Concerned!

[ahood]

Hey guys, if you have any info please respond to this. My 5month old male amilobe Panther chameleon has been behaving differently for the past two weeks. He just shed a day or so ago so I'm hoping maybe it's been because of that, but I don't know as I'm a first time cham owner. He's been much more sluggish (he's usually very active), and has a loss of coordination and balance and I haven't seen him eat (he may have eaten, but I just haven't seen him do it) and hasn't been interested in hand fed worms like he usually is. Does this have anything to do with the shedding? Should I be worried or is this normal? Any advice? Thank you!

 

[absolutbill]

Normally a cham will not be as hungry during shedding time, however I've never encountered one with balance issues. Please complete the How To Ask for Help form so we can double-check your husbandry and see if there are any things to address.

 

[ahood]

Okay thank you I will complete that now

 

[ahood]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 5 month old male amilobe chameleon. Been in my car for about a month and a half to two months
Handling - Probably every other day or two
Feeding - medium crickets and large mealworms from the pet store. I put the crickets straight from the bag into the enclosure.
Supplements - I dust every other meal with Herptivite.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? I use the Big Dripper with repti safe water conditioner that I leave on all day long. I mist about 3-5 times a day. And if I've noticed that he hasn't gone to the Dripper I give him water from a syringe which he always drinks.
Fecal Description - wet, dark balls stranded together with white at the end. A couple times there has been a little orange as well.
History - My cham is very young and I don't know anything from before he was shipped to me.

Cage Info: Repti-Breeze XL 24x24x48 screen with plastic half way up on two sides.
Cage Type -
Lighting - I'm using one long UV light with a heat lamp with an exo terra 100W bulb for heat. These two lights are on from 8am-11pm. Then an exo terra 75W purple night heat lamp that comes on at 11pm and turns off at 8am.
Temperature - 80-85 basking spot, about 76 degrees in center, and 72 at bottom. I measured these with a Zola automatic thermometer where you press the button and read the number.
Humidity - Honestly, I don't know what the humidity levels are, I just always have the Dripper running and make sure to spray often.
Plants - I use artificial plants: silk and plastic hanging leaves with medium and large fluker's bend a branches and two real branches that have been treated.
Placemen- my cage is not in a high traffic area. It's about 3ft off the ground. There is a vent about 5ft away but there is plastic covering that side of the cage and air doesn't ever directly blow out of that vent. We keep the house at 70 degrees.
Location - North Carolina

Current Problem- the change in balance, coordination, and activity level as I stated in initial post. He just shed about a day ago. Up until now he has done fantastic and thrived in his current set-up. He hasn't fallen- he always catches himself with his tail but his back legs seem to flail around looking for a place to grasp. He never did this up until a week ago. And he had already shed once since I've had him and he was eating like crazy- sometimes 20 worms and 10 crickets a day. I haven't seen him eat anything in the past week. He may. Have eaten some crickets (I let them roam he cage) but he hasn't accepted his usual mealworms by hand. Still drinking water though.


Pictures are helpful

 

[MelissaB]

I'm sorry you're having problems with your chameleon. There are a few things that stand out to me, that could use improvement.
It's best to feed the feeder insects good healthy food so they're nutritious for your animal. Look up Sandrachameleon's blog (on this website) for gutloading information. Feeding the crickets fruits and vegetables or a good commercial food, like Cricketcrack, would be a good start. I like to run my fruits and vegetables through the food processor, to chop them up, and freeze it so it's convenient.

As far as your supplements, I read that you only use herptivite. As far as I know, I could be wrong, that's only a vitamin supplement. You need to use a calcium supplement. A lot of keepers here use calcium with no D3 at every feeding and alternate a calcium with D3 and a multivitamin 2x's month. Switching off between the vitamin and the calcium with D3.

What brand UVB light bulb are you using? Some of the packaging can be very confusing. Sometimes people have thought they had a UVB light, and it was not.
I hope your little buddy feels better, and I'm sure others will come on your thread to help you with good advice.

 

[sharp229]

The biggest issues I see are that there should be no light at night (you don't need anything to keep the temperature up unless it goes below 50F) and you need to adjust your feeding methods.

You should dust the feeders with plain calcium (no D3) every feeding, multivitamin twice a month, and calcium+d3 twice a month. You should also gut-load the feeders with fruits and vegetables before you give them to him, since the pet store is unlikely to do this.

Could you provide the specific brand and model of the UVB bulb, and also post pictures of him?

 

[ahood]

Okay, so I should remove the night heat lamp entirely? it's not very strong I just thought that since he is young he might need that. For cricket food, what about the fluker's orange cubes complete cricket diet or that calcium gel stuff for the crickets? and I don't remember the brand of UV bulb, but it does say UVA and UVB on it. I only give him the herptivite because it has calcium in it and was told that it would be sufficient enough, but this was probably incorrect info as I can see. Here are some pictures of my chameleon, Kiwi, and the light bulb. I just got really worried because I've read things about MBD and thought of the worst.

 

[ahood]

Here are pics of the print on the UV strip bulb. He looks healthy to me, but what do I know. It's just very different now than about a week and a half ago.

 

[sharp229]

He looks pretty healthy, I don't see obvious signs of MBD. But yes, you will want to remove the night heat light. It should be completely dark in his cage at night, since light can keep him awake. As long as his cage is above 50F at night, he should be fine, regardless of age, as long as he has the right daytime temps. I would guess your house probably doesn't get below 60 unless you are in a very cold area.

That bulb looks like it should be good, but I don't have personal experience with the brand. How old is it? You will need to replace it every 6 months. Next time you buy one I would get a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%. I believe this is the specific bulb you have right now:

http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/tropical-series-uvb-flourescent-bulbs.htm

I would not use the orange cubes or any other Fluker cricket food. It is not very nutritious and is also generally more expensive. Carrots and kale are examples of two easily available cheap vegetables that are much healthier. The more variety you use the better.

The Herptivite is good, but it is a multivitamin and it should only be used once a month. You should only use plain calcium (no D3) every feeding so that he does not get overdosed on vitamins. You will also want to use calcium WITH D3 once a month.

Also, it is normal for chameleons to fall from time to time and usually it does not cause them problems. If he can't walk normally and falls regularly, this is a problem. Is it possible the sticks/vines are moving or rotating, causing him to fall off?

 

[ahood]

Thank you so much for your help! I will remove the light and get some plain calcium supplement and then the one with D3. I'm thinking it's probably that and hopefully once i start dusting with the calcium he'll stop being so shaky and stuff. He hasn't been acceptingn food from me lately but maybe I could put a little calcium in the water and offer that to him from a syringe. And yes, that's bulb I have. I just got it about 2 months ago so in another four months I guess I'll switch to one of the other choices. I'm glad you told me about the fluker's cricket food otherwise I would have just bought that. I'll start with the kale and carrots as you said and look up under the food forum for other ideas. Relieved that you don't see any apparent MBD signs. Thank you again!