I had the worst Monday in a long time and not sure it is over.
So over many years I have been feeding snail to my chameleons for over 15 years (just 1 or 2 a month) and never had an issue.
This morning I removed the shell and some of the slime and gave it to Randel (he is 5 years old). This i nothing new and like a treat for him.
So from a distance I was watching him free range on one of the patio trees. He was not looking at me and all of a sudden dropped from about 1.5 feet. His mouth was gaping open and I did not hear his normal breathing so looked inside hi mouth. His glottis was closed and did not open, as I could tell he was struggling to breath. I was like, heart attack, seizer and could not figure it out. He seized up in my hands and started to show his stress colors and his eyes rolled up.
OMG I'm thinking he is going to die in my hands. CRAP!
While his body seized up, I still could not hear or see him breathing, I gently squeezed where his lungs are and could hear a tiny bit of air going through his nostrils (I mean tiny). I continued doing this for about 20 to 30 minutes, since the skin over his eyes would twitching once in a while. Still thinking he was going to die or even dead already (that bad). If his colors would have darkened, I probably would have given up but they did not. At about the 30 minute mark he opened his mouth but his glottis was still closed, so I gave him a little harder squeeze, but not to the point of breaking anything. It opened and air came out and a think piece of snail slime. I sucked it out with a water dropper. He still was not breathing but continued to squeeze for a little air to get in and out of his nostrils. About 3 minutes went by and his mouth came open again so I squeezed a little harder. I heard air flow into his glottis this time but his eyes were stull rolled up and sunk in. 2 minutes later his eyes started to fill out (still rolled up under the skin) and he gasped on his own. His right eye opened slightly (first time in over 30 minutes). He was gasping for the next 5 to 10 minutes and finally stopped but I could tell he was breathing normal. His eyes opened and filled out like normal but he was bobbing his head left to right. I thought brain damage due to lack of oxygen but this stopped after about a minutes or.
So placed him in a nice quite place and have been watching him for a few hours now. When I try to get close he tries to bite me, which is normal. So! crossing fingers, praying and being thankful.
NO MORE SNAILS for Randel. OOOOMMMMMGGGGGG!!!!!!
No need to respond but please give happy thoughts for a quick recovery...
So over many years I have been feeding snail to my chameleons for over 15 years (just 1 or 2 a month) and never had an issue.
This morning I removed the shell and some of the slime and gave it to Randel (he is 5 years old). This i nothing new and like a treat for him.
So from a distance I was watching him free range on one of the patio trees. He was not looking at me and all of a sudden dropped from about 1.5 feet. His mouth was gaping open and I did not hear his normal breathing so looked inside hi mouth. His glottis was closed and did not open, as I could tell he was struggling to breath. I was like, heart attack, seizer and could not figure it out. He seized up in my hands and started to show his stress colors and his eyes rolled up.
OMG I'm thinking he is going to die in my hands. CRAP!
While his body seized up, I still could not hear or see him breathing, I gently squeezed where his lungs are and could hear a tiny bit of air going through his nostrils (I mean tiny). I continued doing this for about 20 to 30 minutes, since the skin over his eyes would twitching once in a while. Still thinking he was going to die or even dead already (that bad). If his colors would have darkened, I probably would have given up but they did not. At about the 30 minute mark he opened his mouth but his glottis was still closed, so I gave him a little harder squeeze, but not to the point of breaking anything. It opened and air came out and a think piece of snail slime. I sucked it out with a water dropper. He still was not breathing but continued to squeeze for a little air to get in and out of his nostrils. About 3 minutes went by and his mouth came open again so I squeezed a little harder. I heard air flow into his glottis this time but his eyes were stull rolled up and sunk in. 2 minutes later his eyes started to fill out (still rolled up under the skin) and he gasped on his own. His right eye opened slightly (first time in over 30 minutes). He was gasping for the next 5 to 10 minutes and finally stopped but I could tell he was breathing normal. His eyes opened and filled out like normal but he was bobbing his head left to right. I thought brain damage due to lack of oxygen but this stopped after about a minutes or.
So placed him in a nice quite place and have been watching him for a few hours now. When I try to get close he tries to bite me, which is normal. So! crossing fingers, praying and being thankful.
NO MORE SNAILS for Randel. OOOOMMMMMGGGGGG!!!!!!
No need to respond but please give happy thoughts for a quick recovery...