Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How is your little guy doing?

Well, today was cloud cover all day so we got no sun. We just chilled in cage in the cloth under the new 5.0 flourescent. I soaked him for 15 minutes in warm water and got very little results (defication). I just knew he had to go but something wasn't right.( Ok, here goes the "ewwwww!" part.)I picked him up and looked at his cloaca. The opening was small and as I looked it, it was seeming to throb. I got a plastic syringe out and started flushing the opening. It then started to swell. All of the sudden, urea started to breach the opening. I put him back in the water. He lifted his back legs up so that they were not supporting him (he was balancing the back end of his body with his tail, if this makes sense). His back feet started to quiver. It was alot like when my geckos lay eggs. He was completely uncomfortable. He passes a little apricot and 3 small clumps of dark matter. I disected the dark matter and found small trace amounts of repti-bark, cricket wings, and tiny leaflets of romane. The stool still seems hard to me. Even for being deficated in water. So, tonight we fed a concoction of 75% apricot, 25% mashed apple and supplemented with rep-cal.
He is still not interested in moving things and eating on his own. When he is basking is when food offered is taken. Like I said in previous posts, he will just open his mouth and I will stick a beheaded cricket in. He will then slowy close his mouth, chew and swallow. He accepted 5 crix like that yesterday. After the 5th one, he would not open his mouth.

Its so hard not knowing much of his history. You know, once I read an article out of Reptile magazine about a boy and his veiled( couple of years ago, back section of magazine). The cham. was a couple years old. One day the boy was feeding the cham. and he had the lid of the cage open and supported by locking hinges. Don't ask me how this happened, but apparently the boy accidentally knocked the hinge while the cham was in mid launch with his tongue zapping the cricket out of the boys finger which was presented outside the cage. Anyhow, the lid closed shut and cut the tongue off. I know this sounds far fetched but I swear it was in Reptiles magazine.
Anyhow to the point...the cham after that was unable to use its tongue so the boy would offer crix in front of the chameleon. The cham. learned to take it from the boys fingers and the boy and his cham. lived happily everafter.....

My thought is this. When I got him, he could not support his self. I believe that when he does take crix from my fingers, that it could be a learned behavior from previous owners. Or, it is a sign of aggression and once the cricket is in the mouth, he is like "what the hell, might as well eat it".

In the past, when I had to force feed other animals, lets say leopard geckos, I would have to put the item towards the back of the mouth. If I put it towards the front, they would just reject it and spit it out if they could. This chameleon is so different. I put the cricket on the front of the mouth, he closes his mouth, looks around a bit while I stand there not breathing or blinking, then he continues to chew and swallow. I have never seen this before in an animal...never. But its pretty amazing. But for whatever reason, its working for the both of us. God knows I long for the day when the little bugger is zapping the crix out of a cup. But I got a feeling that that day is not to near.
Anyhow, thanks for checking in with us, I will keep you posted on any high points.
Sorry this was long....but ya did ask...hehehehehe!
Severa
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2.3 leopards( 2 tremper albinos,1 high yellow, 2 tang)1.0 African fattail,0.1 pink toe tarantula,1.0 mexican red knee tarantula,1.0 albino sonoran gopher,1 eastern painted turtles,0.1 sun conure,55 gallon freshwater tank, and one five gallon brackish tank with a flounder, and two chihuahuas......and thats all!

Im glad to hear that he is making progress. I know it seems slow, but that's how lizards are I guess... I think it's neat how he takes them out of your hand. Obviously it means something is wrong, but in the mean time it makes things a little less stressful for him not having to be forced.
One of my cats was very sick when I got her from the toronto spca. She was TINY and all goobery from an uri. I could feel EVERY bone in her body, her collar bone and tail bones stuck right out. I was so used to having to "force" medications with my previous cats when they needed them that I would do the same with her, open the mouth, squirt in the back, close mouth, rub throat. Then one day she started licking the lid of her meds as i filled the syringe. From then on she'd just drink it up on her own!!! Very strange kitty. My other cat had to be CHASED around the house for a long time then it was a fight to the death, for the same medication. Some animals are just plain quirky.

You are dedicated! Poop detective is not a job for everyone I have done that with cats in the past to look for worms - talk about eewwwwww! ;-/

Not sure if that particular story is true but we have had one or two folks here (long time ago) who had a cham with an amputated tongue. Sometimes it has to be done if they cannot retract it
Also, several poeple hand feed their chams due to it not being able to use it. I think that is usually supplement related. I do find Luna sometimes getting "lazy tongue" so I put in a moth or something to stretch for and boy does she!!

A suggestion on food. I would be leass worried about the crickets head as I would legs & ovipositor. Maybe giving him only soft food for awhile might be good so it is easier to digest and no potential body parts to get hung up or increase binding. Have you tried silkies?

Keep up the great work! Does he have a name?
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)