Weird Veiled behavior?

A

AtlasTheChameleon

New Member
So I have a veiled chameleon that's about 1 year old his name is atlas, me and my gf had received him from someone who hadn't taken the best care of him. We just purchased a very big display with multiple huge tanks stacked on each other ... Similar to Petcos display tanks but much bigger. We have our male Atlas at the very top with a live pothos and fiscus, various fakes plants, bamboo across the whole setup, and for substrate I use bark under paper towel for easy cleanup and good way to keep extra moisture inside. We feed him 5+ crickets daily dusted with calcium, uvb across the whole cage, a main basking spot and another basking spot with a lower wattage and at the end of the tank where the live plants are is the lower temp side where he sleeps. *Around 80-85 on the hot side and 75ish on the cool side will check temps when I get home from work to get the accurate temps*.... Now to the point, when we got him he was constantly trying to escape and wanted out, he was always hissy and biting and was colored dark often, we started feeding him mealworms and when we switched back to crickets he would not hunt them at all and wouldn't eat anything but mealworms or his plants, desperate to feed him crickets because mealworms are not the best everyday food in my opinion I tried freshly killing the crickets and handfeeding him fresh dead ones and he would eat! Now we hand feed him live crickets everyday but still won't hunt them, in the beginning I figured it was because he was going through puberty and like a teen he was picky, he always wanted out though and would roam our house so we let him, to me I thought he didn't like his home and we are on our 3rd upgrade for him after about 3 months of having him and he still wants out, but right now what he does is he goes to the bottom of the cage claws at the cage wanting out and when I open the door he bolts to my hand (everyday constantly) he plays hide and seek with me and tries sticking his tongue to my face, when he bolts to my hand he opens his mother and hisses as he climbs to me like he wants out but doesn't wanna be held? He is MUCH better with the biting and hissing but only does it as he bolts to my hand. Another thing is after he poops a small amount of blood is left over as he wipes his butt on the bamboo after pooping, the actual poop looks normal but what comes out at the end doesn't seem right and it's only a small amount. Any feedback help and insight on any of this would be great and will post pictures later. Thanks!!!!!!
 
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • *Veiled, male, about 1 year old, had him for about 3-4 months?*
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • * Once a day or every other day, whenever he wants to come out.*
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • * Crickets, 5 everyday, and using what I found at the pet store to feed the crickets.*
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • * Repticalcium everyday or every other day.*
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • *Mist it daily or when need be and yes he does drink*
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • *Brown pellets with a white wormish look at the end, also small amount of blood at the very end*
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
  • *Received him from someone who wasn't taking the best care of him*

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • *Combo, half glass half screen, and half wood, it's an old display cage that's very big.*
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • * Not sure the brand, long uvb bulb that covers whole cage, two basking bulbs one main basking spot and another low wattage basking bulb in the center part of the cage and then no heating bulb on the third area of the cage (sleeping area cool side of the cage) 12 hours light 12 hours dark*
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • *Cool side is around 77 then middle is around 79 and the basking area is around 82 I use a heat gun*
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • *60% humidity, I mist daily and I have a thing that shows the humidity and heat in the tank*
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • * Yes, pothos and fiscus*
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • Top floor apartment, not near anything but our door, height is at ceiling level (high up)
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?
  • *Located in Wyoming, he hates when I mist his cage btw but I do it*

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
*Wanting out constantly all day everyday likes to roam the floor, and small amounts of blood at the end of his poop session*
 
 
That's him right now on the ground and wanting out, he sits there and every time I peel back the tape from the glass he sits there and stares at me and sticks his tongue out, he crawls along the bottom clawing at the doors wanting out he does this throughout the day
 
Honestly, I don't know if it is just me... but it almost looks like he has or had MBD at some point. Do you supplement D3 at all? What about vitamins?

Have you tried dubias as an option? Silk worms or horn worms?
 
Why do you say that davtheveiled? Curious to see what you see, I do use calcium with D3 which is debatable if D3 is good or not idk... I have not tried any of those options as dubias are the only other option besides crickets and a small selection of different worms like mealworms, etc. I don't like feeding him many worms as I don't see them as a good everyday food but might try dubias sometime
 
AtlasTheChameleon said:
Why do you say that davtheveiled? Curious to see what you see, I do use calcium with D3 which is debatable if D3 is good or not idk... I have not tried any of those options as dubias are the only other option besides crickets and a small selection of different worms like mealworms, etc. I don't like feeding him many worms as I don't see them as a good everyday food but might try dubias sometime
Click to expand...

So his front legs seem to bow out a bit, as seen best in this picture here:
mbd2.png


At least, that's what it looks like to me towards the frontal area..

Plus the more prominent bend here:

mbd1.png


Which certainly isn't natural or normal. Are you using the calcium with D3 every day? What is the regiment for that?

Using calc with D3 every feeding or every other feeding can also cause MBD.
 
I use the calcium often, when we received him his head always looked like that which was always a concern to me and his legs don't usually look like that they are normal from what I can tell think it's just the picture I got, I will reduce the D3 calcium intake and maybe will order one online without d3
 
Regarding supplementing...its advised that you dust at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder and twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a day with a vitamin powder.
Make sure your basking temperatures are right to aid in digestion and that your UVB is replaced as recommended and that it doesn't pass through glass.

Regarding the blood...I'm wondering if it could be that he has parasites or maybe he's slightly dehydrated (the feces looks a little dry).

Do you have it set up so there's a tow of cages? What in the other cages?
 
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