Acting strange

Lady isla

Lady isla

New Member
My veiled chameleon (camiel) is acting strangely, while trying to climb and/or walk, she appears to loose control of her front legs and she grabs her head and sometimes falls off the vine. She also prefers to be on the floor of her enclosure. I am new to Chameleon life and would appreciate any advice. Blessed be

Thanks
 
Could be MBD but can't be sure without more information and photos. Please post the SPECIFIC supplements used and how often for each. What do you feed/gutload the insects with? What are the basking temperatures? What UVB light does you use SPECIFICALLY and how old is the bulb?
 
Veiled acting strange

I have had her for about two months, I got her at Pet Co. And live in New Hampshire. I feed her crickets gut loaded with Flukers high calcium cricket diet and meal worms. She has a small pool of water and I mist her enclosure several times a day. I try to keep the humidity level at about 60-80 percent. The temp in the enclosure is about 80 degrees. I handle her atleast every other day and she seems to enjoy it. I let her sit on my screen to soak up some real sunlight. I have seen her drink, and there are little poopies in her enclosure, about 1/4 inch rounded, bean shape and brown. Her enclosure is glass with a screen top. I have a daytime light and a red bulb for at night. Her color is beautiful, greenish brown inside the enclosure and she turns lime green when I hold her. She looks kind of fat. I was feeding her about 5 small crickets aa day, we are up to med crickets now so have cut down to 3 but she hasn't eaten in two days. I offered her meal worms but she is not interested. She can't climb well now because her front legs appear out of control and flail around until she grabs her head, then she face plants, so she stays on the ground now most of the time..her enclosure is about four feet off the floor and fairly draft free. I'm at a loss as to how to help her. Please, any advice will be appreciated.. Blessed be
 

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You don't mention anything about calcium dusting in your post.

You are using some right?

It sounds like the early stages of MBD :(

Get rid of the night light too, it's not needed. They need darkness for sleep.
 
Camiel

Thanks, I will read everything and yes I do have reptile calcium I sprinkle it on the meal worms about every two weeks. I will also try the B complex.
 
Last edited:
Lady isla said:
I have had her for about two months, I got her at Pet Co. And live in New Hampshire. I feed her crickets gut loaded with Flukers high calcium cricket diet and meal worms. She has a small pool of water and I mist her enclosure several times a day. I try to keep the humidity level at about 60-80 percent. The temp in the enclosure is about 80 degrees. I handle her atleast every other day and she seems to enjoy it. I let her sit on my screen to soak up some real sunlight. I have seen her drink, and there are little poopies in her enclosure, about 1/4 inch rounded, bean shape and brown. Her enclosure is glass with a screen top. I have a daytime light and a red bulb for at night. Her color is beautiful, greenish brown inside the enclosure and she turns lime green when I hold her. She looks kind of fat. I was feeding her about 5 small crickets aa day, we are up to med crickets now so have cut down to 3 but she hasn't eaten in two days. I offered her meal worms but she is not interested. She can't climb well now because her front legs appear out of control and flail around until she grabs her head, then she face plants, so she stays on the ground now most of the time..her enclosure is about four feet off the floor and fairly draft free. I'm at a loss as to how to help her. Please, any advice will be appreciated.. Blessed be
Click to expand...

Do you not see the deformities in the long bones of her limbs.

She has at least one fracture in the front limb shown and I suspect another fracture in the hind limb.

She needs to be seen by a vet because the most likely cause of multiple fractures to long bones is MBD. That is not something you can treat on your own.

Your chameleon is suffering a lot. You mention that you handle her every couple of days and that she enjoys it. I can't imagine any animal enjoying being handled when they have such mangled limbs. Metabolic Bone Disease doesn't sound painful, but I can assure you a broken bone is a broken bone and she seems to have many.

How can you not see that?

I'm sorry for being so blunt. I truly am, but your animal is suffering.
 
Lady isla said:
Thanks, I will read everything and yes I do have reptile calcium I sprinkle it on the meal worms about every two weeks. I will also try the B complex.
Click to expand...


PLAIN calcium needs to be used at every feeding. You also need calcium with D3, as well as a multivitamin which would be alternated every week on one day. I use Saturdays as my days. So like today was multivitamin day, next saturday will be calcium with D3, and then the following saturday multivitamin, etc.

It would be best to try to find a reptile vet to take her to. How old is your UVB bulb? Most UVB bulbs don't put out the amount needed for a chameleon after about 6 months. Some brands of UVB bulbs last longer.
 
It looks like she has MBD. If you aren't dusting with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings you haven't been giving your chameleon enough calcium.

You should also dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene ( prOformed ) source of vitamin A ...and when/if necessary with a prEformed vitamin A supplement.

You don't mention using a UVB light. This is necessary so the chameleon can produce the D3 needed to use the calcium in the system. She will have been getting some from the exposure to the sun.

It's important to feed/gutload the insects properly too. For crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms you can use a wide range of greens such as collards, escarole,endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

To correct MBD you need to get the vet to give the chameleon injections of calcium until the bones and muscles and other systems in the chameleon are back to normal. You can also use a liquid calcium sandoz or gluconate too.

Are you also aware that a female veiled chameleon can produce eggs without having mated? She should have an egglaying bin in the cage.

Good luck!
 
You should be using calcium without d3 at every feeding, calcium with d3 every two weeks and a multivitimin every two weeks. It would be really helpful if you filled out the How to ask for help sheet. It's tough to help, we need more information. Crickets and mealworms are not really a well rounded diet. You need to offer a bit more variety. Silkworms, hornworm, blue bottle flies, roaches, Phoenix worms, or stick bugs to name a few. Crickets and roaches need to be gutload end but you should ditch the flukers gutload it's garbage. Ditch the mealworms too, they are not a nutritious feeder. You should be using a wide variety of fruits and veggies along with a dry powdered gutload like cricket crack or bug burger. Also, 3 to 5 crickets doesn't seem like a lot, do you know how old she is? If she's a baby, she should be eTing a lot more. Like 10 to 20 crickets a day. The variety shout help get her eating. You don't mention a UVB light, do you have one? get rid of the red light that's only going to prevent her from sleeping. You also say you have a glass enclosure with a screen top. Is she in an aquarium? If so, she needs to be in a tall enclosure, with at least two side made of screen for proper ventilation. Most common here in states is an all screen enclosure but you could also use a combination glass/screen enclosure as long as it had two sections of screen. These things could all be contributing to her poor health. Its likely that she was in poor health when you got her. Petco is known for Poor husbandry. Read through the care sheets on this forum! They have a lot of great info.
 
I know that this has been said before, and I know that the vast majority of people in this forum know this already, but there is post after post of people saying they don't know why their chameleon is acting strangely only to later inform everyone that their care and methods are completely wrong. I'm not trying to be harsh and I know you have affection for your pets. So anyway....

PLEASE, REGARDING ANY ANIMAL, DO YOUR RESEARCH AND HAVE THE PROPER SET UP BEFORE YOU PURCHASE THE ANIMALS.

PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE REPTILES (or any animal in my experience) FROM LARGE CHAIN STORES. PURCHASE THEM FROM REPUTABLE BREEDERS WHO WILL AID YOU IN THE PROPER CARE INSTEAD OF JUST TRYING TO TURN A PROFIT.
 
Oh dear, poor baby! That broken leg seems to hurt being twisted like that! I didn't see you mentioning an UVB bulb. It's very important for chams that they get at lest 12h of UVB light. That is probably one of the reasons your cham is now suffering from MBD. Do as much research as you can and pay the vet a visit :) I wish you good luck and hope you can rehabilitate her so she can live a long and happy life!
 
Petco Peeves

Has anyone else noticed that there's been an influx of chameleon owners purchasing chams from Petco/Petsmart lately? Through personal experience and on here, I've noticed red night lights have been in their husbandry as well... Why the F would you sell chameleons if you have no clue of their basic husbandry??!?? Obviously it's not the owners fault that they're not educated properly. Sooo frustrating!!
 
MarieMc44 said:
Has anyone else noticed that there's been an influx of chameleon owners purchasing chams from Petco/Petsmart lately? Through personal experience and on here, I've noticed red night lights have been in their husbandry as well... Why the F would you sell chameleons if you have no clue of their basic husbandry??!?? Obviously it's not the owners fault that they're not educated properly. Sooo frustrating!!
Click to expand...

This isn't new and the OP's story isn't unique. The exotic herp community has been hearing this for years and years. No matter how we try to communicate the problems it doesn't seem to make much of a dent in the attitude of corporate pet chains. Once in a while some employees of one particular store take the time to educate themselves and buyers, but that's it.

I know its hard to restrain ourselves, but we can help newbies who actually do find the forum the most by keeping our frustration out of our first replies to an OP with a cham in trouble. If they trusted what the PetStupid or other store told them why would they search for more info until their pet is sick? They don't even know what a healthy cham SHOULD be like let alone a sick one. It does seem obvious (especially seeing fractures) to us I know. Offending a newbie who's already worried will just send them away and their cham may never get the help it so desperately needs. At least some start searching because they do care.

I wish we could get at the breeders who supply livestock to the chain stores...so much of the problem starts with them! THEY are the ones producing animals that may be sick before the store even gets them and THEY are not providing appropriate care information that might affect the corporate attitude. They obviously don't care much about the creatures they produce.

OP, I hope you are still around. We hear these sad stories so often its hard to keep the anger and bitterness under control all the time. I hope the information we provided can help your cham! You can trust it, and us.
 
Not lately, it seems pretty steady in the big picture. I do think they have been available in more locations recently. What I dread is the March-April spat of Christmas chameleons that develop issues :(

I understand needing some experience to get the finer points of husbandry where it needs to be, but I do get frustrated to see people being told to buy a bunch of stuff the pet stores toss at them like red night lights, heat rocks, waterfalls, bark, etc, and don't walk away with things they actually need like drippers, supplements, thermometers, and UV lights. Or even worse, when new keepers aren't told that chameleons require live insects.

What boggles my mind is that if pet stores set up their Cham vivs like showcase pieces, they could provide the best possible environment AND sell more expensive cage decoration items - it's all about presentation.

I also think pet stores should be required to put dollar signs next to animals based on the cost of care (just like restaurants do based on cost). Chameleons $$$, parrots $$$$, etc, and something graphic showing the expected life span of the animal. No one who buys a cute tortoise at a pet store really understands that baby turtle is going to outlive them.

I'm not criticizing the OP - they are in the right place now and hopefully their Cham can get the needed care. I am criticizing some pet stores where the churn and burn practice of selling animals comes at the expense of their health (and at the wallet of the person who buys them).

OP: Best of luck to your little girl. Don't be shy about asking questions and learning more here. You've hit a nerve about big box pet stores, but we want the best for you and your Cham and will help wherever we can.
 
I agree with you 100% Lathis. If it's money they're after, why not sell the correct set-up and accessories since we all know those can be pricy!!
 
I concur, Carlton. And just to reiterate, I'm not frustrated with newbies joining the forum and asking why their chameleon is ill, that's the whole point of this place; to educate!! We were all in that position at some point or another, and now, we can tell personal stories and how they were over-come. So many times have new cham owners DM'ed me on Instgram to thank me for turning them on to this page (it's on my Instagam Info). First hand experience is one of the greatest tools of learning. What's frustrating is large conglomerates not caring to spend the money to correctly educate their employees! It's not the new cham owner's fault, heck, it's not even the employee's fault, it's the "MAN'S" fault... Ergo, DAMN the MAN!!!
 
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