Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,
i have had my veiled chameleon for little over a year now and yesturday i started running into problems. wednesday i found my chameleon wedged between too flower pots in her cage (one holding the plant and the outer one to prevent leakage) she looked like she had ben there over night. I didn't see anything wrong with until friday, she was dehydrated, clumbsey, and did not want to eat. today I found her the same. my parents can't afford to take her to the vet so I need to find a way to help her. i noticed (today) she broke some bones while wedged in the flower pots. I do have panacure incase of parasites but my worries are that it is stressed. the plant in her cage is a queensland fern, I did check on anapsid.org to see if it was on the toxic list. can anyone please help me
thanks much,
Craig Condon

broken ribs

another photo

another photo of the sick cham

here is the last photo of the sick chameleon

I dont know how to help with the broken bones, hopefully someone will know. But she is dehydrated, I would suggest trying to get lots of water in her. I would say by syringe to super-hydrate her, and to make sure she has food in her, by syringe if she isnt eating aswell.

Tip my vet gave me - to get their mouth open to syringe water/feed them get a lamenated membership card from like a movie store and stick it between her lips. This is the last resort though if she isnt opening her mouth if you are putting your hand over her etc.

alright,
thank you for the suggestion, I have been having a hard time opening her mouth, I will try that. I do not want to feed her hard prey though because i am worried she might choke or not even swallow it. is there a liquid solution I can give her? and would it be a good idea to get her on panacure just incase she has worms? or will that make her even sicker.
thanks much,
Craig Condon

alright,
i took her outside to warm up and she started to perk up. the humidity was at dewpoint today so I decided to bring molly's cage outside for the night, just so that she can absorb and retain some of the humidity. Let me know what you think of this idea.

Craig

I'm a huge advocate of outside....If the temps right your cham will love it. Not sure what to do about the broken bones ribs especially are difficult, my one female is a rescued veiled cham and several of her ribs were broken. As she'd seen the vet before I gave her a home I'm assuming that there was nothing to be done. I've had her for over a year and a half and she seems to be doing fine. Healthy as a *horse (except for a skin problem which we're working on now). Becareful when prying his mouth open, can do damage to nose easily. I understand about the vet too, sometimes all we can do is our best. Meal worms and wax worms are softer than crickets, you might try feeding those with a light dusting for nutrients..... cricket dust is available along with wax worms or meal worms at petland or your local pet stores. Have you tried letting your cham go for a shower?? Your cham will need perch but will love it and get more H2O. I've also had it suggested to me before to feed purple grapes(cut into small pieces) dusted with cricket dust. Also if nothing else works you can try pedialite through an eyedropper. keep posting, good luck!

iceyesnteeth,
i'm sick of eccentric people like you, i don't need criticism. i do try the best to persuade my parents to take my animals to the vet but they can't trust the fact that a vet might help the animal. The last time I took a reptile to the vet, it died 20 minutes after she was treated. apparently she reacted to the treatment. The bill was $200. my parents are not ready to spend another $200 or even $300 on something that has a chance of dying. so don't you give me crap to go to the vet. I came here for help, not a lecture for what and what not to do.

Craig

your cham is deffinatly dehydrated. i would try giving her some showers. put a plant in the shower with her on it, just make sure shes not getting blasted by the water. repti aid will work if shes not eating. its 10-15 bucks at petsmart. pedialite will help for the dehydration, i think lele has a recipe for pedialite. im not sure about the panacur but theres obviously something wrong with her if shes gone downhill so fast, she what some more expert herpers here say. in regards to iceyesnteeth, the vet is always the BEST option. going to the vet is a thousand times better than what i have to say and i strongly encourage it. but why put him down without giving him any advice? if the animals not going to the vet then why not try to help it?

best of luck
-jon colton
-----
1.1 veiled chameleons
0.0.1 normal cornsnake
2.2 leopard geckos

www.funnymanreptiles.com

thank you for your help,
I have given the chameleon electrolytes called electrod3ize by Exo Terra, it does the same thing. It was suggested after my BRB stopped eating, it helps rehydrate the animal, tt also is a stimulant that gives the animal the munchies. I use the formula in my mister when I give the chameleon water.
thanks much,
Craig Condon

Parasites are the least of her problems. She is quite thin (her tail muscles are really distinct, her legs have almost no muscle and her head is pretty gaunt). She is also dehydrated but didn't get this way overnight. Could you describe your setup, watering, lighting, feeding and gutloading routines too? She may have gotten wedged between the pots because she lost her grip and fell...and that is something to be worried about. Cham ribs are mostly cartilege and they can heal on their own if she's healthy. They should not have broken that easily...she may have a calcium or vitamin deficiency too. I'd suggest reviewing your husbandry to see if you are missing something. We can help if you give us good details (including brands of lights, supplements, gutloads etc).

thank you for your help, but it has all been settled. I gave the chameleon back to breeder who sold her to me and she said that molly was egg bound was suffering from the side effects of poisoning (or something like that).
Craig Condon