veiled chameleon casque

[dodolah]

what are the cause of bent/ irregularities in veiled casque?
(apart from MBD).
is it food? genetic? any way to ensure your veiled will have a tall and straight casque?

thank you very much.

 

[Nicodemayo]

A casque in a male veiled chameleon has tall thin bones in it (http://bioweb.wku.edu/faculty/huskey/Veiled chameleon skeleton rostral2.jpg), and a misshaped casque as an adult could be directly related to poor calcium absorption and mbd when they are young. Until your cham is older than 4 or 5 months old, i would dust his or her crickets most every day. I have a male that's about 8 months old and i bought him at 4 weeks old and until he was about 5 months old i dusted his crickets everyday and his casque is flawless and perfectly symmetrical.

 

[Scotty]

So, I guess this leads to another question...
How long do you supplement your feeders by the way of dusting?
What age do you stop OR less frequent dusting of you feeders?
Cheers
Scott.

 

[IMN3W]

Well I have the same question about dusting. I was dusting everyday and the calcium was to much and was being released out of his nostrils, so how often should this be done?

 

[Nicodemayo]

I normally use a dixie cup with 2 parts vitamins and 1 part calcium mixture in the cup. I throw 4 crickets in (4 in the morning 4 in the evening) and give them a good twirling around in the cup just enough to give them a light coat of dusting. Make sure your vitamin to calcium ratio is good cause to much calcium can cause nose crystals. I have seen really good results with veilds if you do this almost every day until theyre 4 months of age or so then back off on the dusting. After that dust every other feeding or less even. I never dust other feeder insects so leave the dusting to crickets. Also make sure to give all your feeder insects proper gut load.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I normally use a dixie cup with 2 parts vitamins and 1 part calcium mixture in the cup. I throw 4 crickets in (4 in the morning 4 in the evening) and give them a good twirling around in the cup just enough to give them a light coat of dusting. Make sure your vitamin to calcium ratio is good cause to much calcium can cause nose crystals. I have seen really good results with veilds if you do this almost every day until theyre 4 months of age or so then back off on the dusting. After that dust every other feeding or less even. I never dust other feeder insects so leave the dusting to crickets. Also make sure to give all your feeder insects proper gut load.

Good advice except for the part about mixing vitamin supplements and calcium.
This can neutralize the effects of the supplements and render them rather ineffectual. Keep Calcium and multi vitamin days separate.
Also, calcium with D3 once or twice a week for young chameleons reduced to twice a month after 5 or 6 months. Calcium w/out D3: 3 or 4 times a week can continue throughout the life of the chameleon. Dust VERY lightly and don't dust every insect. Multi vitamins can be offered once a week up tp 6 months old, then reduce to twice a month.
Less IS more.

-Brad

Regarding the casque .... perfection is highly over-rated ... as long as proper supplementation and lighting are in place and the bones feel strong, slight imperfections are rather common and not necessarily a sign of MBD.

 

[Vegas Chad]

Whoops, post button twice.

 

[Vegas Chad]

What Brad said x 2

 

[Scooter]

I have had Butter since he was about 3 weeks old. He has a "dip" in his casque in the front, kind of like a dimple. About 3/4 the way up. He has had good supplementation, a varied diet, plenty of uvb. It isn't discolored, he is a veiled 6 months old. He has always had it, when he was little, it was less noticable, but now it is noticable.

I think it was always there.

 

[will187]

I have had Butter since he was about 3 weeks old. He has a "dip" in his casque in the front, kind of like a dimple. About 3/4 the way up. He has had good supplementation, a varied diet, plenty of uvb. It isn't discolored, he is a veiled 6 months old. He has always had it, when he was little, it was less noticable, but now it is noticable.

I think it was always there.

same here. i was concerned about my male's little "dip" in the casque. it seems that its genetic and not uncommon, as he is perfectly healthy in every other way.