New Veiled Cham, No Clue

B

boeuvray

New Member
Hi there I work as a veterinary technician. A fellow dropped this Veiled Chameleon off at our practice- he surrendered him, and we have had no expereince with them except for me- my ex had one while we were dating. He appears to have metabolic bone disease. I bought some calcium and vit d powder, and we have a product called critical care, which is a herbavoire assisted-feeding product. I have been able to syringe a bit of the Critical care mixture around "Neumann's" mouth and he's lapped it up quite readily. Currently he is housed in some weird oceanic cube tank?? I have a heat lamp from a bearded dragon I used to have, so I have that on him. I have also opend the lid a bit to allow some ventilation. I will be getting him a mesh enclosure today, with a UVB light, as well as soe crickets and additional vines for him to climb. I have been spraying the vines with some water. In a nutshell, can someone help me out with what I need to do to keep this guy healthy? He is a very friendly guy, the guy said his daughter used to handle him, hes quite happy to climb along our hands and arms, and settle on us and check things out.

I need to know about the light sources, what kind of cycle to put them on, the diet etc. I will be browsing this forum while I await some advise. Here is a picture of Neumann- "No Neck Neumann"
 
IMG_0449.jpg

Here is Neumann
 
He does have MBD.
If youre a vet tech, you may be able to get access to liquid calcium from the vet, to get his calcium levels back on track.

However, the damage done to his bones are permanent. any breaks may heal, but the bowing and the damage cant be reversed.

He needs lots of UVB, and if your outside temps are good, take him outside and let him crawl around.

If you look up threads on this forum by captainmorgantown and riven, you can problably see some treatment info for mbd.
 
If he is able to climb and keep a good grip on branches, thats really good. If he has trouble or falls a lot, I would suggest keeping the screen cage turned on it's side to it is long. That way, if he falls, he wont fall very far and will be less likely to break anything while he is recovering. Once his bones get better he should be able to live fairly well. If he can eat on his own, get live crickets and worms (superworms, hornworms, silkworms, etc.) and let him eat those. If he has trouble shooting his tongue (as many chameleons with MBD do,) mash/blend the gutloaded bugs up into a juice and drip it into his mouth. Be sure to mist his enclosure/plants and use a dripper so he can get enough water while he heals. For now, you can use a light cycle that is 12 on and 12 off. Be sure he can get under the UVB lights as much as he needs to. Basking should be around 85-90, but if he can't move around much, I wouldn't let it get higher than 85.
 
Being a vet tech you could also speed up the recovery by giving him calcium injections until the blood calcium levels are high enough to give him a shot of calcitonin.

Also..calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are all important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon and need to be in balance...so be careful with gutloading/feeding the insects and with what you feed and supplement the chameleon with...especially with anything that has prEformed vitamin A and D3 in it.

Appropriate temperatures will also help along with exposure to the UVB of course.

He doesn't look as bad as some chameleons I've seen with MBD so hopefully he can have a good life once he has recovered.

Longer lower cages are good too as was already indicated. Not only safer if he falls but makes it easier to ensure that he gets enlightened exposure to the UVB.

Good luck with him!
 
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heres Neumann's new enclosure and a close up of him. He ate three crickets yesterday, is climbinb the walls like crazy!! He has vines to climb up and a big log thing to climb and bask on. I have the UVB light and a heat source as our house can get chilly at times. The temp inside is around 77 and 50% humidity. Not ideal, but we are trying to get it there. Iv beens spraying the enclosure with water a number of times a day, and am looking into getting a watering system for him. Does anyone have any advice on what kind to get or where to find one relatively cheaper? The "monsoon" systems I have found where listed at almost $200?!
 

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boeuvray said:
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View attachment 69736

heres Neumann's new enclosure and a close up of him. He ate three crickets yesterday, is climbinb the walls like crazy!! He has vines to climb up and a big log thing to climb and bask on. I have the UVB light and a heat source as our house can get chilly at times. The temp inside is around 77 and 50% humidity. Not ideal, but we are trying to get it there. Iv beens spraying the enclosure with water a number of times a day, and am looking into getting a watering system for him. Does anyone have any advice on what kind to get or where to find one relatively cheaper? The "monsoon" systems I have found where listed at almost $200?!
Click to expand...
If you can hand mist for a while and save up for a Mistking you can't go wrong. The Monsoon can be tempramental as far as the timer goes. Mistking can safely run dry. You seem to be doing great. Need to bump up temp up to around 90.::). Temps overnight can drop to low 50.
 
His enclosure looks pretty sparse. It is always beneficial to have live plants like dwarf umbrella or pothos. It helps with humidity too. Giving him places to hide will also allow him to get used to his new home faster. You will need branches and vines that span the length of the cage in a horizontal orientation. The idea is to have various layers of canopy so the chameleon can choose how close to lights he wants to be, this is how he regulates his body temp. You can get sticks from the yard and thumb tack them through the screen to hold them in place. I also use the plastic zip ties to hold branches in place. Good luck! Oh and welcome to the forums
 
77 is too cold if you mean for a basking temp. Overall cage temp coud be in the mid 70's and as Kate said I would bump up that temp around 90.
 
any ideas how to bump up the temperature? We live in Vancouver BC area, temp is faily cool right now. I have a heat lamp on him. Should I get a ceramic heat lamp for him too? I will be adding more plants, just have to source where to buy live ones, and then collect some yard trimming to build him some more climbing areas. He climbs the mesh right now alll freaking day!! My last veilded never moved this much EVER!!! he has a spot under the large log to sheild himself.
I have been misting the enclosure often, but what should I do when I get back to work 8+ hours a day? im soaking the log at night, so there is moisture int he enclosure. Thanks so much for the help. Its been an adjustment to the family, but i love having a mini zoo here (im often the tech at work that gets sent home with all the project pocket pets....)
 
What's the wattage on the heat lamp? I have to use a 100 watt here to get it warm enough since winter started. I live in Seattle so similar environment to BC.
 
As said above increase the wattage of bulb and raise or lower its position to suit. You dont want it so hot he will burn himself. You only want a small area around his basking spot at 90. This is so he can raise his body temp enough to digest his food. It is cold here in winter( summer too lol) so i have a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat which kicks in if temps drop below 60. They need a temp drop at night to slow their metabolism down in order to sleep. Misting could be a problem for you. A good mist morning and evening may be enough till you get more organised. Mist till everything is dripping. Add a dripper. Keep an eye on his urates. If they are yellow or orange he needs more water. Allow cage to dry out at night.
 
I just moved from Vancouver to kelowna! What vet clinic/hospital are you at? Yeah increase the wattage to heat it up more and definantly put more foilage in there! Or move to kelowna in the summer! It really heats up here! Jk.
 
boeuvray said:
[/ATTACH]
View attachment 69736

heres Neumann's new enclosure and a close up of him. He ate three crickets yesterday, is climbinb the walls like crazy!! He has vines to climb up and a big log thing to climb and bask on. I have the UVB light and a heat source as our house can get chilly at times. The temp inside is around 77 and 50% humidity. Not ideal, but we are trying to get it there. Iv beens spraying the enclosure with water a number of times a day, and am looking into getting a watering system for him. Does anyone have any advice on what kind to get or where to find one relatively cheaper? The "monsoon" systems I have found where listed at almost $200?!
Click to expand...
Starter mistking is for $100 and they have free shipping now.
 
Hi guys, thanks so much for the help!! I really appreciate it! I am getting more stuff for Neumann's house, and Ill post pix once its a bit more complete. :) Any lowermainland BC Canadians here who have stuff for sale??
 
I am sorry, I don't have any stuff for sale that would help you with Neumann but I would like to suggest that PetSmart, while lousy reptile keepers do at least sell the necessary equipment needed for successfully keeping a chameleon. I haven't seen you mention any UVB source. That is an integral part of a chams health and without it he will die. I use a hood with coil bulbs and buy the Reptiglo 5.0/26w bulb. You will need two of these to fit into a small hood. Also, I use a 100w Zoomed basking bulb for my chams although you can use regular household incandescents. As for a water source for while you are away at work, I use a 1 gallon 'Big Dripper' that I ordered online for $6.00. You can have this dripping as an all day water source along with a good warm mist in the morning before work and a good warm mist when you get home. Don't worry too much right now about a MistKing. They are awesome but you can do without it until you can afford it. If you can't source out a Big Dripper, a well washed 4litre milk jug with a small hole pricked into the bottom works just as well. Make sure the drops come out 1 drip/second. Your Cham will learn this is a trustful water source and will go to it to drink when thirsty. I have sent you a PM, as I am in Langley so if you need specific advice or need to be pointed in the right direction, let me know! Good luck, Lisa
 
**update**

IMG_1540[1].jpg

Hey everyone thanks so much for all your help! Neumann is thriving in his new home. He is climbing lots, eating lots, and seems to be enjoying life! I have gotten his habitats temp and humidity up, and I have his lights on a 12 hour cycle. He is getting his calcium with D3 regularly with some critical care (veg supplement). I owe it to your guys' help! Cheers
 
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