Hey folks, I'm new here and love the site! I've been trying to find answers elsewhere but to no avail. I need some serious advice. My veiled chameleon, Hassehlhoff 
)) is about three years old. I have owned him since I was sixteen. Because I did not research effectively before buying him, he ended up this January with a severe tail infection which has lost him the latter half of his tail. (The vet did not amputate it, but instead got the infection under control and said the dead half would fall off on it's own. It's happening the way she said it would, slowly but surely. My poor guy must still be in a lot of pain from this, as the dead part is still attached about 1/3 of the way around. It gets caught on stuff and really just sucks all around.)
I have been supplementing him with a multivitamin throughout his life, and have recently added a calcium/D3 supplement to the multivitamin. He has always had his flourescent UVA/UVB light (5.0), and was recovering very well from his infection as of last month. His basking area is at a steady 100 degrees, and he has a red lamp at night in case it gets cold. The coldest it gets in my house at night is around 65 degrees F.
However, he has recently (two weeks ago) gone on a hunger and water strike, and last week started falling from vines and branches of his Hibiscus tree. I had him on superworms and crickets as a staple, but have recently found out that this is less than ideal so I have ordered Phoenix worms for him to try, which are yet to come. He won't eat crickets or superworms, and has eaten a few waxworms here and there in the past week. He has passed only three stools since going on his strike. He falls a lot (like once every hour or so at the worst). I put towels in the bottom of his cage to soften his fall. I have inspected his casque and bones for flexibility, and it does not appear to me that he has any form of MBD. Just to be safe I have been sprinkling a pinch of calcium powder into his mouth (he loves it) about once every two days. I have also done this with the multivitamin, because I am concerned about him not eating.
Is there any other explanation for his falling aside from MBD, or do I need to be looking closer at his bones? My boyfriend and his brother both tell me that I need to put more vines and things in the cage, so I am doing this although I don't think it is the reason for his incessant falling. He does have a seemingly sufficient amoung of stuff to get around on, but I am beefing this up because it will not hurt. I have been taking him out into the sun (finally, ND weather has been less than permitting these last few months) and have been showering him three times a week since his water strike began. His water intake has greatly improved, but he still won't eat like he used to. I know he is in a huge amount of pain because of his tail still being semi-attached and all, but need to know if I am doing anything wrong. I love my chameleon and feel that it is extremely unfair to him to be so sick like this. I want him to thrive. Any advice would be excellent, I can also give more info about the lights and brands of supplements and things, but I am not at my house right now so I haven't included them here.
Thanks for reading all that if you did. Help Hasselhoff!! He will love you for it. I will too.
)) is about three years old. I have owned him since I was sixteen. Because I did not research effectively before buying him, he ended up this January with a severe tail infection which has lost him the latter half of his tail. (The vet did not amputate it, but instead got the infection under control and said the dead half would fall off on it's own. It's happening the way she said it would, slowly but surely. My poor guy must still be in a lot of pain from this, as the dead part is still attached about 1/3 of the way around. It gets caught on stuff and really just sucks all around.)I have been supplementing him with a multivitamin throughout his life, and have recently added a calcium/D3 supplement to the multivitamin. He has always had his flourescent UVA/UVB light (5.0), and was recovering very well from his infection as of last month. His basking area is at a steady 100 degrees, and he has a red lamp at night in case it gets cold. The coldest it gets in my house at night is around 65 degrees F.
However, he has recently (two weeks ago) gone on a hunger and water strike, and last week started falling from vines and branches of his Hibiscus tree. I had him on superworms and crickets as a staple, but have recently found out that this is less than ideal so I have ordered Phoenix worms for him to try, which are yet to come. He won't eat crickets or superworms, and has eaten a few waxworms here and there in the past week. He has passed only three stools since going on his strike. He falls a lot (like once every hour or so at the worst). I put towels in the bottom of his cage to soften his fall. I have inspected his casque and bones for flexibility, and it does not appear to me that he has any form of MBD. Just to be safe I have been sprinkling a pinch of calcium powder into his mouth (he loves it) about once every two days. I have also done this with the multivitamin, because I am concerned about him not eating.
Is there any other explanation for his falling aside from MBD, or do I need to be looking closer at his bones? My boyfriend and his brother both tell me that I need to put more vines and things in the cage, so I am doing this although I don't think it is the reason for his incessant falling. He does have a seemingly sufficient amoung of stuff to get around on, but I am beefing this up because it will not hurt. I have been taking him out into the sun (finally, ND weather has been less than permitting these last few months) and have been showering him three times a week since his water strike began. His water intake has greatly improved, but he still won't eat like he used to. I know he is in a huge amount of pain because of his tail still being semi-attached and all, but need to know if I am doing anything wrong. I love my chameleon and feel that it is extremely unfair to him to be so sick like this. I want him to thrive. Any advice would be excellent, I can also give more info about the lights and brands of supplements and things, but I am not at my house right now so I haven't included them here.
Thanks for reading all that if you did. Help Hasselhoff!! He will love you for it. I will too.
