Please can you help . I have a very sick male veiled chameleon here.
Very swolen joints in almost all four elbow areas. Not wanting to eat or drink. Still showing beautiful colors and strong grip with toes. Some toes are swollen as well. No known reptile vet here.

Sounds like Metabolic Bone Disease to me.

What is his set-up? Does he have UVB lighting, and do you supplement his food with calcium? If not, it's very likely that's what he's got.

In any case, you'll have to get him to a certified herp vet as soon as possible if you want him to live. He sounds pretty bad off.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Thank you.
I was thinking it might be Metabolic Bone Disease, but it isn't the same as I have seen on other reptiles. He is not mine, trying to help someone else. I have 2 of my own and 1 iguana. We don't have a reptile vet here and I am trying to help where I can. They talked about his lighting, heating and feeding and it seems fine to me. I did have him sitting in a rehydrating chamber, just in case he was dehydrated... not too sure if that will help. Now I have in another tank with heat and UV lighting and keepinga close watch. Do you have any suggestions. Taking him to a vet is not an option here.
Thank you for any suggestions.

Do You know about the differences between UVA and UVB lighting? Is the bulb incandescent or fluorescent?

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Git'er Done!

Where are you located? We can probably point you in the direction of a good vet.

You have to understand that whatever this is, Metabolic Bone Disease or not, we aren't going to be able to accurately tell you how to treat it. We can give you information on proper care of the chameleon, and steps you can take to help improve the condition, but most of us aren't vets, and even then we haven't seen him, so we're only making guesses. Even if the nearest vet is a couple of hours away, it's best to get him to one. It could, and probably will, make the difference between whether he survives or not.

That said, we'll give you what information we can. I believe that once an animal has Metabolic Bone Disease, it's then a permanent condition. It can be treated and kept under control, but not cured. I'm not 100% sure, though, so hopefully someone more knowledgable will step in. They need to make sure he's getting proper amounts of UVB and calcium - and not too much or he could get sick that way, too. Another good method is, when it's warm enough, to get him outside into fresh air and natural sunlight without a tank or cage which will filter out the UVB rays.

Also it would be helpful if you could give us more exact information about his setup. He may be getting UVB, but not enough, that sort of thing. We can give you more info if we know more.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

We are in NS Canada with snow outside right now.
I don't know what kind or amount of UVB lighting he was getting.
Here at my house I have:
EXO-TERRA Repti-Glo 5.0 UVB
ZOO-MED POWERSUN UV 100W UVB and UVA
What would you say would be best for him rifht now?
And should he go into the rehydrating chamber?
He only came here about 4 hours ago. He did appear to be stronger then than now.

Just ask and I wil answer the best I can.

well, a stress of a move will make him not so good off as well.

I'm not a cham person, but lots of people here are. I think we have someone from NS canada, but I'm not sure what area. They may be able to help in finding a vet.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Hmmm... The Zoo-Med doesn't even say how much UVB it's producing.

How old is the Exo-Terra Bulb? If it is older than 6 months, it will probably be useless. If not, that's a good place to start. 5.0 is recommended for chams, but a stronger bulb might be better considering his condition. Again, if someone knows more about this, please chime in.

Here's a link to the veiled chameleon caresheet: Veiled Chameleon Caresheet (Chamaeleo calyptratus) - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

There's a whole section on lighting, which directs you to this website: Welcome To ReptileUV - Mega-Ray® UVB lamps for reptile lighting worldwide It will probably benefit you to read up on lighting, and perhaps order a bulb from them. They have a whole section explaining why certain light is better than others. It's very informative.

Also do you have a calcium supplement for him? It would be best to start dusting some of his meals. Here's a calcium supplement powder: Rep-Cal Supplements

Please check his temperature and humidity against the caresheet. If these are off, it is probably a contributing factor.

Remember that these recommendations are based on the assumption he is calcium defficient. If he's already got the lighting and supplement, please don't automatically increase them. That may not be his problem.

I'm not sure about the rehydrating chamber. I've never used one.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Thank you everyone, who offered their help. I am sorry to have to say, but the little guy died shortly after I started asking questions here. He must have been very sick for a while.(I really don't know his background). He was in the cage, but when I saw him laying down, with very little life left, I picked him up and held him. He just laid in my hands. About 1/2 an hour later, he died. It was sad, as he was so beautiful. But I was glad that he didn't just fall and die in the bottom of the cage. At least this way he wasn't left alone. Hopefully the warmth form my hands gave him some comfort.
Once again, thank you everybody. I will certainly look at those care sheets and info on reptile lighting.

I do have another question, this is about my chameleon. And I was wondering what others might have done. Venus is a veiled chameleon. She is very large right now and holding onto a lot of eggs. She has never been bred. This is her 2nd time to have eggs. She has everything in there with her to lay them in, but won't lay them. Nothing is different from before (that I can see). Is there anything I can give her or do for her to help her?

sorry about the little one you tried to help. Sometimes its just too late.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.