I think my Chameleon has Metabolic Bone Disease(Metabolic Bone Disease). She is a Young Veiled Chameleon. We had no access to crickets for a few weeks, we only had meal worms! Recently she began acting strangely... She would hold her mouth weirdly, She stopped climbing around, she developed a black mark on her back, her tongue hangs out and she can't control it very well.

Unfortunately, her behavior began to go downhill the day we got cricxkets for her... she wouldn't eat them. We had to force feed her and give her water from a dropper. She eventually stopped climbing and can't lift herself off the ground anymore. We did online research and thought that Metabolic Bone Disease was most likely the problem.

But more problems arise! Our Vet knows nothing about Chameleons and can't treat her! We read up on how to treat it, with more calcium in her diet and lots of sunlight... but its been very very cold lately and there hasn't been enough sunlight to put her in. We also found conflicting data on the disease! Some sites say that Chameleons can recover from Metabolic Bone Disease, while others say its irreversable!? I NEED to know what to do to help her. Please!

She IS showing signs of improvement, but I'm still worried about her tongue and jaw. She is regaining strength(Not shaky when walking, can stand up a little), and she has regained her appetite(Trying to eat). But she still can't eat on her own, or really walk much anymore. Pleasde tell me what to do.

P.S. We are giving her Calcium supplement, and gut loading our crickets/meal worms/waxworms with veggies and fruit. We also have her lights on constantly(Heat and UV lights). Several sources said we need to keep her heat up, but its winter time and its very cold, thus the constant lighting.

Thanks in advance for any help! I really appreciate it, but I would prefer a hasty response.

Chameleons require less UV than many other lizards, and if you have provided a UV light then I don't see why your cham should be suffering from Metabolic Bone Disease - what UV have you got and where is it?

It sounds more like your cham has some kind of disease or injury, or possibly a parasite infection - what cham is it? -tongue problems are not rare with veiled chams, and there are a number of possible causes; too much or little vitamins, in particular vit A (what supplements do you use?), too little calcium or insufficient UVB, dehydration, injury. We really need to know more to provide an accurate diagnosis.

The meal worms you were feeding - what size were they? Was she eating them ok? How old and big is the cham? Meal worms can be harder to digest than other foods, but do not cause Metabolic Bone Disease - in some lizards, where the food item is too big it can cause hing-leg extension, or paralysis.

It does sound very serious - I know you say your vet doesn't know anything about chams, but you should take her anyway,. a vet can do a faecal exam to see if any parasites are present - take a poo sample, or they can do x-rays and other medical stuff we can't do. Alternatively, find a specialist vet near you - perhaps someone here can recommend one? - your cham sounds very sick and all we can do here is advise, we are not trained to make the animal better.

Some things you can try to do to keep the strength of the animal up, while you find a good vet, are; feed a multi-vitamin supplement 1-2 x per week, add calcium to the other feeds, for now. You can feed the crickets fruit and veg as you have been doing, to gut-load them, but you can also try them on cooked (hard-boiled) egg-yolk, which is high in vit A. Veileds will eat greens, particularly if they are dehydrated, so try some finely chopped greens, though not lettuce as this has very little nutritional value - try kale, watercress, roquet, butternut squash and grated carrot.

Good luck, please keep us updated on your little one.

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it. I only suspected Metabolic Bone Disease because I saw a list of symptoms and my Chameleon seems to have them all.

Rubbery jaw, tongue dysfunction, shaky movements, inability to stand up, swelling of soft tissue(Gums), soft casque, and inability to eat on her own.

The UVB light had been turned off... I didn't even notice that it was off until the other day. It may have been off for quite a long time. The supplement we use is called Repti-Cal. We've lost the container so I can't say what vitamins/minerals are in the supplement. Also, our local petshop is still closed and I can't ask them where to find a good reptile vet.

The food we give our feeder insects is mostly carrots, potatoes, mustard greens, bread, and a few apple slices on occasion. The mealworms are medium sized, maybe 1/2 inch-3/4 inch. She was eating them very well, until her jaw started looking strange. She has begun trying to swallow the insects that I place in her mouth... but she sometimes vomits them back out.

She is showing signs of recovery though. She is starting to move her tongue better, and she pulls it back inside her mouth fairly quickly. She now claws(Grasps) at a piece of paper we have her laying on(So she doesn't get substrate on her tongue). She also can "Push up" off the ground more than before.

A major question I have is: Will her tongue dysfunction recover? Her mouth doesn't close all the way, and her tongue dries out the end sometimes. I just want her to be healthy again.
Thanks for the help.

Where are you located ?

__________________
Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Hello,
Does the Chameleon now have access to UV lighting? I am still not clear on this. If the Cham does have UV lighting available, what kind of lighting is it? Also, how close to the lighting can the Cham get? How old is the lighting?
Metabolic Bone Disease is reversible when it has been caught early enough.

And how old is she? Typically it takes a while for Metabolic Bone Disease to develope.

__________________
Answers are great. But I prefer questions!

Visit me at www.jaysreptiles.com

I am located in Rural Retreat Virginia.
There is UV lighting on top of her pen. Maybe 2 1/2 feet-3 feet from the bottom(Where she stays now). I have no clue what kind of light it is, it came with her pen when I bought it, along with lots of other things too. I was told by the petshop owner that it should be changed once a year or so, we've only had her for about 6-7 months.

I am pretty unclear on her age too... the petshop owner never mentioned her age. She was still very small when we got her(Maybe 4-6 inches from head to tail) and now she is about 8-9 inches from head to the tip of her tail. She did however display gravid behavior once and had her gravid colors on display one day. I'm guessing this was her first "Mating Period" this happened about 3 months ago.

Current situation: She continues to hang her tongue out when given water. She sometimes pulls it back in quickly and sometimes lets it stay out all night. She regularly vomits up her food... unless its carrots, I can bet it'll come back the next time I water/feed her. She won't stand up anymore and just lays on the paper and occasionally crawls around. She did however poop 2 times(Once last night, and once this morning).

Thats about all. I hope this sheds more light on the situation.

This does not sound good! This animal needs to see a good herpvet as soon as possible!
Check out www.Herpvetconnection.com
and www.arav.com to see if there is one near you.
Some pet shops will sell you anything! Look at the labeling on the bulb to see what kind it is. Is it a flourescent? One of those spiral bulbs? What type of cage? If its a reptarium or a cage with a glass top and the light is outside then the uvb is not getting thru.
I'm confused. You say you are running the lights constantly because its very cold and then you say the lights have been off and you have no idea how long they have been off. Do you not check on the cham daily? Do you know what the temperature in the cage is? These animals are quite demanding in regard to their environmental needs.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hello,
Well said merlin. I was going to ask the same questions regarding the lighting. That was my initial reasoning. I too want to know if we are talking bulb,tube,MV,etc.

OK like what everyone has mentioned, find out what UV lighting you are using. If you are unsure go to a petstore and buy the right kind that will supply you cham with what it needs. Take out the substrate and use paper towels, the last thing we need is for your cham to get some substrate into its body. If you think it's Metabolic Bone Disease there is something called "Bone Aid" by T-Rex. When my Gargoyle developed Metabolic Bone Disease from lack of calcium I dropped some of the Bone Aid into his mouth 2 times a day for 3 days, then once a day after that until he started to recover.

Mealworms can be hard to digest for many animals, especially with a lack of the correct lighting. Try what Bitis said, with the greens. Also don't feed your cham large crickets due to the harder shell they will have. When my Gargoyle had Metabolic Bone Disease his bones were weak and he could have broken his jaw if he tried to eat crickets so I had to feed him strictly mashed fruit/baby food.

So what I would recommend is change substrate to paper towell, small crickets that are dusted and gut-loaded, greens, bone aid (be CAREFUL, too much will be harmful, just 1 drop only), go and get the correct lighting that will provide your cham with what it needs, and find a vet ASAP. On the good news, veilds are known as the hardy species of chams.