please someone tell me if he has mbd??

[Baby Lobie]

My chameleon hasnt been eating too much lately.. maybe last few weeks. I got online and tried to some research but came across some info on mbd. i saw a few pictures of deformed limbs and was wondering if any of u experts can tell me if my chameleon has this disease?? I have had him for a year and hes always seemed to be ok besides one eye infection back in like February.. only thing that has been bothering me lately is that he DOES seem alot smaller tgan other chams his age. i just went to the reptile expo near my house and chams his age there were maybe twice his size.. anyhow here are some pics.

 

[carol5208]

No he does not have MBD from what I can tell. Just because he is small does not mean he has it either. How much does he weigh, do you know? My chameleon is 1 yr old and is on the small side too. He eats, but is very picky sometimes and does not eat as much I would like. I feel that is why mine is on the smaller side.

 

[Baby Lobie]

i dont know exactly how much he weighs.. honestly we never handle him because he hates us. lol. hes not very social.. but i was thinking about the mbd because of the joints that appear swollen near his hands and feet. it seemed to me like he is really skinny and then his joints get really big especially near his feet... i guess this is normal then?

 

[carol5208]

His joints look just fine to me. Normal from what I am seeing. As far as the eating, sometimes, they will just not eat for whatever reason. I know the first thing we think of is they are sick or something is wrong. If it continues on for a long period of time, then maybe yes there is something awry. My one chameleon just flat out refused everything I gave him for about 5 days. He is old and I thought this was it. Well that was about 6 months ago and now he eats everything in sight! Have you changed out your uvb bulb lately? Is it up to date? What do you feed him as far as variety?

 

[Baby Lobie]

Actually yes.. i changed it about 4 months ago after having it for 7 months.. but about that... i was using a 10.0 Reptisun because the Serpentarium told me that the screen cage would filter out alot of UVB.. and i raised him this way since he was about 6 weeks old. when i changed it, because a few ppl on these forums told me that 10.0 is for dessert reptiles and chams should use 5.0, he seems a little different.. maybe im crazy but could he maybe like the 10.0 more for some reason.. another thing is when i open the door next to him and he realizes its the sun, he tries really really hard to get out of his cage and wants to go toward the sun...

 

[Baby Lobie]

sorry, forgot about your last ?.. i feed him crickets which i dust in calcium w/D3. also i feed him wax worms and super worms here and there trying to make him gain a little weight.. and to make him happy. sometimes we give him praying mantises from the garden as well..

 

[carol5208]

yeah, maybe he is looking for more than the usual crickets! As far as the sun, mine basically live out in it. They get very happy when they are taken outside, so nothing odd about that! I cannot answer about the 10.0 thing. I have always used the 5.0's. Kammers say on their website not use 10.0 as it emits too much phosphorus. I asked them to comment on that finding and they never did respond! I cannot say they are bad one way or another but I do know others use them on here.

 

[CLP]

sorry, forgot about your last ?.. i feed him crickets which i dust in calcium w/D3. also i feed him wax worms and super worms here and there trying to make him gain a little weight.. and to make him happy. sometimes we give him praying mantises from the garden as well..

You should not be dusting with D3 with every feeding. They only need D3 twice a month. You should also be using a multivitamin twice a month. All other feeding should be dusted with plain calcium.

Also, he may be bored with his limited selection of feeders. Chameleons get bored if you feed them the same thing all the time. Some other good feeders are hornworms, silkworms, butterworms, roaches, isopods. Try offering him something new and see if that perks him off. And you need to stop using the D3 for awhile, and never more than twice a month. That is a vitamin that can cause organ damage when given in excess.

 

[CLP]

yeah, maybe he is looking for more than the usual crickets! As far as the sun, mine basically live out in it. They get very happy when they are taken outside, so nothing odd about that! I cannot answer about the 10.0 thing. I have always used the 5.0's. Kammers say on their website not use 10.0 as it emits too much phosphorus. I asked them to comment on that finding and they never did respond! I cannot say they are bad one way or another but I do know others use them on here.

I use a 10.0 on my screen cage because of how much of the light the screen is supposed to filter out. My homemade wire cages all have 5.0 since they are not filtering much of it. So, IMHO, since your cage is screen you're likely OK. It certainly wouldn't be causing an issue with his growth at any rate. Perhaps he's smaller because he hasn't been eating as much as he should over time out of boredom. Try offering more variety as suggested and see how he does.

 

[Baby Lobie]

Im sorry.. i meant to say Calcium w/out D3. i actually maybe only give him the D3 once a month.. and multi vitamins 2-3 times a month. Yea, I think I am going to go back to the 10.0 because i just have a gut feeling that my cage is filtering out alot of UVB.. the squares are pretty tight together and i think he was doing really well with the 10.0 and seemed happier. Thank you for your help, I will look into different feeders for him.