What am i doing wrong?!

[Metal725]

Its been almost 3 months now since we had a clutch of 18 babies hatch. All 18 hatched and it was this particular females 1st time laying. The first month was fine and everything seemed great. Fast forward to almost 3 months and we have lost 6 of the 18 babies in the last 2-3 weeks and they don't seem a whole lot bigger than when they hatched. They seem to take little cat naps which i know isn't a good sign and are only able to eat 2 week old crickets due to their size. The crickets are LIGHTLY dusted with calcium without D3. Some seem better than others but none of them have shed. They all have normal poop/urates, their temps are around 80-85 and 70 at the bottom of the container and temps dip to around 65-70 at night. Ive also noticed white, dry looking spots on their heads and backs that look like possible shed but its not. I was thinking they are burns but they aren't close enough to the light for this too happen. The remaining 12 are in a 66 quart plastic storage container with a 50 watt household bulb and a UVB 5.0 light. The other possibly important note is that we closet incubated them and they hatched at 5 1/2 months. I know the normal incubation time is 6-8 months so is it possible they were all preemie and thats why I'm having so many problems with them? This is not my first time breeding so thats why its so strange why they aren't growing. Ive attached pix of their setup, a pic of the dry spots on the head and back, and a most recent pic of one of the better looking babies. Please help!

 

[kinyonga]

In the one photo...the top of the head looks whiter than the rest of the chameleon...have you noticed that on any of the ones that died?

 

[DaChameleonKing]

This happened with my bearded dragons. I have 2 females (used to have 3) and I would keep them in a cage together, but when I fed them I thought they all were getting the same amount of crickets, but one wouldn't get any so she died. Hope that helped!

 

[jpowell86]

This is so strange. I wouldn't imagine that it could be burns because the white patches are identical on all the baby chams. Surely it has something to do with underdevelopment not husbandry issues. Plus, they are extremely small for three months old which makes me lean towards underdevelopment.

 

[Alb123]

Don't use coil UVB bulbs. They are not trustworthy and may be defective. So instead of producing UVB, it produces UVC which causes burns and blindness that eventually kills the lizard.

 

[kinyonga]

I wasn't referring to it being burns.
Alb123...never heard of UVB turning to UVC but I have heard of incorrect phosphors in the fluorescent lights causing eye issues....
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor-info.htm

 

[Alb123]

I wasn't referring to it being burns.
Alb123...never heard of UVB turning to UVC but I have heard of incorrect phosphors in the fluorescent lights causing eye issues....
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor-info.htm

I know, but from my own personal experience, my timor monitor got burns from prolonged close exposure to the same coiled bulb that almost blinded him.
I believe in the same link, somewhere in the article that it mentioned of the bulb producing UVC instead of the UVB due to manufacturing defects. The blindness is akin to "snow blindness" in people who ski or snowboard without protective lenses. I believe the website called it cornea conjunctivitis? I'm not sure, it was over 6 years ago since I last read that website.

 

[kinyonga]

You were right about the UVC being in some of the compacts....just reread most of the Site again...haven't really read it all for six years either. Sorry.

 

[brownie64]

I know that linier tubs are the best, but didn't they address all these issues?

 

[kinyonga]

They addressed the phosphors but the beams are still concentrated unlike the linear ones.

 

[brownie64]

They addressed the phosphors but the beams are still concentrated unlike the linear ones.

So are they known to still harm their eyes?

 

[kinyonga]

I'm not sure...I have never used them....so I can't speak from personal experience. People seem to have more eye issues than I ever had that are not readily solved....but I can't definitely connect them to the lights.

 

[Ahoysteven]

Possible that the uvb lights have expired?

 

[Andee]

I would never use a coiled UVB light with babies. They already need preused UVB lights and since coiled UVB bulbs are so concentrated and can be dangerous in general, it could be very bad for baby chameleons. But I didn't see compact mentioned anywhere in the post? Is it a compact bulb?

 

[Metal725]

Thanks everyone for the help! Yes they are coil bulbs so i will change that ASAP. Could the underdevelopment be permanent? If i was to change the bulbs would it hopefully fix this problem or has the damage been done? Obviously the eye issues if there are any, cant be fixed but hopefully the other problems can be solved by changing the bulbs.

 

[kinyonga]

Metal725...you never did answer my question about the color of the heads.

 

[Metal725]

My apologies Kinyonga, all of the babies seem to have this coloration on their heads...the live and dead ones. When i spray the enclosure to give them water, this color goes away. Its almost like dry skin but they aren't shedding.

 

[kinyonga]

I had a batch of babies years ago that were hatched sooner than I wanted and one by one their heads went light and they died. Never figured out why.

 

[Metal725]

I have 10 of the 18 left. Woke up this morning and there were 11 active babies and by lunch time i was at 10. Im losing 1 or 2 every week. Still eating, still pooping, active one minute, dead the next. Im so confused.

 

[JGuinan007]

Perhaps your night time temps are too cold for the little guys maybe try to keep temp no lower than 70