Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had my cham for about 2.5 years and hes always been a tough little guy, but i think hes getting really sick. I keep them outside in the summer and i recently moved them inside this winter, but instead of his open tree upstairs i built him a 6'X4'X4' cage in my basement to make cleaning easier and to allow him to hunt more because i was always having to hand feed him everything and i think he enjoys the hunt.. Well the basement was way too dry in our ohio winters and he started to look very dry.... so i put plastic over the 4 sides (not the top) and put a humidifier in there. he liked that a lot but it didnt get better he stayed the same so then i started worrying about MBD so i moved him upstairs (more moist) and put him under a more intense light and in a smaller cage to make sure he is getting it. I was feeding him crickets but he stopped eating them and he wouldnt use his tongue anymore... so i started to feed him butter and wax worms and he would eat those... i am giving him 25 minute showers everyday ontop of misting twice to ensure he is moist and is hydrated. He still doese not look better hes getting worse! hes starting to look skinny and hes becoming more week.... But the weird thing is that his colors look perfect like they always have i dont know whats wrong with him.. and today his eyes looked very sunken.... I have never delt with MBD but i know these are some of the traits... Any second opinions would be great thank you..

take him to a vet. It sounds that you should have a while ago. If you think he has MBD, I guess my question is why? Do you have a uv light for him? I think I will ask before everyone else, please give us a detailed list of items included in your setup and we can try to help. Honestly though it sounds like this should have been taken care of a while ago seeing as how you noticed problems with his health.

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0.2 Chameleo Chameleo Calyptratus
1.0 Leopard Gecko
1.0 Nosy Be Panther (Furcifer Pardalis)

This is tough. I have seen this story repeat itself a few times since I went through it myself with my 2 year old female veiled. Her color was great, up until the last day

I started thinking about it when I got my new cham...maybe she wasn't right from the beginning. She always let us handle her, and when she walked (even as a baby) it was somewhat strange, almost drunken. I prided on the fact that she wasn't like other fast moving lizzards...now I see Squig move and I think otherwise.

Despite all of the things that I did "right"....lighting etc, I lost her. I think that this is the circle...some come healthy, some don't-some make it, some don't...god knows I have experienced that enough with my animals!

Take him/her (sorry) to the vet...exrays can confirm the diagnosis of MBD. If caught soon, I heard it can be reversed.

What ever the outcome, know and understand...somethings can't be helped.

I hope hope hope...that everything goes well. I am sure that you are a good owner with all of the right intentions....and these wonderful people on this forum can give great advice, and...most of all....much needed support.

Good Luck

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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar (Another lost pet RIP and party on with Harold!)
3.0 Horses Smoothie, Rocky and Bogey
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
1.1 Veiled Chams Squiggy and Pudge (may she RIP)
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky

A couple of things to think about:

What kind of light are you using? How old is the bulb? If you are using a fluorescent tube light the only one that produces any real correct UVB is the ReptiSun 5.0 (or the 8.0 but that is for desert species), but the bulb needs to be replaced every 6 months or so. Just any old light won't produce UVB so he can't metabolize calcium and vitamins in his diet. Sunlight through glass won't provide UVB either. MBD can result, but also other metabolic problems.

If he really got dehydrated for a while it may have damaged his kidneys and that is not reversible. You may be seeing problems that originated from the too dry conditions starting to really show up. A vet can check his kidney function with a blood test.

What are you gutloading with, what dusts do you use and how often? He's getting older, so gutloading carefully is even more important.

my enclosure is oviously not doing well enough for him.... hints why i moved him upstiars... but if you must know the enclosure in my basement was 5.5'T X 4' X 4', i had a 150 watt heat lamp, my iguanas cage is exactly double the size (no they cant see eachother), they have 2 normal florescent and 4 4' 10.0 repti sun bulbs,..... I think it has something to do with the dryness of the basement, but my iguana is perfectly healthy and happy... I have made a vet appointment, and thats not the advice im looking for.

The upstairs enclosure is basically a 4' X 4' box with 2 36" reptisun bulbs, the same heat lamp, a humidifier on full blast all day and ive been giving him showers daily....