Veiled Cham, Feeding and Supplements Question

[chevycham]

Hello everyone!
Chevy is approximately just shy of 6 months old, has MBD (not severe thank god).
Chevy now has wax worms, crickets, and super worms. Slowly building his buffet of food. Should have roaches here soon. Keeping all of them gut loaded as I learned on here from Jan. What I was wondering is this. Chevy was found to have MBD. Not severe, but never the less he has it. He is now on calcium supplements (I was given powder or liquid), I was given both powder and liquid to see which one he will tolerate, and liquid is definitely a no, so I have been using the powder, a multi-vitamin, the Calcium I have is with D3 and just Calcium alone. From what I understand, I should lightly dust what ever he is eating at every feeding with the Calcium powder without D3, is that correct? Also - the Calcium with the D3 and the multi-vitamin....When and how often should I give that to him? I have figured out to rotate his food such as:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday - Crickets and maybe 1 super worm
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday - Roaches and maybe some worms.
Sunday - kind of free for all. Maybe ill make that day a surprise, Lol.

What do you think? I know that they need good dose of vitamins, but at the same time, I am trying to nurse him back into health and don't want to overdose. If you think I should adjust, please let me know. Any and all advice is great.

 

[crazychamzoo]

Calcium without D3 at every feeding, multivitamin with D3 or calcium with D3 twice a month. Get rid of the wax worms, they basically have no nutritional value and are just fat, at most just a treat every once in a while. Go for silk worms, horned worms, or Phoenix worms.

 

[jamjam]

i dont know if things would be different because there is a health issue present. however getting vitamins and nutrients to your cham should be mostly done by good gutloading and "supplements" should be just a supplement to help out.

I think you are overthinking the feeding schedule not that its a bad thing shows you want to provide the best you could. wax worms are very fatty and many advise not to use them at all but if so maybe one or 2 a week.

multivitamin and calcium with d3 should be used one day every 2 weeks

 

[kinyonga]

What was his problem with the liquid calcium?

 

[chevycham]

What was his problem with the liquid calcium?

No Matter how hard I tried or my husband, he was just not having it. So I called the vet, and they said to go ahead and use the powder. We had both just in case as they explained that sometimes they can be temperamental and just simply say no in there own little ways, so rather than stress him out, we were told to go ahead and use the powder. I have seen on here and through the New Keeper page that Jan supplied, lightly dusting with Calcium without the d3 at every feeding, than the Calcium with d3 as well as the multi vitamin twice a month. I just want to make sure that I don't over do it ya know. I have also heard Calcium without d3 at every feeding and the others twice a week versus twice a month which sounds a little much to me.

 

[chevycham]

i dont know if things would be different because there is a health issue present. however getting vitamins and nutrients to your cham should be mostly done by good gutloading and "supplements" should be just a supplement to help out.

I think you are overthinking the feeding schedule not that its a bad thing shows you want to provide the best you could. wax worms are very fatty and many advise not to use them at all but if so maybe one or 2 a week.

multivitamin and calcium with d3 should be used one day every 2 weeks

I completely agree. Just through reading a few different postings on here, I have seen kind of that its possible for them to get tired or bored of certain foods, and that certain foods they like but are too fatty and things like that. So I figured to try and rotate it a bit, but in a way that I am not combining the too fatty foods with other too fatty foods, kind of like that. I guess because of what we found out that he was ill, I am so afraid of doing something to harm him while I am trying to get him healthy again. Mostly because I have become attached and probably just scared to do the wrong thing.

 

[chevycham]

Calcium without D3 at every feeding, multivitamin with D3 or calcium with D3 twice a month. Get rid of the wax worms, they basically have no nutritional value and are just fat, at most just a treat every once in a while. Go for silk worms, horned worms, or Phoenix worms.

Okay great thank you!

 

[kinyonga]

If a chameleon has MBD you first have to correct the calcium imbalance and then follow the regular supplementing schedule of phosphorous - free calcium at most feedings, phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder twice a month and a vitamin powder that contains that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A twice a month to keep it from returning.

You could drip water on his nose and as he's drinking EASE a little liquid calcium into his mouth...or don't when he's chewing. Be careful that he doesn't aspirated it. Liquid absorbs more easily than he powder doe

 

[chevycham]

If a chameleon has MBD you first have to correct the calcium imbalance and then follow the regular supplementing schedule of phosphorous - free calcium at most feedings, phosphorous - free calcium D3 powder twice a month and a vitamin powder that contains that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A twice a month to keep it from returning.

You could drip water on his nose and as he's drinking EASE a little liquid calcium into his mouth...or don't when he's chewing. Be careful that he doesn't aspirated it. Liquid absorbs more easily than he powder doe

Thanks! I never thought of getting sneaky on him. I will definitely give that a try. Just thought I would share, his coloring is started to peak up a little, and I noticed that since I began alternating foods and incorporating the supplements, he moves around a lot more and I am not seeing anymore signs of the MBD getting worse on any other parts of his body, only on his head, no spreading that I can see. I have watched his leg movement, and they seem slightly weakened, but he is gripping, crawling or climbing and hanging pretty good. for the first time in weeks, I opened his cage and he blew up like a balloon and puffed that cute chin out. I know that it is his way of saying back off, but it was also a sign to me that he is slowly coming back. I also think he might be starting to shed. He hasn't shed since about 2 months ago, I see little areas where it appears to look like loose skin shedding, so maybe he is doing better now. So I will keep up with treatment, making sure to check in with you all on here, because you and everyone on here has helped me so much with my little guy. I am going to take a picture once a week to monitor his progress to share with the forum. Thanks for taking the time to help me out. Truly grateful
Judy