Just a silly a youngun move?

[ataraxia]

i admit, 3 is a bit torturous, but number 1 is completely safe as long as your chameleon is comfortable with you, and you don't squirt it. just a steady stream

please understand i have done many wrongs in keeping reptiles and have learned from my mistakes. mainly from the lack of knowledge and being a young keeper at the time. this is one of them. at some point if you do this you reptile will aspirate. i promise this.

 

[ChameleonNerd]

i don't even know what aspirate means so i will rest my case and you win.

 

[camimom]

i don't even know what aspirate means so i will rest my case and you win.

it meants you breathe in water. insted of it going into the stomach, it goes intot he lungs. essentially, drowning.

 

[ChameleonNerd]

oh, well that sounds like fun.

 

[camimom]

oh, well that sounds like fun.

Dont it though?

 

[suzi]

I have mixed unflavored pedialyte with warm water to help with dehydration

 

[sauer]

sauer: Supplements - Reptivite with d3, reptoCal with d3, alternate between the two one feeding per week, looking today for the pure calcium drops i've heard talk of.. Both supplements have crazy high levels of Vit A so i dont like using a lot.

Veiledchams: Again, soft bone wont get fixed like this. You have to dust the feeders with calcium WITHOUT D3 EVERY feeding. Dust with calcium WITH D3 twice a month and herptivite (W/O D3) twice a month. This is the supplementation schedule I use and many others here use. Excessive D3 is just as bad as lack of it. And your girl needs calcium so you need the calcium without the D3

sauer: Temperature - Multiple thermometers will show the basking area to be 85-95 (on really hot days here its hard to keep her temps down, constantly moving bulb, buying lower wattage asap), hunting/drinking area 70-78. At night drops no lower than 70. No lights on at night.

Veieledcham: those temps are too high for your girl. Shes gonna be producing huge clutches of eggs from having so much food and heat available to her. That is BAD news if she has had bone problems. 80-82 should be the tops on that female so she doesnt produce gigantic clutches. I understand you're in the desert, but you gotta do what you can to bring that down.If you're not able to get a lower wattage bulb, I wouldnt use one.

Thank you! This was all very helpful.
I found a calcium supplement today without D3 that i'm going to crush & use for every feeding. Then alternate with the +D3 supplements I already have, twice a month. Would you recommend different supplements for the D3 feedings?

I'm also going to try removing the heat light for an entire day and keep an eye on the heat. Would you say 70 for the hunting area is too low during the day?

Also, is 12 crickets a day too much for her? I feed her free range in the morning & I would say I find about 0-2 dead every feeding.


[/QUOTE=ChameleonNerd;576862]2. Annoyance: Fill a small glass, or plastic dish with water. Put one food item at a time (cricket is the only one i have used) they float, and will float and bat around. Your chameleon will attack it. While attacking it, they will get a lot of water. Sometimes they will not be able to get a grip because of the water, but will drink plenty[/QUOTE]

This sounds like a genius way of tricking her into slurping up some water. One food item at a time, during the early morning feeding, will definitely tempt her enough to stick her tongue in there. Shes still very shy of me though, and doesn't like hunting when I'm in the room. I will have to wait to see her searching around for food and then do it, otherwise she will wait too long, and it will die. Then, she just won't care at all.


Thank you all very much for your kind words of advice.

 

[Rune]

She did have MBD when placed in my care 3 weeks. Her UVA/UVB light was too low & her diet was like 5-10 COVERED in reptivive or reptocal.
I replaced her light with an appropriate 10.0 reptiglow (places further from cage so its not so intense, but covers more area), & am gutloading crickets with a kale/tuna mix to make sure shes getting all the calcium she needs. The superworms are fed kale overnight before she gets em.

Wait.. Crickets shouldnt be covered? I thought calcium prevented MBD?? Uh oh.

 

[sauer]

Wait.. Crickets shouldnt be covered? I thought calcium prevented MBD?? Uh oh.

That reply was in response to her conditions before being placed in my care.

 

[Tifanydalpont]

the only thing i think might be wrong it...her vail looks puffy caused by too much vit A which is bad...i'm not an exp but i've seen this before on others posts