My baby is twitching...

[mimibozzo]

My 5 month old panther, T-Rex is twitching off and on and I don't know why or if there is something wrong. His body just kinda twitches every now and then, plus he is a little sluggish and not eating as much as he usually does. Has anyone experienced this with their chams? I'm worried about him....:

 

[zsazsa85]

Does he get enough calcium and vitamins regularly? UVB lamp? Those symptoms can be early signs of MBD. You should fill out the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ form. We could help more!

 

[mimibozzo]

We have a dripper and I have it on a slow drip all day and he drinks from it quite often off and on all day - but mostly in the morning, we mist a few times a day and make sure the humidity gets up to 55 or 60 2-3 times a day (more often if we are home all day), otherwise the humidity stays at about 30, his basking spot is about 90, we have a uv light and we take him out in the sun once a day for about 1/2 hour. We feed him crickets from armstrong that we dust with Repashy calcium plus. His poop looks normal. Is it possible to give him too much calcium? Or is it possible that just dusting the crickets isn't enough and too much falls off before I feed them to him (I free-range them and let him hunt them) - is there another way to make him get more calcium? I definately don't want him to get mbd and I'm trying to do everything I've learned and read to make sure he is healthy and strives. The twitching seems to be coming from his neck.

 

[zsazsa85]

Well the supplementation seems good.
As far as I know you can not overdose them with calcium if you give it oral.
Mine did twitching sometimes but had and has always good appetite and was relatively active. So I thought she is just growing- I heard they do that for their bones-.
If I were you I would take him to the vet. Less activity and appetite is never good.
Twitching in your cham's case is shaking twitching or like a snake twitching?

 

[Jamire]

90 seems a little hot. Only thing I can pick out.

 

[camimom]

Chams do not twitch because of their bones. dont know wher you heard that.

OP- can you try to post a video of this occuring?

Your basking spot for a cham that young is too high, try to lower that to like 85 at the highest.

What size crickets are you feeding him?

you are dusting the bugs just fine. make sure they have a light dusting, not coated to the point they look white.


fill out the how to ask for help form, and really try to get a video of what you are seeing.

 

[zsazsa85]

Oh ok! Good to know! I heard that on another forum... Thanks! Mine had other problem, so probably that's why did he that! Since I cured him stopped do that!

 

[fluxlizard]

Chams do not twitch because of their bones. dont know wher you heard that.

muscular twitching is a sign of MBD.

Muscles require a certain level of calcium to function properly. Without it they twitch. The twitching isn't because of the bones. It is a symptom. Slightly off topic but just by way of passing on information, egg laying requires calcium for the muscles involved- sometimes egg binding can occur if calcium levels in the muscles are too low as well- the mother won't even twitch and her bones may look good.

That said- the twitching is pretty unique. It isn't like a quick "chills" spasm or something.

Here it is in a bearded dragon-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUmGN6BhPk

90 seems a little hot. Only thing I can pick out.

Your basking spot for a cham that young is too high, try to lower that to like 85 at the highest.

As someone who has been raising baby chams at the same temps as adults for 22 years now- the twitching isn't from the temperature. Whatever it's cause it isn't too warm a basking spot. Lower temps for babies basically have 3 reasons- the babies can dehydrate faster if not properly kept hydrated, they heat up faster and can cook if there is not a proper thermogradient, and lowering the temperature slows the metabolism and the growth rate. Slowing growth rate can help prevent or slow MBD from improper diet/supplementation. Because slower growth= less demand for nutrition. It has nothing to do with what the lizards need/require in nature- it's more like a safety net that slows problems from errors in husbandry.

ORIGINAL POSTER-

What is your brand of UVB lighting, and how far is it away from where your chameleon spends most of its time? Was the bulb purchased at the same time as your chameleon?

A little uncomfortable telling you what to do, but if this were my lizard I'd probably replace the UVB tube, make sure the lizard can approach it within several inches, and temporarily up the frequency of the calcium with d3 and multivitamin for a couple of weeks to see if the problem goes away.

Or maybe if I was less experienced I'd go straight to a vet.

Keep in mind though that the twitching from MBD is long and drawn out. A fast spasm like a cold chill every once in a long while (few days between) is probably nothing...

 

[zsazsa85]

Oh mine never did that actually. Mine was like a snake (I am sorry for my english, I don't know how to explain). But I know I was overdosing him with multi and D3. But since I stopped and changed UVB he is fine.
I heard the muscular "shaking "is a sign...

 

[Olimpia]

Flux is right, calcium is involved in nerve impulses to the muslcles (all the muscles, whether it is your limbs, heart, or GI tract) so when bood calcium levels are low muscle impulses can be impaired. This is why vets will give egg-bound females a shot of calcium along with the oxytocin, because the uterus can't contract properly without it, regardless of how strongly you induce contractions.

So you're right, muscular shaking is a symptom of something being off in his physiology. Not a symptom of normal growth, like someone mentioned, but definitely a sign to take a closer look at supplements, UVB bulbs, etc.

 

[fluxlizard]

Oh mine never did that actually. Mine was like a snake (I am sorry for my english, I don't know how to explain). But I know I was overdosing him with multi and D3. But since I stopped and changed UVB he is fine.
I heard the muscular "shaking "is a sign...

Usually wriggling like you are describing is from one of two things-

the first is too large a food item- difficult to swallow so they wriggle to get it down.

The second is social display- dominance. In this case the wriggle is often accompanied by sticking out the chin or possibly "yawning" and/or a back arch. Usually in response to another baby or reflection on glass or some such, but not always- I've seen lone babies in screen cages do it too...

 

[zsazsa85]

Oh, thank you! Yes, "sticking out the chin" was the next move.
I love this forum! You help so much guys!

 

[mimibozzo]

Twitching subsiding

Thank you guys so much for responding and giving me advice, it's so nice to be able to come on here to ask questions and get advise from all of you who have chams. T-rex was pretty active today - AFTER HE WAS DONE SHEDDING! I think that may have been the reason for the lack of activity and appetite. He is not twitching as bad today and my husband and I think he may have burned himself by getting too close to the basking lamp and that's why he was so twitchy and hesitant when he was walking (not sure, but not ruling it out as a possibility). Instead of having the basking lamp directly on top of his cage, we hung it about an inch from the top of his cage and it lowered his basking sight to about 85 like you suggested. If he starts twitching again, I will definately take a video and post it so you guys can see it.

One other thing though, I did notice a light pink tinge to the white part of his poo, is that something to worry about?