Reddit reviews Zoo Med Reptile Calcium with Vitamin D3, 8-Ounce

oh my... I am sorry to be the one that has to tell you this. I wish you had come on here and asked for help months ago. I will try to make this as detailed as possible so you can know what is going on. A veiled chameleon is not a beginner reptile. It is more on the expert side of reptile care. There are several problems here, but the most important, and I want to emphasize that this is an emergency, your chameleon has metabolic bone disease (MBD). Your chameleon is "lethargic" because it has many broken bones (the arrows in this picture point to the broken bones). If you had to walk on broken legs, I bet you would be pretty lethargic too. This disease is because either you didn't feed it enough calcium supplement, like this one, or you didn't have the right UV lighting, like this one.. Both of these are needed for the chameleons bones to be healthy. MBD also causes bulging eyes, and makes the chameleon unable to use her tongue and to aim correctly with her tongue.

A second problem is that she is very underweight, you are not supposed to be able to see her ribs, hip bones, or shoulder blades. She has not been eating well because, either you don't feed her enough, or she stopped eating because her eyes don't work well due to the low calcium. I predict that the only way she will be able to eat at this point would be to hold the bug directly in front of her so she can eat it without using her tongue.

The third problem is that she is dehydrated. These pictures show her sunken eyes, I am guessing she hasn't drunk any water in about a week. that or is chronically deprived.

I don't want to sound mean, but I also don't want to sugar coat this either. It is very obvious that you do not know how to take care of this chameleon. Please, please, please, as soon as you read this, look up the closest competent reptile store (not petco or petsmart). Drive there right now, and donate this chameleon to them for free. They might be able to save it, it might already be too late. If you don't you are going to slowly watch her die a painful death, and it will be your fault. It might be tomorrow, or it might be in a few weeks, but it will be soon.

I know that sounds harsh. I have been raising chameleons for years. Please take my advice, and then get back to me and let me know how it turns out.

This is a good learning experience for you. Next time subscribe to /r/chameleons, show us your set up before you buy a chameleon so we can give you advice, then ask us questions along the way about diet and supplements, water, etc. So we can prevent problems before they become an emergency.

Keep me updated on how it turns out.

In addition to heat, Bearded Dragons (and many other reptiles) need a bulb which simulates certain different types of sunlight (basically, they need access to the full spectrum of light they'd get from the sun in their natural environment). Ultra-violet B (UVB) is one of these important types of light. Without it, your bearded dragon cannot metabolize calcium in order to grow.

Have you ever heard about how people need sunlight for their bones (namely, to create Vitamin D)? Bearded Dragons are the same way; they need this special type of light in order to create the vitamin which carries calcium into their bones and allows them to grow. Without it, their bodies will eventually start leeching their bones of calcium, and their bones will hollow-out and become porous, a condition known as Metabolic Bone Disease.

At the bare minimum, if price is an issue, I would buy a second lamp hood (~$15 USD) and put in one of these bulbs:

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B00A8RHTYU/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1N3OJ3JLSUEJT&keywords=reptile+uvb+bulb&qid=1572426404&sprefix=reptile+uv%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-7

Notice the bulb says 10.0 UVB; this means that about 10% of the light it puts off is going to be the useful kind for your dragon. You don't want to go any less than this.

In addition, you want to make sure that the Bearded Dragon's basking spot is at least 105-110F (41-43 C). You can get infrared temperature guns, or thermometers with probes that you can set in the basking spot. And buy a powdered supplement which contains both calcium and vitamin D3, like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Reptile-Calcium-Vitamin/dp/B000UJSUO4/ref=sr_1_4?crid=N0PJWYXNDPKZ&keywords=reptile+calcium+with+d3&qid=1572426942&sprefix=reptile+calcium%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-4

At this stage, about 80% of your bearded dragon's diet should be insects, powdered liberally with the calcium+D3 supplement at every meal (3 times/day). If you keep things going the way you are, your animal could very easily die from lack of nutrients/exposure to the correct spectrum of light.

Keep in mind, Bearded Dragons are adapted to live in the hot Australian Outback, very near to the equator. If you don't live in a similar environment, you need to do your best to recreate it in your home--that means high temperatures (with your basking bulb), and the correct ultraviolet light (UVB 10.0).

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Like you've figured out, none of your supplements give your Leo D3. Short-term this isn't the worst thing in the world. Over an extended period of time (or the first few weeks of a Leos life) this is detrimental to their health. Obviously, MBD is the product of not supplementing D3, seems like your "Specialist" pet shop have fallen at the first hurdle.

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The supplements that you've been given are perfect for a UVB setup, (clickable) this is the UVB kit I would recommend. For the price and quality it can't be beaten. Simply screws in to the top of the enclosure. That's not to say you can't Supplement UVB synthetically, if you wish to opt for this (clickable) this is what I would recommend. Ideally, if you supplement synthetically you want 2 feedings a week (or 1/3rd of your feedings) to be coating in this.

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If you're able to upload some pictures to imgur.com I would happily "evaluate" your Gecko (I guess? Seems weird to word it like that). It must be noted that MBD, although not reversible, can be halted - in most cases it's not detrimental.