Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I brought my Jackson and veiled chameleons to the a vet in Pompano, Florida. The establishment was called Avian and exotic animal hospital it was recommended on a reptiles site. The Dr claimed she was well versed in chameleons. As I have mentioned preiously the jacksons are lethargic, weak, not eating, sleeping during the day, breathing with their mouth open, have mouth rot, extra saliva, short tongue striking distance. My veils seem ok and are kept in a different room and all the chameleons are in different cages. The Dr thought nothing was wrong with the Jacksons but the stress put on them when I purchased them a week ago. Despite the missing part of the females lip and the grey and yellow sludge in their mouth she though it looked fine. She said it was less pink then the veiled because it's a different species. She grabbed at my lizards, took too males out at one time angering them. Her suggestion was to leave them alone get a cool water mister and lower the temperture. told her I keep the veils hotter and drier than the jacksons and she said they should all be kept at 82 during the day in a humid enviroment (I live in FLorida it's humid enough in my house and I spray 5 times a day). This information cost me 150.00.

I have been told by a local chameleon breeder to go ahead with the baytril giving them .05 cc twice a day orally or once a day subcataneously for 7 days. He doesn't think the veils are infected as I keep everything seperatly. I am going with the oral dose and have been hand feeding them meal worms and crickets. I've been keeping them very hydrated as I've heard baytril is hard on the liver and kidneys. The male jackson weighs 55 grams the female 40 grams, what do you guys think of the dosage and the treatment in general?

I am sorry to hear your Vet was no help. I would suggest taking it to a qualified second Vet and not just dosing with Baytril. Also this breeder told you it was ok to inject Baytril Sub-Q which is totally incorrect. Baytril injections must be given IM as if they are given sub-q it will cause problems and can kill the skin at the injection site. Baytril is very strong and yes it can and does damage the Kidneys, Liver, and other organs on animals specially Chameleons.
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Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.oldworldchameleons.com
www.ballpythonmorphs.net

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Signature edited to remove advertising comments.

Edited on January 25, 2004 at 18:42:21 by phwyvern.

I brought the Jacksons to another vet last Saturday. He was who I wanted to bring them to originally, but he was recovering from eye surgery. He has over 58 years veterinary ecperience with reptiles and own's Wild Cargo. He said that 0.05 cc in the morning and at night was correct though he wanted me to do it for 10 days instead of seven. He said it was iffy if they would survive as they are very weak. They were suffering from a protozoan infection that he medicated them for. He said their stomachs would be calmed down by tonight. I haven't fed them yet. He said they had mouth rot, stomaitus, and parasites. I will never buy from that woman again sometimes a deal can be to good to be true. Now I've noticed strange bumps on the female I'm going to post in another topic about. They don't look like calcium deposits they are black raised and hard one has a hole in it. The scales around the dark part are lighter than the rest of her. She's had one on her sde for a while and now two on her tail. They make her tail look bent at a strange angle. Do you think this is a parasite damaging her skin or strange calcium deposits? With all the vomiting she probably hasn't been getting enough calcium.