swellling neck

[gn20]

I have a 6 month old female vieled, she just recently laid a batch of around 30 eggs after a good 2 months of trying, afterwards we moved her into her new cage and she seems to love it and as of now her neck is swelling and she doesnt seem to be going to the bathroom. She gets 10 crickets a day that are in a keeper and fed quencher and the orange cubes, and then every other day they are dusted with a calcium suppliment with d3 (no phos) or dusted with the reptivite vitamins. Im not sure the exact way or frequency of doses to give her and what type so any help there is appreciated. Id like to gut load them but not sure how to do that either. Here is what her enclosure is also for another post. Please help The picture of the whole enclosure is in the enclosures part of the forum, i wasnt able to repost it here.

Heres a cage we just built, we live in wisconsin so a screen cage was out of the question but as far as this one goes its got ventilation, Its vented sides and rear with 6 3 inch holes on each side and 12 3 inch holes in the rear, will this be eneough or shoul we use a screen top as well. The internal temp rite now is 90 degrees at the top near the lites, with 2 150 watt basking bulbs during the day and a couple 75 watt nittime bulbs.

 

[justjumpit621]

I replied to your other post but wanted to ad, what do you mean screened cages are out of the question? I live in New Hampshire and my veiled is in a screened enclosure. I put plastic drop cloth on 3 sides to keep humidity and heat in but that is all. Veileds need ventilation, much more than others.

 

[gn20]

I just figured with the cold temperatures a cage with vent holes and wood sides would maintain the temperature better around here, were going to add the screen top to better ventilate the cage and draw air from the bottom to the top

 

[pssh]

Using d3 that often often causes an overdose. She is showing signs of overdose or too much. They often times start to swell when d3 is used to often. Use a calcium w/o d3 every feeding lightly, a calcium w/ d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin once a mnth. If you don't stop giving so much d3 she will be in big trouble.

To gut load, feed your insects with fresh veggies like kale, collard greens, mustard greens and dandelion greens and fruits like apples, pear, oranges, and strawberries.

Also, make sure that the night lights are ceramic heaters and not red bulbs. It's actually best to use a space heater and warm up the whole room.

 

[tkilgour]

I once received a female cham that arrived with a similar issue. I bumped up the temps. w/ a space heater and backed off on the misting and the condition disappeared. However, sometimes if it is bad enough you may need antibiotics. You may need a vet if you keep seeing the neck swell, and hear a popping noise and a lot of mucus like strings in the mouth.

 

[gn20]

Ive been using the calcium without d3, but ill get some with for the once a month dusting, as far as the vitamins go we have been using too much, like every 3 days or so and well start gut loading the crickets.

 

[gn20]

ive been using one blue and one red bulb at nite, ill have to look for some heat emitter sype bulbs to use.

 

[tkilgour]

I would get rid of the colored lights for night time use. The chams can see it. Every once in a while it wont kill them but it is better to heat the air over using them. I got a small "Sunbeam" space heater at Wal-mart for only $10.00. This will not stress the animals out and it is affordable to use.

 

[gn20]

I took out the red till tomorrow when I can get to the store to get screen and a small heater then the other ones going too

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."her neck is swelling and she doesnt seem to be going to the bathroom"...if you are using the reptivite and the D3 more often than twice a month, the swelling could be gular edema from oversupplementing. To be sure this is what it is you would need to talk to a vet. Gular edema might also indicate organ damage.
http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2002&Category=&PID=12282&O=Generic
"Gular edema is suspected to be a common clinical sign of such organ dysfunction in chameleons.

I dust at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder (Rep-cal) to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos. found in many of the feeder insects.

I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder lightly to ensure that they get some D3 without overdoing it...and allowing them to produce the rest of the D3 they need from exposure to UVB.

I dust with a vitamin powder with a beta carotene source of vitamin A since beta carotene (prOformed source of vitamin A) can not build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A can. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene so some people give a little prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (Reptivite has prEformed vitamin A so you need to use it cautiously.) Excess vitamin A can interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD.

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are all players in bone health and play parts in other systems too. You need to look at the supplements you use, what you feed to the insects and what you feed to the chameleon when trying to balance it.

Here are some articles about supplements....
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102

You said..."She gets 10 crickets a day"...that's quite a lot of food unless they are very small crickets. Overfeeding can contibute to constipation.
Do you have a substrate? Is she producing any urates (white part)?

Regarding the cage...I live in southern Ontario and have used glass cages with screen lids and glass cages with screen doors and screen lids for over 20 years...my veiled females usually live to be over 6 years old, males even older.

I keep the temperatures cooler for females than I do for males and control the diet to control the egg production.
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

At night there is no need for any heat source unless the cage temperature falls below the mid to high 60's F. I use a small electric heater in my reptile room at night...but its set so that it will only come on if the temperature is below 68F.

A couple more good sites...
http://adcham.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

 

[pssh]

Veileds can even withstand temps in the 50's, though I personally don't let it get that cold. But just something to be aware of. Even temps in the low 60s aren't too cold, so unless your house is freezing at night you probably don't need a night time bulb.

 

[jessica]

Have a good post by another forum member, His Chams are outside and drop well into the 50's.

Makes for good reads www.chameleonforums.com/sleeping-outside-33749

 

[gn20]

she is going to the bathroom now and we did take her off the suppliments for now to see if this swelling goes away and after it does we will start with the suggested dosing, if it doesnt get better ill be taking her to the vet, we also lowered the temps in the cage and are installing the screens this weekend

 

[gn20]

thanks so much for everyones help, im so glad there are so many people on this forum, and as for the food she gets about 10 every other day or so and thats it

 

[pssh]

How large are the feeders? Its recommended to uses around 6-8 max every other day if you want to keep her from developing eggs.

 

[gn20]

they are under an inch, I can cut her back to 8 since they are still considered large