Rescued a Veiled, need help.

[thedintedcan]

Hi All! This is a my first post here.

Sunday, my wife and I adopted (rescued) a ~6 month old male veiled chameleon from a friend who decided she could no longer care for him. We baby sat him while she was away twice back when he was a month or two old, and we notice upon receiving him that his energy levels were way down.

After observing him for a day now, we have noticed he lacks accurate control in his back legs when finding perches, and he is not apt to roam and crawl like he did when younger.

I am afraid he is suffering from several deficiencies; namely water, calcium, and proper lighting among other things.
The previous owner had him in one of those tall glass side/screen top zoo-med type starter tanks, which was very soiled when we brought him home. We are not sure if she was using filtered water, because there are hard water spots all over the tank. Lighting was whatever halogen bulb the starter kit came with by day, and a matching size red "night bulb" by night. Decor includes one vine, one suction plant, and shredded coconut bedding. Diet consisted of crickets fed twice daily, with every other feeding dusted in reptivite with d3 (according to the PO, we have no idea about actual feedings.) She said she misted him twice daily until his humidity hit about 85%.

My wife is bringing an 18x18x36 reptibreeze home tonight (we got it very cheap, will upgrade to a larger cage when needed,) and we already have a live ficus and a second 4' vine waiting to go in. We picked a pair of Fluker's sun domes with exo terra uvb 100 adn 150w daytime heat lamp bulbs. Also inbound is a can of re-cal phosphorus calcium supplement, some flukers cricket gut load food, and a tub of meal worms.

Can anyone advise of any other supplements/regimens/care we can start him on to get him on the track to recovery? This is our first chameleon, so we are pretty green on some of the finer points of diet and habit past the basic care sheets online.

Here are a couple pics. I can take more if needed:

Thanks in advance! We look forward to have a happy healthy chameleon.

 

[MoniqueC]

Congrats! First off it's important they have good airflow, an all screen cage is best, you'll just have to work on the humidity more, a times automatic mister is quite handy for that, I use a monsoon auto mister and have a spray bottle on hand to most the leaves extra since they drink off leaves and do not recongnize sitting water in dishes. You should be dusting his crickets everyday with calcium WITHOUT d3 and calcium WITH d3 two maybe 3 times a month. I also recommended zoo meds multivitamin for a dusting twice a week or so. Calcium and UVA/UVB lighting is crucial to prevent metabolic bone disease, I'd also reccomend taking him to a bet to endure his back legs aren't developing it. You do not need a night light as long as the too does not drop below 65 degrees otherwise you'll have to pick up a ceramic heating source, no light at night. It helps to take him out for real sun when it gets warm enough and he gets more comfy around you, which hand feeding will help with bonding trust. Good luck

 

[MoniqueC]

Also, sorry for all the typos, it's hard to navigate these forums off a smartphone with auto correct.

 

[kinyonga]

Definitely has/had MBD. If he has it it needs to be corrected and he needs to be put on a proper supplementing regime along with proper temperatures, exposure to UVB, proper feeding/gutloading of the insects, etc.

To correct Mbd its usually recommended that the chameleon be given some liquid calcium sandoz or gluconate because it is more readily absorbed than the powders. In addition to this he needs phosphorous - free calcium at most feedings to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

I recommend a phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder be used twice a week to ensure that he gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB.

I also recommend dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can. This leaves it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

Crickets, locusts, superworms, roaches can be fed / gutloaded with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in the nutrient absorption.

 

[thedintedcan]

Thanks for the replies. All of my web research makes it sound like he has or is getting mbd. We'll get him in the rep cal for now until we can get a non-d3 calcium source. Is the UVB light we picked up ok, or will we need to pickup something better?

After some reading, ill be picking up some veggies to feed to the crickets as well as the Fluker's.

EDIT
For some reason, I didnt see your entire post at first, kinyonga. Is a liquid calcium dosing something to be prescribed by a vet, and in similar vein is mbd something a vet should address before treatment?

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry...i posted then added to it...so that's why you missed part of it.

The liquid calcium can usually be found at a pharmacy...just don't get one with sugar in it.

I use the reptile-sun 5.0 UVB long linear tube light as a source of UVB.

I use Rep-cal phosphorous - free calcium and rep-cal phosphorous - free calcium with D3 and herptivite as supplements.

A vet could run tests to see if the MBD is current or was something from the past that was corrected.

 

[thedintedcan]

Thanks, we are looking around for some liquid calcium today, and we are ordering some non d3 calcium as well.

Pic of the new cage setup:

Temps (via laser) are about 80-83 where he is sitting, 73-76 in the shade, and 90-93 on the vine towards the rear right of the cage. Heat lamp to the rear, UVB to the front. He has more spunk today; I was able to rouse a hiss or two and he climbed away from my hand when I opened the cage, though he may just be less stressed.

Are live food sources worth ordering online? We are having a hard time finding a specialty reptile store near us that might have diverse food.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[MoniqueC]

Honestly, I buy all my live feeders from Petco. They have crickets, repti-worms, caliworms, roaches, etc, they also sell all the calcium's and supplements and water conditioners. They will usually have a chameleon section by the reptiles. I've never ordered online and there's no specialty store near me either.

 

[MoniqueC]

I know alot of people hate Petco but its the only petstore near me and Ive had no problem with them (so far) besides the workers being a little under knowledgeable(Is that even a word? lol) about reptiles.

 

[MelissaB]

I think you and your wife are wonderful for taking this guy in, and that you're doing the research and providing the care he needs. I do have one question, and I'm sorry if it sounds silly. Are you sure that he's a male? Male veileds will a have a small spur on their back of their feet. I tried enlarging your photos, but couldn't tell if he had a spur or not.

 

[thedintedcan]

I know alot of people hate Petco but its the only petstore near me and Ive had no problem with them (so far) besides the workers being a little under knowledgeable(Is that even a word? lol) about reptiles.

No problems with Petco here, its where we buy all of our crickets and such (we have a good one near us.) We ordered some silk worms from coastal and he has been chowing down on those. The silkworms plus kale/apple loaded crickets, and good lighting and hes already starting to improve.

I think you and your wife are wonderful for taking this guy in, and that you're doing the research and providing the care he needs. I do have one question, and I'm sorry if it sounds silly. Are you sure that he's a male? Male veileds will a have a small spur on their back of their feet. I tried enlarging your photos, but couldn't tell if he had a spur or not.

We love animals, and dont stray from a challenge
He definitely has spurs. I can get a better pic tonight if you are curious (I could also be wrong, who knows.)

 

[xraygirl]

The only thing I get locally is crickets (and superworms), and I get them from Petsmart (unfortunately) because you can't trust 'bait shop' crickets. Not saying that crickets from petsmart are always safe, but it's a better chance they are in comparison to a bait shop. You CAN get crickets online, but most places have a minimum (200-500 count) order amount, which for one chameleon is difficult.

You can also raise a dubia roach colony to help with cost. I have a colony of about 18 females to 6 males. They are better than a cricket, but the creepy tendency they have for being a roach is usually a huge turn off for most folks. I seriously hate roaches, the females are actually cute, and they wobble.... The males still kinda make me squirm... BUT, you can set up a colony very easily and they require little care/maintenance.

I have to order my other feeders online. I usually order hornworms and butterworms off facebook from "CNS Feeders", great prices, never had any DOA's (dead on arrivals), and my guys gobble them up quickly. My silkworms I'll order from coastal silkworms, or Linda's Gone Buggie....

Good luck with your rescue, and hats off to you for taking a rescue in! I have 2 rescues myself!