UVB Distance/ Types for a juvenile green veiled

[merisah98]

Hi everyone! I just have a quick question! I have a 5.0 HO Reptisun bulb, however I do have it at the incorrect distance & will correct the distance tomorrow to 8-9 inches from the branch.

My veiled female was diagnosed with MBD. Should I worry about just correcting the distance OR would it be best to purchase a 10.0 and make sure it is at a correct distance? I don’t have a solar meter unfortunately & cannot get my hands on one any time soon, but will get one in the near future

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. What type of fixture are you using? T5, T8 or screw in bulb?

 

[merisah98]

Hi @MissSkittles

Im using a 24 inch reptisun hood with a 22 inch T5 5.0. H0 linear bulb

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi @MissSkittles

Im using a 24 inch reptisun hood with a 22 inch T5 5.0. H0 linear bulb

Ok, then your 5.0 is perfect and the ideal distance between light and basking area should be 8-9”. That will provide a UVI of approx 3.0 . The bulbs are pretty consistent with their output, which is one of the reasons that it’s the standard.
Other things will contribute to mbd, with the other biggest one being incorrect supplementation. If your vet hasn’t prescribed a supplement regimen, then you should be using a phosphorus-free calcium without D3 at every feeding (except when using a different supplement). Then the easy way to give D3 and multivitamins is to use a combo product like Repashy calcium plus LoD or ReptiVite with D3 at one feeding every other week. The other more standard way is to use a phosphorus-free calcium with D3 for one feeding every other week, alternating with using a multivitamin one feeding every other week.
Providing your feeder insects a variety of fresh produce or quality insect diets such as Repashy bug burger, cricket crack, Mazuri, etc (not the Fluker’s or other cubes). Avoid greens like spinach and kale that are high in oxalates that bind to calcium.

 

[kinyonga]

What are you doing to correct the MBD?

 

[merisah98]

@MissSkittles
Thank you so so much! Someone told me in a Facebook group to get a 10.0, but honestly I didn’t want to take the chance since I don’t have a solar meter & im aware it can do internal damage if she gets too much :/

Currently I’m dusting with a phosphorous free calcium with no D3 every feeding & also injecting insects every 7 days with calcium ( vet prescribed it)

As for the Reptivite multivitamin with D3, I was advised to stop using it and just inject with Vitamin A every 7 days, but honestly it didn’t really make sense to me… so I stopped the vitamin A injections & will just keep using the Reptivite multivitamin every other week as she is missing out on all those other vitamins

I’m keeping all feeders well hydrated & also gutloading with veggies/fruits accordingly! Still working on giving her a variety as well!

One more question for you, I know you said you were in FL as well. How do I know exactly when I need to mist? Do levels need to drop below 50 for me to mist? I’m kinda in a dilemma at the moment as I have a portable AC that is raising the humidity to insane levels during the day ( in the high 50’s - 60’s) and my Dehumidifer cannot keep up.. I have a new portable AC coming in next Wednesday, but I just wanted to know to at least help me pull through this week and for future reference!

 

[merisah98]

What are you doing to correct the MBD?

Hiii! Vet prescribed injections ( vitamin A & Calcium), I discontinued the vitamin A as the vet told me to stop using the multivitamin with D3..didn’t really make sense to me

1. I am making sure to gutload all my feeders
2. Dusting with phosphorous free calcium without D3 every feeding and injecting calcium every 7 days into the feeder not my chameleon bc I don’t want to stress her out
3. Using Reptivite Multivitamin with D3 every 2 weeks
4. I’m going to correct the distance of my uvb tomorrow to the correct distance of 8-9 inches
5. I’m feeding her discoids, silk worms, black soldier fly larvae, crickets & hornworms/ super worms ONLY once a week ( waiting on grasshoppers to come in & for my silk moths to emerge out of their cacoons)
6. Finally covered all my soil also bc she was eating it like crazy due to MBD & Vitamin A deficiency ( she’s not happy with me about that at all lol, but it’s for the best)

 

[MissSkittles]

I have Mist Kings that I’ve got set to go off for 2 minutes right before lights go on and off and for 1 minute at mid day. At night I can’t achieve a good enough temp drop (below 70) to increase humidity but I do have a couple of 15 second mistings set for during the night which provides a small increase in humidity. I have my panthers and veileds in the same room and it’s been a struggle to manage temps and humidity. Running central ac, portable room ac and dehumidifier I’ve been able to keep humidity in the 40’s.
What part of Florida are you in? In Orlando there are two great chameleon vets - Dr Bogoslavsky (who I go to) https://myavho.com/ and Dr Diaz https://www.orlandoexoticveterinarian.com/ It’s a 45 minute drive one way for me, but well worth it.

 

[kinyonga]

You said in one post here…”As for the Reptivite multivitamin with D3, I was advised to stop using it and just inject with Vitamin A every 7 days, but honestly it didn’t really make sense to me… so I stopped the vitamin A injections & will just keep using the Reptivite multivitamin every other week as she is missing out on all those other vitamins”…what was the form of vitamin A in the injection? PrEformed or PrOformed?

To correct MBD you need to bring the supplements back into balance and provide a UVB light as well as providing extra calcium so it can be drawn back into the bones, muscles, etc. Once the bones are strong again, you can go back to the supplement regime we advise and continue to use the UVB.

D3 and prEformed vitamin A from supplements/injections can build up in the system and cause problems which is why we’re careful with both.
Beta carotene sources of vitamin A won’t build up but it’s thought that some/all chameleons can’t convert it …or at least not efficiently so they need the prEformed type. D3 from direct sunlight or from UVB should not build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will…but D3 from supplements does build up. In addition to this vitamin A and D3 are antagonistic to each other and need to be in balance.

Its good that you are gutloading and feeding such a good variety of insects!

How old is she? Has she laid eggs yet?

 

[merisah98]

I have Mist Kings that I’ve got set to go off for 2 minutes right before lights go on and off and for 1 minute at mid day. At night I can’t achieve a good enough temp drop (below 70) to increase humidity but I do have a couple of 15 second mistings set for during the night which provides a small increase in humidity. I have my panthers and veileds in the same room and it’s been a struggle to manage temps and humidity. Running central ac, portable room ac and dehumidifier I’ve been able to keep humidity in the 40’s.
What part of Florida are you in? In Orlando there are two great chameleon vets - Dr Bogoslavsky (who I go to) https://myavho.com/ and Dr Diaz https://www.orlandoexoticveterinarian.com/ It’s a 45 minute drive one way for me, but well worth it.

Right now I’m just hand misting but just for a short period I would say about 30 seconds due to this portable ac putting out so much humidity & It’s definitely hard for me to manage during the day… I have it set on a timer to turn off at 6 am two hours prior to lights on that way I can run a dehumidifier and suck up as much moisture as possible & on top of that it’s pushing out A LOT of dust, but I have a new one coming in on Sunday I just need to hold up for another week

I will definitely invest into the mist kings down the line! TY

Unfortunately, that vet is too far from me I’m in Miami, FL, but I honestly think I’m going to keep looking as I’ve been two that are just not knowledgeable & I feel a bit rushed at my visits..

 

[merisah98]

You said in one post here…”As for the Reptivite multivitamin with D3, I was advised to stop using it and just inject with Vitamin A every 7 days, but honestly it didn’t really make sense to me… so I stopped the vitamin A injections & will just keep using the Reptivite multivitamin every other week as she is missing out on all those other vitamins”…what was the form of vitamin A in the injection? PrEformed or PrOformed?

To correct MBD you need to bring the supplements back into balance and provide a UVB light as well as providing extra calcium so it can be drawn back into the bones, muscles, etc. Once the bones are strong again, you can go back to the supplement regime we advise and continue to use the UVB.

D3 and prEformed vitamin A from supplements/injections can build up in the system and cause problems which is why we’re careful with both.
Beta carotene sources of vitamin A won’t build up but it’s thought that some/all chameleons can’t convert it …or at least not efficiently so they need the prEformed type. D3 from direct sunlight or from UVB should not build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will…but D3 from supplements does build up. In addition to this vitamin A and D3 are antagonistic to each other and need to be in balance.

Its good that you are gutloading and feeding such a good variety of insects!

How old is she? Has she laid eggs yet?

I’m sorry unfortunately I was never told & I have no clue , here’s a picture of the vitamin A injections

I just wanted to make sure 100% is it okay to stop injected the vitamin A into feeders and stick to only injecting the calcium every 7 days, dusting with a phosphorus free calcium w/o D3 & dust with Reptivite Multivitamin with D3 every 2 weeks?

As her for age also, I was never told either I purchased her from Petco. She is definitely showing yellow stripes of being receptive & the vet did an ultrasound, but no eggies yet, however I do have a lay bin setup at the bottom of her enclosure

TY also for the comment about gutloading & the variety! I’ve been pushing to gutload every day ( I know that’s quite a lot), but some of my feeders are a bit stubborn & sometimes I have to remove their hiding places to get them to eat their fruits/veggies

Here’s a picture of Yoshi also at the vet! She’s a bit bloated here as she got done eating my soil, but the swelling in her eyes have went down significantly!

 

[MissSkittles]

Right now I’m just hand misting but just for a short period I would say about 30 seconds due to this portable ac putting out so much humidity & It’s definitely hard for me to manage during the day… I have it set on a timer to turn off at 6 am two hours prior to lights on that way I can run a dehumidifier and suck up as much moisture as possible & on top of that it’s pushing out A LOT of dust, but I have a new one coming in on Sunday I just need to hold up for another week

I will definitely invest into the mist kings down the line! TY

Unfortunately, that vet is too far from me I’m in Miami, FL, but I honestly think I’m going to keep looking as I’ve been two that are just not knowledgeable & I feel a bit rushed at my visits..

This may help.

Here’s a chameleon vet near Miami.
Dr. Strauss
Weston Road Animal Hospital
4585 Weston Rd.
Weston, FL 33327
(954) 389-5656

 

[merisah98]

This may help.

Thank you @MissSkittles this is much appreciated!

 

[merisah98]

@Beman @MissSkittles @kinyonga

Good Morning!

Do any of you by chance have a thermostat connected to your basking light? I have a thermostat 600w exo terra with pulse, promotional, and dimming control connected to a 50 w and I noticed that it starts flickering once it reaches 80 degrees for Yoshi’s basking spot if I have the portable AC running at the same time also to create a gradient in her enclosure..should I try moving around the probe or possibly switch to a 75 w instead? I have the thermostat set to dimming

 

[Beman]

@Beman @MissSkittles @kinyonga

Good Morning!

Do any of you by chance have a thermostat connected to your basking light? I have a thermostat 600w exo terra with pulse, promotional, and dimming control connected to a 50 w and I noticed that it starts flickering once it reaches 80 degrees for Yoshi’s basking spot if I have the portable AC running at the same time also to create a gradient in her enclosure..should I try moving around the probe or possibly switch to a 75 w instead? I have the thermostat set to dimming

I run a herpstat for mine on dimming. I do use 75 watt regular incandescent bulbs in mine. It will flicker when it is dimming the bulb back down. And if it is too hot it will turn off the bulb completely.
Make sure the portable ac is not blowing directly into the cage.

 

[merisah98]

I run a herpstat for mine on dimming. I do use 75 watt regular incandescent bulbs in mine. It will flicker when it is dimming the bulb back down. And if it is too hot it will turn off the bulb completely.
Make sure the portable ac is not blowing directly into the cage.

Thanks Beman! I have a piece of cardboard blocking the side of the portable AC as her enclosure is right next to it, but not directly blowing at her.

I have a 75 on hand also, but I’m going to wait to switch until my new portable AC comes in that way I’m not switching back and forth between bulbs as I’m trying to not run this current AC all day due to it raising humidity levels like crazy

 

[Beman]

Thanks Beman! I have a piece of cardboard blocking the side of the portable AC as her enclosure is right next to it, but not directly blowing at her.

I have a 75 on hand also, but I’m going to wait to switch until my new portable AC comes in that way I’m not switching back and forth between bulbs as I’m trying to not run this current AC all day due to it raising humidity levels like crazy

IME having their cages near air conditioners can pose an issue. It is interesting that you are getting rising humidity with it. I have always had the opposite issue.

 

[merisah98]

IME having their cages near air conditioners can pose an issue. It is interesting that you are getting rising humidity with it. I have always had the opposite issue.

Its a super old one that I just picked up off of OfferUp, so I wasn’t surprised that it was causing the humidity to rise

Also, it is okay that I have a piece of cardboard blocking on the side where the air is blowing just for now? I’m working on getting a wall mount desk to make more room in my bedroom that way I can move her away from it

She seems like she is doing ok for now besides the MBD, but I haven’t seen her eat soil today after adjusting the distance of her uvb so I guess she’s getting a bit of a boost now

 

[Beman]

Its a super old one that I just picked up off of OfferUp, so I wasn’t surprised that it was causing the humidity to rise

Also, it is okay that I have a piece of cardboard blocking on the side where the air is blowing just for now? I’m working on getting a wall mount desk to make more room in my bedroom that way I can move her away from it

She seems like she is doing ok for now besides the MBD, but I haven’t seen her eat soil today after adjusting the distance of her uvb so I guess she’s getting a bit of a boost now

That should be fine until you can get stuff moved around.

I am glad she has backed off the soil eating lol

 

[merisah98]

That should be fine until you can get stuff moved around.

I am glad she has backed off the soil eating lol

Thanks Beman! also, happen to know why she would have white around her mouth? Im lightly dusting feeders, so it’s not from that.. :/ this was a old pic from last week, she’s under her uvb right now but I wanted to give her some space today lol (the white looks exactly like this)