Cricket problem!

sarahgeorge

New Member
So I got my 1 year veiled chameleon up this morning and all I noticed was blood the cricket took a chunk out of his tail!! What am I supposed to do :(
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male, I've had him a year
Handling - I handle him every day he's very tame
Feeding - I feed him wax worms, crickets, moths I put a tiny bit of nutrolbal on every 2 weeks, i feed him every day or 2 days
Supplements - nutrobal at the moment
Watering - I have a spray bottle normally 3 or 4 times a day and I have a dripper
Fecal Description - His poops Normaly healthy and he's Normaly a healthy colour until he poops and goes pale!!
History - he's got swollen ankle from calcium, prolapsing, little bit of tail fell off

Cage Info:
Cage Type -its glass, mesh top, it's a exo terra one a medium I don't know the measurements (big enough for him!!)
Lighting - Exo terra UVB bulb 10.0 and exo terra 100w
Temperature - 90ish f in basking spot and drops to 75ish f at night
Humidity - 75% - 80%
Plants - I have fake leaves and vines
Placement - it's in my room on top of a drawer not near a fan or window
Location - Carlisle Cumbria uk

Current Problem - crickets ate his tail!
 
That's quite a nasty bite! You need to keep it clean so it doesn't get infected, if he were mine I'd like to see a vet to get some cream for it. Poor little guy :( those must be some mean crickets!
 
As Angiel says if it was mine I would either call or visit vet. Have done some googling and it looks as if you cannot buy neosporin over the counter in uk. I think you can get it on line, anyway to save time perhaps vet contact would be better. If your vet knows you they may supply a tube of antibiotic cream without seeing Cham.
 
I have some neosporin believe it or not I know some Americans and she gave me some when I got a tattoo and didnt use it :) plenty for the little fella
 
I would not advise to use Neosporin without a visit by the reptile vet. Open and probably infected wounds should be tested via swab to identify bacteria. Our chameleons carry around a lot of potencially pathogenic bacteria and the crickets carried them inside the wound, too. Those bacteria need to be identified and each found potencially pathogenic bacteria needs a resistance test to choose right antibiotics. You can't fight all bacteria with same antibiotics and wrong medication can lengthen treatment or worsen the infection. We already have enough resistances in bacteria leading to problems in reptile treatment, there's no need to raise them by using antibiotics improvidently. Asides from this, wounds at chameleons' tails tend to necrotize soon without proper treatment, which includes cleaning, medication and the tests mentioned above.

The Association of Amphibian and Reptile Veterinarians (ARAV) offers a nice list to find a vet in your country. And I'm sure there are some more to add who aren't member, but world wide web is an useful source to find them ;).
 
do not leave crickets in your chameleons enclosure overnight! This is why we advise against it. I understand sometimes they hide and it cannot be helped, just do not do it deliberately.
 
I actually didn't know the cricket was in the viv I've just went to look for it and it was hiding behind the back ground! I'm going to block that off some how
 
Awesome site with that Vet List Alexl!!! Theres a couple on there I hadnt found yet!!!! Need the best for my baby!!!!
As for crickets,,,,those nasty little varmints!!! They did the same thing to my first cham,,,(RIP Jimmie),,,,as I hadnt found this site at the time and thought the pet store people were telling me all the right things to do!!! WRONG!!!!
They nipped at my poor little Jimmie for weeks and I scrambled to find vets in my area,,alas by the time I found one,,,,poor little Jimmie succumbed to the infections caused by the bites!!!
No more free ranging crickets for Guber!!!
Did I mention how I love this forum???
In That Case,,,,,I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!!
CHEERZ!!!!!!
 
Ya thats what happened to me also,,,,they made a nest cave in the background I had in my cage!!!
Filled the holes with an animal friendly sealing caulk,,,just gotta move the cham for a couple days,,,back into his/her litlle boy cage while it hardens,,,i found it at Lowes,,,,
 
So sorry for youe little guy. Poor baby. Glad I read this though. I'm fixing to get a baby and this will stay fresh in my mind so I won't let any stay in his cage. Just hope he heals for you soon.
 
My first suggestion would be to go to a vet. They can clean it up for you well, give you meds, and tell you the do's and don'ts. Plus you can make sure he doesn't get an infection.

It might be hard for your cham, considering the bite is at the tip of the tail. They use their tails allot so he may be struggling to grab onto stuff. So watch out for that.

If you're using the big large black crickets, stay away from them. I've heard allot of stories of those crickets biting and i've seen it myself. Even the brown ones bite aswell, but they're not as aggressive. I've never got black crickets since...

What i suggest is making a big cup feeder for your cham. Before you put the crickets inside, just grab their hind legs and pinch them. They'll pop them right off. Then proceed to put the crickets in the feeder cup. This will make it damn near impossible for them to jump out, and potentially do some more damage to your cham.

Here's a couple links on a good custom feedercup:

sdheli420 created the "sunny-d-death-trap" made from a Sunny D Bottle. You can see it in action here (I use this method and it works great)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xCyPmEYInk

Here is one that KatCham made that is similar to the "sunny-d-death-trap" (Super simple and easy to make).

https://www.chameleonforums.com/custom-made-cricket-feeder-80015/

Hope that helps! Please update all of us with your chams problem. Hopefully he gets well soon!

-Gabe
 
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