Cricket Flour ??

[Juliana]

Hello all, I suspect that my veiled chameleon has MBD he hasn’t been eating for many months and I was so frustrated not being able to figure out why. Many people had mentioned MBD and I figured he didn’t have it because he wasn’t showing many symptoms. Now after extensive research I believe that he has it. I haven’t seen him use his tongue in 3-4 months, I believe this is because he cannot shoot it due to the MBD. I’ve been feeding him reptiboost through a syringe every few days and I’ve been adding a bit of calcium and D3. I just bought him a linear UVB to help with his condition now I’m going to focus on making him better. I was wondering if I could purchase cricket flour (the stuff they have been branding for human consumption) and mix it in with the reptiboost? I would assume it has all the nutrients a regular cricket has minus the moisture? Please let me know you’re thoughts/ suggestions on what I can’t do to make my little guy better, thank you !

 

[ERKleRose]

Could you fill out this form and post a pic of the enclosure please? You should also take your cham to an exotics vet that has cham experience
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[ERKleRose]

As for the cricket flour, I personally wouldn’t do it because there’s no way to know if the crickets were properly gutloaded or how they were killed

 

[Juliana]

Could you fill out this form and post a pic of the enclosure please? You should also take your cham to an exotics vet that has cham experience
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Juliana]

Could you fill out this form and post a pic of the enclosure please? You should also take your cham to an exotics vet that has cham experience
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Chameleon: 7 month old male veiled chameleon named Squal
Handeling: Every other day to every few days at his discretion (I open the cage door and let him come to me)
Feeding: Has been very inconsistent due to the fact that he doesn’t want to eat anything. I’ve tried wax worms, crickets, horn worms, butter worms, vegetales all in a variety of different forms and he’s not interested. Due to this I bring him in the shower every other day and feed him reptiboost through a syringe and he loves it. I also sometimes mix vitamins in with the reptiboost as well. When he was a young cam he was eating a lot and then just wasn’t interested even though I was mixing up his feeder insects
Hydration: I have a mist king that runs for 45 seconds every two hours and that really helps keep him hydrated as well as the showers I give him for a half an hour every other day
Decal description: poop looks fine( when he actually eats) and urate is normal white and very wet
History: Got him when he was a month old
Cage type: large exoterra got the chameleon kit when I first got him, all screen.
Lighting: double light fixture with UVB and heat light ( just a regular light bulb due to actual reptilebulbs always burning out) normally temperature in basking spot is high 80s
Humidity: could be a bit higher but the mister really helps the humidity
Live plants: my only live plant that I have is pathos which I keep on the cage floor, all the rest of my plants are plastic due to easier to clean and don’t have to try to keep them alive
Cage location: In my bed room on top of my desk about three feet off the floor away from my window, not in the way of any foot traffic other than myself.
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

Concern: I haven’t seen him use his tongue to eat an insect in five months and I’m worried that he is getting skinny and not getting enough nutrients and will develop more problems. I’m also worried that he might have something wrong with him and I can’t tell.

 

[ERKleRose]

Could you fill out this form here, please? https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ And post a pic of his enclosure, too? It might just be me, but his eyes look a little sunken in, a sign of dehydration. I would still take him to the vet.

 

[ERKleRose]

Chameleon: 7 month old male veiled chameleon named Squal
Handeling: Every other day to every few days at his discretion (I open the cage door and let him come to me)
Feeding: Has been very inconsistent due to the fact that he doesn’t want to eat anything. I’ve tried wax worms, crickets, horn worms, butter worms, vegetales all in a variety of different forms and he’s not interested. Due to this I bring him in the shower every other day and feed him reptiboost through a syringe and he loves it. I also sometimes mix vitamins in with the reptiboost as well. When he was a young cam he was eating a lot and then just wasn’t interested even though I was mixing up his feeder insects
Hydration: I have a mist king that runs for 45 seconds every two hours and that really helps keep him hydrated as well as the showers I give him for a half an hour every other day
Decal description: poop looks fine( when he actually eats) and urate is normal white and very wet
History: Got him when he was a month old
Cage type: large exoterra got the chameleon kit when I first got him, all screen.
Lighting: double light fixture with UVB and heat light ( just a regular light bulb due to actual reptilebulbs always burning out) normally temperature in basking spot is high 80s
Humidity: could be a bit higher but the mister really helps the humidity
Live plants: my only live plant that I have is pathos which I keep on the cage floor, all the rest of my plants are plastic due to easier to clean and don’t have to try to keep them alive
Cage location: In my bed room on top of my desk about three feet off the floor away from my window, not in the way of any foot traffic other than myself.
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

Concern: I haven’t seen him use his tongue to eat an insect in five months and I’m worried that he is getting skinny and not getting enough nutrients and will develop more problems. I’m also worried that he might have something wrong with him and I can’t tell.

Thanks! Did you try roaches, silkworms, snails, stick inepsects, mantids, bsfl or flies? What do you gutload with? What’s your supplement schedule? You’ll need to upgrade him to a minimum size of 2’ by 2’ by 4’ tall, preferably screen, enclosure soon, if not now. Have you read the veiled care sheet here? It has proper basking temps and humidity levels listed in it.

 

[GreenChameleons]

Chameleon: 7 month old male veiled chameleon named Squal
Handeling: Every other day to every few days at his discretion (I open the cage door and let him come to me)
Feeding: Has been very inconsistent due to the fact that he doesn’t want to eat anything. I’ve tried wax worms, crickets, horn worms, butter worms, vegetales all in a variety of different forms and he’s not interested. Due to this I bring him in the shower every other day and feed him reptiboost through a syringe and he loves it. I also sometimes mix vitamins in with the reptiboost as well. When he was a young cam he was eating a lot and then just wasn’t interested even though I was mixing up his feeder insects
Hydration: I have a mist king that runs for 45 seconds every two hours and that really helps keep him hydrated as well as the showers I give him for a half an hour every other day
Decal description: poop looks fine( when he actually eats) and urate is normal white and very wet
History: Got him when he was a month old
Cage type: large exoterra got the chameleon kit when I first got him, all screen.
Lighting: double light fixture with UVB and heat light ( just a regular light bulb due to actual reptilebulbs always burning out) normally temperature in basking spot is high 80s
Humidity: could be a bit higher but the mister really helps the humidity
Live plants: my only live plant that I have is pathos which I keep on the cage floor, all the rest of my plants are plastic due to easier to clean and don’t have to try to keep them alive
Cage location: In my bed room on top of my desk about three feet off the floor away from my window, not in the way of any foot traffic other than myself.
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

Concern: I haven’t seen him use his tongue to eat an insect in five months and I’m worried that he is getting skinny and not getting enough nutrients and will develop more problems. I’m also worried that he might have something wrong with him and I can’t tell.

Maybe a sprained tongue as all or slightly injured one be optimistic! It happens sometimes but it sounds like an early sign of Metabolic Bone Disease somewhat or . There’s also been cases where the chameleon has swallowed their tongue or gotten it entangled also. Do you change your uvb lights every 6 months? Is it a compact bulb or tube? If you can gut load your feeders some of these reptile multivitamin/bee pollen/apple/(carrot limited amount)arugula/etc. flies-blue bottle/black soldier/house....fruit
Silkworms/superworms/waxworms/hornworms-hornworms are good to hydrate a chameleon
Dubia roaches high in protein- if overly fed these it will cause gout potentially.


Here are a some things that that are serious that will keep the chameleon from being able to use their tongue...

Feeling pain somewhere in the body
Blockage of the guts
Excessive stress
Intestinal worms/infection
Infection in the mouth tongue or jaw which causes pain (gout) or (mouth rot)
MBD
Skin Fungus
Upper respiratory infection-popping etc. when breathing

I would definitely recommend putting your chameleon in unfiltered indirect sunlight or half shade and part sunlight for a couple of days if you can monitor your chameleon of course while doing this . If you don’t have much shade you can manipulate this by a towel on one side.
It’s good that you use reptiboost. There’s a probiotic for reptiles that works well and you can find it at a (real pet store not a chain pet store) or online. I would run the misting system a little longer than 45 seconds because it’s really not long enough for your chameleon to drink because in the wild the rain slowly starts and gets on the leaves for them to see the water droplets. I would get yourself a ultrasonic cool humidifier to run at night and day depending on what your humidity is ranging. But I definitely think a vet visit is imparitive!

Can you post a pictures of your chameleon and enclosure for us?

 

[GreenChameleons]

Putting them out in a rainstorm helps a lot as well! Have you heard of cricket crack it’s a good gutload along with fresh greens. I know Nick Barta from full throttle feeders sells cricket crack.

 

[GreenChameleons]

And chameleons take a while to get better from illness and injury just so you know.

 

[GreenChameleons]

Sorry for the wrong reply and some of the information was wrongly informed on my part.

 

[JacksJill]

Have you seen his tongue lately? I only ask to eliminate the worst reason they no longer use it. That would be it's been bitten off accidentally.
If you have seen it while you are feeding him does he move it at all when you feed him? Injuries like "sprains" are common and some are recoverable some are not. Only time will tell if that's the case. A vet visit with blood work and a fecal could help rule out other causes. The vet could also give you carnivore care a better short term liquid diet. You could look up the recipe here for bug juice and try making that in the mean time.
Another possibility is that he has become lazy and prefers to be fed by hand. You would have to eliminate any other possible cause before you could try pressuring him to eat on his own.