Urgent MBD. please help

A

Alliievaccaro

New Member
I submitted a story earlier about my juvenile male veiled chameleon falling from about a foot. The bottom half of his body is in serious pain. I noticed he is grabbing his back right leg, a sign of MBD. My parents refuse to take him to a vet. I force fed him 2 mealworms, both submerged in calcium powder and dripped some water into his mouth. What can I do to save my little guy?
 
I'm in the same boat bud. Only thing you can really do is visit the vet.
Exposé your Cham to a good source of UVB 10.0 reptisun or put your Cham outside to get UVB rays naturally. Don't overdo the calcium supplements.

You should supplement your crickets with
Calcium (no d3) every other day
Calcium (with d3) 4 times a month
Multivitamins (4 times a month)

This will help get your Cham bak to normal
 
Allie,

I just visited the vet ($130) later... and I got some really good information and prescribed medicine to try to reverse the problem I have with my cham.

I don't think you can get this prescribed stuff without seeing the vet. My best advice is to see the vet. It's a little pricey, but well worth it if you want to see your cham get better.

Try giving your cham some natural sunlight. The vet told me 1 hour in the sun is better than 12 hours of uvb bulb. But make sure no predators (birds) can get to your cham. Also make sure your cham doesnt over heat. I have my cham in the sun now. But ofcourse I live in FL.

But to answer your questions... Yes (as for the calcium dusting) Also gutload your crickets with nutritional food.
 
busterboy said:
Allie,

I just visited the vet ($130) later... and I got some really good information and prescribed medicine to try to reverse the problem I have with my cham.

I don't think you can get this prescribed stuff without seeing the vet. My best advice is to see the vet. It's a little pricey, but well worth it if you want to see your cham get better.

Try giving your cham some natural sunlight. The vet told me 1 hour in the sun is better than 12 hours of uvb bulb. But make sure no predators (birds) can get to your cham. Also make sure your cham doesnt over heat. I have my cham in the sun now. But ofcourse I live in FL.

But to answer your questions... Yes (as for the calcium dusting) Also gutload your crickets with nutritional food.
Click to expand...

To my knowledge and everything I have seen on here, MBD cannot be reversed. It can be halted or the progression of the disease can be stopped with treatment. There is no real cure. If your chameleons limbs are all curvy, they will remain like that forever.
 
They are not curvy, they are just weak. He said they were almost like rubber. He said with proper care and supplementation, it can be fixed and she will gain strength back in her legs. He said its 50/50 though. Some chams do recover, as others sometimes don't. It depends how far the MBD is. He also said if your Cham has parasites, that may also be a problem (no matter how much UVB and supplementation they get)

Bringing in stool sample next week to check
 
Alliievaccaro said:
So calcium every other day. On the days I don't give him calcium do I just feed him regular crickets?
Click to expand...

No....Here is what I copied directly off of the care sheet for a veiled chameleon. Please read the care guide and other info. under the resources tab at the top of the home page..

Supplementation:
Calcium and other vitamins are very important to your chameleon's health. Feeder insects should be lightly dusted with powdered supplement before being fed to your chameleon. Many keepers successfully use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks.

Natural sunlight will do wonders for your little guy. Just keep a real close eye on him to make sure he doesn't overheat.

Be sure you are using a good variety of feeders that are well gut loaded. If you can try and get some Phoenix worms or Calci-worms. They are naturally high in calcium. They can be ordered online if you can't find them at your local pet shop. The care sheets provided by this forum are great and have great information on how to keep you cham healthy. Lots of good info. on feeding and gut loading. Good luck and keep us updated..
 
Busterboy...when a chameleon has MBD its due to a calcium imbalance and telling someone to not overdo the calcium is a recipe for disaster. The chameleon needs extra calcium until the balance is back then a proper supplementing/gutloading/husbandry regime needs to be followed to stop it from becoming unbalanced again.

Although some of the issues caused by the imbalance cannot be corrected the bones and muscles will become stronger again and the chameleon can live a pretty good life.

Here we go again...must be over a thousand times that I've had to post this by now....
Since most insects we use as feeders have a poor ratio of calcium to phos its important to dust them with a phos - free calcium powder at MOST feedings to make up for it.

I also recommend dusting the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phos - free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

I also recommend dusting the insects twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A will so this leaves the owner to make the choice of how much prEformed vitamin A to use.

Calcium,D3, phos and vitamin A are all players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon and need to be in balance.

Appropriate temperatures and exposure to UVB also are important. Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce the D3 needed for strong bones and muscles health, etc. Appropriate temperatures allow the chameleon to digest its food well thus absorb the nutrients needed for its health.

When a chameleon has MBD as I said already, you need to bring things back into line and then keep them there.
Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
and how do you know when the balance is back to normal? Just curious. and with no natural sunlight or uvb rays, all that calcium dusting will be pooped out. UVB rays are a must.
 
Thats not what he is saying man, Plz dont missinform people if you dont know basic calcium(or extreme calcium problems) don't post. He isnt saying don't give uvb, he is saying when a cham has mbd which can be caused by over supplementation or not enough, you need either alot more or less.
 
btw... vet prescribed a calcium fluid i will be injectiing into my chams mouth for a full month... 30 days straight. then every other day (afterwards). Maybe you should follow that rule with the dusting if you aren't going to the vet.

i might do a bloodtest for her later on to make sure her levels are where there supposed to be at the end of it all (about $50) like @king said to check the levels. but without a bloodtest, i dk how yu can check the levels.
 
carol5208 said:
To my knowledge and everything I have seen on here, MBD cannot be reversed. It can be halted or the progression of the disease can be stopped with treatment. There is no real cure. If your chameleons limbs are all curvy, they will remain like that forever.
Click to expand...
I swear carol, Great mind's think alike. I litterally just going to post this.
 
Kinyonga (me) is female...not that it really matters!

Busterboy....to be sure the calcium is back in balance you can get the vet to test the levels. In fact the quickest way to get it back in balance is for the vet to give it calcium injections until the blood calcium levels are high enough to give it a shot of calcitonin which rapidly draws the calcium back into the bones.

Also, be careful putting the calcium into your chameleon's mouth...you want to ease it in so the chameleon has time to swallow it without it ending up in its lungs. This goes for watering the chameleon too.
 
kinyonga said:
Kinyonga (me) is female...not that it really matters!

Busterboy....to be sure the calcium is back in balance you can get the vet to test the levels. In fact the quickest way to get it back in balance is for the vet to give it calcium injections until the blood calcium levels are high enough to give it a shot of calcitonin which rapidly draws the calcium back into the bones.

Also, be careful putting the calcium into your chameleon's mouth...you want to ease it in so the chameleon has time to swallow it without it ending up in its lungs. This goes for watering the chameleon too.
Click to expand...

haha Lynda. Funny, but I thought you were a he in the beginning too! Maybe it is the name...I don't know!!
 
carol5208 said:
haha Lynda. Funny, but I thought you were a he in the beginning too! Maybe it is the name...I don't know!!
Click to expand...

Thats what i thought, sorry Lynda. :D I've looked at your profile to find your name but i guess you dont have one. ;) I try to remember everyone's name to make it friendlier. :)
 
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