Posted by:
rugbyman2000
at Thu Dec 1 19:42:06 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by rugbyman2000 ]
Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice. The majority of my reptile experience is with snakes, as well as the animals which come into the rescue like iguanas, beardies, montiors, gators, sulcatas, boxies, etc, so working with a sick chameleon is a learning experience for me. I am fortunate to have some very experienced friends to call in, including a full time AZA zookeeper, but the feedback from the kingsnake crowd is greatly appreciated and being put to great use 
The previous owner did not feed the chameleon for five days before it came in, which would lend to it being so thin and dehydrated. This poor guy is not very cooperative with force feeding, but we were able to get him to eat six or seven crickets (after wetting and dusting them) and also got him to drink a little bit. I guess we will continue this method until his eyes open.
I've been told by a very experienced friend that mineral oil is a great natural lubricant to help loosen up eye problems. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
This may sound like a silly question, but when you suggested "1/2 hour long warm showers will help hydrate " were you talking about putting him in the actual shower, or just filling a spray bottle with warm water and spraying for half an hour, or using a misting system?
To answer some of your questions, the former owner told me he used to dust crickets with some suppliment until he ran out, but wasn't sure which suppliment he used. We keep several on hand and right now I'm giving him ZooMed Reptivite which is a good multivitamin and ExoTerra Electrolyte. Also I'm replacing the UVB bulb because it's about a year old. I'm moving the cham from the glass tank to a Reptarium for better airflow, and I have a warm vaporizer for added humidity. I will be spraying him down quite a bit and making sure his basking temp is in the 90s and the rest is 70-80s, with humidity and shoot for humidity around 30-50.
Admittedly Chams are not my area of expertese so please tell me if you have some more good suggestions. I really appreciate the feedback so far. More updates to follow...hopefully it will be good news
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Jesse Rothacker
Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary
www.forgottenfriend.org
[ Hide Replies ]
- Veiled has eyes swollen shut, looking for advice - rugbyman2000, Wed Nov 30 21:27:08 2005
- RE: Veiled has eyes swollen shut, looking for advice - WillHayward, Wed Nov 30 23:03:24 2005
- RE: Veiled has eyes swollen shut, looking for advice - Carlton, Thu Dec 1 13:27:51 2005
- RE: Veiled has eyes swollen shut, looking for advice - WV_HERP, Thu Dec 1 19:37:57 2005
- Update Pictures...possible color clues...thoughts? - rugbyman2000, Fri Dec 2 10:06:40 2005
- Great! - WillHayward, Fri Dec 2 10:25:27 2005
- how many crickets?? & vet update - rugbyman2000, Fri Dec 2 20:56:43 2005
- 12-10-05 update . . . he's doing ok but not better yet - rugbyman2000, Sat Dec 10 21:34:21 2005
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RE: Veiled has eyes swollen shut, looking for advice - rugbyman2000, Thu Dec 1 19:42:06 2005