Edema? Please help!

[franbassi123]

Hello, I have a concern about my 8~9 month old female Vieled chameleon. She started having this little bump around a few days ago and after doing my research signs point to it being an edema. After looking at what causes edema, there isn’t really much that I do for her that could cause it. She gets her dusted crickets/worms with calcium(and other vitamins) about once a week/2 weeks, I have a mister going in the daytime alone with manually spraying the leaves (I see her drink everyday) so no signs of dehydration. She eats everyday (5-8 crickets, one superworm every other day). She has plenty of leaves and branches and a tall mesh enclosure. She is very active (loves coming out of the cage and being handled. There is a tall bucket of dirt at the bottom of the enclosure in case she is/becomes gravid. I just am worried that this is something serious, let me know if you see something unordinary in the pictures. This is the first time I have thought she was sick or injured. (Ps, bump looks small cause of the angle, but sometimes appears much larger) Also to mention, She has a UVB and heat lamp on her for 10-12 hours a day + her tongue and mouth area are completely normal.

 

[Syreptyon]

Not sure exactly what I'm supposed to be seeing in the pics, so maybe someone else will have a better eye for what you're talking about! In the meantime, did you mean to say that you only dust her crickets once every 1 or 2 weeks? I hope I just misread you, but you should be dusting them with calcium w/out D3 at every single feeding

 

[franbassi123]

When i dust her crickets every day, she gets a build up in her nose. My vet said this is their way of “pushing” it out of their bodies, anyways that build up can make it hard for her to breathe. When I do it once a week, that build up stops.

 

[kinyonga]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-cause-of-the-white-crusts-on-the-nose.75998/
..."The prevailing theory is that the nasal salt gland excretes salt"...."But there is a theory maintained by some and perpetuated by rumor that it is actually excess calcium. Consequently the recommendation is to reduce the calcium supplementation, which has dangerous implications given all too common dangers of calcium deficiency seen with metabolic bone disease".

 

[kami baby]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-cause-of-the-white-crusts-on-the-nose.75998/
..."The prevailing theory is that the nasal salt gland excretes salt"...."But there is a theory maintained by some and perpetuated by rumor that it is actually excess calcium. Consequently the recommendation is to reduce the calcium supplementation, which has dangerous implications given all too common dangers of calcium deficiency seen with metabolic bone disease".

Yeah I would also advise you to cut off the worms and a few more crickets and I don’t quite see what your talking about I would get some hornworms and wax worms from lindasgonebuggy.com and she looks gravid what size is the bucket and could she easily Easily get down to it?

 

[kinyonga]

What brands of supplements are you dusting the insects with?
What are you feeding/gutloading the insects with?
Please post a few more photos of her.

 

[kinyonga]

@kami baby ...you said..."Yeah I would also advise you to cut off the worms and a few more crickets"... Why would you cut off the worms and add crickets?

 

[kami baby]

@kami baby ...you said..."Yeah I would also advise you to cut off the worms and a few more crickets"... Why would you cut off the worms and add crickets?

Because I have had a bad rap with superworms or king worms or what ever you call them. And it seems like adding a few more crickets to the diet would seem like a good idea (does not seem like enough). I don’t usually use crickets because Dubai roaches are much better. Now with the super worms my female cham was gaining a lot of weight from eating 3 a week. She was not producing feces and I was getting woried. So I took her to her vet and just said don’t feed mealworms and superworms and more because of the fat. That was just my experience. If your cham is ok that’s fine. Maybe it was just mine

 

[kinyonga]

I've kept chameleons for over 30 years and used superworms as part of the diet for most of that time and never had a problem with obesity or constipation with any of mine. The female veileds I had almost all lived to be seven and the makes even older (for example). I've never used mealworms. Why not add silkworms, hornworms, roaches, BSFL, etc rather than more crickets?

 

[kami baby]

I've kept chameleons for over 30 years and used superworms as part of the diet for most of that time and never had a problem with obesity or constipation with any of mine. The female veileds I had almost all lived to be seven and the makes even older (for example). I've never used mealworms. Why not add silkworms, hornworms, roaches, BSFL, etc rather than more crickets?

yeah it was probably just my cham having some problems. But now she is back to normal! I just didn’t know if it was just my cham and if other people where having the same problem and just to watch out. And in my earlier post I advised hornworms and wax worms, and roaches!(Those are Kami’s favorites)

 

[kami baby]

We also tried silkworms Kami was not a fan. But I liked them because they where easier to take care of.

 

[kinyonga]

@kami baby said...." in my earlier post I advisedhornworms and wax worms"...so you did! Sorry.

 

[kami baby]

It’s ok!!

 

[kami baby]

Also thank you for your help with feedersmaybe we will try superworms again

 

[jajeanpierre]

She looks a bit dehydrated to me.

If she were mine, I would put misters on for a good half an hour several times a day, mostly morning and late in the day. Sometimes that will help with edema.

I would get her out in real sunlight.

What are you gut loading your feeders with? I would switch to just something green but not a carbohydrate like potatoes or sweet potatoes.

I would give her human grade Vitamin A. I use an 8000IU gel cap and give once a month. You might want to give it to her again after two weeks. I am sure she is Vitamin A deficient--they all are with poor diets and poor breeding practices. I would switch to plain calcium made by Rep-Cal without any Vitamin D. See what happens after two weeks.