ChameleonMom
New Member
So I have a 4 year old veiled named Camo. I purchased him from a pet store 3.5 years ago. He has eye problems which has been treated by my vet twice - but which has now been deemed 'chronic'. Due to this he has been hand fed every two days for the last 3.5 years. In addition to the eyes, Camo also has gout in his hind 'ankles' and he's had evidence of a gular edema that comes and goes. I have had him to the vet recently to check on the gout and gular edema and was told "other than the gout, he's very healthy. I wouldn't worry about the edema - keep doing what you're doing but feed him a bit less and hydrate him more".
I also have a year old female veiled named Isis, who I've had since she was 11 weeks old, being a late Christmas present from hubby in January 2012. In August I noted that her breathing was raspy and she seemed to be 'coughing' or sputtering, for lack of a better description. I took her immediately to the vet and was told her entire left lobe was infected, and her right lung partially infected with pneumonia. Five weeks of Bayrtil, constant heat, hand watering and feeding and alot of extra love and care and she's come out on the other side, healthier and happier and ALOT bigger. I am pleased with her progress BUT....
I knew I needed to change some things in the care of my chams if I wanted to succeed in providing them with the best life possible. They are so important to me and I knew I could do better by them than I was currently providing. I decided to make some serious changes starting with housing: My husband recently made me two identical cages, which I have recently posted here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/tickled-pink-about-my-new-cages-setup-95898/
I've also, for the last 1.5 months been providing new supplements and implemented a new schedule. When I started keeping chameleons in 2007, everything I read told me to supplement with RepCal w/D3 and Herptivite at every feeding. So that's what I did. After much research and hoping to alleviate some of Camo's health issues, I decided to go with the standard supplementation and schedule of this forum. Calcium at every feeding; calcium w/D3 and a multivit every 2nd week. I have also decided to introduce a very small drop of Vitamin A into my chams diet once every 15 days. Today I gave them their 2nd dose, therefore I have not seen any vast improvement at this time but I am hoping it will help with Camo's eyes and perhaps prevent eye and other issues in Isis. The jury is still out, but I'm optimistic. In addition to new supplements, I almost exclusively fed my chams crickets, having had a weight issue with my first chameleon after feeding too many wax worms. Both Camo & Isis still ate well, but I realised this was B.O.R.I.N.G. and my chams deserved variety. I sourced out a new feeder supply and for the last month have been giving crickets, superworms, silk worms and a few wax worms. I'm not sure I can handle the dubia's as they seriously creep me out, so I have been staying away from them. The fruit flies I have not tried yet, but plan to. Also, in addition to spicing up the feeder variety, I have also improved my gutloading of the feeders. In the past I exclusively gutloaded with Flukers High Calcium Cricket Food and Flukers Cricket Water, which obviously hasn't been a great benefit to their health. After reading blog after blog, I have implemented some of SandraChameleon's suggestions and now gutload with fresh fruit - oranges, apples, canteloupe, small amount of kiwi, and pear; and veggies - small amount of kale and parsley, fresh mint, carrots, cucumber, celery, butternut squash etc. I have also made a mix of some dry ingredients from Sandra's gutloading blog - at this time I can't remember exactly, but I am happy to see my crickets are fatter and living longer, which means the benefits are being passed on to my chams.
I've started keeping a journal for my chams, something I didn't do in the past but it obviously makes sense in the event of a medical problem. I weighed Camo on October 19th and he weighed 211g's. Isis weighed in at 118g's the same day. Today I weighed them and Camo weighed in at 219g's and Isis weighs 124g's. That is a gain of 8g's and 6g's respectively.
In general my veiled's seem to be doing very well adapting to the changes I've implemented in the past 1.5 months, but I wonder if such change all at once could come back to bite me in the ass. I'm a little concerned about the weight gain and wonder if such a gain is normal in such a short period of time? I still continue to feed Camo once every two days (generally 7 crickets and 4 worms, with 1 worm as an afternoon treat) and I feed Isis every day (10 crickets and 3 worms with 1 being an afternoon treat as well).
I am just wondering if anyone can give me any input on the changes I've implemented, the time frame in which I've implemented them. Also, regarding the actual changes - are they smart and informed? Is there anything you would do differently? Please keep in mind all of the changes I have made has come from information culled from this site. Being an active member on the forum has really opened my eyes to becoming a chameleon keeper and hobbyist and not just a 'pet owner'.
Sorry for the hugely LONG post! but I appreciate your thoughts!
I also have a year old female veiled named Isis, who I've had since she was 11 weeks old, being a late Christmas present from hubby in January 2012. In August I noted that her breathing was raspy and she seemed to be 'coughing' or sputtering, for lack of a better description. I took her immediately to the vet and was told her entire left lobe was infected, and her right lung partially infected with pneumonia. Five weeks of Bayrtil, constant heat, hand watering and feeding and alot of extra love and care and she's come out on the other side, healthier and happier and ALOT bigger. I am pleased with her progress BUT....
I knew I needed to change some things in the care of my chams if I wanted to succeed in providing them with the best life possible. They are so important to me and I knew I could do better by them than I was currently providing. I decided to make some serious changes starting with housing: My husband recently made me two identical cages, which I have recently posted here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/tickled-pink-about-my-new-cages-setup-95898/
I've also, for the last 1.5 months been providing new supplements and implemented a new schedule. When I started keeping chameleons in 2007, everything I read told me to supplement with RepCal w/D3 and Herptivite at every feeding. So that's what I did. After much research and hoping to alleviate some of Camo's health issues, I decided to go with the standard supplementation and schedule of this forum. Calcium at every feeding; calcium w/D3 and a multivit every 2nd week. I have also decided to introduce a very small drop of Vitamin A into my chams diet once every 15 days. Today I gave them their 2nd dose, therefore I have not seen any vast improvement at this time but I am hoping it will help with Camo's eyes and perhaps prevent eye and other issues in Isis. The jury is still out, but I'm optimistic. In addition to new supplements, I almost exclusively fed my chams crickets, having had a weight issue with my first chameleon after feeding too many wax worms. Both Camo & Isis still ate well, but I realised this was B.O.R.I.N.G. and my chams deserved variety. I sourced out a new feeder supply and for the last month have been giving crickets, superworms, silk worms and a few wax worms. I'm not sure I can handle the dubia's as they seriously creep me out, so I have been staying away from them. The fruit flies I have not tried yet, but plan to. Also, in addition to spicing up the feeder variety, I have also improved my gutloading of the feeders. In the past I exclusively gutloaded with Flukers High Calcium Cricket Food and Flukers Cricket Water, which obviously hasn't been a great benefit to their health. After reading blog after blog, I have implemented some of SandraChameleon's suggestions and now gutload with fresh fruit - oranges, apples, canteloupe, small amount of kiwi, and pear; and veggies - small amount of kale and parsley, fresh mint, carrots, cucumber, celery, butternut squash etc. I have also made a mix of some dry ingredients from Sandra's gutloading blog - at this time I can't remember exactly, but I am happy to see my crickets are fatter and living longer, which means the benefits are being passed on to my chams.
I've started keeping a journal for my chams, something I didn't do in the past but it obviously makes sense in the event of a medical problem. I weighed Camo on October 19th and he weighed 211g's. Isis weighed in at 118g's the same day. Today I weighed them and Camo weighed in at 219g's and Isis weighs 124g's. That is a gain of 8g's and 6g's respectively.
In general my veiled's seem to be doing very well adapting to the changes I've implemented in the past 1.5 months, but I wonder if such change all at once could come back to bite me in the ass. I'm a little concerned about the weight gain and wonder if such a gain is normal in such a short period of time? I still continue to feed Camo once every two days (generally 7 crickets and 4 worms, with 1 worm as an afternoon treat) and I feed Isis every day (10 crickets and 3 worms with 1 being an afternoon treat as well).
I am just wondering if anyone can give me any input on the changes I've implemented, the time frame in which I've implemented them. Also, regarding the actual changes - are they smart and informed? Is there anything you would do differently? Please keep in mind all of the changes I have made has come from information culled from this site. Being an active member on the forum has really opened my eyes to becoming a chameleon keeper and hobbyist and not just a 'pet owner'.
Sorry for the hugely LONG post! but I appreciate your thoughts!
