Does he have UV lighting and are you using a calcium supplement that is phospherus free? Are you gut loading the feeders? If you're not doing either of these things, he's probably got an advanced case of metabolic bone disease.

In order to properly metabolize calcium diurnal lizards need a few things one is a UV emitting light, I recommend the repti-suns from Zoomed. UV light catalyzes the synthesis of vitamin D3 which is necessary for proper calcium metabolism. In order for calcium to be metabolized properly, there also needs to be a 2:1 ratio of calcium to phospherus. Sonce feeder insects tend to be high in phospherus, but low in calcium, it's important to have a calcium supplement that does not contain phospherus (calcium phosphate etc). I recommend rept-cal with vitamin D3

Since half your lizards nutrition comes from the stomach contents of the insects it eats, it's important to make sure the feeder insects are well fed. Crickets can be fed fish flakes or crushed high quality dog or cat food along with fruits and veggies for water. Allow them to gorge for several hours before feeding them to your lizard.

Calcium is not only important for bones it is also used by the nervous system to send messages between neurons. When the lizard gets low on calcium it's going to start pulling it from the bones making them weak / soft, and there may also be neurological symptoms (tremors, paralysis).

Correct the lighting, and if you can still get him to eat start giving him prey items heavily dusted with calcium. You can also mix the calcium up into a paste / liquid and try to get some into him. From your description it sounds like he's pretty far gone and may require something like liquid calcium administered by a vet.

Good luck,
Alice

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]