Help! Concerned about possible fracturing!

[courtneyh543]

Hello everyone. I would love some advice as to how to help this sweet girl. I adopted her recently from someone who no longer wanted to care for her. She seemed very sluggish and stayed at the bottom of the enclosure for the most part.
I adjusted her lighting, began gutloading her food, added a variety of live insects to her diet, and began giving her daily bath soaks and plenty of water for hydration. She is beginning to climb around more now but her legs look a bit concerning to me. It seems as if they are a bit swollen and she will turn her legs in very unnatural positions and leave her leg hanging there. Is this normal? I’m concerned she has fractured her legs due to MBD and I want to do all I can to ensure she is comfortable and not in pain.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

PS I noticed she has a stain on her body on the underside. Her coloring is a mixture of green and gray the majority of the time.
She does not look like a happy camper to me

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!

Good that you are helping this poor chameleon.

Can you post a couple of photos of her other side too so I can see both limbs. Her arm looks swollen too.

Do you have any history on her? Supplements used? UVB light used, etc?

 

[Lindasjackson]

Can you post a picture of her entire cage from the lights down please?

 

[courtneyh543]

Here is a picture of her tank. I tried to use what I had but also give her plenty of places to hide and climb. She is in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment so I will try and upload a better picture later on so you can see her other side better.

The lights that came along with her were not UVB. I got incorporated a UVB bulb, fluorescent lighting, and a small heat lamp to keep her enclosure at about 80 degrees. I try to keep the humidity level at around 70-80% with an automatic mister.
I have very info on her previous home but my guess is they did not use any supplements. I have included a picture of what I use to dust her crickets, super worms, and horn worms. She really prefers the hornworms over anything.

 

[courtneyh543]

Here is a picture of her tank. I tried to use what I had but also give her plenty of places to hide and climb. She is in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment so I will try and upload a better picture later on so you can see her other side better.

The lights that came along with her were not UVB. I got incorporated a UVB bulb, fluorescent lighting, and a small heat lamp to keep her enclosure at about 80 degrees. I try to keep the humidity level at around 70-80% with an automatic mister.
I have very info on her previous home but my guess is they did not use any supplements. I have included a picture of what I use to dust her crickets, super worms, and horn worms. She really prefers the hornworms over anything.

I also have a nesting bin in the bottom right corner of the enclosure. For awhile I was uncertain if she could be gravid or not so I have that there as well for her

 

[Lindasjackson]

Okay so all you dust her insects with is the Flukers repticalcium? That has D3 in it and should only be given once or maybe twice a month. She also needs a plain phosphorus free, D3 free calcium you should dust her insects lightly with at every feed. I’m not very knowledgeable on supplements for veiled charms but I will tag some others in that know what should be used. She also needs a multivitamin. @MissSkittles @Beman what kind of uvb light did you add? Is is a compact uvb bulb? If so this is insufficient for charms. You need a long linear bulb That fits the width of your enclosure. Either an Arcadia 6% or a reptisun 5.0 will do and a t5ho fixture to put it in. This is the recommended uvb light to prevent MBD. I can’t tell from the pictures how big her enclosure is. What she needs is a 24x24x48 screen enclosure. This is what’s recommended for a veiled Cham. There are some partial glass enclosures that can work but they need to be at least these dimensions. For her heat you want just the basking area to be 80 degrees, not the whole cage. She should be able to move out of the heat if she wants to. Her humidity should be around 50% during the day and 80% at night. I don’t keep a veiled but their requirements are very similar to Jackson’s charms which is what I have. the two people I tagged have much more knowledge and will hopefully chime in soon. @kinyonga is also very knowledgeable as well.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I’m glad you came here for help. Please know that I’m just trying to help you, not criticize everything. Another thing is veiled like to much on their plants. I see you have fake plants. This isn’t good because if she munches on them they can cause impaction. You need to replace her plants with live safe plants and plenty of them to give her places to hide. Chams feel more secure if they can hide. It allows them to de stress. The woven hammock you have in there can be a problem since if She gets her claws caught in it she will pull to get her foot free to the point she pulls her claws out and she needs her claws for climbing. I would remove it asap.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. I saw that @kinyonga was helping you and she is perhaps the most experienced member here. I will jump in though as I can offer some advice/guidance that will help.
The very first thing this poor little girl needs is a visit with a vet experienced in chameleons. She looks to have mbd and I don’t like the way her back right leg looks twisted. She will be needing specialized supplementation and treatment from the vet to heal.
Normally the standard size enclosure is a 2x2x4’ minimum for adult veileds and we would tell you to get rid of the little hammock. However, I think the size that she is in now plus the hammock will be just fine for her until she recovers. She is at risk for falling and both the smaller size and hammock will help to keep her safer for now.
You do need to get the correct uvb lighting for her ASAP though. You need a linear T5HO with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%. Then the uvb light will need to be about 8-9” above her basking spot. Your temp of 80 is great, but it is best if it drops at night. Veileds can handle temp drops to the 60’s with no problem. She needs to have no lights at all during the night and preferably a 12 hr on/off schedule.
For supplements, the standard is a phosphorus free calcium without D3 at every feeding. Then also a calcium with D3 one feeding every other week, alternating with a multivitamin. She will be needing special supplementation from the vet though, so you’ll have to go by that.
Your humidity is way too high. Ideal range is between 30-50%. The enclosure needs to dry out in between misting. Best to mist for about 2 minutes right before lights on and right before lights off. You can either do a mid day misting or add a dripper for about 20 minutes. The high humidity plus reduced air flow of the glass enclosure is a recipe for a respiratory infection.
Yes, all live plants are best. Pothos is the perfect plant. However, right now she doesn’t look as though she’ll be feeling up to plant nibbling. Still though, replace the fake plants for real ones ASAP.
For a lay bin, using a bin that’s at least 12” wide and long filled with about 6” of play sand moistened enough so that it will hold a tunnel is what’s needed. However, with her mbd I highly doubt that she’ll be able to lay eggs without problems at the moment. If she is gravid right now, she may need to have the eggs surgically removed in a spaying operation. Only a vet and radiographs can determine that.
The sooner you can get her to a vet, the better. If her eyes are closed and it’s not night/dark then she is in dire straits. You may have to be assertive and let the vet know that this is somewhat of an emergency. This sweet girl can’t wait weeks to be seen and started on treatment.
For full husbandry info, this is the most accurate and up to date source. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ You may also want to check out Neptune the chameleon on YouTube.
I also suggest checking out Sweet Pea https://www.facebook.com/sweetpeathecham and perhaps even reaching out to her for guidance.

 

[MissSkittles]

I did forget to say, giving baths are a no no for chameleons. Besides the stress of it, water that feels lukewarm to us can be scalding hot to her. You’ll want to limit handling to only when absolutely necessary as she is very fragile at this point.

 

[kinyonga]

@MissSkittles has given you lots of advice and information. Please listen to It!
IMHO this girl needs to see a goo chameleon vet ASAP to get her started on correcting the MBD. An xray would give you some indication about eggs. You may be lucky and she's not producing them right now.