Lily Princiotta
Member
thats all good! Hes trying to eat some dubias i put in a bowl for him right now. i usually check every half hour to see if he got any. He rarely gives up tho until he gets one tho so at least hes trying
Panther Cham Has A Broken Tongue
- Thread starter Lily Princiotta
- Start date
Pickle-cham
Chameleon Enthusiast
Dubias can be pain sometimes to feed when the play dead. I have on occasion found that they escape the feeder run cup. I then find them months later lurking under plant pots 
I get a fright when doing a deep clean and they grown into whoppers running out from under stuff
I get a fright when doing a deep clean and they grown into whoppers running out from under stuffLily Princiotta
Member
HAHA! Yes! Mine do that too! Sometimes my cham will chase them around the enclosure when they escape. Mine like to crawl under the tray at the bottom of the enclosureDubias can be pain sometimes to feed when the play dead. I have on occasion found that they escape the feeder run cup. I then find them months later lurking under plant pots
. We have even seen BABIES in there and my mom says "We never put baby dubias in there
" (even though she did
) but he has a lot of trouble catching the babies because they run so fast. She usually feeds him the large just barely adult ones that she calls "teenagers". They're easier for him to see too!Lily Princiotta
Member
@Lily Princiotta …is your chameleon eating now?
Is he still sitting on the bottom of the cage a lot?
Have you thought abou taking him to a good exotics vet before it’s too late?
Regarding using an incandescent light bulb for a basking bulb…I’ve used them for years. You still need to use a long linear tube UVB light …either a Reptisun 5.0 or an Acadian 6% so that the chameleon can produce the vitamin D3 it needs to be able to use the calcium.
You asked if that was too much calcium…this is going to require a long explanation. I’ll post it all in a few minutes.
First of all…I’m not a vet and can only tell you what I think from experience, etc. If we assume that the tongue issue is from an imbalance in nutrients….then correcting the balance should help the issue. However, we cant be sure that’s all that’s going on with him…a vet visit to an exotics vet would be the best option IMHO.
So…we dust the insects with a phos free calcium powder to make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos found in many of the insects we use as feeders. We dust lightly so we don’t overdo it.
Now…the calcium can’t be absorbed into the chameleon’s system and make the bones strong and the muscles function properly without the right amount of vitamin D3.
The chameleon gets that vitamin D3 in two main ways…from the supplements we dust on the insects and from the D3 produced from its exposure to the UVB lights (Or direct sunlight). D3 from supplements is ready to go and can build up in the system leading to an overdose and to things like MBD. UVB exposure either from the bulbs we use or direct sunlight allow the chameleon to produce D3 and as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it, should not lead to an overdose….so we only give the supplement twice a month to ensure the chameleon has some D3 but it will have to produce the rest from the exposure to the UVB.
Now…vitamin A is another important vitamin and needs to be in balance with the D3. Vitamin A comes from 2 sources…prEformed and prOformed. PrEformed is ready to go and so it can build up in the system and lead to health issues. PrOformed needs to be converted into vitamin A by the body and cannot be overdosed. PrEformed sources are retinoids (and come from animal sources, etc) and prOformed sources are carotenoids…like beta carotene (and come from veggies and greens).
There’s more to it than this…but this should help for now.
You really need to get whatever his issues fixed quickly or you could very well lose him. Sorry to have to tell you this .
Is he still sitting on the bottom of the cage a lot?
Have you thought abou taking him to a good exotics vet before it’s too late?
Regarding using an incandescent light bulb for a basking bulb…I’ve used them for years. You still need to use a long linear tube UVB light …either a Reptisun 5.0 or an Acadian 6% so that the chameleon can produce the vitamin D3 it needs to be able to use the calcium.
You asked if that was too much calcium…this is going to require a long explanation. I’ll post it all in a few minutes.
First of all…I’m not a vet and can only tell you what I think from experience, etc. If we assume that the tongue issue is from an imbalance in nutrients….then correcting the balance should help the issue. However, we cant be sure that’s all that’s going on with him…a vet visit to an exotics vet would be the best option IMHO.
So…we dust the insects with a phos free calcium powder to make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos found in many of the insects we use as feeders. We dust lightly so we don’t overdo it.
Now…the calcium can’t be absorbed into the chameleon’s system and make the bones strong and the muscles function properly without the right amount of vitamin D3.
The chameleon gets that vitamin D3 in two main ways…from the supplements we dust on the insects and from the D3 produced from its exposure to the UVB lights (Or direct sunlight). D3 from supplements is ready to go and can build up in the system leading to an overdose and to things like MBD. UVB exposure either from the bulbs we use or direct sunlight allow the chameleon to produce D3 and as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it, should not lead to an overdose….so we only give the supplement twice a month to ensure the chameleon has some D3 but it will have to produce the rest from the exposure to the UVB.
Now…vitamin A is another important vitamin and needs to be in balance with the D3. Vitamin A comes from 2 sources…prEformed and prOformed. PrEformed is ready to go and so it can build up in the system and lead to health issues. PrOformed needs to be converted into vitamin A by the body and cannot be overdosed. PrEformed sources are retinoids (and come from animal sources, etc) and prOformed sources are carotenoids…like beta carotene (and come from veggies and greens).
There’s more to it than this…but this should help for now.
You really need to get whatever his issues fixed quickly or you could very well lose him. Sorry to have to tell you this .
Last edited:
Lily Princiotta
Member
he has food in his enclosure but didn’t eat any and feel asleep on his food bowl. he still sits at the bottom of his cage unless he sees that i gave him water. i might be able to take him to the vet tomorrow depending on cost. he has a t5 5.0 uvb reptisun. he also has a 60w incandescent bulb for a basking bulb. he has been sleeping a lot. on the bottom of his enclosure. i added some of the calcium drops into his water, so that way he at least has some calcium. he has been trying really hard to eat.
Lily Princiotta
Member
yes he is. he is chasing a calcium dusted dubia around the enclosure right now. he’s so close to ir but just barely misses almost every time
((Lily Princiotta
Member
GOOD NEWS!! Yesterday, we took him out of his enclosure and got some dusted feeders and held them in front of his face for a good 15 minutes. Finally he saw them and tried to catch it but when his tongue went in the opposite direction we moved the bug where his tongue went and he got the bug! As he finished the other bug we gave him another. Even though he only ate 2 bugs, it was better than nothing. We're gonna try doing it again today.
We're gonna try doing it again today.
