looking for corrective criticism

[Brad B]

I have 2 veiled chams. A boy and a girl in a 18 by 18 by 24 glass enclosure screen top 25wt uvb light and a basking light. I keep it between 80 to 90 degrees and around 70 at night. They eat crickets, wax worms, hornworms, and mealworms. Crickets gutload on potatos carrots cricket crack and repashy. The girl i bought about a month ina half ago at petsmart... i know bad idea. The boy i literally got yesterday from a legit source. And he is active and healthy.Im feeling like the girl is getting MBD. As you can see her elbows are a bit off, doesn't slow her down n iv seen her shoot her tongue very far never missing. I supplement with D3 and non D3 calcium and a multivitamin with D3 but havent recently on the account of allot of residue on her nose. My water situation is me spraying fairly often, but I aso have a continuous drip with an electric pump so its circulating the water. I use bottled water. I also have 2 pothos and a braided ficus being prepared for adulthood. With a 2 by 2 by 4 all screen cage. Yes im aware they cant be together long. So what im looking for is some insight and help

 

[christineacero]

That definitely looks like MBD to me! You said you have a 25 watt uvb bulb...what brand is it? I'd recommend the Reptisun 5.0 or even 10.0 uvb bulb to help her out. Also, try collard greens, dandelion greens, arugula and the occasional spinach for your cricket gutloading as well as your cricket crack and other fruits and veggies. I'd possibly take her into the vet as well and see what he has to say as far as preventing this any further.

Also, get rid of the cycled water. You should give them fresh water each time you mist. It's too easy to have the water be contaminated if you are recycling it.

What is your supplement schedule? You should be dusting with calcium WITHOUT d3 at every feeding, as well as dusting with calcium WITH d3 every 2 weeks, and a quality multivitamin on opposite weeks.

Go to the clinic forum and answer the "how to ask for help" questions so we can get a better idea of your current situation. Hope this helps!

 

[christineacero]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Brad B]

Well this sucks... so without D3 every feeding? On all the different feeders? Is that one feeding every 2 weeks its an exo terra 26 watt uvb

 

[Cait0420]

Yes d3 twice a month and a multi vitamin twice a month. Calcium WITHOUT d3 every feeding

 

[Brad B]

Should I put calcium on all the feeders I use ?

 

[christineacero]

I would only do mealworms for a treat every once and a while. Their hard shells are hard to pass for chameleons and can cause impaction. Dust your crickets with the calcium and see if you can get your hands on some silkworms and Phoenix worms as they are both naturally high in calcium. You don't have to dust those.

 

[christineacero]

And yes, one feeding of d3. If it's warm enough outside where you are, try and get her outside in the real sunshine as often as you can. Natural sunlight is the best thing for them. Just make sure you keep her really hydrated while she's outside and make sure she has some shade to get out of the sun if she gets too hot. And obviously sit with her and keep an eye on her while she's out there.

 

[zanethan]

Also you need the get separate cages immediately! Chams are solitary creatures and housing them together in a cage that small will result in the death of one.

 

[Brad B]

Everybody thanks for the comments keep them coming

 

[kinyonga]

Here's some information I hope will help you.

Regarding gutloading, for crickets, superworms, roaches etc you can use a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Regarding supplements, it's important for good bone health and other things in the system that there is a balance between the calcium,phosphorous, D3 and vitamin A. You need to look at he gutloading, what you supplement with and what you feed the chameleon when trying to balance them.

For supplements, it's recommended that you dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phosphorous - free calcium powder to help make up for getting usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder to ensure the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. Exposure to the UVB light will allow it to produce the rest of what it needs and shouldn't lead to an overdose as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB when it wants to.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene ( prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

If your chameleon has MBD you need to first of all correct the imbalance and then use the above information to keep it from returning.

Appropriate temperatures are also important since they play a part in digestion thus nutrient absorption.