Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
I got a beautiful female ankaramy in a couple weeks ago that tested positive for hookworm and was treated with panacure. I did not notice until a few days ago that she has some swelling on the base of her neck, right above her shoulders. I am not even sure that it is a problem as she is by far one of my best eaters and one of the most active of all my chams. Any comments or suggestions?
Thanks,
-Waseem

In my opinion, ventral cervical edema (i.e., "lower neck swelling" as you described) is not uncommon in certain cham species, especially WCs, following deworming (particularly oral Panacur) and sometimes, dusting with supplements.

My LTC Senegal develops this edema every time I dust her food, so predictably that I have figured out in the two years I've had her that I can only *lightly* dust ~4-5 adult-size crickets approx every two months as a maximum frequency. My CBs can handle a much more frequent dusting regimen. A recent WC gravid Carpet developed such wicked edema to even the tiniest amount of dewormer, I had to wait until she laid her eggs to fully deworm her, after which she handled a normal dose of dewormer just fine.

The exact medical reasons for the development of cervical edema aren't fully understood, but it is believed to be a sign of kidneys in overdrive having to filter the new substance (i.e., dewormer, supplements, etc) out of the cham's body. Therefore, keeping your cham thoroughly hydrated is paramount to ease the burden of the kidneys. My cham's are none-the-worse for wear with infrequent bouts of minor, transient edema, I try to up their hydration, keep lots of notes of what spurred the edema and try to tweak the amount of whatever I gave to induce the edema the next time if/when I have to give the "offending" substance. That is just my experience.