Hello, I have a 3 1/2 month old male ambilobie. Had him for a month. He's already had a nice shed starting and ending in the same day. Main diet- crickets dusted with multivitamin, and either meal or super worms as a little snack. H20- has a drip all day plus mistings. had regular bowel. We introduced a younger female 2 weeks ago. The past 3 or 4 days he's been shaky when he walks, hugs on the branch, less movement than usual. We've been making sure he drinks by squirting right at his mouth and watching him drink. They have hanging vines, 2 smallish bamboo stalks to climb that stay mid cage, and a wrap around vine ( like tube lights structure), also a piece of wood at the bottom of the cage. Lights are on a timer and there is the red basking light and a double basking lamp that is supposed to mimic sun rays/vitamin. Really worried about him. My 3 year old and myself would be really upset if something were to happen to him. I've read that I can use pedialite to have him drink as well as soak but I'm waiting to see if that is what I should do.
Shaky ambilobie
- Thread starter Zane8122
- Start date
suzi
Avid Member
Hi 
if you fill this out and be as specific as possible it would be really helpful. One thing I can say is that multivitamin should be given twice a month and calcium without vit d3 every day and calcium with d3 twice a month.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Having them in separate cages is also best.
if you fill this out and be as specific as possible it would be really helpful. One thing I can say is that multivitamin should be given twice a month and calcium without vit d3 every day and calcium with d3 twice a month.https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Having them in separate cages is also best.
reptoman
Avid Member
Welcome to the forums.
Shaky when he walks is natural. They move that way to mimic a leaf or branch swaying in the wind so they don't stand out to predators. I see from your post that you put a female in with him and he started to act differently (shaky walking, hugging branches). They should not be housed together, even at that young age. If they were siblings and had been together all along it might be a tolerable situation fro another couple of months, but introducing a strange cham in his cage will stress him out. What you describe is how chams react when they feel threatened. The female needs to be in her own cage with a visual barrier so the male and female cannot see eachother. The how to ask for help form may identify other husbandry issues that can be caught before you get into trouble with your young chams. Hope this helps!
Shaky when he walks is natural. They move that way to mimic a leaf or branch swaying in the wind so they don't stand out to predators. I see from your post that you put a female in with him and he started to act differently (shaky walking, hugging branches). They should not be housed together, even at that young age. If they were siblings and had been together all along it might be a tolerable situation fro another couple of months, but introducing a strange cham in his cage will stress him out. What you describe is how chams react when they feel threatened. The female needs to be in her own cage with a visual barrier so the male and female cannot see eachother. The how to ask for help form may identify other husbandry issues that can be caught before you get into trouble with your young chams. Hope this helps!
JRchameleons
New Member
Hello, welcome to the forums! Congrats on your new pets. Glad you're here - you have come to the right place to seek advice.
First off, you need to separate the male and female. Chameleons are solitary animals that should be housed alone unless they are in very spacious free ranges. Housing chameleons together is very stressful for them and typically results with one chameleon being dominant and the other not getting enough food, heat, UVB, etc. Plus, once they start to mature, the male will try to mate with the female way before her body is physically ready to develop and lay eggs. They both need their own cages, lights, everything. I also recommend having visual barriers between them so they can't see each other.
Secondly, are you dusting with the multivitamin every day? If so, that is way too much and could result in a serious overdose. Which multivitamin is it specifically? There are several supplement options but typically multivitamins should be used once a week at the very most. The most commonly recommended supp schedule for chams is:
plain phosphorus-free calcium with no D3 almost every feeding
calcium with D3 twice a month
multivitamin twice a month
Some keepers have recently begun using Repashy Calcium Plus as a daily supplement with great success. This eliminates the complications of having to remember which supplements to use on which days.
When you say "regular bowel," what do you mean? Is the poop brown and solid with white urates? The urates should be solid white; if they are orangish that indicates dehydration.
Don't spray directly at his mouth. He could inhale the water, which is very dangerous. Spray the leaves around his until water droplets form on them. He should then lick the water off the leaves.
Do you know what light bulbs you have specifically? You need to double-check that you have a proper UVB bulb. Also, the red lights are not generally recommended for basking. White bulbs are much more natural and promote mental health. (Imagine if your whole world was constantly lit up by red light.)
Can you post pictures of him and the enclosure?
Now, when you say "shaky," do you mean he's having trouble holding onto the branches and/or seems like he's off balance? Or do you mean he's swaying back and forth between steps? If it's the latter, that is natural. If it's the former, I think it's very likely that he needs to see an experienced reptile vet. My hunch is that that type of shakiness could come from some type of overdose from the multivitamins, but of course I am in no way qualified to diagnose him.
I know that was a lot to take in, but chams do have very specific needs. They are totally worth it though.
First off, you need to separate the male and female. Chameleons are solitary animals that should be housed alone unless they are in very spacious free ranges. Housing chameleons together is very stressful for them and typically results with one chameleon being dominant and the other not getting enough food, heat, UVB, etc. Plus, once they start to mature, the male will try to mate with the female way before her body is physically ready to develop and lay eggs. They both need their own cages, lights, everything. I also recommend having visual barriers between them so they can't see each other.
Secondly, are you dusting with the multivitamin every day? If so, that is way too much and could result in a serious overdose. Which multivitamin is it specifically? There are several supplement options but typically multivitamins should be used once a week at the very most. The most commonly recommended supp schedule for chams is:
plain phosphorus-free calcium with no D3 almost every feeding
calcium with D3 twice a month
multivitamin twice a month
Some keepers have recently begun using Repashy Calcium Plus as a daily supplement with great success. This eliminates the complications of having to remember which supplements to use on which days.
When you say "regular bowel," what do you mean? Is the poop brown and solid with white urates? The urates should be solid white; if they are orangish that indicates dehydration.
Don't spray directly at his mouth. He could inhale the water, which is very dangerous. Spray the leaves around his until water droplets form on them. He should then lick the water off the leaves.
Do you know what light bulbs you have specifically? You need to double-check that you have a proper UVB bulb. Also, the red lights are not generally recommended for basking. White bulbs are much more natural and promote mental health. (Imagine if your whole world was constantly lit up by red light.)
Can you post pictures of him and the enclosure?
Now, when you say "shaky," do you mean he's having trouble holding onto the branches and/or seems like he's off balance? Or do you mean he's swaying back and forth between steps? If it's the latter, that is natural. If it's the former, I think it's very likely that he needs to see an experienced reptile vet. My hunch is that that type of shakiness could come from some type of overdose from the multivitamins, but of course I am in no way qualified to diagnose him.
I know that was a lot to take in, but chams do have very specific needs. They are totally worth it though.
I know the shaky that you mean by mimicking a leaf, this is def not that. It's like weakened grip shaky. I heard to crush up crickets and mix with the calcium. No we did not dust every feeding or over dust. And also the pedialyte?? Do I do it? The tips of his bowels were off and on orange
You said...."Main diet- crickets dusted with multivitamin"...its recommended that the insects be gutloaded and dusted with a phos.-free calcium at most feedings, a phos. free calcium/D3 powder twice a month and with a vitamin powder twice a month. What have you been using specifically?
You said..."We've been making sure he drinks by squirting right at his mouth"...do not squirt water right in his mouth...it might get into his lungs and kill him.
You said..."there is the red basking light"...its recommended that the basking light be a regular incandescent household light of a wattage that produces the appropriate temp. in the basking area.
You said..."basking lamp that is supposed to mimic sun rays/vitamin"...what brand and type (spiral, compact, linear, etc.)
If the shaking is from a lack of dusting with calcium, then your chameleon may be developing MBD. This can also be caused by other nutrient imbalances. If this is the case, it needs to be corrected asap so that no further damage will happen to the chameleons bones and other systems. In addition to correcting it you will need to set up a proper supplementing and gutloading schedule to keep it from recurring.
Here's some information I hope will help you with supplementing, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
You said..."We've been making sure he drinks by squirting right at his mouth"...do not squirt water right in his mouth...it might get into his lungs and kill him.
You said..."there is the red basking light"...its recommended that the basking light be a regular incandescent household light of a wattage that produces the appropriate temp. in the basking area.
You said..."basking lamp that is supposed to mimic sun rays/vitamin"...what brand and type (spiral, compact, linear, etc.)
If the shaking is from a lack of dusting with calcium, then your chameleon may be developing MBD. This can also be caused by other nutrient imbalances. If this is the case, it needs to be corrected asap so that no further damage will happen to the chameleons bones and other systems. In addition to correcting it you will need to set up a proper supplementing and gutloading schedule to keep it from recurring.
Here's some information I hope will help you with supplementing, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
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