curved casque

chameleonare

New Member
does any body have a picture of a chameleon who has curved casque i would just like to know what people mean when they say curved and a picture would help lots thank you
 
I'm confused...is this what you're talking about? Not my chameleon BTW.
 

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Here's a pic of my cham, taken earlier this month. He's nearing 2 years and has had this curve in his casque since I acquired him at 2.5 months old. I have no idea what caused it. So far, even if he's not happy with a camera being in his face, he's generally a lazy and content fellow. Click the pic to see it enlarged.
 

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With my old male his had a slight curve. It also seemed to curve to the same side he favored leaning towards when basking. I do not know if the two where related or not. A calicium deficiency could also effect that area as Will said.
 
Slight curves (not being perfectly straight) can be normal. I have seen fresh WC veields with slight imperfections.

Major curves are usually from MBD.

Most cases of MBD are minor, and don't even result in permanant deformity. Some cases result in things like the above casque, broken bones, etc.

I have a beautiful blue male veiled, from german bloodlines, that arrived with a broken arm and VERY warped casque. He's fine, but the MBD ha sleft his mark.

It's not JUST due to improper supplementation, UVB and gutloading. Artificially fast growth rates, induced by excessive feeding at a very young age, will increase the odds of MBD. Many commercial breeders feed them so much, and grow them so fast, minor MBD is actually a sure thing.

I had two females develop severe MBD at around 3 months of age despite being given unfiltered sunlight. They were overfed as babies by the breeder.
 
my male veiled is about 5 months and i was wondering what the proper amount of feeder insects he should be getting a day i feed him 15 and maybe a worm or two a day i also maybe once every week give him about 25 to 30 crickets and no worms i just got him about a month ago and he is my first cham so i am kinda questionable about what things to do but so far this forum has helped tons
 
You're feeding him way too much. At 5 months, if he's good size, try feeding him about 4-6 cppropriatly sized insects per day at the most. Ina couple months, do that every other day. Never binge them - they'll get impacted and go on hunger strikes sometimes.

He's past the point where his growth rate will be much of a problem - but, make sure he gets good prey items, gutloaded, and occational supplementation - especially D3 and calcium.

They can and will eat a heck of a lot more than they should.

I do field work for the NC depart ment of transporation. Wetland and endangered species surveys, etc. i'm quitting though, and getting a job as a health inspector in western NC - in two weeks. Techinically, I'm still a biologist in that position , though.
 
thanx so 6 will be enough it just seems like so few but i know u know a lot more about chams then i do thanx a bunch. i usually get his crickets at around 1/2 of an inch to 3/4. what would be good size of my chameleon sorry for all these questions
 
here's a site with some terrible cases of MBD shown on it..
http://adcham.com/html/veterinary/mbd-fractures-kramer.html

Here are some sites with good information on them...
http://adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.chameleonjournals.com/vet/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/whatreptilesneed.htm

Although rapid bone growth can result in MBD, from what I've read it still hinges on the fact that there isn't enough calcium to keep up with the rapid growth.

From what I've read/learned, MBD is generally an imbalance mainly between calcium, phosphorous, vitamin D3 and vitamin A. Temperature plays a part in the picture too, because it affects the digestion and ultimately the absorption rate of nutrients. There are articles on the chameleonjournals site listed above.

I use a phosphorous-free calcium powder a couple of times a week to dust the insects before I give them to the adult chameleons and I use a vitamin powder twice a month lightly (with its vitamin A from a beta carotene source) and if the chameleons get no sunlight, I use a vitamin De/Calcium powder twice a month lightly. I also gutload my insects with a nutritious diet.
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Although rapid bone growth can result in MBD, from what I've read it still hinges on the fact that there isn't enough calcium to keep up with the rapid growth.

From what I've read/learned, MBD is generally an imbalance mainly between calcium, phosphorous, vitamin D3 and vitamin A. Temperature plays a part in the picture too, because it affects the digestion and ultimately the absorption rate of nutrients. There are articles on the chameleonjournals site listed above.

I use a phosphorous-free calcium powder a couple of times a week to dust the insects before I give them to the adult chameleons and I use a vitamin powder twice a month lightly (with its vitamin A from a beta carotene source) and if the chameleons get no sunlight, I use a vitamin De/Calcium powder twice a month lightly. I also gutload my insects with a nutritious die>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It's not that th erapid growth causes MBD, it's that the rapid growth makes an imbalance of necessary nutrients almost impossible. The only way to prevent it is usually to load them down with weekly doses of neocalglucon! I suspect,] that is why so many mass-breeders are now reccomending liquid calcium as a supplement, and not just as an emergency medical treatment!
 
Eric Adrignola you mentioned feeding the chameleon every other day. I have heard of this but at what age should you start doing it?
 
I'd start as they near adult size. It varies termendously, but I usually wait till they slow their growth down, or start showing signs of weight gain (slightly puffed out casque, etc. usually, it's after their casque has really gotten tall. when it's tall, it should be slightly concave, not puffed out. If it's puffed out a little, and their growth is slowing (usually around 6-10 months), I cut back.
 
You are feeding him far too much. I would reduce his intake by at least 5 crickets, and never feed him 25 to 30 crickets in one day, unless you wish to shorten his life span by half. You might also want to cut down on feeding him worms to 2 or 3 times weekly, as they're chitinous nature could cause digestive problems. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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