Disorientated cham.

[praker1367]

I have a 5 month old veiled cham who I got a month ago. He did very well for 3 weeks and then got an upper respirator infection. That has since improved, and his eye is open most of the time now. Just about an hour ago I took him out of his cage like I do a couple times a week. He was walking on my hands and arms as if he was drunk and blind. He was trying to walk off of my hand straight to the ground four feet below, even though his eyes were wide open! I freaked out a little and put him back in his cage where he continued to climb around blindly and fall from the top of the cage.. He is now asleep but I am still worried.

He is in a screen cage and I keep basking at 90, and at night I never let temps go below 75. I spray down his cage several times a day and he eats all the crickets he wants dusted in calcium. I have a daytime bulb for the higher temps, and a night bulb for the high 70s. I also have a UVB bulb that I keep on in the day. HELP PLEASE. I love this guy

 

[ChameleonNerd]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[praker1367]

The only things I forgot are:

Not live plants, rigid bendable plastic vines and stuff like that
Fecal-black and white
Cage-all screen 13x18x30
Humidity-I really don't measure it, I just know it's kept high because I soak the cage down several times a day.

 

[ChameleonNerd]

humidity doesn't really matter with veiled's, as long as you don't have like desert air.

Your husbandry seems bluntly appropriate, but do you use calcium with d3? also, what type of uvb bulb are you using.

and most importantly, i think that a picture is vital to figure out what is going on with your chameleon, so i would try to get a couple good ones if i were you

 

[praker1367]

No calcium with d3. UVB bulb is a 5.0 reptiglow tropical

 

[praker1367]

I don't have access to a computer at this time, I'm doing all this from my phone. But the picture would yield nothing. His colors are still bright and everything looks good. He's just very Disorientated! Does anybody have any idea what the heck might be going on?

 

[ChameleonNerd]

i'm not sure about the reptiglo, i had it for a short period of time when i first started chamming with no trouble, but i switched it out as soon as i heard that reptisun 5.0 is supposedly the most flawless uvb bulb on the market.

Calcium with d3 is definitely the most important important. you are going to want to pick up calcium with d3. i believe the major d3 calcium is reptocal, but i really am not sure because i use a rather unique schedule which i really can not explain

you are going to want to plain calcium with NO D3 at almost every feeding. you will want to do calcium WITH D3 2-3 times a month.

another thing you must add is Herptivite multivitamin dust. this can be used once a month and you will dust feeders with it like you would with calcium.

as far as diagnosis goes, i would say that it is possibly a pre-form of MBD. I have also heard that the reptiglo can damage eyes, which is the main reason i switched to reptisun. i have no factual evidence to back that up though
i hope this helps. good luck!

 

[ChameleonNerd]

i forgot a couple things, if your cham is a male, i would lower the temp down more towards 85, 90 is a little high, but not too bad. at night a drop into the mid 60's would be fine

also, do you gutload your feeders?

 

[praker1367]

Yes. Flukers calcium

 

[carol5208]

that is not considered gutload. You need to be feeding a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables for starters. There are many other things people use as gutload. Please go on our members page Sandrachameleon. She has great gutloading info for you to read.

 

[Bernie]

I would still recommend posting a picture. Things may look fine to you, but to a neutral viewer or more experienced keeper they may be able to spot something less obvious to yourself.