Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fed my brevs today, and i took a look at them maybe a half hour later to see how they were doing... one of them had something hanging out of its mouth. I first thought it was it's tounge... it was black and grey... but when i took her out and took a closer look i saw it was a HUGE poo that she had tried to eat... it was still damp and fresh... the urate was orange (which is strange, its the first one i've seen int he whole tank with an orange urate) and HUGE and soggy, and lodged in her mouth. She wasn't moving much... didn't put up a stink when i took her out ofthe tank... I got the poo out and swabbed her mouth with a q-tip to make sure it was all out... I put her back int he main tank and she sat with her mouth open. I decided to put her into a small tank by herself so i could keep a closer eye on her. She is still alive (I had thought she was dead at first... but after i got the poo out she started to move a bit mroe) but is now sitting with here eyes shut and ver dark... as i'm writing this she opened her mouth again, slightly. I'm not sure what to do with her... her mouth isn't pink inside... i'm not sure if this is right for brevs... its grey/dark purple and her tounge is an orangy/peach colour... i don't see any mucus or discharge...
I'm worried that even if it is just her reaction to almost choking on her poo that she won't make it b/c of the stress. This one has always been the smallest, and hasn't grown at all since i got her. The male and the other female are both doing well... I think the other female may even be gravid.. .she is VERY round looking lately.
If anyone has any advice let me know... or, any idea of what i'm dealing with. Thankyou...
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~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

We do have a vet around here that will see herps, but he is not very experience with chams... Especially less common ones... I would be able to get any meds or things I need from him, but he won't have much info as to what's wrong what types of meds to use... If anyone on here knows what i could/should do please let me know.. My first concern is the poo incident, but this cham has been smaller for a while, and there are some other things about her i'm noticing today that may not be related to this incident. i'll keep an eye on her and if she pulls through today i'll get more into that. I don't want to do anything with her today short of necessity as she is very stressed and any futher treatment will just push her over the edge...
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~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

Lindsay,
Poor little girl!

I guess my first concern would be the toxins from the poop causing sepsis. Maybe you can flush her mouth with some sort of antibiotic. BE CAREFUL though, I think that Kaiya died (in part) from aspirating her meds last year. I don't want to suggest what to use b/c I don't know. Hopefully someone else can help there - maybe Lyn (recovering Oustalet) or Sonia can help since they have both had chams with major mouth injuries recently. You would also need to to get it thru her system.

Maybe call the vet and explain what happened and see if he can at least recommend a safe antibiotic. If you have to give her anything just be careful in her tiny mouth so she doesn't aspirate (can you tell I am worried?? )

Try emailing Dr. Ivan and/or contacting him directly. Also, the docs from adcham (Kramer or Pollak).

I hope all turns out OK!!
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

here are the adcham listings
Link

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

I tried to email one of the people ont he adcham list... it wouldn't send for some reason. Thank your for the info btw... I asked the vet in town i go to if they had any liquid baytril or the pink antibiotic can't think of what it's called.. they had none and didn't know which of the onest hey had could be used with herps... so i called the one out of twon that "deals with herps" but knows nothign about htem and told them what happened. They own't give me anythign withour seeing her which is crap b/c there is nothing to physically see. They only need to knwo what happened, pick the best anitbiotic to use, and calc the doseage... I won't take her there, she's too small and it's too cold to drive her out there... if she seems to go downhill overnight i will take her. She is walking around a bit now, and is keeping her eyes open.. I hope she had more of a scare than anything...
I rinsed her mouth out with very diluted mouthwash... hopefully that will take out any germs left behind.. The poo had membrane around it and seemed intact when i took it out so i think there isn't any left in there...
I'll keep an eye on her and hopefully she'll be ok!!!
Thanks for your reply lele!!!
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~Lindsay
0.1 panther chameleon (Orion)
1.2 r. brevicaudatus chams (unnamed)
0.1 leopard gecko (Acadia)
1.0 pictus gecko (Raine)
1.1 parakeets (Bongo/Citron)
1.1 cats (Tigger/Bonzai)
1.0 dwarf hampster (Chico the monster)
someday will have 1.1 great danes (will be Osiris and Solaris)

...with some other contacts

I would try and get her to drink as much as possible to try and flush her system out the best you can.

here's one last link. Scroll down for listings in CN (you're in Canada, right?). This site has REAL people giving their actual experiences with herp vets.

hope this helps!

lele
Herp Vet Connection

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

According to your description, she is now pretty stress from the incident and suddent change of environment. If possible, it is better to put her back to her original cage.

Also, regarding to the color (mouth), they're all dark purple color and not pink. So, don't worry too much. Nevertheless, I'm a bit concern about the opening month sign as well as the eye shut symptom where it might caused by some other factor...

Wish her well soon