Hypocalcemia in chameleons

Hypocalcemia refers to low levels of calcium (calcium deficiency) in the bloodstream. It is also referred to as ‘metabolic bone disease’.

Calcium is one of the most important elements found inside the body. It has many jobs, but the most important one for understanding the effect on calcium in the body, is that it makes muscles contract.  Calcium moves in and out of muscle cell walls causing the muscle fiber to contract.

Calcium enters the body through food. In the wild the chameleon would eat a huge variety of insects that have been foraging and feeding. In captivity, the insects are mass reared, tend to be very limited in species numbers and may not even represent the kind of insect found in the wild. Mass reared insects are low in calcium.

A common method of increasing the amount of calcium in the body is to dust the insects with calcium powder. Although sometimes the dust can fall off before consumed so gut loading the insects with specific calcium high insect feeds can be beneficial; this will help provide your chameleon with the required calcium amounts.

Calcium cannot enter the body without vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 acts as a key in the intestine to let calcium into the blood stream; therefore UV light (wavelength 290-350 nm) is important.

UV light reacts with cholesterol in the skin and changes it through several chain reactions in the liver and finally in the kidney to make active vitamin D3 that the chameleons body can use. Reptiles cannot store Vitamin D3 and are unable to change vitamin D2 to D3 as mammals can. A good source of UV light at the correct height is vital at around 30-45 cm away from the chameleons main resting spot.

There are two hormones that control the levels of calcium in the blood stream. Calcium is potentially a dangerous element. Too much calcium in the body can lead to arterial sclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and too low calcium can lead to seizures (fits) and brittle bones.

Calcitonin is the hormone that pushes calcium into the bones if there is too much calcium in the blood stream. Bones act as a store for excess calcium.

Parathyroid hormone comes into action when there is too little calcium in the body, depleting the bone store.

In chameleons this can cause muscular weakness. Most importantly it can cause weakening of the bones causing them to bend or fracture, this is called metabolic bone disease.

There are several times in a chameleon’s life when calcium has an elevated role. Growth demands a lot of calcium to support lengthening bones as the chameleon grows. As the chameleon becomes an adult, the amount of calcium required is reduced as they are no longer growing.

Female chameleons also need extra calcium when they reach reproductive age. The ovaries and eggs require huge amounts of calcium. The body sacrifices the calcium in the bones to make calcify the females’ eggs and to support growth.

To prevent this occurring, you will need to ensure your chameleon’s house is adequate temperature, the daytime temperature should be around 21-40°C/69.8-104°F. The vivarium should have two ends, the higher temperatures being the basking end of the vivarium and the other end the lower temperature where the chameleon can go to cool off. Adequate temperatures can help the digestion process of food, as well as ensuring your chameleon has a good quality UV bulb at the correct distance to maximize calcium absorption at around 30-45 cm away from where he spends most of his time.

A good balanced diet with calcium and vitamin supplements is essential to make sure the muscles work correctly.

If your chameleon has a low calcium condition he or she will need to go to the veterinary practice for calcium treatments, this can sometimes mean your chameleon will have to stay in hospital whilst his calcium levels are stabilized.