My boyfriend has a veiled chameleon that is about 5 mths old. When he got it, he thought it was a male. It was doing fine at first, growing rapidly, eating and drinking alot, shedding like it should. Then it started not eating and laying around and not drinking. Took it to the vet, it was egg bound and found it he was a she. Vet gave an enduced labor injection and eggs came out 10 mins later. Received another spare shot just in case all did not come out the first time. No improvement in sick habbits and gave it the other shot. Still no improvement and think it will die here in the next few days. I hate to see if suffer like this. Symptoms: Laying on floor of aquarium, not eating, barely drinking, eyes very small, can't climb, twitching when trying to move. We have proper lamp UV and Red lights and monitor the temp of aquarium all the time. Proper cleaning and feeding of crickets and misting occurs. Any suggestions...think she will die in the next few days, she can't last much longer like this. Thanks for any feedback!!!
I'm trying to give you a quick answer since it is urgent, I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like your chameleon has Metalbolic Bone Diesease. I would call your vet to see if they took an x-ray of your cham to diagnose her being eggbound, and see if the vet call tell from the x-ray rather this is the issue. Regardless of what it is I would take your chameleon back to the vet asap. And I seriously mean asap. Often once these problems metastasize there is a very small window of opprotunity in which there is a chance to remedy the current situation. There are a whole lot of other questions I have for you regarding your setup due to how you inferred it was setup, however we'll worry about that later. Good Luck with your chameleon, I hope everything turns out alright, please let me know!
Thanks for your reply, I thought it may be the same thing as I did research on the internet about nutrition of these veiled cham's. The variety of diet it has had from the beginning is crickets and sometimes meal worms and misting 3 times a day. We keep slices of potatoes in the cage for the crickets and dust thems every once in a while but I think I am finding out that the cham's diet needs to have more variation. Frankie (the cham) lives in a glass aquarium which I just learned they hate their reflection, also the plants in there are all fake - soley for climbing. Could it be that we have not given the crickets and cham a good diet?
I'm no vet so what I tell you is from experience and what I have learned from reading and talking to others. etc. I have kept/bred/raised chameleons for over 15 years. My veiled females generally live to be over 6 and the males even older. You said..."symptoms: Laying on floor of aquarium, not eating, barely drinking, eyes very small, can't climb, twitching when trying to move"....it does sound like MBD...but you need the vet to confirm it. Giving her some phosphorous-free calcium shouldn't hurt her even if it isn't MBD...so until you can get to the vets, perhaps there is some way to mix a little of the calcium powder (if you have any) into some diluted apple juice or water and give it to her with an eyedropper (carefully and slowly so you don't choke her or get any of it into her lungs)? You should be able to get liquid calcium gluconate at a pharmacy and you could give her a little of that...again, its syrupy and must be given a little at a time, slowly so she has time to swallow it. If the vet tells you that this is what it is for sure, he/she should be able to give her calcium injections. It seems odd to me that the vet didn't realize or suspect she has MBD if that is indeed what she has. You said..."We have proper lamp UV and Red lights and monitor the temp of aquarium all the time. Proper cleaning and feeding of crickets and misting occurs."...why do you use red lights? Is the UVB light passing through plastic or glass? What are the temperatures (ambient, basking) in the cage? You said..."We keep slices of potatoes in the cage for the crickets and dust thems every once in a while but I think I am finding out that the cham's diet needs to have more variation"....its important to gutload the insects well before giving them to the chameleon and to provide the proper supplements too. Potato isn't a good enough gutload. I give the crickets a wide variety of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, ROMAINE lettuce, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, celery leaves, squash, zucchini, etc.). I also dust the insects before giving them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings. Insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. so this helps to make up for it. I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene cannot build up in their system, but preformed vitamin A can. There is some controversy about chameleons needing preformed vitamin A however. Since my chameleons only get UVB from florescent tubes, I dust twice a month with a D3/calcium powder as well. D3 from supplements can also build up in the system, so caution is advised not to over-do it. Appropriate temperatures are needed to allow the digestion process to work properly...thus facilitate absorption. With veiled females, you will likely find that if you don't control their diet they will develop large clutches of eggs and it can contribute to an earlier death. You said..."Frankie (the cham) lives in a glass aquarium which I just learned they hate their reflection, also the plants in there are all fake - soley for climbing"...I have kept chameleons in glass aquariums and the cages I have now for them are glass except for the door and the lid. I have never found that they have a problem with seeing their reflection. I do, however use real (well-washed, both sides of the leaves) non-toxic plants in their cages. You asked..."Could it be that we have not given the crickets and cham a good diet?"....that and other things mentioned above could have contributed to its problems. Most cases of eggbinding are the result of improper husbandry although there are other causes. I hope she will be okay.
Yes, that very well could be the problem, along with the aquarium and the red light.. what type of UVB light do you use? It could also be that your chameleon still has retained eggs that need to be removed. Or, the fact that she wasn't getting enough calcium to produce the eggs and her body pulled calcium from her bones to make them. Any way you look at it, your chameleon needs to go back to the vet. It is possible that she can still be saved, but it doesn't sound good. Heika
UPDATE!!! We took the cham to the vet this morning and she has a calcium deficiency was that a result from it lacking in her diet prior to being egg bound. Like Kinyonga stated, the eggs depleated her calcium at a faster rate when she became egg bound resulting in her current condition. The vet gave us calcium gluconate at .3 cc's orally 3 times a day for 2 months and 2:0 Calcium/No Phosphourus (powdered supplement with vitamins) that we have to sprinkle on food once a day. Also, we have to crush up baby crickets and "gently force feed her" until she gets her strenght back. She's looking better after being in and out of an incubator all day and has good odds to live. Thanks to those who gave their responses and will keep you updated. Mysticlex
Oh, good! Congratulations, I had a feeling thats what it was. I'm so glad to hear your cham is doing better, keep us posted on the recovery process.
Glad you posted the update and that there is hope for her! Here's a recipe that might help... http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/bug-juice.html
Soo, Frankie is still alive but we have to force feed her food, water, and medicine. Her right arm constantly curls under her and her nails dig in to her other arm. He has this flalling arm that tries to grab for twigs but she can't grab it cause it's in a circular motion. I'm hoping the calcium will help but I think it's too late. Any thoughts???
If its done properly by a vet....this could speed things up...but I don't know if it will save your chameleon or not. The vet can give the chameleon several injections of calcium over a period of time followed by a shot of calcitonin. Calcitonin draws the calcium back into the bones very rapidly....but there has to be enough calcium in the blood to make up for the calcitonin so that the blood won't be depleted of calcium. If the amount of calcium in the blood falls too low the chameleon will go into shock and die. I've seen some pretty bad cases that have recovered...so my fingers are crossed for yours!
