MBD aftermath

[JJMcCool]

Hi there,
I have a problem with my 1yr+ male yemen chameleon. He was diagnosed with MBD by a vet 3 months after we bought him and he is believed to have had the problem before we bought him. I had to give him 0.04mg of Zolcal once a day for 6 weeks and he made a great improvement. 2 months down the line and he's been slowly deteriorating again, not nearly as vivid (although he is when sleeping) and just not acting how he was when he was healthy. Unfortunately living in England there is a downside to temperature but according to vets and pet shops, the temperature is fine at approx 85F daytime and 70F nightime (92F where he basks). He has an all singing all dancing 160W solar glo mercury ballasted bulb, a large komodo heatmat on the side of his 6'x3'x3' flexarium enclosure, a dripper system, plenty of branches and vines, a schefflera and ficus plant, plenty of silk plants and a variation in food, as he is not fussy at all unless it comes to roaches. The food is gut loaded with watercress and papaya, sometimes mango and dusted with reptivite every feed. The water is treated with reptisafe and supplemented recently with zolcal as I have been advised by a reptile pet shop employee and he is sprayed 2-3 times daily. He is defecating quite normally and eating the equivalent of 4-5 large crickets a day, but is shedding very slowly. Does anybody have any ideas where I am going wrong or how I can care for him appropriately, as I have lost my job through injury and cannot afford another hundred pound vet bill. I have uploaded a picture of Randy, to show his seemingly unhealthy colouration and a picture of his enclosure for any suggestion of improvement. Any correspondence would be much appreciated!

 

[kinyonga]

You said you gave him zolcal for 6 weeks and it helped. Since then have you been giving him any calcium supplement?

If the Zolcal brought the calcium back into balance, you then have to keep it there. Calcium, phosphorus, D3 and vitamin A are all important players in bone health and they need to be in balance. What you feed the chameleon, what you feed the insects and what you supplement with need to be looked at when trying to balance things. You also need to make sure that the UVB is appropriate and the basking temp also plays a part...of course.

Since most feeder insect have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. its important to dust the insects with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for it.

I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. I leave the chameleon to produce the rest of its D3 from its exposure to the UVB.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene (prOformed) sources of vitamin A won't build up in the system like prEformed will. There is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene so some people give their chameleons a little prEformed vitamin A once in a while. Excess prEformed vitamin A may prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD so you need to be careful with it.

 

[benpaul]

you have a uvb bulb? i dont see one in that pic.

 

[Psi]

As with Kinyonga said.
Since you didn't mention your dusting schedule, that's the biggest problem most likely.

You also should despite your large post fill out the "How to ask for help" form.
That would allow us to give you better answers.

Also how old is the solarglo?
It might not be producing the appropriate levels of UVB needed.

you have a uvb bulb? i dont see one in that pic.

He has an all singing all dancing 160W solar glo mercury ballasted bulb