Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright, so I finally got an appt. for next monday..... thats a really long time. does anyone have any information as to what I should do until then? I've been doing some thinking and I think it probably is parasites because I do on occassion set him outside on a honeysuckle plant, which i checked and it is non-toxic. However, I did not take proper precaution cleaning the plant. Besides that plant there is no other reason that I and everyone else can find that would allow for MBD to be attained. Parasites. So he cannot go in for a week, what should I do. Keep doing everything I'm doing except letting him go on that plant. Now when I put him outside he is in the reptarium that I clean out on a regular basis. Does that block out any of the sun? Also, I thought that when I got him I was told multiple times that I needed to get a vitamin supplement and a d3/calcium supplement. then eric told me that was wrong. I have herpcare (calcium and d3 supplement) and rep-cal herptivite w/ beta carotene (multivitamins), he wants me to get get repcal w/ d3.... does this mean I should abandon both repcal herptivite and herpcare to get repcal w/ d3 and a different vitamin supplement. how come the herptivite is a multivitamin, but I should only use it once a week or once a month. if someone could reply with the exact supplements i need it would be great. eric, thanks for the help too.

I wasn't too clear, sorry about that.

IF he has MBD, he could have it for a few reasons. The VAST majority of times a young animal gets it, it is from a deficency in the uptake of Calcium, caused by a lack of D3.
The herpcare may or may not have the proper ratio of calcium/phosphorus, and I am not farmiliar with it's D3 content.

herptivite is good, it's from the makers of Rep-cal, and is the ONLY multivitamin I use.

I ALSO use Rep-cal. Rep-cal is purely Calcium and D3.

Those are what I would reccomend, but I think you're supplementing too often.

I have never heard of chameleon developing MBD from parasites.
It's not a disease that can be caught, it is a condition resulting in a nutritional imbalance resulting in the failure of the body to metablie, uptake, and implement Calcium. this results in soft, fragile bones, often leading to fractures or bone softening. The reason his arms are bowed is because they're soft, and have bent under his weight.

MBD is the term given to reptilian rickets. Maybe you've heard of Rickets. children from cultures that breast feed(exclusivly) tend to be prone to rickets, often having the characteristic bow-legged stance. Mother's milk isn't often high enough in D3, and without other foods, children develop Rickets/MBD/Calcium def.

I really REALLY doubt it's parasites, I would be VERY surprised if he even HAS any parasites worth dealing with, as he's a yong CB animal.

To play it SUPER SUPER safe, discontinue your vitamin mineral supplements, gutload ALL his insects with lots of fresh veggies, especially greens(not lettuces!). Give him sunlight, Full, unfiltered sunlight, as much as possible. If that's not possible, keep him under his MV bulb.

With sunlight every day, you will probably see a dramatic improvement by the time of your vet appointment, if so, the neocal glucon is gonna give him a boost as well.

I say discontinue supplements because you cannot be sure , ABSOLUTLY SURE, weather the problem is due to an underdose, or an OVERDOSE of D3, A, Calcium, Phosphorus, etc. Only bloodwork can tell.

By the way, I forgot how old he is. How long have you had him, and how big was he when you got him.

Eric A

I've had him since the beginning of june and he was around 5-6 inches when i got him. I do not know how old he is precisely. I am guessing they will have a good guess at the vet when they weigh him. So when i called she wanted to run a whole bunch of tests which cost more $$ and beign that i am a college kid only making 7.30 an hour and have no financial aid and am paying 850/6 months for car insurance among other things i dont wanna be led around by my short sword. so should i not dink around and ONLY get the blood test to find out if it is a deficiency or overabundance or should i get a fecal and the whole shebang?

you should always get all the tests, especially if he has never been to a vet before........

My opinion is to not do the fecal. He's less than a year old, captive bred. the chances of him having any major parasites(detrimental) are very, VERY slim. In over a decade of breeding veilds, I have not had one C.B. animal ever come down with a parasitic infection that caused problems. I have never actually seen a C.B. sick with parasites. However, almost all vets will treat every chameleon as a potential parasite host. If there is a problem with parasiters, at his young age, you'll see diarheaa, vomiting, and weigt loss.

99% of the time, in your situation, you're wasting your money on a fecal.

I know how it is to be short on cash, I just graduated.
You're going to probably pay for the visit fee, and blood work.
I would say, don't bother with the vet UNLESS you get blood work done to test for D3 levels.
IF you see DRAMATIC improvement in him, after being in FULL sun every day for the next several days, you will be fairly certain it was a problem absorbing D3. Neocalglucon will help even more, but the vet needs to give you that usually.

Parasites suck nutrients out of their digestive system, or circulatory system, so LONG beofre any long-term metabolic problems show up(MBD), you'll have seen other, more drastic sickenss, like loose stool, and weight loss.

Just tell the vet that he's CB, and has no symptoms of a parasitic infestation. Certainly it may have some, but the chances thaat any treatment will do more harm than good are high. Especially if he's got a more urgent problem(MBD).

Besides, parasites are the best part of keeping chameleons! Get a decent mocroscope, some slides, tweezers, coverslips and have a blast!