My veiled chameleon needs help

[nicolie85]

My 4 month old chameleon is not looking so good. We got him about a month ago and he was doing very well. Alert, eating and overall healthy in appearance. I just found out that he has developed Rickets and his eye is jutting out. I have made some improvements to his previous environment to make him feel better. I bought a proper UVB heat lamp and a screened cage. Also, I have been giving him water with a baby dropper and force-feeding easy to eat calcium-coated cricket pieces. I noticed his eye on Friday and this morning it still has not gone down. Is there any hope for my little guy or should I plan his funeral. I feel just terrible for buying a pet with no real experience in its care. All I want to do is help him to be happy and healthy again.

 

[royden]

Do what you can. Having him see a vet is the best thing - preferrably an exotics vet.

It's too bad you didn't get the info you needed sooner, but you're here now so stick around and do some reading! Welocme to the boards.

Remember to use the search function before starting a question thread on the fly. That helps reduce the amount of redundant threads.

 

[chameleonneeds]

Hey to help yourself to get answers faster you need to fill out the information that follows:

Cage Info:


Cage Type - What kind of cage are you using? What is the size?
Lighting - What kind of lighting are you using? How long do you keep the lights on during the day?
Temperature - What temperature range have you created? Basking spot temp? What is the temperature at night?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Location - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What kind of schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

This will help much more.
Has the chameleon been doing it constintly and not ever deflating it or just every now and then it could mean it has an eye irritation because of something in its eye you need to mist your chams cage a few times a day for a few minutes each time you can use a auto mister or get a spray bottle wich you can get from a garden store ect when you spray the cage the cham can clean its eye out properly but dont try to spray the chams eye directly you can just sprits the water lightly on it and its cage.
Hope this helps alot.

-Tyrone

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Don't give up. These issues sound very fixable. Please answer the questions chamelonneeds provided, and if at all possible show us a photo.

 

[nicolie85]

My info for Buddy

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Reptarium 38 gallon mesh screen cage (standing for arboreal)
Lighting - 100 watt UVB heat lamp
Temperature - Not sure (still need to get a thermometer, stupid yes I know)
Humidity -Cage is misted at least twice a day with spray bottle
Plants - A live bromeliad planter
Location - I have my cage set up on top of a desk in my tiny living room (about a foot away I keep my juvenile iguana in his own cage, but they don't really notice each other)

Chameleon Info:

My Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, about 4 months, sex is unknown
Feeding - Daily I feed him mostly crickets that I give either gut loading food or share some of my iguana's greens. Sometime I give him waxworms for variety.
Supplements - Once and a while, I will dust his crickets with Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamins and Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D3 Ultrafine Powder (I am dusting every meal now)
Watering - He has a drip system that he recognizes in the cage and I mist the cage
Fecal Description - Dark brown feces and white urine
History - Not known
Current Problem - Eye bulging out (only one eye) and Rickets

 

[Tygerr]

What is the exact make and model of the UVB heat lamp that you are using?

 

[Julirs]

What exactly is a 100Watt UVB? That does not sound right at all. You really need a linear flourescent UVB tube and a separate basking lamp. Misting once daily alsos not sufficient, you should be misting at least 2-3X daily for about 5 minutes or more each time. Do you know what your temps are? Dusting schedules are important. You should not be dusting with both at the same time and definitley not randomly. You should have 3 supplements, calcium with D3, without D3, and a multivit. like Herptivite. All of my younger chams get Calcium with D3 2X monthly and Herptivite 2X monthly and Calcium without D3-5X weekly. The eye bulging could be due to dehydration or something irritating it that frequent misting could help. Who diagnosed Rickets?????????

 

[nicolie85]

On Friday, I came home from work and saw my chameleon with a bulging eye for the first time. I drove over to my favorite reptile store where there is a man who breeds and specializes in exotic reptiles. I showed him my chameleon and he said the eye bulging was due to dehydration. He also mentioned that my chameleon looked shaky and had a rubbery jaw. He said it was rickets. Also, I will check the box that came with my UVB bulb when I get home and post. This same man was the one who recommended the light immediately after seeing Buddy.

Also, I now understand how important a feeding schedule with supplements is. I was not educated enough to know before (I thought I was but chameleon care seems very complicated for a beginner).

 

[Julirs]

You are willing to learn now and that is a great thing. I agree that these could be fixable issues, however the local petstore people rarely know what they are talking about. It sounds like MBD (metabolic bone diease caused by bad lighting and improper supplementing). Knowing what kind of light you have, some pictures, and checking your temps would really be helpful! The eye most possibly needs Vet attention.

 

[nicolie85]

My light is a Solar Brite R30 Clear Mercury Vapor at 100 watts "New style for higher U.V.B. output" and the humidity in his cage is about 30%. Also, I am now having a hard time feeding him. His tounge keeps pushing out food. what should I do?

 

[jannb]

I would get him to a vet that knows chameleons.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Rickets is MBD. It's what kids in big cities used to get before milk was fortified with Vitamin D. The kids grew up in the shadows of sky scrapers and never got enough sun.

Your humidity is too low. Mercury Vapor bulbs are generally only used for very large enclosures, or open free ranges. The fellow at the reptile store is familiar with reptiles- but perhaps doesn't realize that chameleons husbandry is vastly different from most other reptiles.

With the eating problem, You now have cascading health issues. I would get him to a vet as soon as possible. It's best anyway. If his jaw is rubbery he really needs prescription calcium.

In the mean time, please study this website. It will provide critical data such as optimum temps and humidity levels, etc., specifically for veileds.
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[Dave Weldon]

My light is a Solar Brite R30 Clear Mercury Vapor at 100 watts "New style for higher U.V.B. output" and the humidity in his cage is about 30%. Also, I am now having a hard time feeding him. His tounge keeps pushing out food. what should I do?

Howdy Nicole,
Sorry to hear about the MBD health issues. I hate to tell you that the Solar Brite MV UVB light source has some characteristics that make it unsuitable for chameleon applications. Although it may look like its putting out a nice, even UVB pattern, it actually has a UVB "hot spot" that looks like a "+". The "+" pattern has levels that are very high while the rest of the area is more normal. Think of it sort of like Ants and a Magnifying Glass . I recommend a ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 18" (or longer) tube. You can use just about any fixture that fits the tube and aims the light downward.

A vet can prescribe more effective sources of calcium as well as injectable meds that can turn things around quicker (while under a vet's supervision).

Post photos of your chameleon as well as the enclosure.

P.S. You can tell a Veiled's sex by the presence of little spurs on the back of the rear feet if he is a male.

 

[mika]

Hey Nicolie, I see you're in Winnetka. That's only 2 miles away from me. I'm in Canoga Park. Maybe you can drop by Dave's meetings too.

 

[chameleonneeds]

I dont know if this realy sounds like mbd,
does your cham walk around like it always has, is the chams legs lazy, have noticeable bulges in them, you need to be sure that your cham is drinking if you dont see it drinking you can try a suringe with NO needle with water in it and open your chams mouth just a little to put a few drops on its gums or whatever then when it starts licking you can drip the water on its toung and carry on till its had enough.
You should also get light fixtures like ReptaSunPlusUvTube its 14 watt 5.0 spuv-14-5 or the 10.0 spuv could work aswell and something like 50 watt to 100 watt basking lamp, you should ask the reptile guy for 1 of the uvb tubes reccommended in this thread, dot let him tell you whats right and whats wrong if he cant give any of the tubes reccommended by all the people on this forum then find someone else who does have them.
Supplementing you should give calcium w D3 maybe 1nce or twice a week, calcium w/o D3 also 1nce or twice a week but on differnent days to when you supplement with D3 you only need to do it on this type of schedule is because you can overdose your cham.

Please post pics of him/her eye, legs mouth and his/her body.
But the best thing to do b4 anything else is done is to take it to the vet ASAP b4 more problems build up.

 

[nicolie85]

Here's a photo of Buddy taken last night. (Not a very good photo, but I will take another later) (And yes I understand the irony of my boyfriend's hand being bandaged up in the photo)

 

[Julirs]

Is it the eye on the other side that is jutting out? If so I would say VET ASAP!

 

[jannb]

I second the vet ASAP. He does not look good at all in the picture.

 

[nicolie85]

Yes, it is the eye on the other side and it looks very puffy and swollen. I am trying to find a herp vet in my area to take him to, but I'm not sure where to find one.

 

[jannb]

Try this site to find a vet in your area: http://www.herpvetconnection.com/