i think my veiled boy is dying!!! need help!!!

Kenfoong

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, is 6 months old, had him for 2 months.
  • Handling - 3-4 times a week.
  • Feeding - I feed cricket and mealworm at first, but then change to dubia after a month 7-8 cricket/mealworm per day, but he losing his appetite and only eat like 1-2 per day. i gut load all my feeder by blending apple, orange, collard green, oat, sweet potato, carrot and made it into jelly form.
  • Supplements - Zoomed calcium without D3, every feeding, Zoomed calcium with D3 twice a month, Multivitamin with D3 twice a month
  • Watering - auto misting system, twice a day for 60s, and also water dripping for 12 hrs, only saw him drink water once.
  • Fecal Description - brown color, and white with bit of cream on urate. tested with positive pinworm, had go through the deworm treatment and show negative now.
  • History - been shedding well twice, everything look healthy, only start to look strange once having parasite

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - full mesh on top and front bottom for air vent, other is full glass, 24"x18"x24" exactly same design with Exoterra Medium Tall.
  • Lighting - Exoterra reptiglo 5.0 uvb tube, 25W incandescent light bulb for basking on for 12hrs a day and off 12hrs
  • Temperature - basking temperature is around 85F, and ambient temp is around 79F, measuring using laser termometer
  • Humidity - 80 after the misting, and goes down to 50 after a few hours before another misting session
  • Plants - i using bioactive setup for my enclosure, 80% real plant with mix 20% of fake plant, but moved him to a temporary enclosure when undergo deworm treatment while i want to disinfect the main enclosure, he still in his temporary enclosure now with all fake plant
  • Placement - home office with ceiling fan on for 24hrs, basically i am the only one who will go inside the room. around 1meter away from floor
  • Location - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Current Problem - he loss his appetite once he had pinworm parasite, undergo treatment for 2 weeks, and tested negative, but his appetite still doesn't come back, this morning, i saw his fell down from branches, so i try to handle to make sure he is alright, and he jump again, he look so pale to me. and since he doesn't eat, so i have to force him to have some calcium syrup which giving by my vet, he look like he didn't swallow it and a bit is coming out from his nose, went to vet right away, vet said he is weak, not sure it's because he didn't eat cause him low in energy or he is very ill inside, vet gave me some med to give him energy. but at night when he sleep, he fell from branch again. now i put one branch on the bottom of his enclosure and make him sleep there, to prevent he from falling down again, but i am so worry about him, and he look dying to me, what can i do? anyone can help me? i still having hope on him
 
Photos of the chameleon from today please.

What meds did the vet give him for energy?

Giving liquid calcium has to be done carefully because it's usually a bit syrupy and they can aspirate it (get it into their lungs). It sounds like that might have happened to him. Did he point his nose up in the air after you gave it to him?

Your husbandry needs some changes too.
You should only be giving D3 twice a month.
More to follow
 
Last edited:
Photos of the chameleon from today please.

What meds did the vet give him for energy?

Giving liquid calcium has to be done carefully because it's usually a bit syrupy and they can aspirate it (get it into their lungs). It sounds like that might have happened to him. Did he point his nose up in the air after you gave it to him?

Your husbandry needs some changes too.
You should only be giving D3 twice a month.
More to follow
IMG_20210302_162022.jpg
IMG_20210305_000558.jpg

left: how he look yesterday, still so playful
right: how he look now, look pale and doesnt move much

steroid syrup and electoral forte
normally i dust my feeder with calcium, only start to use syrup when he stop eating
that mean i need to use multivitamin without D3 instead?
 
You said..."steroid syrup and electoral forte"... You mean electrolytes?

You said..."normally i dust my feeder with calcium, only start to use syrup when he stop eating"...be careful to just ease it into his mouth very slowly so he has time to swallow it properly...and put it back far enough in his mouth that it's past the opening to his lungs at the very front of his mouth.
This might help too...
https://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/bug-juice.html

You said..."that mean i need to use multivitamin without D3 instead?"...or don't use the calcium with the D3 in it. Only use the phos free calcium powder and the vitamin powder with the D3.
Does the vitamin pwoder have vitamin A in it? Is is beta carotene or retinal/retinol?
 
You said..."steroid syrup and electoral forte"... You mean electrolytes?

You said..."normally i dust my feeder with calcium, only start to use syrup when he stop eating"...be careful to just ease it into his mouth very slowly so he has time to swallow it properly...and put it back far enough in his mouth that it's past the opening to his lungs at the very front of his mouth.
This might help too...
https://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/bug-juice.html

You said..."that mean i need to use multivitamin without D3 instead?"...or don't use the calcium with the D3 in it. Only use the phos free calcium powder and the vitamin powder with the D3.
Does the vitamin pwoder have vitamin A in it? Is is beta carotene or retinal/retinol?
no, its electoral forte, gave by my vet

i will take note on about the syrup swallow issue, thanks for that

this is the 1 i using, its phos free
https://zoomed.com/repti-calcium-without-d3/
 
For supplements it's recommended that you dust at all feedings each week but one with a phos free calcium powder. One the one day a week you don't use that powder you would alternate between a phos free calcium/D3 powder and a vitamin powder that has a retinol (prEformed) form of vitamin A in it and no D3.
 
For supplements it's recommended that you dust at all feedings each week but one with a phos free calcium powder. One the one day a week you don't use that powder you would alternate between a phos free calcium/D3 powder and a vitamin powder that has a retinol (prEformed) form of vitamin A in it and no D3.
all the calcium i used is phos free, i just use betwee, without D3 and with D3
 
If you give too much D3 from supplements your chameleon will likely develop MBD. You only want to use the powder with the D3 in lightly twice a month and let the chameleonproduce the rest of the D3 it needs from its exposure to the UVB light. It's safe to do that.
 
If you give too much D3 from supplements your chameleon will likely develop MBD. You only want to use the powder with the D3 in lightly twice a month and let the chameleonproduce the rest of the D3 it needs from its exposure to the UVB light. It's safe to do that.
understand, then i have to reduce the use of D3, i using every sunday of the month, other than sunday i using without D3, hopefully my boy can go through this :(
 
@kinyonga is the best person to advise you. I just want to ask about your uvb light. Is it a long thin tube or a screw in bulb? The screw in short bulbs aren’t able to provide adequate uvb levels. You should have a long T5HO fixture with a 5.0 or 6% Arcadia uvb bulb. It should be around 8” (20cm) above basking area.
 
So I need a higher uvb tube?
or make sure the cham is hanging out really close to the bulb very often. I have raised plenty of chams with your setup back in the 1990's/2000's before the 10.0 and T5ho bulbs came out, but i also supplement with the correct amount of D3.

You have 3 choices:

no UVB and high d3 suppliments
low uvb and medium D3 suppliments
Or high uvb and little to non D3 suppliments

Currently your setup is low uvb if your chams spends half - 1/3 of the day within 8" of the bulb. But by a foot away that bulb is considered "no uvb"
 
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