Hello guys, I'm new here and I registered here so that I make this post, where I will document my attempt to save my friend's Veiled Chameleon.
So here's what happened, she bought the veiled cham online, from a random person, not even a reptile shop... The person happened to only be interested in getting rid of the cham, so he told her that the cham needed a little terrarium, normal lights during the day, heating and mealworms or crickets for food.
The cham is a she, and she's called Acorn.
So for the last 6 months the chameleon has lived in a small terrarium, with a normal fluorescent bulb over her, fed mostly mealworms, no calcium supplements, no vitamins. She hasn't eaten much over the last 6 months, she has been free fed, so no one really has much idea of how much she actually eats... She has barely grown.
I would like to disclose that I know things are not ideal, and that I will take advice from everyone as advice, not instructions, I'm able to do research and cross check everything and I will hold only myself accountable for my actions. We have no reptilian vet anywhere near us, so we are not substituting vet for your comments, and this post is about documenting things and publishing information so that others can use that information in whatever way they want. So comment freely every feedback is useful!
My friend trusted the seller, didn't do any research and it was only after I got to meet her and then started being interested on reptiles and doing research about them that I noticed that she didn't feed him calcium and he didn't have UVBs and then I kept doing research and found this post about MBD in this forum and then I looked for signs on her and...
She has developed MBD.
I think it's pretty serious, she doesn't eat at all, when she moves, which is rare she shakes like hell, she doesn't have much strength. My friend doesn't have time or the ability to "force feed" the chameleon, I tried it and I was able to do it and because I have more resources in terms of getting things online and stuff I asked her if she wanted me to nurse the cham back to health, she said yes and so now I'm taking care of the cham. Oh also, there's no reptile vet in the area and we couldn't afford it either... The cham was an impulse buy, it is the example of how not to get a reptile, and I know how wrong everything has been for this cham, but this post is about me documenting a possible recovery, about getting information about this posted somewhere because along the road we will find difficulties and we will learn stuff and this all might be useful for someone else. The chameleon is called Acorn.
So let's talk more about where Acorn lives and the heating and stuff.
This is her terrarium:
If the research I've done is correct this is too small for her, this is not something I can correct, so we will try and make due with what we have.
Yes that is a heating pad on the back of the terrarium and that's the heating. Because heat rises the terrarium actually has a range of temperatures, both from the front to the back (so from the front glass and towards the back where the heating pad is, and btw it's on the outer side of the terrarium) and from the bottom to the top, because heat rises, on the front part and middle the temperatures are about 20 to 25 degrees, near the back in the middle it's 30 degrees and get's to 35-40 on the top near the back where the plastic plant crossed the terrarium, something I added so she can go there if she wants some warmth and light. (Temperatures are in celsius)
As you can see here she has a fountain, it's meant to keep the terrarium with more humidity, she also drinks off of it.
Again, I would like to remember that I know things are not ideal, and that I will take advice from everyone as advice, not instructions, I'm able to do research and cross check everything and I will hold only myself accountable for my actions. So comment freely every feedback is useful!
So what did I do?
I brought Acorn home and was "force feeding" her 5 mealworms a day dusted with Calcium, I hold her carefully, rub a mealworm to the side of her mouth, when she opens her mouth and put the mealworm in, this has been so hard... She will take 5 to 10 minutes to open her mouth in the first times, but she is getting used to it and it's starting to be a less stressing even for her.
I brought the mealworms from my friend, I have had the cham for 3 days, I have tried to get crickets from the pet shop where she used to get them but they don't have any :/ So mealworms will have to do.
More details on the calcium, it's JBL MicroCalcium, pure calcium powder, no D3 and no phosphorous.
This was also provided by my friend. She gives it to her leopard gecko, she's had the gecko for 5 years and has taken care of it well, he's very healthy.
But she needs calcium with D3 so I got Zoo Med's ReptiCalcium with D3.
I also got Zoo Med's ReptiVite with D3.
The calcium does not have phosphorous, the vitamins do.
So now that I have calcium with D3 I'm going to give that to her on every feeding. I'm going to give her vitamins twice a week for now, you guys can comment if I should give only once or give her more or mix with the calcium, she's really weak and I think she needs them.
So I will be feeding 5 mealworms a day with the D3 calcium, until I get the crickets, then it will be mostly crickets, I'm hoping she can eat them off of a cup.
But of course! This would all be useless without proper lighting, and I bought ExoTerra's Repti Glo 5.0 and it arrived today and I just got it installed. It's a 38cm 14w, it's supposed to be good down to 30 cm from the lamp. I also have the other normal 6500k flurescent bulb on to have a better spectrum of lights, you guys can tell me if it's of any relevance to keep that one on or not.
So here we go, let the comments begin, just remember, this is all just about me documenting this, it's about reporting things so they might be useful to someone else, and it's about getting the little cham back to health. Positive vibes everyone, though I will take any and all criticisms well. But trolls will be ignored.
Go ahead say something, tell me what you think! Thank you for reading
So here's what happened, she bought the veiled cham online, from a random person, not even a reptile shop... The person happened to only be interested in getting rid of the cham, so he told her that the cham needed a little terrarium, normal lights during the day, heating and mealworms or crickets for food.
The cham is a she, and she's called Acorn.
So for the last 6 months the chameleon has lived in a small terrarium, with a normal fluorescent bulb over her, fed mostly mealworms, no calcium supplements, no vitamins. She hasn't eaten much over the last 6 months, she has been free fed, so no one really has much idea of how much she actually eats... She has barely grown.
I would like to disclose that I know things are not ideal, and that I will take advice from everyone as advice, not instructions, I'm able to do research and cross check everything and I will hold only myself accountable for my actions. We have no reptilian vet anywhere near us, so we are not substituting vet for your comments, and this post is about documenting things and publishing information so that others can use that information in whatever way they want. So comment freely every feedback is useful!
My friend trusted the seller, didn't do any research and it was only after I got to meet her and then started being interested on reptiles and doing research about them that I noticed that she didn't feed him calcium and he didn't have UVBs and then I kept doing research and found this post about MBD in this forum and then I looked for signs on her and...
She has developed MBD.
I think it's pretty serious, she doesn't eat at all, when she moves, which is rare she shakes like hell, she doesn't have much strength. My friend doesn't have time or the ability to "force feed" the chameleon, I tried it and I was able to do it and because I have more resources in terms of getting things online and stuff I asked her if she wanted me to nurse the cham back to health, she said yes and so now I'm taking care of the cham. Oh also, there's no reptile vet in the area and we couldn't afford it either... The cham was an impulse buy, it is the example of how not to get a reptile, and I know how wrong everything has been for this cham, but this post is about me documenting a possible recovery, about getting information about this posted somewhere because along the road we will find difficulties and we will learn stuff and this all might be useful for someone else. The chameleon is called Acorn.
So let's talk more about where Acorn lives and the heating and stuff.
This is her terrarium:
If the research I've done is correct this is too small for her, this is not something I can correct, so we will try and make due with what we have.
Yes that is a heating pad on the back of the terrarium and that's the heating. Because heat rises the terrarium actually has a range of temperatures, both from the front to the back (so from the front glass and towards the back where the heating pad is, and btw it's on the outer side of the terrarium) and from the bottom to the top, because heat rises, on the front part and middle the temperatures are about 20 to 25 degrees, near the back in the middle it's 30 degrees and get's to 35-40 on the top near the back where the plastic plant crossed the terrarium, something I added so she can go there if she wants some warmth and light. (Temperatures are in celsius)
As you can see here she has a fountain, it's meant to keep the terrarium with more humidity, she also drinks off of it.
Again, I would like to remember that I know things are not ideal, and that I will take advice from everyone as advice, not instructions, I'm able to do research and cross check everything and I will hold only myself accountable for my actions. So comment freely every feedback is useful!
So what did I do?
I brought Acorn home and was "force feeding" her 5 mealworms a day dusted with Calcium, I hold her carefully, rub a mealworm to the side of her mouth, when she opens her mouth and put the mealworm in, this has been so hard... She will take 5 to 10 minutes to open her mouth in the first times, but she is getting used to it and it's starting to be a less stressing even for her.
I brought the mealworms from my friend, I have had the cham for 3 days, I have tried to get crickets from the pet shop where she used to get them but they don't have any :/ So mealworms will have to do.
More details on the calcium, it's JBL MicroCalcium, pure calcium powder, no D3 and no phosphorous.
This was also provided by my friend. She gives it to her leopard gecko, she's had the gecko for 5 years and has taken care of it well, he's very healthy.
But she needs calcium with D3 so I got Zoo Med's ReptiCalcium with D3.
I also got Zoo Med's ReptiVite with D3.
The calcium does not have phosphorous, the vitamins do.
So now that I have calcium with D3 I'm going to give that to her on every feeding. I'm going to give her vitamins twice a week for now, you guys can comment if I should give only once or give her more or mix with the calcium, she's really weak and I think she needs them.
So I will be feeding 5 mealworms a day with the D3 calcium, until I get the crickets, then it will be mostly crickets, I'm hoping she can eat them off of a cup.
But of course! This would all be useless without proper lighting, and I bought ExoTerra's Repti Glo 5.0 and it arrived today and I just got it installed. It's a 38cm 14w, it's supposed to be good down to 30 cm from the lamp. I also have the other normal 6500k flurescent bulb on to have a better spectrum of lights, you guys can tell me if it's of any relevance to keep that one on or not.
So here we go, let the comments begin, just remember, this is all just about me documenting this, it's about reporting things so they might be useful to someone else, and it's about getting the little cham back to health. Positive vibes everyone, though I will take any and all criticisms well. But trolls will be ignored.
Go ahead say something, tell me what you think! Thank you for reading