Sick chameleon; HELP

[Sassykasy3]

Good afternoon everyone, my baby Marcus he is a veiled chameleon and over the past couple of days I’ve been noticing he’s having trouble walking I have upped up his calcium at first I thought it was his weight that he was just eating too much so I started dieting him and removing a lot of his food for like fruits and veggies and for the past couple days it’s just been getting worse I often soak him and calcium water and I do mist every hour or so but I am getting very nervous and it’s very strange for Marcus to act like this so if you guys know anything please let me know and give me some advice thank you for anything. Please tell me what am I doing wrong

 

[Coop]

So far from the pictures it looks like mbd. Please post pictures of his enclosure and fill out this form.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[ERKleRose]

Good afternoon everyone, my baby Marcus he is a veiled chameleon and over the past couple of days I’ve been noticing he’s having trouble walking I have upped up his calcium at first I thought it was his weight that he was just eating too much so I started dieting him and removing a lot of his food for like fruits and veggies and for the past couple days it’s just been getting worse I often soak him and calcium water and I do mist every hour or so but I am getting very nervous and it’s very strange for Marcus to act like this so if you guys know anything please let me know and give me some advice thank you for anything. Please tell me what am I doing wrong

Do you have either an exotic reptile vet with reputable chameleon experience or 24 hr exotic animal hospital near you that you can take him to? He needs vet treatment. Also, misting every hour is too much and don’t soak him, it’s not good for chameleons! Filling out the form would help lots! Make sure to fill it out in as much detail as possible, and include pics of his entire cage and his lights, too!

 

[Sassykasy3]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton.
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day .
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 .
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB.
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants.
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.
• Location - I am located in Washington USA.

 

[Sassykasy3]

Do you have either an exotic reptile vet with reputable chameleon experience or 24 hr exotic animal hospital near you that you can take him to? He needs vet treatment. Also, misting every hour is too much and don’t soak him, it’s not good for chameleons! Filling out the form would help lots! Make sure to fill it out in as much detail as possible, and include pics of his entire cage and his lights, too!

OK I’ll make sure to set an appointment and how much should I mist then. OK I will so not anymore

 

[Coop]

My text in red. Sometimes I will capitalize words as they are important points

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash Do not handle a chameleon unless the want to come out, meaning the reptile WILLINGLY walks onto your hand. Exceptions can be made for cage cleaning.
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet. Assuming he is 4 months old, try feeding him more. Substitute mealworms with superworms or other kinds, such as silkies or hornworms. Worms should be given as treats.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton. Calcium supplement schedules should look something like this: Calcium WITHOUT d3 every day. One day a week use a rotation of calcium WITH d3 and a multivitamin (Meaning one week use the calcium that day and the next week use the vitamins)
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day . Not quite sure how to feel about the powder as I have never used it. A more experienced member may be able to speak on behalf of that.
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites. Feces should not be green, and there is no mention of a urate, so I will assume that you thought this referred to the reptile's color.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 . I am assuming you are using inches. This cage is much too small and you should be using a 24x24x48 cage for him.
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB. Lights are way off. No night lights, and basking bulbs should NOT be the daylight blue bulb. Incandescent bulbs work well. The red uvb light is most likely worthless. You should be using a LINEAR T5HO bulb.
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold. NO NIGHT BULB. Basking temp should be 80 while the rest of the cage is a gradient. However, since he is younger, I assume it should be lower, at about 75.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker. Much to high humidity. Veiled chameleons require lower humidity, around 50. Also, if it is the humidity gauge you buy at Petco, it most likely does not work as they are very inaccurate.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants. Live plants help hold humidity and would give him a place to hide.
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.
• Location - I am located in Washington USA.

 

[Serbianchameleon]

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash. Chameleons should not be touched unless they come on your hand willingly. It’s a lot of stress for them.
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet. Chameleons eat only bugs. Dont feed him with vegetables and fruit. You should gutload your bugs with fresh vegetables and sometimes fruits. You should feed him in the first hours of the lights on so he can digest the food.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton. How do you mean you soak your chams? You mean bugs? You should dust your bugs with pure calcium without any flavors every day and give him calcium with d3 every 2nd weekend.
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day . Chameleons must not be misted with warm water. He can get respiratory infection. You should not mix anything in the water. Just mist pure water. 30 minutes of rapid misting is too much.. You can just mist teice a day for 2-5 minutes..
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites. That is not good. Poop should be brown and with white urate part as well. This is probably due to feeding with vegetables and fruits.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 . You should go bigger if you can.. It would be ideal to be 4x2x4 at least..
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB. No lights at night!!! 100W bulb is too strong for that small cage if its not very cold in the room were the enclosure is.. Do you have linear T5HO UVB light? If you dont, that is the reason your chameleon has MBD.. Again there must be total darkness in night or your cham will not sleep and get low immune system and he’ll get sick!
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker. You can go to 30-45% in the day with veileds. At nights it should be high.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants. You should use live plants. They keep the humidity better and veiled chameleons chew live plants sometimes. They can try to eat plastic leaves..
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.

 

[Serbianchameleon]

My text in red. Sometimes I will capitalize words as they are important points

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash Do not handle a chameleon unless the want to come out, meaning the reptile WILLINGLY walks onto your hand. Exceptions can be made for cage cleaning.
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet. Assuming he is 4 months old, try feeding him more. Substitute mealworms with superworms or other kinds, such as silkies or hornworms. Worms should be given as treats.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton. Calcium supplement schedules should look something like this: Calcium WITHOUT d3 every day. One day a week use a rotation of calcium WITH d3 and a multivitamin (Meaning one week use the calcium that day and the next week use the vitamins)
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day . Not quite sure how to feel about the powder as I have never used it. A more experienced member may be able to speak on behalf of that.
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites. Feces should not be green, and there is no mention of a urate, so I will assume that you thought this referred to the reptile's color.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 . I am assuming you are using inches. This cage is much too small and you should be using a 24x24x48 cage for him.
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB. Lights are way off. No night lights, and basking bulbs should NOT be the daylight blue bulb. Incandescent bulbs work well. The red uvb light is most likely worthless. You should be using a LINEAR T5HO bulb.
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold. NO NIGHT BULB. Basking temp should be 80 while the rest of the cage is a gradient. However, since he is younger, I assume it should be lower, at about 75.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker. Much to high humidity. Veiled chameleons require lower humidity, around 50. Also, if it is the humidity gauge you buy at Petco, it most likely does not work as they are very inaccurate.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants. Live plants help hold humidity and would give him a place to hide.
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.
• Location - I am located in Washington USA.

Oh well. He got double check

 

[Flick boy]

Hi and welcome you will want to feed your baby at this age every day with a variety of feeders. Not sure that flukers cubes are the way to gut load . Humidity for a veiled should be between 30 and max 50 during the day. This can go up too 100% at night if you run a cool mist humidifier. No red bulbs as they can affect their eyes do you have a t5 ho long uvb light? A minimum size required is a 2x2x4 enclosure . Supplements @ Beman

 

[ERKleRose]

I guess the Op will be 3 times checked! Okay, so my feedback and any questions will be in red. I'll link and attach helpful links and care images at the end.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash How often is he handled and for how long each time?
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet. Mealworms are not good to use as staples, only as treats. Veileds do not need to each fruits or vegetables (especially fruit), as they are insectivores. At his age, feed him as much as he'll eat once per day, preferably around an hour after his lights come on. The orange cubes, calcium-fortified water gel, and Fluker's high calcium cricket diet are all not the best. Use plain water crystals for water and either fresh veggies and/or a quality commercial gutload from the gutload chart. Both the gutload and a feeder chart are attached below.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton. So you don't want to soak chameleons, it's not good for them. And he hasn't gotten any calcium or vitamins through those soaks, so he'll probably need some calcium and maybe vitamin shots from the vet. Going forward, use a powdered calcium without D3 at every feeding, except for one feeding every two weeks, where you'll use the Zoo Med Reptivite With D3. Put the powder and whatever gutloaded insects you want to feed off in a bag or cup and swirl the bugs around until they are coated in the powder, then feed them off immediately.
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day . You want to mist with plain water only, nothing added to it (also make sure the water doesn't have chlorine). You'll want to mist at least two times a day (preferably around when lights come on and go off). You can add another session in the afternoon if you don't use a cool-mist fogger at night or if the humidity levels are too low. Every misting session needs to be a minimum of 2-5+ minutes long each time.
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites. Do you have any pics of his green poop? When you go to the vet, make sure to bring a fresh fecal sample with you and to drop off at least two more afterwards.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 . That is much too small. The minimum sized cage for a veiled chameleon is 2'x2'x4' tall, but preferably 4'x2'x4' tall or bigger. Now, I wouldn't go that tall since he has metabolic bone disease and has trouble getting around; he needs a hospital bin or shorter cage at the moment, instead. Also, veiled need only live and veiled-tested chameleon safe plants in their cages, as fake ones are an impaction risk (which can lead to death). I'd also replace the Exo Terra vines with either real ones and/or Fluker's vines. His cage should have tons of plants and plant cover, lots of branches of multiple diameters and species (from non-toxic and non-sappy trees), and vines (preferably all live, but Fluker's vines can work- just no moss vines, Exo Terra vines, or fake vines with leaves on them). I've attached veiled-safe plant charts below.
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB. Okay, so none of those bulbs work. You need a T5 High Output linear light fixture, with either an Arcadia 6% (replace yearly) or Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 (replace every six months) T5 High Output linear UVB bulb of the matching length. The fixture needs to be as long as your cage is. You'll hang/mount it (and the heat bulb) 8-9" away from his basking branch. For a heat bulb, use a plain white light incandescent household bulb from the hardware store. Chameleons don't need lights at night, they need 12 hours on of UVB, heat, and possibly plant light bulbs, then 12 hours of complete darkness.
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold. You need at least one digital thermometer with a probe and a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo to accurately measure temps and humidity levels. You'll place the probe from the thermometer where the top of your chameleon's back is when he's on his basking branch and the combo unit either in the middle or lower section of his cage. At this age, his basking tempo should be 78-80*F/ When he's older it should be around 82-83*F. The night temps are great! Chameleons need a temp drop at night.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker. That is way too high! Daytime levels need to be 30-50% (preferably at the lower end of that scale). Nighttime levels can go up to 100% if there is enough airflow and it's colder than 65*F.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants.
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.
• Location - I am located in Washington USA.

Here are the links!
ttps://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/

 

[ERKleRose]

Sorry, here’s the images!

 

[Flick boy]

Hi

 

[Sassykasy3]

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, about 4 months. Marcus has been in my care for about 3 months
• Handling - Once to twice after washing hands, any guest who touches my chameleon Has to have their hands wash. Chameleons should not be touched unless they come on your hand willingly. It’s a lot of stress for them.
• Feeding- I feed Marcus crickets and mealworms and he does eat his vegetables and fruits. Marcus is fed 6 to 8 crickets every other day. They get fed in the morning and around 6 o’clock? My crickets are getting cut loaded with orange cubes and calcium fortified cricket Quencher. They also eat that pluckers high calcium cricket diet. Chameleons eat only bugs. Dont feed him with vegetables and fruit. You should gutload your bugs with fresh vegetables and sometimes fruits. You should feed him in the first hours of the lights on so he can digest the food.
• Supplements - It is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my cricketIt is the brand flakers and I do does my cricket with raptor calcium flavored with strawberry and banana and I do you soak my chams in the Reptivite vitamin with D3. I dust my crickets before they are eaton. How do you mean you soak your chams? You mean bugs? You should dust your bugs with pure calcium without any flavors every day and give him calcium with d3 every 2nd weekend.
• Watering - I mist my chams with luke warm water with the reptivite vitamin powder I mix it together. I often missed for about 30 to a minute. I do have the drip system as well. Yes my chameleon does drink water twice a day . Chameleons must not be misted with warm water. He can get respiratory infection. You should not mix anything in the water. Just mist pure water. 30 minutes of rapid misting is too much.. You can just mist teice a day for 2-5 minutes..
• Fecal Description - colors are green most of the time sometimes they will go camo green. No my chameleon has never tested for parasites. That is not good. Poop should be brown and with white urate part as well. This is probably due to feeding with vegetables and fruits.
• History - no my chameleon was very healthy when I purchased him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - it does have air holes think that’s what you call it. width of 10 and a height of 12 . You should go bigger if you can.. It would be ideal to be 4x2x4 at least..
• Lighting - I use the daytime blue reptile bulb 100 W from you med. I light him from 8 AM to nine pm and then I switch that light with the purple nightlight and it doesn’t contain any UVB it just keeps him warm but I did order the red light bulb that does have UVB. No lights at night!!! 100W bulb is too strong for that small cage if its not very cold in the room were the enclosure is.. Do you have linear T5HO UVB light? If you dont, that is the reason your chameleon has MBD.. Again there must be total darkness in night or your cham will not sleep and get low immune system and he’ll get sick!
• Temperature - my temp does range in there from 70 to 80° in the daytime. In the night time it’s about 60 to 70° with the purple bulnb. The floor is usually cold The lowest they get is 60 degrees, I purchased the temp stick. I often look at it to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold.
• Humidity - they range from 65 to 75. I often missed even when they’re not in the cage. I purchased the humidity sticker. You can go to 30-45% in the day with veileds. At nights it should be high.
• Plants - no I’m not using any live plants. You should use live plants. They keep the humidity better and veiled chameleons chew live plants sometimes. They can try to eat plastic leaves..
• Placement - my cage is located on my dresser by the window. From the floor to the cage is about 3 feet.

Thank you for the info I’m just trying to convince my dad to buy me the light that you are assuring should I be using vitamin liquid for them or how exactly do they get their calcium just from the crickets? And instead of the light can I just leave them outside with the sun because that’s really the only UVB light I can afford he won’t listen to me he doesn’t want to talk them to the vet neither is there anything I can do at home ?

 

[kinyonga]

I would take your chameleon to a good chameleon vet. The MBD needs to be corrected as well as your husbandry so the MBD won't return.

You will likely be given a good liquid calcium for your chameleon to give to him on a regular basis until the MBD is corrected. He may be left with the crooked legs that he has now from the MBD but the bones, muscles and other things affected by the MBD should be fixed.

In addition to the liquid calcium, you will need to provide your chameleon with a good UVB light, proper temperatures, well fed/gutloaded insects dusted with proper supplements.

The most recommended UVB lights are the long linear Reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia 6 tube light. @Beman can give you more information about this.

There should be no lights on at night and no coloured lights used. For basking it's recommended that you use a regular incandescent household bulb (not an LED) of a wattage that provides a basking temperature of 80F. You should also test the position of the light so it won't burn your chameleon by placing your hand, palm side down under the light against the screen...if you want to move it, then it's too hot and may burn him.

You can feed crickets, roaches, silkworms, BSFL, locusts on a regular basis and for treats, waxworms, superworms, hornworms.

Crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms can be fed a wide variety of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, squash, etc, and a very small amount of berries, apples, pears, cantaloupe, etc.

For supplements, for years I have used Rep-Cal phos free calcium powder dusted lightly on all the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon at all feedings but one a week. On that one feeding, I alternate between Rep-Cal phos free calcium/D3 powder lightly dusted on the insects and Herptivite vitamin powder. Keep in mind that herptivite has prOformed vitamin A in it and it's likely that most chameleons need some prEformed vitamin A, so that will have to be given separately OR you can use a different vitamin powder that has it in instead of the Herptivite.

How much have you been feeding your chameleon each week lately? Size of the insects?

Once the MBD is corrected, you can drop the liquid calcium...but keep the rest of the supplements and other things I indicated the same.

The hospital cage idea already suggested to you is a good one until your chameleon recovers.
Good luck!

 

[PoseidonTheChameleon]

If you cannot afford the proper husbandry items then you should consider re homing to someone who can. This may be harsh but it is the truth and something everyone has to ask themselves when owning a chameleon.

 

[Sassykasy3]

I would take your chameleon to a good chameleon vet. The MBD needs to be corrected as well as your husbandry so the MBD won't return.

You will likely be given a good liquid calcium for your chameleon to give to him on a regular basis until the MBD is corrected. He may be left with the crooked legs that he has now from the MBD but the bones, muscles and other things affected by the MBD should be fixed.

In addition to the liquid calcium, you will need to provide your chameleon with a good UVB light, proper temperatures, well fed/gutloaded insects dusted with proper supplements.

The most recommended UVB lights are the long linear Reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia 6 tube light. @Beman can give you more information about this.

There should be no lights on at night and no coloured lights used. For basking it's recommended that you use a regular incandescent household bulb (not an LED) of a wattage that provides a basking temperature of 80F. You should also test the position of the light so it won't burn your chameleon by placing your hand, palm side down under the light against the screen...if you want to move it, then it's too hot and may burn him.

You can feed crickets, roaches, silkworms, BSFL, locusts on a regular basis and for treats, waxworms, superworms, hornworms.

Crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms can be fed a wide variety of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, squash, etc, and a very small amount of berries, apples, pears, cantaloupe, etc.

For supplements, for years I have used Rep-Cal phos free calcium powder dusted lightly on all the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon at all feedings but one a week. On that one feeding, I alternate between Rep-Cal phos free calcium/D3 powder lightly dusted on the insects and Herptivite vitamin powder. Keep in mind that herptivite has prOformed vitamin A in it and it's likely that most chameleons need some prEformed vitamin A, so that will have to be given separately OR you can use a different vitamin powder that has it in instead of the Herptivite.

How much have you been feeding your chameleon each week lately? Size of the insects?

Once the MBD is corrected, you can drop the liquid calcium...but keep the rest of the supplements and other things I indicated the same.

The hospital cage idea already suggested to you is a good one until your chameleon recovers.
Good luck!

Thank you, I often feed him 8 to 10 crickets every other day and I dust them in calcium. For the liquid calcium do I put it in Marcus mouth or do I do droplets onto the crickets?

 

[Sassykasy3]

If you cannot afford the proper husbandry items then you should consider re homing to someone who can. This may be harsh but it is the truth and something everyone has to ask themselves when owning a chameleon.

 

[ERKleRose]

Hello, again! Is your profile pic a pic of your chameleons?

 

[Sassykasy3]

I would take your chameleon to a good chameleon vet. The MBD needs to be corrected as well as your husbandry so the MBD won't return.

You will likely be given a good liquid calcium for your chameleon to give to him on a regular basis until the MBD is corrected. He may be left with the crooked legs that he has now from the MBD but the bones, muscles and other things affected by the MBD should be fixed.

In addition to the liquid calcium, you will need to provide your chameleon with a good UVB light, proper temperatures, well fed/gutloaded insects dusted with proper supplements.

The most recommended UVB lights are the long linear Reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia 6 tube light. @Beman can give you more information about this.

There should be no lights on at night and no coloured lights used. For basking it's recommended that you use a regular incandescent household bulb (not an LED) of a wattage that provides a basking temperature of 80F. You should also test the position of the light so it won't burn your chameleon by placing your hand, palm side down under the light against the screen...if you want to move it, then it's too hot and may burn him.

You can feed crickets, roaches, silkworms, BSFL, locusts on a regular basis and for treats, waxworms, superworms, hornworms.

Crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms can be fed a wide variety of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, squash, etc, and a very small amount of berries, apples, pears, cantaloupe, etc.

For supplements, for years I have used Rep-Cal phos free calcium powder dusted lightly on all the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon at all feedings but one a week. On that one feeding, I alternate between Rep-Cal phos free calcium/D3 powder lightly dusted on the insects and Herptivite vitamin powder. Keep in mind that herptivite has prOformed vitamin A in it and it's likely that most chameleons need some prEformed vitamin A, so that will have to be given separately OR you can use a different vitamin powder that has it in instead of the Herptivite.

How much have you been feeding your chameleon each week lately? Size of the insects?

Once the MBD is corrected, you can drop the liquid calcium...but keep the rest of the supplements and other things I indicated the same.

The hospital cage idea already suggested to you is a good one until your chameleon recovers.
Good luck!

Could I use this supplement for Marcus ? Is this the right calcium you use ?

Hello, again! Is your profile pic a pic of your chameleons?

yes

 

[Sassykasy3]

When I mist my cage do I take the chameleons out?