 10.0 T5 bulb in a single bulb fixture you want a full 12 inches between the closest branch and the fixture. If you drop back to a 5.0 bulb then it would be 9 inches. Yes, it is harmful for them to be exposed to high UVI levels.”

I made a little pvc stand to put mine on so it is raised above the enclosure. I’ll get a pic when I get home.

 

[ERKleRose]

If you’re using the Zoo Med T5 High Output 10.0 linear UVB bulb, it needs to be raised up 11-12” away from her basking branch, which needs to be at the top of her cage! Could you fill out the cage info part of the form for us, please? Here are some more links and another plant image (make sure to read through every module and the veiled species profile, as well as listening to as many podcasts as possible, from The Chameleon Academy, they have the most accurate and up-to-date info available!):
ttps://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
For the plants, make sure to properly clean them off beforehand and cover all of the soil in the pots with rocks too big for her to eat!

 

[kinyonga]

You may have lucked out in a way...overdoing th D3 but making it so she couldn't get close enough to the UVB to do her any good may have saved her from a really bad case of MBD with many deformities and very weak muscles.

Let's hope you can get her back on track with the correct husbandry but it would be advisable to see a vet to find out if you should also give her extra calcium in a liquid form to bring her bone and muscle condition, etc back to where they should be.

 

[janjan20]

@Joseph123456 how’s everything going?