Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[RobUKChams]

Hi,

I agree with Scott and Lotte, your female has advanced MBD. Here is a link to a guide to MBD

http://www.nationalpolish.co.uk/ukchamstest/ukchams2/mbd.pdf

I have seen quite a lot of this in Veileds and I think you should prepare yourself for the vets recommending her being put to sleep. She really is very ill.

Is the male in the top picture your new male? He also looks like he may have early symptoms. His front right knee joint does not look right to me. He is also holding himself very close to the branch (although that could be a nervous display).

With your first male also dying of MBD, something is very seriously wrong with the conditions.

Can you post a picture of the enclosure/vivarium and we should be able to help you from there to make sure you don't run into the same problem with the male.

regards

Rob

[Drymarchon32]

Hey All,
totally agree with the diagnosis. I would look toward a lack of U.V. light/Vitamin D3.
Unfortunately I'm going to disagree that watercress and cabbage are a bad diet though. I'm really sorry Lotte. Watercress has a Ca:P (Calcium to Phosphorous) ratio of 2:1 and a relatively low Oxalic acid content 0.3g/100g
Green Cabbage is not the demon that it's made out to be, it also has a resonable Ca:P ratio and an even lower Oxalic acid content 0.1g/100g ( carrot for example, has 0.5:1 Ca:P ratio and nearly 0.5g/100g oxalic acid but is rich in Vitamin A). Collard Greens are a definite no-no, for sure. The trick is a varied and complete diet. I would have thought that insects would be a major part of the diet too.
Food should also be regularly dusted with a good nutrient supplement which contains not just Calcium but Vitamin D3 and other important minerals. The amount used is debatable but using this is essential unless your animal is getting a totally natural diet, and sunshine (ie. living wild)
This combined with proper temps and a decent, well placed U.V. bulb should make a happy Chameleon, but a little late for this one me thinks. I'm sure most people here will have more experience in keeping Chameleons than me, so please contact them for specifics.
If you want to look at information about food contents then

http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

is a good site but there are lots of sites with similar information.
Hope you don't mind me sticking my beak in once again.
Al
_________________
Complacency killed the keeper

[RobUKChams]

A few thoughts on food and gutload for you

Crickets are generally the staple diet of most captive chameleons but need to be properly gutloaded.

Suggested gutload: – a source of vitamin A - carrot ,sweet potato, yellow and orange sweet peppers and greens - spring greens, dandelion leaves, water cress or rocket.
Try varying the gut loading (ie carrot and watercress one day, yellow pepper and spring greens another day) as this not only ensures a more varied diet but as the food tastes different depending on the gut load it makes it more interesting to the chameleon.

If you make up a "salad" of the above and leave in the enclosure the crickets will eat it and stay gutloaded and the veiled may eat it as well.
You dont want to leave too many crickets running loose in the enclosure though.

Tropical fish food flakes and milk powder can also be used as additional gutload (recommended) to provide an additional source of nutrition.

Bee Pollen (available over the Internet or at health food shops) can be used as either a gut load or dusted over all food items and is possibly the best supplement you can obtain for your chameleon.

The best cricket gutload currently in use can be found on the Adcham web site here :
http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/gutload.html.

however some of the ingredients can be difficult to find.

Variety is as important as properly preparing the food.

Giant Mealworm (Morio) should be gut loaded with commercial mealworm food at least 48 hours prior to feeding to the chameleon.

Locusts are especially good as they climb the plants and normally end up near the chameleon. Feed on spring greens.

Flies – Curly wings and Blue bottles are great. Gut load with Bee Pollen moistened with honey (or can be dusted) or milk powder made into a paste.

Wild caught insects such as grass hoppers, woodlice, moths and daddy longlegs etc are all good naturally nutritious food. Do not feed insects from areas where pesticides could have been.

regards

Rob

[Boelen]

Any updates on how your female is doing?, would really appreciate any updates on how she is. I'm a great lover of chameleons even though I've never succumbed to the temptation and challenges of keeping any yet.

[Boelen]

I gather from the lack of responses from DJ Pygo, and the fact he/she only posted for one day or so on here that the outcome wasn't good?....shame.
Would have been nice to at least kept people informed