Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, posting again about this because I'm somewhat concerned. I posted a picture of my chameleon as well. He is 8 months old and only 5 inches. I dust every batch of crickets I give him with herptivite, and gutload the crickets using an oat-type food and romaine lettuce. He gets a good amount of UVA/UVB light. He doesn't get a lot of natural sunlight, and someone said this might be the cause for his small size. His mouth is also open at the tip all the time (unrelated?).

Basically, I just want to know if there's something I'm doing wrong, or not doing, that may be causing his small size. Also, has anyone ever had a veiled chameleon who has been small his whole life, or is this unheard of? I'm hoping he will just grow, because it will be depressing to have a small, sickly looking chameleon for his whole life. Anyone have any insight?

Thanks.

im mo concerned about his mouth then his small size, if his weight seems to match then i guess hes a late bloomer

however, the mouth thing might be the start of an URI or something related to that, take him to a vet and have him cheacked out, also sometimes mouth infections can happen because of broke cricket legs poking the mouth, check him out for that also
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0.2 Cats (Moora and Twitch)
0.1 Dogs (Maria)
soon to be 1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Yoda)

Its really hard to make an amateur diagnosis from a photo so I'm just going to say that he doesn't look healthy to me. You said he is 5 inches. Is that overall length? Also, you're giving him vitamins way to often. The Herptivite should be used about twice a month (just a pinch). What kind of UVB lights do you have? Some of the bulbs on the market that advertise UVA/UVB have so little UVB in an adequate range that they are essentially just heat lights. The UVA is also basically worthless for your Cham so just disregard that part when you see it on the box. You need a bulb like the Reptisun 5.0 light or one of the Mercury Vapor bulbs. Get rid of the Romaine and buy some real greens (Turnip, Collards, Dandelion, or Mustards). All lettuces and spinach suck as far as Calcium to Phosphorus ratio. Keep the dry cricket food away from the moist to prevent mold. What kind of dusting powder (Calcium) are you using? I'm afriad his mouth being open could be connected with his small size but I don't think it is a URI. That's all that is really fair to say. Do you have other pics? Have you taken him to a vet?

If your chameleon is truly 8 months old, he is stunted for some reason. How many of those eight months has he been in your care? The tip of his mouth open could be a deformity, an old injury, or infection, or the beginning of MBD ("rubber jaw". What UV bulbs are you using? Most manufacturers recommend changing the bulbs for news ones at ~6 months for max UV output. Are your bulbs old? What supplemental calcuim are you giving? You need to radically upgrade your gutloading fodder as someone else mentioned. You are also giving WAY too much vitamins to your chameleon also. Therefore he may be suffering from an exogenous vitamin overdose or a calcium deficiency, or possibly both. You need to find a cham-friendly vet very soon for a good checkup.

oops there is not supposed to be a smiling face by rubber jaw, rubber jaw is not , it is actually very

Walker,

No expert, here, but I have some concerns from your earlier posts. First you had discussed breeding, then gutload/supplement issues now size concerns...

1-You said your male and female were housed together and as you know by now this is not a good thing even if they SEEM to get along. I would not consider breeding until you have them both healthy and separated and until you have done extensive research on all the details - cost, incubation, health, etc.

2-you really need to get your crickets onto a healthy gutload. Adding just romain lettuce will not do the trick. You can keep it simple by giving them different fruits/veggies every few days (apple, orange, squash, etc.) just keep them from getting moldy. this will be their moisture source as well as some nutrition. As for dry gutloads there have been numerous suggestions. Carlton made a good one in either a thread of yours or findaratot.

3- the growth problem is most likely from the poor gutload and improper dusting. I am NOT judging you here, just trying point this out

My suggestion would be to re-read the replies to your posts and findaratot's (I include his b/c he has had similar questions).

Hope this helps you out some. It may seem confusing, but if you want to get your boy healthy you will need to make some changes. Continue to post your questions, concerns and confusion - and no matter what has recently been posted there are no stupid questions - only the ones you don;t ask . Sure sometimes it gets tedious answering the same thing over and over but the last thing anyone here wants to do is alienate other cham keepers.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)