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Hi i just bought a chameleon about a week ago and it like uses its anckles to walk and it hasnt ate for like 5 days now what should i do?????????? My email is thorson_01@hotmail.com thanks alot

You said..."Hi i just bought a chameleon about a week ago and it like uses its anckles to walk and it hasnt ate for like 5 days now what should i do?"...sounds like it might be MBD (metabolic bone disease). If you've only had it for five days, it must have had it when you bought it....I would take it back to the store and let them know. The imbalance that is causing the MBD can be corrected, but the damage its already done can't. Poor thing.

If it has MBD, it needs some calcium ASAP...and some UVB light from a UVB tube light or from sunlight (that doesn't pass through glass or plastic).

Let me know if you are going to keep it and we can go over the husbandry, etc.

hey its me again yes i am going to keep it cuz the place said i cant bring it back cuz it was healthy there but it couldnt have been email soon thanks josh

Well, I guess all you can do is the best you can with it sicne the store won't take it back.

A vet can confirm whether it has MBD for sure and help you to get it back on track faster than you will be able to do by yourself. A vet can give it a series of calcium shots followed by a shot of calcitonin when the blood levels are high enough. Calcitonin pulls the calcium back into the bones rapidly, which is why a vet has to make sure that there is enough calcium in the blood when its done. If its done incorrectly the chameleon can end up in shock and die.

In addition to getting it back on track, you need to correct whatever is wrong with what you are doing in order to keep it healthy (if, under the circumstances, there is even anything that you are doing wrong)....so let's go over some things.

Your chameleon needs UVB light (which you said you are providing for it). This allows the chameleon to produce vitamin D3 which allows it to use the calcium in its diet. I dust at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder. Insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous, so this helps to make up for it.

I also dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A (not a preformed source). Beta carotene sources of vitamin A would cause overdoses but preformed can. Vitamin A is antagonistic to vitamin D3 so they need to be in balance.

Because my chameleons get no sunlight, so I dust with a calcium/D3 powder twice a month. D3 from supplements can also build up in the system, so care needs to be taken not to over-do it.

Appropriate basking temperatures are important for proper digestion, thus for absorption. For veileds I keep the basking area in the high 80's, except for young ones which I keep in the low 80'sF because babies have smaller bodies that can dehydrate, warm and cool quicker than adults.

Hydration is important too. I make sure that my veileds drink every day by misting and using a dripper. I don't use a dripper on ones that are young though....I worry about them aspirating the water from it.

I gutload all my insects with a nutritious diet. I gutload the crickets with greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, ROMAINE lettuce, etc.) and veggies (sweet red pepper, sweet potato, white potato, squash, zucchini, carrots, etc.).

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, just ask.

hey
This did help some i have been dusting my crickets with chameleon dust and then i started to feed it by hand and that works alot too and i put some carrets in with my crickets along with the gut load that u told me about his legs are starting to get alot bigger and stronger he is walken around alot more i just got a dripper in there for him i was using a propel bottle with a humming burd feeder thing at the end that was worken pretty good but i just got a real little dripper about a week ago and he seems to be doing good with that too and the basking area in my cage is 80 84 degrees is that good enough or should i go higher with that ???????????????????? well thanks alot for u help bye hope to hear from u soon again thaanks again Bye
Bye Josh