Help with a rescued Chameleon with MBD

Babykins202

Babykins202

New Member
Hey all!

I am glad to be part of this community and could really use the input.

I would really appreciate some help on an unfortunate matter. My girlfriend and I recently rescued a Panther Chameleon that was found by our local Humane society. He was abandoned for about a month in an apartment. His living conditions were far from ideal. He was found in a glass tank with just a house light bulb on him.He was found by my girlfriend's sister who is an officer for the Humane Society., SHe told them she would take him for now, she isn't very experienced with reptiles. I have cared for a Crested gecko for about 4 years but I never owned a chameleon, I always wanted one just was waiting for the right time. My girlfriends sister asked if I wanted take him and I was happy to say yes. She showed me some pictures and he looked malnourished as expected, but was shooting his tongue to eat, receptive to being handled and drinking water. So I wanted to get him out of that glass aquarium as quickly as possible so my girlfriend and I went out and bought everything we needed. His new cage is a 24x24x48 Reptibreeze, With plants( live and fake) and plenty vines. I purchased a Reptisun Terrarium Hood with a T8 UVB Linear Lamp and a dome with a 100W basking light. I got it all set up and ready to go, then she brought over the chameleon and as soon as I saw him I knew something wasn't right. He just laid in her palms, he was alert though and trying to move. His legs were very weak, he grabs his own legs, he is very shaky when he goes to move and his front right leg would rotate inversely when trying to place his next step. When he goes to grab for vine in the distance it would look like he kept scratching his chin with his leg. I instantly started researching what could be wrong and then I realized he has MBD. We have been feeding him as many waxworms he will eat (2-3 a day) I try to dust them as best as possible with Calcium w/ d3. He is defiantly active, he tries to move around the enclosure but most the time he will end up hanging by his tail and back legs. His color seems to be getting better and since we got him this past Saturday. We are in the process of trying to find a Reptile Vet close to us to take him to. After more and more research I have been doing, I have a couple of my questions

Is it best for him to take him out of his current cage and make a hospital cage? I really don't want him falling and getting worse. I feel bad though taking him out of his Taj Mahal and putting him back into a small enclosure.
If I do take him out how long should he been in there? I know recovery is a slow process so I'm just curious what a time range could be (obviously every case is different). Does anyone know any Herp Vets in the Central PA area, close to Harrisburg? I did some research and found a Dr. Richard Greenawalt just need to find out where he practices.

Any input is greatly appreciated
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I don't suggest moving him into a smaller cage, it is in fact extremely important for him to use as much muscles as possible. Instead make a catch net for him and place towels in the bottom to protect him more if he falls. I strongly suggest giving him a warm shower. It will help with fluid intake. He needs different feeders than just wax worms. Not just because of fat, but because he needs roughage. So look into roaches or isopods. What is you dusting schedule going to be like?
 
Welcome to the forums. He's a good looking boy other than the MBD. If you tell me where you live I might be able to recommend a vet with chameleon experience. Your boy needs liquid calcium and the vet can give an injection to draw the calcium into the bones faster. If you are in a warm climate natural outside UVB is excellent. Here's a link about MBD that you should find helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-like-how-it-happens-and-how-to-fix-it.95071/

Here's a link with tons of information for new chameleon owners. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
 
Andee said:
I don't suggest moving him into a smaller cage, it is in fact extremely important for him to use as much muscles as possible. Instead make a catch net for him and place towels in the bottom to protect him more if he falls. I strongly suggest giving him a warm shower. It will help with fluid intake. He needs different feeders than just wax worms. Not just because of fat, but because he needs roughage. So look into roaches or isopods. What is you dusting schedule going to be like?
Click to expand...
Andee said:
I don't suggest moving him into a smaller cage, it is in fact extremely important for him to use as much muscles as possible. Instead make a catch net for him and place towels in the bottom to protect him more if he falls. I strongly suggest giving him a warm shower. It will help with fluid intake. He needs different feeders than just wax worms. Not just because of fat, but because he needs roughage. So look into roaches or isopods. What is you dusting schedule going to be like?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response! I live in Pennsylvania near Hershey so unfortunately we don't have warm sunshine right now for him. I will order some liquid calcium right away. I take it I will have to open his mouth and drop it in there? Thank you for the information as well
 
Don't get liquid calcium unless it is prescribed by a vet, most liquid calcium you can order online needs to be mixed with a dilution and unless you are good at mixing reptile meds you could screw it up hugely. Liquid calcium that is not mixed well, can cause fatalities, burning once in contact with skin etc.
 
Sorry for the double post fist time doing this hahaha. We plannned on giving him calcium 2-3 times a week. We did Saturday, Sunday and today. Should I be doing it more since he has MBD? A catch net was what I had in mind but I wanted to make sure that was the correct thing to do. Okay so just warm up the shower and take him in there for some time? My girlfriend will really like that. She loves the little guy. I tried feeding him some crickets but they dont sit still long enough. I will defiantly look into some roaches or isopods
 
Andee said:
Don't get liquid calcium unless it is prescribed by a vet, most liquid calcium you can order online needs to be mixed with a dilution and unless you are good at mixing reptile meds you could screw it up hugely. Liquid calcium that is not mixed well, can cause fatalities, burning once in contact with skin etc.
Click to expand...
Oh okay thank you very much for that!
 
Make the shower just above luke warm, it will be a bit colder than your girlfriend will like but I have done it with my weaker chams and I can deal with it. I usually sit in there for at least 15 minutes. Plain calcium should be given every feeding. I highly recommend looking into to getting a multivitamin that has d3 and minerals added, usually called an all-in-one. Usually good ones can be used a couple or three times a week (I reccomend repashy) the fact that it is all in one allows for all the vitamins and minerals to be absorbed better. So I suggest getting that and using it 3 times a week depending on which you get, and then cutting it with the plain calcium at every other feeding. If you look into isopods and decide to start a colony from your own wild caughts, I highly reccomend not feeding any of the wild ones off, they end up carrying some toxic metals in their system.
 
Definitely read Jann's links, they are very helpful and can give tons of advice and fill in any holes I might forget <3 between us and anyone else who might respond we can get your guy one the right track once you find your vet.
 
Andee said:
Make the shower just above luke warm, it will be a bit colder than your girlfriend will like but I have done it with my weaker chams and I can deal with it. I usually sit in there for at least 15 minutes. Plain calcium should be given every feeding. I highly recommend looking into to getting a multivitamin that has d3 and minerals added, usually called an all-in-one. Usually good ones can be used a couple or three times a week (I reccomend repashy) the fact that it is all in one allows for all the vitamins and minerals to be absorbed better. So I suggest getting that and using it 3 times a week depending on which you get, and then cutting it with the plain calcium at every other feeding. If you look into isopods and decide to start a colony from your own wild caughts, I highly reccomend not feeding any of the wild ones off, they end up carrying some toxic metals in their system.
Click to expand...
I have a multivitamin with D3 and many other minerals and vitamins in it. I am at the office right now so I don't remember what its called. We have used that on one of the worms then just used regular calcium on the other ones he eats.
 
I would use a multivitamin with d3 on all of the worms or whatever feeder in one feeding, and then do plain calcium the next day or feeding. I would also look for a multivitamin with preformed vitamin A if you can find it. Those are my favorite. However I prefer repashy because the vitamin A in it and D3 is low in certain ones of theirs so it can be used multiple times a week without any worry of overdosing
 
I scheduled an appointment for Saturday so I will have more news then! I believe the multi Vitamin I have is Reptivite and we have repti calcium
 
For Reptivite I only use it twice a month for my panther which has the same need as a veiled in the dusting department. In my opinion it has too much preformed vit A and d3 to use more than that.
 
Babykins202 said:
Hey all!

I am glad to be part of this community and could really use the input.

I would really appreciate some help on an unfortunate matter. My girlfriend and I recently rescued a Panther Chameleon that was found by our local Humane society. He was abandoned for about a month in an apartment. His living conditions were far from ideal. He was found in a glass tank with just a house light bulb on him.He was found by my girlfriend's sister who is an officer for the Humane Society., SHe told them she would take him for now, she isn't very experienced with reptiles. I have cared for a Crested gecko for about 4 years but I never owned a chameleon, I always wanted one just was waiting for the right time. My girlfriends sister asked if I wanted take him and I was happy to say yes. She showed me some pictures and he looked malnourished as expected, but was shooting his tongue to eat, receptive to being handled and drinking water. So I wanted to get him out of that glass aquarium as quickly as possible so my girlfriend and I went out and bought everything we needed. His new cage is a 24x24x48 Reptibreeze, With plants( live and fake) and plenty vines. I purchased a Reptisun Terrarium Hood with a T8 UVB Linear Lamp and a dome with a 100W basking light. I got it all set up and ready to go, then she brought over the chameleon and as soon as I saw him I knew something wasn't right. He just laid in her palms, he was alert though and trying to move. His legs were very weak, he grabs his own legs, he is very shaky when he goes to move and his front right leg would rotate inversely when trying to place his next step. When he goes to grab for vine in the distance it would look like he kept scratching his chin with his leg. I instantly started researching what could be wrong and then I realized he has MBD. We have been feeding him as many waxworms he will eat (2-3 a day) I try to dust them as best as possible with Calcium w/ d3. He is defiantly active, he tries to move around the enclosure but most the time he will end up hanging by his tail and back legs. His color seems to be getting better and since we got him this past Saturday. We are in the process of trying to find a Reptile Vet close to us to take him to. After more and more research I have been doing, I have a couple of my questions

Is it best for him to take him out of his current cage and make a hospital cage? I really don't want him falling and getting worse. I feel bad though taking him out of his Taj Mahal and putting him back into a small enclosure.
If I do take him out how long should he been in there? I know recovery is a slow process so I'm just curious what a time range could be (obviously every case is different). Does anyone know any Herp Vets in the Central PA area, close to Harrisburg? I did some research and found a Dr. Richard Greenawalt just need to find out where he practices.

Any input is greatly appreciated
View attachment 171777 View attachment 171778
Click to expand...
Your cage looks good:) Glad someone got him that is willing to work with him. Poor guy.
 
I personally use Repashy Calcium Plus LoD because it is far more adjustable for my needs. But remember I have multiple species of reptiles and chameleons. I have rescues that come in with weird health issues, not just mbd. I usually give the multivitamin at least 3 days a week for panthers and veileds, and cut the rest of the week with plain calcium. The most I go up to is 4 times a week. I also use it for leopard geckos, a blue tongue skink, a jackson chameleon recovering from mbd (Hope), and a tortoise. Plus my panther XD. So I adjust it for what my reptiles need. With chameleons I don't use it more than 4 times a week for panther/veileds, no less than three times a week. My jackson I don't use more than twice a week, I usually only use it once a week. Always cut it with plain calcium. So with panther and veileds every other feeding the multivitamin isn't used, the plain calcium is used, for montane species plain calcium is used around 3 times a week. It's hard to overdose a panther and veiled with the repashy calcium plus LoD, though it is possible. That's why I only do it a few times a week. I feel it is far more normal to their actual diet and allows them to absorb more normally. Add that a good gutload and you are pretty good.
 
Start gutloading all ur feeder with high calcium vegetable like mustard green collard green etc.
U cant reverse the Mbd,but at least u can prevent it getting worst.
 
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