Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Guys my chameleon has rubbery caske and jaw, I fear he maybe calcium deficient. He does not seem to be able to shut his mouth. I had to help him close it. My question is little about if I can nurse him to health, I think it maybe too late, cuss he can't eat. Should I be thinking of putting him down?any suggestions will be appreciated. He is a 1 year old veiled chameleon. I gave calcium once a month, and fed gutted crickets.
Thanks

Here is a website that talks about MBD in chameleons.
http://www.adcham.com/html/veterinary/mbd-fractures-kramer.html

Also did you have a uvb light, because I made the mistake of not having one with my first chameleon and he died when he was a year and a half.

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Meg

If you can find a way to feed him and give him the treatment that he needs, it might be possible for him to recover enough that his life will still be okay. Take him to a vet so that the vet. The vet can give him injections of calcium for a couple of weeks and follow it with an injection of calcitonin which draws the calcium back into the bones rapidly. This would make his recovery shorter than any other treatment that I know of. When using calcitonin, your vet will have to make sure that the blood levels of the calcium are high enough so that the chameleon doesn't go into shock.

If you decide to have it put down...please, take it to a vet to have it done. Freezing, decapitation and other methods that you might try at home are not acceptable....they cause undo pain and stress. Freezing causes a lot of pain when the fluids in the body crystalize. When decapitated, the chameleon's brain continues to function for some time after causing the chameleon distress and pain. Sorry to be so blunt with this topic...but I figured it something that people should know.

If you can feed him liquids you can keep him going during treatment. In addition to calcium, get him outdoors in "real" sunlight. It will really help! There are recipes and articles on assist feeding on www.adcham.com and www.chameleonnews.com

hey,
you really should of taken more time to take care of him..my chameleon is about to be 1 year old on july 6,which is also my b-day..hes in perfect health i'm told though..you really need to do alot of research before buying a chameleon..its really sad hes only 1 year old,he really hasn't had much of a chance to live..calcium once a month is shocking,i give my cham. calcium 2 times a week!!its sad to hear about these cases..if you decide to get another,you really need to learn more about their needs and everything..
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Jonny Blaze
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