Sleeping in the Day

Hey all,

I posted not too long ago about sleeping during the day, well I finally got worried enough to bring her in to the vet.

Well here is what I got:

1) 7 month old female Ambanja, sleeping during the day, and eating very very little. She is very small given her age as well about 4 inches..5 at most in length, that includes the tail.

Vet Said this:

1) Absessed tooth by the looks of things
2) A little johndis in the mouth
3) Possibly Liver disease, chances of survival are low if she has this given her age and size
4) Fecal float came back negative (only positive of the visit)
5) Possible Pneumonia since she is breathing hard even after calming down from stress.

I have some anti-biotics that I have to force her to take via syringe....she hates my guts now. I have to feed her A/D Cat food as it is nutritious and soft so very little chewing. The Anit-Biotics will clear everthing if it is all infection related. A re-visit is needed next Monday or if she starts doing better 2 Mondays from now.

The vet was saying that she thinks the cham never took to her new habitat from the start. They know that I am good at providing the proper habitat and care for them, I bring my reptiles in for regular checkups so they didn't point the finger at me. She said this could be why she did not grow too much as she was constantly stressed out so she was putting out the stressing hormone rather than the settled and calm one that she needed. But I can't help think that this is my fault somewhat. I am not neglectful what-so-ever but I still feel this is my fault.

I have never raised a cham that was this small or age, (I got her at 2 months old). This is a new (painful) learning experience for me, and I am a little discouraged in myself for having this happen.

So please don't judge me too harshly, and I pray that Gir makes it through this little ordeal healthy and energetic.

I will keep my fingers crossed that she will pull through.

OK,

I brought her back into the vet yesterday for a checkup, and it seems like her breathing is much better, the anti-biotics are working great. She gained 2 grams of weight which is good since she is very tiny for her age. The force feeding through a syringe sucks and she attacks it, but it makes it easier to feed her lol. She is going through a shed which means she is growing..yay.

I noticed something in her eye on Sunday night, and there was a little lump in the corner of her eye, I got the vet to look at it and apparantly it is skin from shedding that is bulked up in her eye, poor thing. The vet gave her some vitamin A and she said it will help with her eye and the shedding in general. If I see the skin coming out her eye I can take a wet Q-tip to gently brush it out.

All in all to keep at it, as she seems to be doing much better, she is more active, and not as dark anymore. She has to go back in for another checkup in the Middle of January. So thanks to the vet Gir is doing much better and looks happier too, isn't as Grumpy which in turn makes me happy.

Shane

Glad to hear that she's is doing better.

I sincerley hope it comes good Mate! Whatever the outcome, life is a learning process Shaner, some things we learn the hard way and its difficult not to feel bad, but remember, if you learn from it, it has value.
Take notes of what the vets say, causes etc, look at your setup and take notes.
These will be valuable data in the future and will will help you now and later, and if you pass on this learning experience you'll help others too.
Good luck with your Cham.

thats good news dude, keep me/us posted. In your care im sure shes got the best chances anyone could give her.

P.S.... Brews, Guniness... asap?

Hey all,

I have to bring her in next Monday for a re-check, but I figured I would see if anyone has had this problem.

My cham is either really weird of very stupid lol. She keeps on grabbing her front legs with her back ones and falling all over the place.

I called the vet yesterday and they said there isn't much I can do about that one. I have her in a small cage 18"highx12"x12" the bottom is pack about 7" high with fake vines incase she falls so she can't hurt herself. and I have a reptile hammick in there for her so she can sit on and be close to her basking light. All temps are good, and the humidity is easier to keep in this little glass enclosure. The enclosure is made by zoo med so it is not bad. I normally keep her in a screened enclosure that I built but it is too high and if she falls she would hurt herself badly so I moved her to the vet carrying cage.

Anyone ever have this problem where they grab their own legs and fall? Poor little girl, she has been a problem since day one.

Poor chameleon, sounds like there are plenty of things wrong with her. I have not heard of feeding cat food before, my vet in the U.K always recommends Critical Care Formula (made by Vetark). I think I read somewhere that a chameleon grabbing its front legs and falling could be a sign of metabolic bone disease. I am surprised the vet called a possible ailment pneumonia as I think he meant respiratory infection. I have experience with this (with two different chameleons) and at all times was able to resolve it by increasing the ambient temperature and giving the chameleon Baytril.
Anyway I wish her well and I am sure you are doing everything you can for her. It is tricky as she is so young.

Shaner, what is your supplementation schedule and what type UVB bulb are you using ?? When did you last replace the bulb? Sounds like it could be the start of MBD.

The only other possibility, that comes to mind, is that your vet ODed her on the Vit A .

You are/were giving her cat food (has preformed vitamin A in it) and the vet gave her a shot of vitamin A. I wonder if it was/is too much?

The grabbing is often associated with MBD. I wonder if she now has an imbalance in the calcium levels?

Vitamin A, D3, calcium and phosphorous play important parts in bone health/MBD and need to be in balance. They interact with each other. Too much vitamin A is said to prevent the D3 from doing its job and can lead to MBD.

I'm not a vet and you need to run this by your vet. Not sure how long it would take to happen.

Hey All,

The catfood I was feeding her was only for purchase at the vet, it is A/D catfood. That doesn't mean Vitamin A and D it is just called A/D.

Things just got worse today too. I was on the phone with the vet for about 30 mins. This just happend today and I just noticed it. Her tail from half way point is dead. I can see her bone in the lower half of the tail which is really urking me cuz she was using it 2 days ago. I called the Emerge line, and I am bringing her in first thing tomorrow morning.

I am really really really pissed off and upset at the same time. Chameleons rely on their tails like we rely on our feet and hands. If she loses that she is screwed. I will see what they say but a half tail chameleon doesn't sound good. She has been a problem since day one. But I am doing what I can to keep her alive.

This is why I am so upset, I just put one down on the 29th, if I have to put her down too, I am going to be so upset. she is 7 months for god sakes and I am not a rookie when it comes to looking after them. I just feel like a failure, and it is frustrating me, and upsetting me as she looks like she is in pain.

Now to answer your question Chroma, I am using an exo-terra 18" 5.0UVB bulb and 2 75watt zoo med basking lights. I just bought the UVB bulb less than 2 months ago so it is still good. The 2 75 watts are required as her cage size is fairly big and it is all screen so it is open. However right now I am just using 1 75Watt in a glass Zoo Med holder as it retain moisture better and keeps the heat better. I clean it daily so the water doesn't start to stink and collect bacteria.

I will see how things go tomorrow and update more when I hear from the vet then. Thanks for the help guys really appreciate it.

Shaner said:

Hey All,

The catfood I was feeding her was only for purchase at the vet, it is A/D catfood. That doesn't mean Vitamin A and D it is just called A/D.

Things just got worse today too. I was on the phone with the vet for about 30 mins. This just happend today and I just noticed it. Her tail from half way point is dead. I can see her bone in the lower half of the tail which is really urking me cuz she was using it 2 days ago. I called the Emerge line, and I am bringing her in first thing tomorrow morning.

I am really really really pissed off and upset at the same time. Chameleons rely on their tails like we rely on our feet and hands. If she loses that she is screwed. I will see what they say but a half tail chameleon doesn't sound good. She has been a problem since day one. But I am doing what I can to keep her alive.

This is why I am so upset, I just put one down on the 29th, if I have to put her down too, I am going to be so upset. she is 7 months for god sakes and I am not a rookie when it comes to looking after them. I just feel like a failure, and it is frustrating me, and upsetting me as she looks like she is in pain.

Now to answer your question Chroma, I am using an exo-terra 18" 5.0UVB bulb and 2 75watt zoo med basking lights. I just bought the UVB bulb less than 2 months ago so it is still good. The 2 75 watts are required as her cage size is fairly big and it is all screen so it is open. However right now I am just using 1 75Watt in a glass Zoo Med holder as it retain moisture better and keeps the heat better. I clean it daily so the water doesn't start to stink and collect bacteria.

I will see how things go tomorrow and update more when I hear from the vet then. Thanks for the help guys really appreciate it.

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I really wish you luck! And once her tail is taken care of, don't worry. Just take immaculate care of it to make sure it heals properly. Kukicha has done just fine without hers:



They adapt very well.

How old is she though? Gir is only 7 Months and is like 4 or 5 inches long including tail. Like I said since day one she has been a problem but I still wanted her.

I will do my best and I am sure the vet will too. Thank you for the optomistic view and thanks for including the picture that really boosted my spirits.

She is a year old now and this happened when she was shipped at three months. Her tail had been caught in the deli cup and lid. Her previous owner said it went necrotic and fell off and healed fine. I suggest having a vet remove it and keeping it as sterile as possible.

Well she is going to be staying overnight at the vet as my normal vet was off today, the other vet took a look at her, but she wasn't very helpful with reptiles, no offense to her at all but I think I knew more than she did.

My vet will be back tomorrow so I am leaving her there, that way she is in the best place if something was to happen (knock on wood). I forgot to mention yesterday too that she has a nice cut right in the crease of her left arm, and that was bleeding pretty bad yesterday. I got the bleeding to stop by talking to the vet over the phone, she guided me on what to do.

Right now she is on a pain killer to keep her comfy and somewhat in tact. I pray she makes it thru the night. The prognoses the vet gave me today was not good, she said anytime she moves her left arm it bleeds. They have a bandage on it now and it stopped bleeding. But they said her chances are slim, she is black as the night itself and very very stressed according to the vet.....I may have to euthanize her, which is really really painful cuz I will now have lost 2 in the course of 2 weeks please please pull through.....

Poor little chameleon, I'll pray for her...

Ok, I just got off the phone with the vet. She is doing better today. They put a bandage on her arm so that if she grabs it with her hind leg she won't dig into the cut and it won't bleed.

Her tail is still in rough shape but she is still using it and apprantly was hanging from it earlier today, so it is just a waiting game on her tail, there is a small deterioration going on with her tail that I have to keep an eye on, they are hoping it will grow back, if it gets weak and stops I have to get her tail chopped down to half.

As for MBD, they said she isn't showing any signs of MBD that they are aware of. She looks healthier, and put on a bit of weight since last visit. There are no Swollen joints or anything like that and she is not shaking when she walks, her grip is strong and she has some fight.

I have to give her I think she said "medcam?" it is a anti-inflammatory/pain killer once a day, and have to continue with the anti-biotics once a day.

All in all she said she looks ok to come home things may be looking up for little runty Gir

I will try to post some pictures to show you guys what the tail deteriortation looks like.

Shaner

Im sorry to hear this little cham is going through all of this but man, what a fighter!! Im having the same issue with the tail. the last 1/4 of mine is completely hard and black..about 1 inch below that is yelloing and sometimes has a red tint to it. I was told she has the onset of MBD from a previous owner using Fluorescent lighting instead of UVB. DId your chams tail start to reliven? Im sure mine is dead and was wondering if amputation was necessary or if it would fall off on it own..and would amputation stop it from dying more? Sorry, not taking over your thread but you sound like you are going through some of the same things and thought maybe your vet gave you some info. We do not have exotics vet in the area and the ones I do talk to tell me Im doing fine, but that doesnt answer my questions...

I was trying to figure out how to u/l a pic of it but it asks me for a link and my photobucket is private...

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There I think that worked..
Does yours look like that?

Any ideas? The vet thought dehydration and told me to use Gatorade..but then a friend on here said it might be too high in sugar and they dont really soak up through their body anyways.. I thought it slowed down but the yellow portion is spreading and thats the part that eventually turns black.. I got her a reptisun 5.0 and have a bi hood with 2 heat bumbs on it. I have her cage flipped longways rather than tall because she cant climb well. PS< BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU BUY ON CRAIGSLIST~~