Reptile & Amphibian Forums

SOme Backround information: i have a veiled chameleon that is about 5 months old. after about a month after i got him, his joints started to swell. i imediatley took him to a qualified reptile VET in my area. the vet said that it was from too much vitamins and that its joints were swelling because they were growing faster then the rest of its body. Also, the VET said to only dust the crickets once a week and the swollen joints should go away as the veiled chameleon grows into them. before he told me to slow down on the supllementation, i was dusting the crickets everyday with a 1:1 ratio of rep-cal and rep-cal herpitive that i premixed and kept in a ziplock baggy. Now, after all this my veiled chameleon seemed to be doing better. His joints stopped swelling and he started to grow into them. But, then, within the past week, i noticed bumps on his spine and tail. also, his joints started to swell again. i emailed a bunch of people and got mixed answers. i got everything from its normal to its metabolic bone disease. i just called my VET but he wont be in until tuesday and i was wondering if anyone had any clue or information on what this health problem could be. Like is it normal or metabolic bone disease or what? Some other information that might help is that it was a captive bred baby male and i am using a 100 watt spot bulb and a repti glo 8.0 UVB bulb. The temperature isdie the cage is 90 on the top and 75 on the bottom. The screen cage is in a 3ft high, 18 in wide by 20 in long screen cage. Email me for any pictures or any other information you might need to help me. Right now i cant figue out how to attach pictures to this.

Thanks,
Nathan

Hi Nathan,
I saw you post below and that you didn't get a reply. Sometimes this forum slows down a lot over the weekend and especially it being a holiday.

Since you will be bringing him to the vet on Tuesday anything that is said here will not help much in the next 48 hours. One thing I am not sure of, but I think the repti-glo does not produce the same as the repti-sun bulbs but someone else will have to qualify that.

Is he eating and drinking OK? I am not expert and would not even want to make a guess here but I think pictures would certainly help others and they are easy to upload here. Go to the gallery (link above) and upload your pic into the gallery (directions are there). then, post a message and use the "select image" that appears at the bottom of the message window.

Hope this helps and hang in there!
lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Here is a pic of my chameleon with the swollen joints/bumps. and yes he is eating and seems to be drinking fine. he also enjoys eating the ficus tree in his cage.

Here is another pic.

looks like your "he" is a "she". lol. Really, small casque. I had the same problem. I used to supplement a lot. My cham got swollen "ankles" on his back legs from it. I stopped supplementing for a few months and started gutloading my feeders a lot better. And that helped with the swelling. His back legs are still a little big, but there's not really a problem with them. He's got good grip and leaves marks when he crawls up my arm. Now I only supplement one day every 3 weeks. just lightly sprinkle the crickets only. My other feeders I leave clean. I think gutloading is the main thing. Cuz since I cut back almost entirely and improved my gutload, things are a lot better. I also started using butter worms and silk worms becuase they're supposed to be high in calcium than any other feeder. I think that's going pretty good.

maybe it's a girl
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Im pretty sure that my VEiled Chameleon is a mle. It has tarsel heel spurs, or can females also have those? I included a updated pic of my veiled chameleon. Thanks and if you have anymoreinformation it would be appreciated, because now im only getting more confused. I emailed a chameleon keep for the Reptiles magazine that is in the UK. He said he think it might be a type of gout but he needed me to email him more infrmation on how i cared for the veiled chameleon, he said that it is deadly. I think ive herd just about everything, lol. But My veiled chameleon hasnt showed any lethargy or not eating or anything liek that. The only thing that i can noticeably see the matter with it is that its ankles/bumps. Well, im waiting for my VET to call me tomarow, thanks. oh, did you chameleon have any bumps on its back/tail? Also, what are some symptoms of dehydraton in chameleons? Thanks once again.

He does look oddly proportioned - like his head is much bigger and his hind-end is rather thin (you are right about the tarsal spur, it is only in males and I can see his hemipenal bulge).

Are you in the UK? Just curious. Do you have an appointment tomorrow with the vet? I hope he can shed some light and please let us know. As suggested you may want to stop all supplementing until he gets checked out - we'll be rooting for you!

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

No, i dont live in the UK, i live in teh USA. I just emailed the Reptile Care magazine in UK because i was looking at their website and saw that you could email a lizard expert and some other experts, so i did that since they have spent a good part of their life learning and caring for a particular kind of reptile. I dont have an appointment with my VET yet, but i called friday and he was out. The secretary said that she'd tell him what i told her, my chameleons problem and she said she'd have him give me a call back. It is the same one that i took my chameleon to. I also took my bluetongue skink their for mites about 2 years ago, when i first got it. It is fine now and the VET i go to specializes in reptiles, it's just about the only one near me.

well, hopefully you can get him in today - I would press the issue so no more time goes by for your little cham. let us know

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

My vet called back and said he wanted to have a stool sample, he thinks that my chameleon might have internal parasites. i couldnt get him in today since i didnt have a fresh stool sample and im going away from tomaro until friday. i was wondering if anyone had some symptoms on internal parasites or any information at all on them.

Thanks,
nathan

nathan, since this post is pretty far down now folks may overlook it. I would begin a new thread with "internal parasites" in the subject line but also explain the history/pix and or send readers to the previous thread. I don't know how the swollen joints and stuff would be from internal parasites but I have no experience with either.

Hopefully expereinced folks will respond to you. Will you be getting the fecal in before you leave? Do you have a good sitter while you are away?

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Nathan,

My questions for you.. What are you using in your supp'ing schedule? Can you describe the bumps on the "spine"? Are they raised and squishy? (pimple-like) Are they raised hard and boney? Are they flush with the skin? Are they grouped or in-line? Any lesions?

The swollen joints are still part of your diagnosed growth problem. If they are going to heal, it will take some time for the body to reach adulthood (stop growing) and for everything to even out. If the areas are brittle and underdeveloped, they will remain an area of concern for injury and infection. Just pay extra attention to these area's and react pretty quickly if conditions worsen.

If it were me, I would cut back on food and supp'ing. (Use only 1/2 or 3/4 what you would normally use) The faster you let the veiled grow, the worse your problem is going to get. With rapid development, your lighting and supp'ing has to be right-on, or you'll run into problems. With as slower, more natural growth, you'll hit less snags.

I'll try to add to this thread when I get more info back from you..
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Joe
- www.silkwormfarm.com-

For suplements, i am using a 1:1 ratio of Rep-Cal and Rep-Cal Herpitive that i premixed. Then i put 5-10 or so crickets in a bag with a sprinkle of the powder. Then, i feed them to my chameleon. i feed them to my chameleon by grabbing the cricket by the leg and put it infront of the chameleon while its in its cage. then, he grabs them with his tongue. I only dust the crickets once a week. I ussually feed him anywhere from about 5-10 crickets and sometimes skip a feeding. There aren't any lesions anywhere on my chameleon. The bumps dont occur in any sort of pattern. They are just scattered on his spine/back and the of the top of tail. The bumps are only about a millimeter or two at the most in diameter. They are rasied, i'd say about a millimeter or so. He has one bump on his spine, on the side and a few on the tail. I have posted two pictures just this morning with a close up and far away shot of the chameleon and the bumps. if you need more pictures or better ones juest tell me. So, am i feeding him too much? Should i only give him about 5 crickets every day and skip a feeding about once a week? oh, also, i havnt been dusting the crickets for about two weeks, because someone else told me to stop, then continue after teh two weeks and dust the crickets once a week. Also, someone else said that the repti-glo 8.0 UVB bulb and the rep-cal isnt any good. IS this true or not? Also, should i not always use the rep-cal and rep-cal herpitive once a week? liek use just rep-cal one week and then rep-cal and rep-cal herpitive another week? Also, i am gutloading the crickets. I am usings flukers orange cubes and some flukers gurload that has liek flour and some otehr stuff liek that in it.

Thanks,
Nathan