Posted by:
icequeen
at Tue Jun 1 22:54:59 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by icequeen ]
...unfortunately, I don't think he really does have much of a chance.
Tonight, I went to grab a coffee, and for whatever reason I decided to go in to the "petshop" at the corner. I had seen this poor pitiful creature in the past, but did my best to avoid the overwhelming urge to go and rescue him, thus making room for his replacement to fill the empty pet shop cage.
Tonight, I was just sickened by what I saw. I actually thought he was already dead in his cage. I have NEVER seen a cham in such horrific condition. His casque and eyes are so sunken, and he is SO thin!!!
Not to mention that hole in his chin. It goes right to the bone. It doesn't seem to be open any longer, and there is no drainage from it.
The "reptile girl" (that's what they call her) from the store says that Chancey (my daughter named him that...Chance-y...get it??) doesn't eat on his own, and that she hand feeds him meal worms. He won't eat crickets she says. I know for a fact that they do not gut load their feeders. Crickets get the potato that comes in their shipping crate, and that's it.
Anyway...when I saw him tonight, I asked the reptile girl if she would let me bring him home and give him a chance..."because we both know he's going to die if I don't". She asked me if I had housing for him, and I told her I did. She knows I had a cham, and my skink was a rescue from the same shop.
She said "he's yours", and lifted him out of his cage, and gave him to me in a huge box. He couldn't or wouldn't even stand up...and was sliding around in the box so I went to the donut shop next door and asked them for a Timbit box to put him in, and away we went...home.
When we got home, I gave him some really diluted repti-aide, which once he got a taste of it, he seemed to be interested in eating it. His mouth is really shaped funny...his top lip is kind of curled up, but the bottom jaw doesn't seem to protrude any further than what I would expect.
Afterward, I took him upstairs, wrapped in a cloth, and held a really lightly running shower over him. He didn't like it very much, that's for sure. I was worried about stressing him too much so I didn't keep him up there for very long.
Right now, he's in a 50 gallon aquarium, just to keep the heat and humidity up, and so that he's not way up high with no strength...I'm worried about him falling, and being too cold.
When I left for work tonight, he was actually part way up a stick in the tank, with nice cushy pothos under him in case he topples off.
If he gets a little stronger, and starts to look a little better, I'll move him in to Zoe's cage.
But, honestly, I'm not going to get my hopes up. He looks to me like he's too far gone. And that hole....God!! He's so frail right now though that I don't think he could tolerate antibiotic treatment.
Keep your fingers crossed for Chancey.
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Kim
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 Everybody...Meet Chancey. (long with big pics) - icequeen, Tue Jun 1 22:54:59 2004
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