Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have read a couple of Eric Adrignola's posts in the past mentioning how easy is to make your veiled overweight,he also mentioned that in some cases fat is buldging out of their casques and that is kind of rediqulous,he said.Well today I've seen that in my veiled and that was not there before.I'm feeding him moderately but can I use the casque to tell when I'm over or underfeeding him?

I dont think that the bulk in the casque will diminish until the chameleon is force to draw from its fat stores for nutrients. Someone will have to confirm this for me.
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CANADIAN SILKWORMS

The casque is not that easy to use for body fat, as it can also be affected by hydration. I look at the base of the tail. If I look at the tail mentally in cross section, the tail should be oval from top to bottom if the cham is a good weight. If the tail is really round, the cham is too fat.

As said above, a veiled's casque is a poor judge of fat content. The buldging is affected more so by hydration and age. A better judge of fat content is body tone. Things like the thickness of legs, the visibility of ribs and the girth of the tail are good things to look at. Seeing bones is bad, but a round and definitionless tail isn't good either. A healthy cham will have no visible vertebrae, but nice muscle definition in the tail section.

The casque is NOT a good indicator of them being fat. In some very fat chameleons, the fat will bulge out of the casque. However, the casque will also show swellings if there is edema.

The best way to check is to look at the tail base - not bones and connective tissue, bit not round either - just as said in the above post. The legs and feet will often swell, as will the area around the neck. MAny of these are also signs of edema - so be careful!

The tricky part is that in reptiles, diets do not work. You cut their intake to a starvation level, and every little calorie they DO get is stored in the liver as fat - exascerbating(sp?) the problem.

IF you have a fat lizard, feed more low fat foods, maybe increase the crunchy insect intake. When my veiled got fat years ago, I fed him one cricket every few days for a couple months, but I gave him lots of greens and flowers. With veields, you can reduce their insect intake a LOT, but increase their veggie intake to copensate.

I try to feed my chameleons the minimal amount of food to keep them from losing weight - it is a very small quantitiy in adult male veields.

Eric a critical question for me please,would a diet of crunchy chitin rich insects lead to impaction?
Secondly,very briefly,what is an edema?I can look further my self for more details.
Thanks

The accumulation of excessive quantities of fluid in between the cells of the body. Edema can form in almost any location in the body however most common sites include the feet and ankles, and especially in chameleons, the throat. Veileds can show this in their casque aswell.

Often mistaken for Gout, which is excessive uric acid in blood and between cells. Again, usually occuring in the limb joints.
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CANADIAN SILKWORMS

So what actions could prevent an edema?