Rose is my daughter’s 2 yr old veiled chameleon. She was digging to lay eggs (so we thought) which she has done before w no problems and she fell over on her back and stayed there. We took her to the ER at KState. They put her in an oxygen enclosure and she seemed to do better. Got an XRay and it showed a lot of little pebbles in her tummy. Their recommendation was to prescribe lactulose every 24hrs for 30 days. A 15min warm water space once every 24hrs. They suspect rage has a sand impaction which causes discomfort and difficulty breathing from increased pressure to her lungs. I’m concerned because she is continuing to lay down with her eyes close and gasping. She went to bathroom just a little but not much and she will not eat. Has anyone have any type of experience with this ? I’ve included the X-ray and a current pic.
Ate sand, now taking laxative per vet
- Thread starter BelaRose
- Start date
I’m not a vet….I can only speak from experience, what I’ve read, etc….and I don’t think a laxative is going to work. I don’t know of anything that works for unclogging a chameleon when the clog is from a substrate. I hope something your vet tries works.
What I can tell you is, that if she gets unclogged, there is a type of sand I used for years that has never caused any impact Iin in any chameleon that you can use for the egg laying bin. It’s the sand produced by Kings that comes in a white bag with red, blue and yellow sand box toys on the front of the bag.
You said…”A 15min warm water space once every 24hrs.”…do
you mean soak not space?
What I can tell you is, that if she gets unclogged, there is a type of sand I used for years that has never caused any impact Iin in any chameleon that you can use for the egg laying bin. It’s the sand produced by Kings that comes in a white bag with red, blue and yellow sand box toys on the front of the bag.
You said…”A 15min warm water space once every 24hrs.”…do
you mean soak not space?
Oh yeah , I meant a soak. Have you heard of anything that can help? The clog is from sand like sanitized playground sand not substrate if that makes a difference
I would make sure to provide plenty of water, and maybe things like a horn worm, or baby food pears would help too…but imho they might not too, if the sand is really set up like cement in the intestines. I don’t know if anyone does surgery in these cases.
I’m not sure if stopping the calcium for now would help or not either…because they need calcium for the muscles to work (peristalsis).
Remember…I’m not a vet and you need to run this by a vet and not just take my word for it.
One more thing…
Lactulose is an osmotic laxative…it eases constipation by drawing more water into the gut. This helps soften the stool and makes it easier to pass….but if it’s rock hard, like cement who knows if it will be able to help.
I’m not sure if stopping the calcium for now would help or not either…because they need calcium for the muscles to work (peristalsis).
Remember…I’m not a vet and you need to run this by a vet and not just take my word for it.
One more thing…
Lactulose is an osmotic laxative…it eases constipation by drawing more water into the gut. This helps soften the stool and makes it easier to pass….but if it’s rock hard, like cement who knows if it will be able to help.
Lindasjackson
Chameleon Enthusiast
I hope she pulls through and gets better!
I wish you the best of luck... I would look into getting another opinion though based on what the vet you saw said. Chameleons do not absorb water through their skin like other reptiles. So they should never be soaked. Every impaction situation I have ever heard of required surgery. I have never heard of a reptile vet giving a laxative.
She also looks to be in full decline. The way her eyes are pulling into her skull and closed. We see this very commonly with chams that are extremely sick and or close to death.
She also looks to be in full decline. The way her eyes are pulling into her skull and closed. We see this very commonly with chams that are extremely sick and or close to death.
