Edema in throat

[Teletubbies]

My chameleon started to get edema in his throat two weeks ago. Is this caused by too many supplements（D3 or vitamin A）？ should I take him to the vet?
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon 1.5 years old CB male Nosy Mitsio Panther chameleon,
• Handling - 2-3 a month
• Feeding - crickets, super worms, hornworms, silkworms and bsfl.I feed him 4 times a week，5-8 feeders each time. I use kale, watercress, carrot, and repashy bug burger&superload to gut loading feeders.
• Supplements - Arcadia earth pro-A every feeding, Repashy Calcium Plus Low D twice a month.
• Watering - misting for two minutes at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm, one minute at 3:30 pm, 9:30 pm and 12:00 am. 6 hours of fogging at night
• Fecal Description - 2/3 black and 1/3 white no Orange urates, no tested for parasites.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type – Reptibreeze XL,24x24x48, four sides wrapped by window shrink kit.
• Lighting –Arcadia D-3 forest 6% UVB light,50w halogen Flood Lamp and one LED plant grow light
• Temperature - The temperature is 86 f at the basking spot, 77f enclosure temperature in the daytime, and 72 f at night.
• Humidity -Daytime 40%-50%, nighttime 55% -65%. I wrapped the front door, back and both sides of the window shrink kit.
• Plants - ficus benjamin, golden pothos, Philodendron Mican, Marantaceae Nepenthes and Climbing Fig.
• Placement -corner of my living room, low traffic area.
• Location – Toronto, Canada

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Is his hand swollen or is it just the angle of the pic?
Your husbandry looks pretty good to me. The only thing I might suspect for causing edema related to over-supplementation would be the Repashy Superload. Try not using it and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Teletubbies]

Hi. Is his hand swollen or is it just the angle of the pic?
Your husbandry looks pretty good to me. The only thing I might suspect for causing edema related to over-supplementation would be the Repashy Superload. Try not using it and see if that makes any difference.

Thank you, I don't think his hand is swollen. I will stop using the Repashy superload.

 

[SteveH]

I agree, maybe go two months without the Repashy then go once a month. It will take a few months for the swelling to go down.

 

[JacksJill]

I've seen reports of this from other panther owners that were gut loading and supplementing with Repashy products, too much of a good thing.

When you do go back to supplementing dust very lightly and feed fewer feeders than you would normally. A little goes a long way.

 

[Beman]

So another thing it could be... The Earthpro A. If he is sensitive to the bee pollen in it. We have seen this in a few situation where the only outlier was the EpA. Once removed and use of a plain calcium without D3 the edema started to reduce.

 

[nightanole]

Too much Vitamins A, D, E, and K.

I can typically fix it by removing D. We are getting more and more info on how to supplement D with the T5HO bulbs. Odds are in a few years they are going to start recommending not supplementing with D, or only like once a month.

 

[Teletubbies]

So another thing it could be... The Earthpro A. If he is sensitive to the bee pollen in it. We have seen this in a few situation where the only outlier was the EpA. Once removed and use of a plain calcium without D3 the edema started to reduce.

Thank you, can I use repashy NoD to replace Earth Pro-A?

 

[Teletubbies]

I've seen reports of this from other panther owners that were gut loading and supplementing with Repashy products, too much of a good thing.

When you do go back to supplementing dust very lightly and feed fewer feeders than you would normally. A little goes a long way.

I believe that repashy superload is the primary cause of edema. When I took my chameleon to the vet for a health check last summer, she suggested I use Repashy Superload to gut load insects in order to provide enough supplements for my chameleon. As a result, I began using SuperLoad around September, and my chameleon began to exhibit edema symptoms in the last month.

 

[MissSkittles]

The Repashy Supercal NoD should be fine to use. I just feed my bugs fresh produce and a small amount of Bug Burger that I’ve mixed in just a pinch of bee pollen and spirulina. While I give a little bug burger to all the feeders, it’s mainly the breeding adult roaches that get the largest amount of it.

 

[Beman]

Thank you, can I use repashy NoD to replace Earth Pro-A?

Yes you can. You could also use any calcium without D3 formula. The thing is with the superload... They load this with vitamins as well. 2 of them being vitamin A and D3 both are fat soluble so they can cause issues for chams which can be connected to edema. But also one thing to note is the protein value for this one is min 16% so if your feeding this to feeders like roaches they are going to build up a higher uric acid level because it has far too much protein for them.

 

[Teletubbies]

Update: After 4 months of a diet without Vitamin D3(repashy NoD only), the edema in my chameleon has finally subsided

 

[SteveH]

Awesome