Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello

I was looking into buying a WC cham from a local store.

I was curious as to what medicins would need to be administered to a WC reptile. I have a microscope at home so I could look at fecal. I know I could go to a vet and get it from them, but I was wondering how hard it is to just do it yourself. The vet bill would be quite high..and I would like to avoid the stress on the animal if possible.

thank you very much

-adam

First question: Has the cham been through any deparisitation since being captured/imported?

If so, you may not need to do anything except be watchful.

Reputable sellers will put all, or most, of their wildcaughts through a series of treatments before they offer them for sale. But, most sellers will try to get rid of them as quickly as possible with little, or no, treatment.

Enter the experience knowing that there is risk that the chameleon could die.

Find a good vet. This is the best contact you can ever make. You can get all the treatment materials from him or her and can have this on hand for future crisis.

Joe

There is a great little book on parasites that may help you decide if you can do it yourself or not. R. Klingenberg's Understanding Reptile Parasites. It should be available from online herp supply places. There is no real way to guess what medications a wc cham will need without doing at least a fecal first. Some dealers "shotgun" their animals figuring that Panacur of Flagyl or even Ivermectin will get most of whatever is there...but they don't really know and the drugs may not be necessary or even effective. If they guess wrong on the dosage it can cause a lot of organ damage...and so can the dying parasites. It is best to test for presence first, then only apply a medication IF NEEDED. Some cham species have tendencies for different types of parasites so that will need to figure in as well. There are parasites that are not affected by medications targeting intestinal types. Some parasites infest the respiratory or circulatory system, or if the parasites are really heavy they may have migrated out of the intestine and be damaging other organs. Actually, if you have a well respected herp savvy vet near you (I don't mean one who sees the occasional iguana) this initial visit is a key one. You can start a good track record on this animal, get the vet on board with as much species info as possible, and maybe catch other health problems before you notice them. It's always a good idea to get some baseline blood, calcium, kidney function, bacterial and other health info on a new cham too.

I got that book before I got my cham's. You can get it at Amazon for 8.95
Understanding Reptile Parasites: A Basic Manual for Herpetoculturists & Veterinarians