Is my Veiled's tail and spine ok?

[neast25]

I have had my baby chams for around 3 months now and this week I have noticed that one of them has a dodgy tail up to the start of his back.

He has been given food with calcium dust as has my other cham and they have both had a sustained day/night temperature with the correct lighting which was all bought new.

I'm a newb to chams but have had other reps without any problems. I always research carefully before I choose to get a companion animal and have operated a home based rescue service for some yrs (I mention this to show that I'm not an idiot who thinks it is easy to take on any animal!). The other cham I have who is the same age is very healthy with no deformation or anything and both are very lively, eating fine and seem to interact with me nicely without getting too stressed. The cham with the dodgy tail is 10gms and the other one is 12gms they are both eating size 3 crickets fine and I have just introduced size 4 into their diet as well.

Should I increase the calcium dust and change my lighting and see if this changes or should I take it to the vet??

I hope someone can help me on here and I look forward to your responses

 

[camimom]

It almost looks likes a deformity.
I assumes hes looked like that sinc you got him?
if so, he could have a birth defect.

several chams on the forum have defects, and live normally.

what is your current supplement schedule?

and welcome to the forums and the addiction.

 

[neast25]

It almost looks likes a deformity.
I assumes hes looked like that sinc you got him?
if so, he could have a birth defect.

several chams on the forum have defects, and live normally.

what is your current supplement schedule?

and welcome to the forums and the addiction.

Hi thanks for the prompt response,

I noticed this on Friday so it is new and I supplement every 3 to 4 days at the moment.

Sorry I should mention that was when he shed last.

 

[Kate]

Can I ask what you supplement with and how often. Babies need to be supplemented every day with plain calcium without d3 daily and calcium with d3 and multivits twice a month depending on which brands you use. Are you housing them together.? Are they both boys?

 

[neast25]

Can I ask what you supplement with and how often. Babies need to be supplemented every day with plain calcium without d3 daily and calcium with d3 and multivits twice a month depending on which brands you use. Are you housing them together.? Are they both boys?

Hi Kate

at the moment I am using Komodo Cricket dust which says it is 99% pure calcium carbonate. I was aware of them needing it everyday so I will increase that immediately and I also wasn't aware of the need for D3 so I will get some of that as well.

Sorry forgot to say they are 1 boy and 1 girl and I am not going to breed them that is just the way it worked out when I chose them! they are housed together and I know that a lot of people say that it usually doesn't work out so if I have any problems I will separate them immediately.

 

[Kate]

I use Komodo cricket dust as well. When Popeye was a baby I used it daily and nutrabol which has d3 and multivits once a week. When they are adults they need feeding every other day. If yours are housed together the will need to be separated.

 

[Kate]

Sorry didn't read that you had one of each the girl will probably weigh less. Their care is different. There are some good blogs on here.

 

[Carlton]

I have had my baby chams for around 3 months now and this week I have noticed that one of them has a dodgy tail up to the start of his back.

Chances are there is some sort of defect or an injury. It could be that there's some sort of development problem that takes some time to manifest itself during growth. I doubt the difference between your current supplementation and lighting and the "ideal" that the forum suggests would have made that much difference to one specific area (spine or tail) of the cham's structure, especially as your other cham is OK. Other than the tail he looks OK. If the problem wasn't obvious at birth or shortly afterward maybe it was due to an injury. Improving your nutrition won't hurt at all, but it might not erase the problem. Hard to say. I don't know if some vet scans would give you more to go on or not.

 

[Decadancin]

Sorry didn't read that you had one of each the girl will probably weigh less. Their care is different. There are some good blogs on here.

Stole my thunder on this one. Their care is definitely different! From temps to basking and feeding! You should definitely house them separately to let your little girl live a longer life. If you suppress the egg cycle it should help her live longer.

It does look like an injury to me, but its hard to tell. I wonder if during the shed your boy got his tail stuck somewhere trying to loosen some skin?