1 year old female veiled chameleon

Question

Lizzy  
Lizzy's Setup   QUESTION: I have a female veiled chameleon, a little over a year old. She's been acting unusual for the last 3 weeks, and we thought she was getting ready to lay eggs again (she laid her first batch back in May). Her abdomen looked full and she kept wanting to go to the bottom of her cage, just like she did the first time. Then she stopped eating too. So we tried putting her in a bucket of sand (which we've since been told sand is bad) but no eggs came. So we took her to the reptile experts at a reptile specialist store nearby and they said it's not eggs, it MBD. So we've been trying to treat her for that, we bought her a new UVB bulb and we've been manually feeding her calcium-dusted worms. She's been hanging in there, and this morning we woke up to about 50 eggs on the bottom of her cage! Now I'm sure those eggs have a lot to do with her MBD. So I'm wondering what exactly we should be doing to help get her through this. I'm looking for a very specific routine/amounts  as far as feeding, supplementing, hydration, etc. Should we start her on liquid calcium? If so, how much? How much/often for vitamins? Food? Water? We have a drip system and we spray her cage a couple times per day, but she drank a lot of water from a medicine dropper this morning (it's the first time I tried that) so I think she's thirsty. I'll attach pics of her and her setup, all taken today. Thanks in advance for any help you're able to provide.

ANSWER: Hello Christy,
Did the vet confirm via x-rays that she had MBD?  
It doesn't appear that she has any bone deviations, correct?
How often do you give calcium for her?

That is definitely a lot of eggs though which will drain calcium stores & reserves.  
I would recommend calcium 3-5 times per week.  You could try her on liquid calcium for awhile to help since she has laid quite a few eggs.
Her set up looks great & the drip system is excellent.

I would use herptivite vitamins which has beta carotene in it instead of synthetic vitamin A.  Chameleons are very susceptible to vitamin A deficiency.  The vitamins should be given 1-2 times per week.
Keep her well hydrated right now to help her kidneys.  What foods does she eat?

Which UVB light are you using, is it a fluorescent tube bulb or a compact/coil light & how close is it to her?
What are her temperatures in her tank?


Let me know how she is doing.  She is beautiful!

Tracie
At her age, she needs 30-50 feeders on average per week for her age to maintain her weight.   

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much! The advice is really helpful. She's our first chameleon but we really love her a lot!

Regarding your questions-there was no X-Ray, it wasn't even an actual vet we spoke to, just people who work there and know a lot about reptiles. They said they could tell by how her spine looked and that she had swollen legs.

We feed her crickets, mealworms, super worms and sometimes she eats leafy greens. Her UVB is a compact bulb. We just replaced it because the one she had was getting pretty old, probably almost a year old. When she's in the highest perching area it's probably like 5 inches above her. The temperature there is around 90F.

She's still hanging in there but not strong enough to stay on her branches for very long, so she's still hanging out on the bottom of her cage most of the time. We still have to manually feed her by opening her mouth and inserting her food.

Answer
Hello Christy,

Which UVB light are you using now?  If you are still using a compact/coil light, you will need to change that out to a tube bulb.  The two that I recommend are the Zoomed Reptisun 10 tube bulb or the Arcadia D 3 12%.  
She may not be improving if you are still using a compact/coil light as she is not able to absorb her calcium properly.  They emit the improper wavelength of UVB which is not conducive to D3 synthesis.  
I think you will begin to see a tremendous improvement if you change out her light as soon as possible.  
I agree, the swollen legs & spine is a good indication of metabolic bone disease.  Does she have any swollen fingers or hands?  
Do you have any pictures of her?  

I hope she is doing a little better now.  Let me know how she is doing.

Tracie