MBD and over feeding

I wanted to share a case of Metabolic bone disease I encountered.

I made a trade with another breeder. I traded them two 3 month old nosey bes for two 2 month old ambanjas. When I receved my chams I was astonished as to how much bigger their 2 mo olds were to my 3 mo olds. It was tremendous. My first reaction was "God am I starving my little boogers?" and "Jeesh, I bet they feel ripped off". I imediately emailed them and they responded thinking the noseys were a little small to their standards, but were healthy and eating, so they werent concerned about the difference.

I next did allot of research on size differences in panther chameleons. Of course just about anybody who has bred chams has noticed size differences between members of the same clutch. I found some info that stated that nosey bes might actually grow at a slower rate compared to other panthers. I wasnt satisfied with these answers. So I questoned the breeders further on their methods. The breeders seemed, through my many conversations, to have their stuff down as far as their husbandry. The major difference from my method is that they place their babies in individual cages from an early age. I normally cage 3-4 per cage for the first couple of months, more due to space. I believe that, the breeders having only one per cage, that they may have grown at a more than average rate due to no competition for food.

At first this sounded very appealing. Having all of the clutch do equally as well and grow at a fast rate. After spending more time with my new arrivals I noticed a slight limp on one of the ambanjas front legs. Something didnt look quite right to me. The joint had a a slight, I mean slight, bend in it. I have never encountered MBD, but I have found plenty of info on it and have seen allot of pics. It sort of looked like it could be, but could have been a small fracture done in shipping too. I imediately phoned my vet and took him over. He diagnosed it as the beginnings of MBD. He explained his thoughts as to what may have happened. He explained that even though they were well fed and supplemented, the bone density could not keep up with the growth rate. He says it isnt all that uncommon in allot of animals kept in captivity and it is normally recommended to reduce volume of foods. He prescribed treatment and I made sure he wasnt able to gorge himself anymore. He began growing at a rate I was used to seeing. Despite a slight extra knot on his elbow he is doing fine now and no longer has a limp.

As keepers we feel our animals are doing well if they are eating as much as we can get them to. I always feel a bit of relief after everone has successfully fed. But, it taught me to set a limit and make sure not to stuff and "Powerfeed" my animals. As tempting as it may be. Faster growth isnt always better.

how many crickets do you feel a 5 month old veiled should eat a day and an adult for that matter...............my chams would eat a dozen a day if i let them ( i used to just let them eat what they wanted) but ive now cut them down to about 5 large crickets a day and have been doing that for a bout a month now but my female still hangs out by her feeding bowl a lot? is this just due to their nature being oprotunistic feeders?

At around six months of age, I start cutting back to feeding every other day. I hand feed until they stop feeding aggressively. This gives me a general idea as to the quantity to cup feed. The amount varies for each chameleon. It can also change as they grow and as the seasons change, so I keep going back to hand feeding to calibrate the appropriate number.

I think the day in between gives time for proper digestion to take place and decreases the chance of impaction in the intestine. I believe it also resembles their feeding in nature more as there is no way for them to feed daily until full in the wild.

Veileds are always hungry. They are definitely opportunistic feeders. I liken them to dogs, they are able to gorge themselves so they can go longer between meals. Great for survival in harsh environments. If females are overfed, they will have much larger clutches (fertile or not). This creates a heavy strain on their bodies and they dont live as long. That is a fact. Since I have adopted this feeding philosophy, my females clutch sizes have come down, but the hatch rate and size/vigor of the hatchlings has increased and my female breeders lifespans have doubled.