Bloodwork test results?

[peridot]

Lol look at him photo bombing your picture
When did you purchase the uvb bulb?

I replaced it March 7th.

I would switch to Repashy calcium plus LoD and yes please post a pic of your lights

Ok! I think what I have now is just Repashy Calcium Plus. So I need to switch that out for Calcium Plus LoD? And that is used twice a month?

 

[JoXie411]

I replaced it March 7th.



Ok! I think what I have now is just Repashy Calcium Plus. So I need to switch that out for Calcium Plus LoD? And that is used twice a month?

I use it every feeding.

 

[peridot]

I use it every feeding.

Ok! And what do you use for your multivitamin?

 

[JoXie411]

Ok! And what do you use for your multivitamin?

That’s it lol it’s all in one and I rotate on gut load to makes sure they get what they need.

 

[Beman]

Ok hun I am going to bold red everything that I see.

Your Chameleon - Male Veiled chameleon, had since August of last year. Unsure of age.

Feeding - Crickets, Super Worms, roachs, Wax Worms, horn worms when available. I gutload all my bugs with carrots, dandelion, mustard greens, white potatoes, blueberries, sweat potato and apples. I also use Fluker's Calcium Fortified Cricket Quencher. I would switch up your gutload... So you want heavy on the green leafy veg.. I am attaching an image for you to go by. Print this out for your shopping list. Dump the flukers it sucks. Wax worms are basically all fat.. So limit these. Supers should only be about 20% of the total feeders given. If you can get him to eat roaches over the crickets they gut load much better and are better nutritionally.

Supplements - Repti Calcium Without D3. Use Calcium without D3 daily. Use multivitamin twice a month. Which are you actually using out of your ones at the bottom. There are duplicates. I do not like the herbivite because it only has beta carotene instead of preformed A. So a few options here... You can toss the vits you have and switch to Repashy calcium plus LoD at every feeding. This provides everything in the correct amounts. THis would be lightly dusted on all feeders (dubia and crickets) and would be the only supplement you use beside pee pollen. Or keep the two repti calciums and get reptivite without D3 or Supervite no D3. So this would be calcium without d3 at every feeding and then 2 times a month the calcium with D3 and then 2 times a month the new multivitamin. Alternating these two week over week.

Watering - I am monitoring him closely, and want to keep track of how much he’s drinking. So I’m syringing him water several times a day (dropping water onto his mouth and letting him drink). He has a mister, though. Right now it is not going off. Why are you not using the mister?

Fecal Description - He's been tested for parasites and it came back negative.

History - Purchased from PetSmart.

Cage Type - Reptibreeze screen cage, size x-large.

Lighting - 75w basking bulb , Reptisun 10.0 HO UVB Bulb, linear tube Is this a single fixture T5HO or a T8? If it is a T5 then you need the 5.0 bulb. The basking should be at 7-8 inches below the fixture with the fixture sitting directly on the screen. THe 10.0 in a single T5 fixture will give you too high of UVI levels at the basking site. While there is such a thing as too little UVB there is also Too much...

Temperature - The cage stays about 70-85 depending on area. It's around 95 under his basking spot. I have 3 thermometers/hydrometer throughout his cage. I also use a heatgun for the basking spot. 95 is a bit too hot... Depending on his age... juveniles should not be hotter then 85.. Adult males 90-95 BUT they will tell you if they are too hot. My guy does not like it any hotter then 89 at basking or he will gape non stop. If your measureing the temp at the basking branch and that is 90 then 2-3 inches above it will be more like 95. and so on.

Humidity - Around 30-50 durning the day. I run his Reptifogger on low during the day and on high at night. No fogger running into the cage during the day only at night. Daytime humidity for a veiled should be 30-50% max. If you are needing to up the humidity during the day you utilize a fogger in the room he is in. But never in the cage during day. Heat from lights and fogging is a recipe for an RI> With his history of RI this must be corrected asap... I will give you a link for natural hydration at the end.

Location - North Carolina

~~~~~~~~~

Cucumber had previously been sick and stopped eating. We went to two different vets before he was diagnosed him with an RI after he went a 2 months without eating on his own. We started treatments, which were an antibiotic (every 3 days), oral calcium, and an anti-inflammatory. He has since stopped all the medicines.

He was doing amazing on his treatments, eating so much food that we almost couldn't keep enough crickets around. However, he stopped eating again last month and I'm back to force feeding Carnivore Care. The only thing that has changed is that he is no longer in his "hospital" cage. I kept him in his baby, size medium reptibreeze while he was sick, per the doctors request. He's now back in his x-large cage. Are you offering him food now?

I'm also taking him outside to get natural UV whenever possible. His grip is strong and he moves around a lot. He's not showing any signs of being lethargic.

Last week we went in for his checkup and he had an ultrasound done to make sure nothing was blocked. The vet didn’t see anything.

The last time he ate on his own was May 20th.

The vet said everything looked normal on his blood results, but I wanted to double check with you all.

Answer the lighting questions for me... post pics of the entire cage lights down as well please.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/images/
All of his podcasts are great but here is the one on natural hydration.
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-89-naturalistic-hydration-for-chameleons/

 

[Beman]

When he was eating on his own, I used the Calcium without D3 daily and bee pollen daily. I would use Calcium with D3 twice a month. And Multivitamin twice a month. I used the Herptivite for a long time, but someone told me to stop using it and use the Repashy calcium + vitamins twice a month instead.

Ok see all the feedback I gave in your helpform I need specifics on your uvb lighting.

 

[peridot]

Ok see all the feedback I gave in your helpform I need specifics on your uvb lighting.

Thank you!

So, a local chameleon breeder told me to switch to the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp. I had the 5.0 bulb, I had been using the 5.0 since I got him. I messaged them around the time he stopped eating and did the switch then. So, I should switch back? It’s the single fixture one.

His basking spot is definitely 7-8 inches below the fixture. I’m not sure his exact age, but I got him last August. So, do I need to make sure the basking is higher up? So that it’s lower then 95? I have seen him gape before from being too hot, but he hasn’t in several months.

The humidity thing is what’s causing me the most stress. My exotics vet literally wants me to cover his cage sides and make it 100% humidity 24/7. But, everyone keeps telling me to only run his humidifier at night and keep it at 30-50% max during the day. I haven’t run his humidifier during the day any this week.

I am offering him food daily. He was several cups I keep worms/roaches in inside his cage. I also put about 5 crickets in there a day. He never touches any of them.

Here is a photo of his entire cage:

 

[jannb]

@jannb can you offer the OP any assistance about the lab work she received and attached in her first posting.

I’m not a vet but from experience with going to the vets, I’m thinking it looks good.

If you’d like a second opinion, I do know an awesome chameleon vet that would do a phone consult or email consult for a fee. You can message me if you would like their number.

 

[peridot]

I’m not a vet but from experience with going to the vets, I’m thinking it looks good.

If you’d like a second opinion, I do know an awesome chameleon vet that would do a phone consult or email consult for a fee. You can message me if you would like their number.

Sending you a message now!

 

[JacksJill]

Would it be ok to send her a message on here?

I' don't think she is on here much any more but some of her threads discuss what some values indicate. You can learn a lot from her posts.

 

[Beman]

Thank you!

So, a local chameleon breeder told me to switch to the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp. I had the 5.0 bulb, I had been using the 5.0 since I got him. I messaged them around the time he stopped eating and did the switch then. So, I should switch back? It’s the single fixture one.

His basking spot is definitely 7-8 inches below the fixture. I’m not sure his exact age, but I got him last August. So, do I need to make sure the basking is higher up? So that it’s lower then 95? I have seen him gape before from being too hot, but he hasn’t in several months.

The humidity thing is what’s causing me the most stress. My exotics vet literally wants me to cover his cage sides and make it 100% humidity 24/7. But, everyone keeps telling me to only run his humidifier at night and keep it at 30-50% max during the day. I haven’t run his humidifier during the day any this week.

I am offering him food daily. He was several cups I keep worms/roaches in inside his cage. I also put about 5 crickets in there a day. He never touches any of them.

Here is a photo of his entire cage:

So here is where uvb lighting gets tricky. You will never know the exact UVI you are getting at basking level without a solarmeter 6.5. I know that with single T5HO hoods it is recommended to only use a 5.0 or 6% arcadia bulb. If you use higher then the UVI out put is much too high for them. So they need a 3-4 UVI. What I can tell you is that I tested my neighbors single T5HO fixture and 5.0 bulb and at 7-8 inches he was getting a 3-4 range. I have no other personal experience with single hoods. I run a quad. With the quad you have to bulb the bulb strength up because the other bulbs reduce the output of the total UVI due to them all sharing the same reflector.
Based on what I have learned and what I have seen personally I would reduce to the 5.0 bulb.

I believe at least part of the issue here is way too much humidity during the day. I reached out to an expert due to my high natural humidity and he said that Veileds really need a daytime humidity level of 30-50 max... You are actually looking for that 30-40% range for them during the day. Being as how you live in the south I am betting your natural level is about that.

While I do not happen to agree with your Vet based on what I have learned in my 8 months of doing this I am not a Vet... What I will say is that if he has a history of RI and you are utilizing a fogger during the day in the enclosure then you are putting him at a very high risk. Heat+fog creates hot moist air that he is breathing. THis is 1 way you get RI's. THis is why you see everyone saying to fog at night only at the coolest point. Typically you want this to be when it is 68 degrees F. or below... So for me I fog between 1am-5am only. I utilize misting an hour prior to lights on, I have my basking lamp kick off at 4pm (it turns on at 7am) to cool the cage down and then at 5pm I have a 3 minute misting session. I also have a 1 minute at 10pm and then a 1 min at 12:50 before my fogger kicks on. You will find we all do things slightly different. You have to base what you are doing on where you are living and the set up you have. Watching your levels and monitoring what works best to achieve the desired outcome. I do also have a dripper going all day long in case they want water it is always there.

Go listen to that podcast link it will explain things more for you.