bone problems or maybe something else??????

[BocaJan]

I have been reading lately about so many different things a chami can have under the skin and saw those wormy things (eck!) that I thought I'd check with you guys. My 2 mo. old veiled Ethel had what I thought was a bone deficiency because she had what looked like a second knee on a front leg and her two back legs were a little thick compared to my other younguns. Now I don't know.

She is in a 12x18x20 rep cage against windows where she gets natural sun for about 5-6 hours a day and a uv lamp outside the cage. The temp is a daytime toasty 85-86 night time 72-74. uv Lights are on 12 hours a day. All my chams love to bask in the sun instead of under a light fixture. What can I say. They do like to roam around from time to time.

I spray them 3 - 4 times a day with very warm water and watch for them to drink. This spray takes several minutes. I live in Florida so I can't verify the humidity but hey, it makes my hair curl. They get fed crickets that get fed gut load and flukers water stuff plus misc apples and sweet potatoes. My local grocery store only has packaged greens so I am planning a trip this week to Whole foods (no chemicals) and pick up some leafy stuff. Will check the web site so I get the right stuff. Droppings always come in twos. Brown and white. White sometimes has a little yellow tip but is about 90% nice pure white. I haven't had her long so there is no history.

I think there is an exotic vet close by. Hope I don't have to take out a loan to treat a free sweetie.

 

[JoshCrane1]

need pics of those limbs.

 

[BocaJan]

Darn, I took the pictures and forgot to attach them.

 

[JoshCrane1]

someone else might wanna confirm, but that looks like pretty bad mbd in the limbs, a vet visit should be in your future.

 

[nightcrawler]

i dont no. the front leg looks funny. like a bone abnormality.
mbd usually will have another "joint" above the knee, and will be uniform in
the whole lizard. it wouldent favor one side more then the other.
the back legs look funny too.

i dont know what it is. how long have you had her compared to her age?

what do you supplement with and how much?

 

[Dean Pulcini]

You can see a break in the right forearm and some deformities also.Needs a vet visit and up the calcium also as much natural sunlight that you can provide.

 

[royden]

Metabolic Bone Disease is the name of the condition and it looks like your cham may have it. Unless this guy taken to a vet asap he will not survive. If he survives, his bones will remain the shape they've become. Your prioroty at this point is recovery through calcium treatment (most likely). If you hit it hard and soon you may be able to save him.

As for your setup, it's easy to narrow down what's going on. For some reason your cham isn't getting calcium.

This could be because he isn't getting enough UV light.

UV rays do not penetrate glass or plastic. Is there a barrier of any kind between him and his UV source? What kind of bulb is it? Brand name? UVB Output?

The other likely cause would be in his supplimentation. If he isn't getting his food dusted with calcium, he obviously can't get calcium.

If his food isn't also dusted with VitD3, then the calcium you're giving him cannot be absorbed by his body. Can you tell us what his dusting schedule and supplimentation is?

 

[BocaJan]

I have only had her 3-4 weeks and she was very tiny when I got her. She was like that when I bought her. How could she have bone deficiencies so quickly? I bought her from a reptile store and she was under lights.

 

[BocaJan]

I give my cham Calcium with D3 every day - all my babies get it. I dust the crickets with it. I use one of the squiggly bulbs the 10, not the 5. My Hubby is the guy that brings this stuff home from Royal Pet supplies. They are in a wire mesh herp cage, not a glass cage and get to bask in the sun about 5-6 hours a day depending upon how the sun is doing. Regardless, the temperature is always steady 85-86.

She can stretch her leg out fine and can run as fast as lightening. Has no other bumps any place else. I got her when she was tiny. She could sit on your thumb and wrap her tail around it. It doesn't pain her at all.

What did I forget.

 

[royden]

Well - I don't know maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is a parasite or a random break. A vet visit is still high priority.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."She is in a 12x18x20 rep cage against windows where she gets natural sun for about 5-6 hours a day and a uv lamp outside the cage"...to be of use to the chameleon the sunlight or UVB must not pass through glass or plastic.

You said..."They get fed crickets that get fed gut load"....I use a wide variety of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, curly endive, escarole, mustar greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.) varying the mixture every few days.

You said..."I give my cham Calcium with D3 every day - all my babies get it"...calcium, vitamin A, D3 and phosphorous need to be in balance for good bone health. You need to look at the amount of UVB your chameleon is getting, and what things you feed to the insects and the chameleon and what supplements you are using to determine if you have a balance or not. If you are overfeeding her that can play a part too.

You said..."I use one of the squiggly bulbs the 10, not the 5"...compacts have been known to cause problems.

A vet should be able to tell you whether your chameleon has MBD or not...but from the leg and the lack of truncal lifting shown in the photos you have provided, its quite likely that MBD is the problem. Its important to get things back in balance ASAP so further damage can be prevented. The deformities that have already occurred won't likely be reversible.

 

[JoshCrane1]

squiggly bulbs are bad, also, symptoms also can be from hyperviaminosis A. which causes bone abnormalities, and calcium deposits.


have any excessive vitamin A sources?

 

[BocaJan]

I can appreciate that, however when I purchased her from the herp store she had the bumps and she was in a container under the dual lights. I don't think it is from vitamin A. I think it is from some kind of parasite or broken leg. I am trying to find a vet.