Any advice for an old veil - supplements - diet?

Our beloved big male Veil hit 6 year 4 months and suddenly can't hang onto the branches anymore and falls often. He's free range so I build a net under the branches so if he falls he falls into that. The vet said he's healthy just old. Its seems like it happened overnight.

Is there any dietary or supplement regiment I should be looking into? He gets calcium/vitamins/minerall UVB either via his light or outdoors. Exterior he looks healthy and no emaciation. He's just too weak to really hang onto to the branches and at times it seems like there's a misfire in his brain when he'll suddenly start backing up like he's scared.

This guy is more like a dog. Loves to go for walks, rides in the car, has free roam of the house. Now for the very first time in his life I can see his eyes sink into his head from stress/frustration at not being able to climb his tree, etc.

Any advice to make the rest of his life as comfortable as possible is appreciated.

I don't have any advice for you but I sure dread the day something happens to my Veiled. You certainly get attached to them. How's he doing? Jann

Try varying his supplements. My old guy has been through lots of injuries and tough times, but still hangs in there. he got really weak this past winter, and I thought he was going to die this spring for sure. I started to feed him more heavily dusted crickets, (hand feed, as his tongue wasn't working past 2")

The old S.O.B. is actually getting better.

he's a little over 7 now. just like old people, their digestive systems become ineffecient. They require more food to sustain their bodies, but always seem skinny. He responded very well to an increase in vitamins. i upped his repcal intake to every feeding (though not every insect in every feeding), and his strength has improved drastically.

Thanks Eric. I'll try that! Just vitamins or all sups - calcium, minerall?

Jannb - he's about the same. Yes, we're really attached to him. He's our first Chameleon and the best. Sometimes when he got lonely he would come down from his tree and walk into our bedroom and wait for us on the bed. We throw him down at the bottom (there's a space between the mattress and footboard where we have a pillow) for the night. He's very intense whereas he wants to be around us. We have to let him sleep there every night. When we have him outside if we go back in and he can't see us he gets upset. Poor guy.

Hopefully Eric's tip will help.

Here's a pic of him in healthier days. He's 340 grams 16" long

He's beautiful! I sure hope the extra supplements work.

Eric,

How often and how much do you feed him?

Also what do you feed him?

We started him on silk worms that one of our new guys was used to and someone mentioned maybe it was a sudden overload of protein that might have affected him. He hasn't had silks for weeks and there's no change.

We've had to hand feed our guy for the last 3 years or so too.

I remember a thread or post that someone mentioned that old chameleons that hadn't had silkworms in their diet for a long time, may show a sudden decline in health when given silkworms. I'm sure it was one of the old cham people.

You have a beautiful and hefty boy there. Good luck and please keep us posted.

I dont know,id have to say old age too It sucks after hes been with you for 6 YEARS!I mean...you have done a superb job and you can prob pull him through this!

Thanks for the support everyone.

He never had silkworms ever in his diet before. I wonder if they could've caused it?

My own much loved Veiled chameleon died a year ago aged approx 6 and a half years old. During the last 5 months of his life he had to sleep on a bed I made for him on the ground of his viv so he wouldn't fall. During the day I used to position him on a branch and he used to stay there until I moved him at night. Occasionally he would move from the branch and fall but it was a huge effort for him to move by then. I used to hand feed him at all times during this period and I gave him Critical care and Hydro-life twice daily too.
My Louis was very beautiful, as is your one and I wish him well in his old age.

Whoa. He was fat! My male, a tad over 17", weighed under 200! My 19" melleri weighed 205 grams last year.

How much were you feeding that thing!?!?! hehe. 6 years for such a big veiled is very good - unfortunatly, I have seen few veileds that heavy live past 4. Fatty liver disease starts to take its toll.

My male eats about twice as much as what he did when healthy. When he was young, he was eating approx 2-6 insects every other day, depending on activity and treats - as well as vegetable intake.

I increases all his vitamins. D3 being one of them. Since I get D3 from repcal, he also gets a slight increase in minerals as well. Nothing dramatic. Recently, the normal diet has resulted him he losing muscle function. I upped his supplementation, and he's gaining it back.

Eric, How important is st for my Veil to eat vegetables? I have offered him many different fruits and vegtables but he's not interested. He does nibble on the leaves of his Potho plant.

I'm so sorry for your loss Chamgirl. These animal really work their way into a person's life and heart.

You are so right! I am so attached to my Luie. I treasure every moment that I have with him.

Eric,

I'm confused. How much are you feeding him now? I was feeding Karma 5-8 meal worms or equivalent every three days which now I adjusted to 3 every other day.

Are you giving all sups every meal? Or just vitamins. If he could get some muscle strength back I know that would help him a great deal.

jannb - its hard to get them to eat veggies. Since we hand feed him which amounts to rubbing his nose with food until he opens his mouth - we can get kale into him. If you can get yours to open its mouth just drop some in their. They usually eat it. Eventually after doing this for a while you may get them to eat it on their own.

To be honest the times we were diligent about getting kale into his diet I never saw any change.

My male veiled is almost 6 yrs old. He seems to slip on his branches once in a while but always catches himself. He doesn't chase down crickets anymore and generally waits for silk or horm worms mind you he'll eat the occasional cricket that's walking by if he's really hungry. I don't always have a steady supply of worms so sometimes he has to settle for crickets or nothing for a few days.

However I've found that all my veileds seem to like pieces of grape or strawberry stuck on little twigs in their branches. They'll try to get it with their tongue and if that doesn't work they'll eventually go over and bite it off the branch.

I'm a little concerned for my old guy too. I just got a MVB to increase the amount of UVB as I was just using an old tube before. I have this bulb set up right in the middle of the two 175 gal. flexariums about 10" above the mesh. So both chams get some UVB in one corner of their respective enclosure but they have plenty of room to get away from it too. The enclosures are also in front of a window that gets some afternoon sun to help warm things up.

I'll let you know if the bulb seems to help my guy's grip in time. Good luck with yours and I hope you find a solution to his gripping problem.

BTW - He's very STUNNING ... nice pic !!

Dyesub Dave.

Right now, I'm feeding him about 4-5 crickets a day, on average. I don't want to tax his digestive system, so I don't feed him too much at once - he'll puke if I do that. He can't keep down superworms.

Silkworms and hornworms were great last year. He lost a lot of weight lat summer, for some reason, while I had him outside. I gave him a lot of silkworms and hornworms, and he regained all his weight.

I supplement at least one insect a day for him, with vitamins and repcal.

Veggies arent' all that important. They love fruit, especially grapes, as a treat. Flowers seem to be a favorite. I know a few people that feed their veileds mostly plant matter.

They have very healthy veileds. I have not been feeding too much plant matter, honestly. It's seasonal. In the summer, when I have flowers to feed them, they eat them.

VerteX said:

I remember a thread or post that someone mentioned that old chameleons that hadn't had silkworms in their diet for a long time, may show a sudden decline in health when given silkworms. I'm sure it was one of the old cham people...

Click to expand...

Howdy,

That was me . This is one of the chameleons that I was concerned about. The timing of his sudden decline in health with the very recent introduction of his first ever silkworms reminded me of some of the past incidences that I mentioned. It was this Veiled that pulled it into focus for me. I'm still wondering about the possibility of a sudden introduction of large(r) quantities of protein causing this health condition. Even if "excessive" protein had something to do with this situation, I don't think that it is a common occurrence with chameleons in general.

Hello! How is Karma?

Thanks for asking.

He's still with us and has good and bad days. He's better if he sleeps in bed for 14 hours. The big trapeze catches him if he falls. I'm trying the supplement regiment as mentioned here. I'm also going to get some liquid calcium and try that.