Another molly question, sorry =/

[justjumpit621]

I find that when I feed her she has a hard time swallowing. originally I thought it was from cramming too much in her mouth at once but I just noticed she had a hard time swallowing the first cricket I gave her. Does anyone know why this is?

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 22inx16inx11in
Lighting - R-zilla hood with two 50 watt UVB bulbs, All Living Things 60 watt basking bulb
Temperature - 70-85 F, night temp is around 65 F
Humidity - 65-68%, mist a few times daily
Plants - One fake fern plant, a geranium I think? I can't remember
Placement - Living room on top of the entertainment center, next to my snake tank. Top of cage is 70 inches off floor
Location - New England, USA
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Female, between 1 and 2 years old, I have had her for 3 months
Handling - Daily, she needs to be hand fed and misted, also a few drops of water on her tongue.
Feeding - every other day, she eats crickets, wax worms, fruits, and veggies. I do not gut load because she has been eating canned crickets, but I will be soon.
Supplements - Reptical and reptilife, mixed once a week heavily coated on her dead crickets.
Watering - She gets misted a few times a day and gets a few drops of water on her tongue.
Fecal Description - Dark brown with white urate. She has never been tested since I got her.
History - She was at petsmart for the beginning of her life. I adopted her, they wanted her to go somewhere before she died >=(, she had infections in both eyes, leaving one eye blind, she had mouth rot, she was very dehydrated, and she weighed 42 grams, severely anarexic. She also did not receive any supplements so She had MBD.
Current Problem - She has been having trouble swallowing.

 

[panthercham]

How big are the crickets? Is she only having trouble with swallowing crickets?

Sorry also I got a bit confused is she having live crickets at all or just the canned dryed ones?

Also can she see your snake at all...if so you will need to put something in between so they cant see each other so she doesnt get stressed

p.s. never feel sorry for asking a question its a good way to learn

 

[justjumpit621]

They are canned and perserved in their own juices so they stay fresh. She also gets live waxworms because they are easier to hold onto, but not a lot because they are fatty. She can't see my snakes, they are mainly always in their house and only come out to drink. She is also half blind so she couldn't really see them anyway. She has trouble with all her other food also, not only the crickets.

 

[justjumpit621]

oh yeah, they are full sized crickets and her head is about an inch wide

 

[Lovereps]

Calcium with phosphorus is bad

I do see a problem both with your supplements and with how infrequently you are supplementing. I'm not really sure about your lighting, as you don't say what specific UVB bulbs--just that the R-Zilla hood has 2 50 watt UVB bulbs.
Too much UVB is just as bad as too little--causing eye problems/blindness.
The Reptical you are supplementing is NOT just plain calcium, it also contains phosphorus.
The Reptilife that you're also supplementing with, also contains phosphorus.
I'm not aware of anyone's cham ever having a phosphorus deficiency, but calcium deficiency--causing MBD--is all too common---too much phosphorus is also a known cause of MBD.
Without going into the biochemistry of it, your most often used supplement
must be a plain calcium supplement--one that does NOT contain ANY phosphorus.
Secondly, you know that Molly has MBD. You should be supplementing her food with plain calcium every other day at the very least and it would probably be better if it was every day.
Her other supplements should be:
calcium with D3 (and nothing else in it)
a multivitamin supplement
The most frequently recommended calcium brand is RepCal (available with D3 and w/o D3)
and the vitamin Herptivite .
Your Reptilife might be an ok vitamin--I didn't compare the ingredient list to the other brands, but most people have posted that they use this once or twice per month--same with the calcium with D3.
Every feeding or every other feeding is the usual recommendation for the plain calcium.
Too much of a vitamin or mineral can have effects that are just as bad as too few.
The problem with the canned crickets is that you can't possibly gutload them.
Variety in a chams diet is always a recommendation--the more variety the better.
Crickets have the problem of containing too much phosphorus and not enough calcium. A diet of crickets without dusting with plain calcium is a known cause of MBD.
Feeders should be lightly dusted, not super coated and looking like ghosts
To quote Dr Wheelock, a veterinarian:

My dusting protocol would be all the insects that one day would be lightly dusted (put into a bag with the calcium with D3) and given a good shake.
Crickets clean themselves off pretty quick so you would want to dust right before you feed.
Calcium carbonate is correct- you are looking for phosphorus free, so a reptile brand would probably be the safest bet.

Naturally, your canned crickets won't be cleaning themselves off.

AND, about phosphorus:

No- you do NOT dust with Phos.
Your cham is getting enough phos from its diet already.

If you want to read Dr Wheelock's post about MBD and supplements:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/supplementation-mbd-1-a-2451/

 

[justjumpit621]

Thank you.

 

[justjumpit621]

and I am not sure what kind of bulbs they are, here is a picture of it.