people having problems with chameleons turning and leaning to the left

[Jay Sick]

As of rite now my female translucent Veil has been doing this for a week she is on her third injection shot of fortaz and de wormer and is getting a shot for traveling parasites tomorrow. Since i have had this problem with her i have looked up as much info as possible.

Funny thing is i did not have to look far because at least 4 other people if not more are all having the same problem on here at the same time. CAN ANYONE FIND A CONNECTION IN ANY OF THIS. My original thought was the major cricket distro centers having bad bugs and selling to local chains stores that most of us would buy from. Any one have any other ideas ?

 

[Elizadolots]

As I think I mentioned, I find this disturbingly likely as a concept...so, I really hope that everyone who is experiencing this will give us the sources of their feeders.

I will offer that my chameleons have not shown any such symptoms and they are eating crickets from Armstrong Crickets.

Of course, it's possible that it's not crickets causing the problems...so, if you've had this problem, then please provide the sources of all of your feeders. That's the only way we can confirm or eliminate this as a problem.

 

[kinyonga]

Are the other people's chameleons on medications too?

 

[Elizadolots]

No, if you look at the Health Clinic there are several threads about chameleons suddenly developing a left leaning walk...they seem only able to go that direction. For some it's been an intermittent problem for others more consistent. There's been discussion of strokes, seizures, inner ear problems.

Dr. O said that chemical issues are usually the root of seizures in reptiles. One very disturbing suggestion was made that it's a seizure brought on by a chemical problem with feeders.

It seems to me that the only way to eliminate that as a problem is to have everyone who's chameleons are doing the left turn thing tell us where the feeders are coming from. If there's no correlation, then we know it's not the feeders...but if everyone bought their crickets from the same source, we have an issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[twatts704]

I was at the reptile expo in houston this past weekend and over heard quite a few people saying that all of their chameleons were getting sick too because of bad crickets. If I were you I would recommend finding other feeders for a little while and stay off the crickets for a bit.

 

[Elizadolots]

I wouldn't think there's cause to put out a "no crickets" alert...

At this point, I just think this board is in a unique position to provide real data on what the affected chameleons were exposed to.

 

[Jay Sick]

i get my crickets from petco in totowa nj and some times my worms and crickets from aquarium in elmwood park on rt 4. Aside from the female panther i received 7 months ago who was sick since the day i got her and has stayed the same size since then with numerous vet trips and different ideas meds and diet she remains un healthy possibly a inbred i would say. The veil is the only one doing this and there are 7 other chams who ate the same and are fine so idk

 

[Elizadolots]

Jay, are you saying you have one veiled who is doing the left leaning thing, but 7 other chameleons who are eating the same feeders who are not?

 

[Jay Sick]

Yes my other chams are fine as of this moment. I have taken the veils cage out of the same room as them for the time being. My girl friend when she is here in the states baby's the veil as it is her favorite. I always tell her the rest of the heard is going to resent her as they get older and rebel against us because of her favoritism lol HAHA.

The veil who is named Gimpy because she was a rescue from a shit bag pet store and had mbd but made a full turn around after we got her and took care of her the only thing was just a little trouble with the joints. Im sure u know what i mean were what u could call elbows kinda look bigger after they are treated making there walk balance a little off hence the name Gimpy.


She eats like a champ and is given all the proper supplements and hand feed the rite fruits and all sorts of chameleon friendly treats. Now with the fruit it is very few and far between, my girlfriend is a nut about cleaning food so she washes and cleans everything well. it has crossed my mind that pesticides from the fruit but that's not what the vet said so Im still baffled. Does it have to do with the time of year ? Maybe some sort of airborne pathogen or something that has to do with the not so cold winter im sure i could go on forever with guesses. Did any of the other chams with this problem at one time have mbd ??

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm not aware of there being a common history of MBD, though I believe at least one of the others did have that background. If you have 8 chameleons in the same location getting the same food and only one is having this "left lean" problem, it seems like it's not the food and it's not an airborne problem. If it were, I'm sure more, if not all, of your chameleons would be showing effects.

 

[Jay Sick]

The exception is that gimp eats the majority of the horn and butter worms. So possibly from there as well but more and more as time goes on this points to neurological disorder. Which if she stays the way she is that is fine i will just have to make accommodations for her she is strong like a ox still eats and drinks mostly from my hand now but i will take care of her as long as she needs me too. it really sucks that this happened to her im not sure either if being translucent plays a role in this i have heard a few things hear and there but nothing solid.

 

[Elizadolots]

Hmmmm....well, this thread is all about collecting data so if you feel comfortable doing it, maybe you should post where you get your horn and butter worms from? Maybe it's not crickets that are the concern at all (which would sort of make sense given how few people have reported the problem).

 

[ISA my Veiled]

This is kinda scary, makes me not want to buy crickets....