Posted by:
kinyonga
at Thu Mar 20 13:10:14 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by kinyonga ]
You said..."I use an uvb light, reptisun 5 from exoterra. of course I gutload my insects with a varied diet: quality fish food flakes, carrots , ofanges, rodent food. I also feed a lot with locusts that are fed grasses and oats.I live in Israel and we don't lack sun. I keep my chameleons outside until november, and will soon put them outside again, as days are becoming warm again. when I kept them indoor, the uv bulb was placed directly on the screen top. I keep 4 others panthers and veiled in the same shedule( veiled outdoor also in winter)and the others are healthy, even the females that laid several clutches this winter when kept indoor!"...it often happens that one will be fine and the next one will show signs of problems.
Without going to a vet you/we can only guess at what is wrong with him. It could be a calcium issue or not.
You said you use herptivite, rep-cal and minerall...is the minerall I (indoors) or O (outdoors)? Does the rep-cal have D3 in it?
Look at the fish food, rodent food and anything else that you feed to the insects or the chameleons that is NOT vegetable, grain or greens to see what is in them in the way of D3, preformed vitamin A (retinol) and phosphorous.
The four main players in bone health are phosphorous, calcium, D3 and vitamin A...and they need to be in balance. Appropriate basking temp. also plays a part in that it allows for proper digestion.
Many insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. so dusting with the phos.-free calcium powder helps to make up for it.
Vitamin A from a beta carotene source will not build up in the system...but preformed vitamin A will. Excess preformed vitamin A can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.
D3 comes naturally from the sunlight or UVB light which does not pass through glass or plastic...or from supplements. D3 from supplements can build up in the system. D3 from UVB can if the chameleon can not move out of the UVB. If the chameleon is getting UVB only from the tube/linear light then it might need the insects to be dusted a couple of times a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder.
If your chameleon is suffering from a calcium imbalance, then you will need to bring it back into line...of course.
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RE: weakness of the tongue with adult male - kinyonga, Thu Mar 20 13:10:14 2008