Dead backend?

[Chameleons Northwest]

Right, his back legs do look nice and square. And I thought that surely low bone density would show up on the X-ray. And his casque probably would show signs of MBD, too, if he had it severe enough to cause ambulation problems.

Our veiled cham had an impaction once and, after following advice from someone on the forum, came through it just fine. Let us know how he progresses!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Sorry to hear about your cham's condition!!

I was thinking of suggesting a warm bath too but I really didn't know if this would help as it would for sperm plugs. Glad to see that some of the more experienced people have given similar suggestions. I was just thinking that when my son has stomach cramps (probably not the same as an impaction) the first thing that I do is get him into a warm bath and that usually helps him go to the bathroom.

I hope that one of the suggestions here works and your cham has a quick recovery.

Dyesub Dave.

 

[Jam]

My vet told me to give 0.2 ml twice a day orally. It never made him vomit or anything. But those were just the recommendations of my vet and my experiences. His first poop was rather ... oily.

Jamie

 

[Jam]

If you stick your finger or a small pencile, or something of that nature in his "mitten" will he even try to grip it?

 

[christyo2o2]

not really. He was but now hes not much gripping on his back legs

 

[PardalisGirl]

A real mystery...........

I'm glad you got some X-rays at the vet done. He would have seen bone density issues or spinal damage. He would have also noticed dead bowel tissue due to an impaction. Impactions can get infected and then the bowel tissues starts to die. It's the old which came first, the chicken or the egg, question. Did paralysis of the hind end cause inability to poop? Or will he not move his hind legs because the impaction is pressing on a nerve or is causing extreme pain with movement. I think Brad's warm bath and massage suggestion was an excellent one. A tiny amount of cod liver oil each day and warm baths and massage as many times a day as you can manage would be a good thing to do. One more question. Is he drinking? Maybe Matt Wheelock, the vet, will check in on the forum this weekend and see this thread.......Keep us posted. I'll be praying for your boy

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Justin,

Impaction is certainly a possibility. If this is the case, one way to treat it is giving 1-2ml, once or twice a day of a 50/50 mix of pedialyte and water. Sometimes impactions can be so severe and the material is so dense and large in diameter that it just won't pass no matter what you give him . I'd be careful about what you feed him right now. Food may be the last thing he needs. Going for a week or more without food shouldn't be a big problem. Hydration is critical though. If he really has an impaction, more food may compound the situation. I've seen the pedialyte mix work (or at least the impaction cleared 1 day after its use) on a panther that I was helping and I've seen an impaction that caused the death of another panther kept by another friend. That impaction was about 3/4" by 2".

I'm sure that other health conditions that can bring-on these symptoms but I just don't have much advice to give you.

Keep in mind that the causes of preventable reptile deaths are:
1. Nutritional disorders
2. Bacterial infections
3. Parasites

One thing to remember about parasites is that they can cause nutritional disorders and bacterial infections as a secondary effect!

How old is that UVB tube?

 

[christyo2o2]

UVB tube in his cage is 1 week old. We just got them. We have them on a 9 month switch weather they go out or not to make sure the UVB is getting to him correctly.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Greetings, Justin. How's Scooter doing today?

 

[Chill]

yah i've seen this before at my work we had a jacksons cham that was obviooulsy sick for awhile. Its back started to bulge out at some spots so we figured it was an infection. after awhile he couldnt move his hind legs!! i figured that the swelling had hit a nerve and he couldnt move.

 

[christyo2o2]

I posted an update on scooter where it says "update on scooter"

hes doing better. This morning he pooped. All the oil I fed him did it's trick. He is moving around alot more and sorta starting to use his back legs for climbing but still not as much as I'd like. We have a check up apointment for him today. He has alot of strength back in his back feet now when he grabs my hand his claws stab me so thats a good sign... still waiting for him to take over full use of his legs again though...

Added another vine in his cage this morning, i figured I'd give him a reason to get better. a new vine to climb on now that should get anyone up and moving!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

That's GREAT news!!

Obviously it may take him a while to recuperate from this whole ordeal but he definitely sounds like he's a fighter and he's on his way to recovery. I'm actually surprised that he started using his limbs this soon! So hopefully he'll be back to normal in no time!!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Good Job

Good job on taking care of Scooter! He must feel better now having that first poop out of there. Now that things have cleared I would concentrate on getting him to drink big time. He probably has some toxins built up in his system. I would encourage him to drink as much as possible. Let us know what the vet says at the follow-up appointment

 

[christyo2o2]

Will do his follow-up is at 3pm today texas time.

AND he found his vine... he likes it... he went straight for it!!

Ill make sure he drinks when christy comes home from work, I have been unfortunately having to force feed him water the past week so i can make sure he is getting enough of it. I think imma do it until thursday when I leave. It should hopefully be able to clear him up by then.

Did I tell you as well, he ate a cricket this morning? Only 1 but hey its a good start!

 

[christyo2o2]

This is him on his new vine. I have been keeping him under his heat light on the hammock behind him. He is now able to use his back legs JUST ENOUGH to get to where he wants to be then his back end goes limp and he just kinda hangs there til hes ready to move again.

You can see hes just Hangin out now. Its a long climb for him being hes in recovery But im atchin to make sure he doesnt fall. A few times i have seen his back end fall and he hangs holding on with his hands hand hangin like a jungle gym...

And thsi is Oscar sitting in her water bowl... instead of drinking it... Silly SNAKE!

By the way, she is healthy, I just wanted to put up a pic..

 

[Dyesub Dave]

That's excellent that he's trying to use his back legs! But I don't know if I'd let him climb too much or dangle too long! You certainly don't want him to hurt his front legs as well ... then he wouldn't be able to move at all.

I'll bet he's happy to be able to move around again though!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[christyo2o2]

yah i let him excersize some but not too long cuz i dont want him to fall, every 20 or 30 minutes As i think about it I grab him and put him back on his hammock.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Hey, that's great! What a story. I love happy endings (no pun intended) . That really is a quick and steady rebound. We look forward to hearing about his complete recovery.

Just curious, were you able to determine why he was impacted?

 

[christyo2o2]

no clue why he was impacted, I heard sometimes it happens when it gets too cold they cant digest their food properly. Thats the only thing taht i could figure out. I have since raised the watts on his heat lamp.

It got cold while I was on my last job so I was not around to know what temp he was being kept at, however I have a sneaking feeling christy did not keep his lamp on at night cuz when I got home my snake's heat lamp was off too... It got down to about 48 degrees while I was gone... This upsets me. It has been dealt with though, she knows now to keep the heat on.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

From everything that I've read it about veileds it seems that they can handle temps down to almost freezing! I would never intentionally try this but it's nice to know that if the power goes off for some reason they should be OK for a while in the cooler weather.

Dyesub Dave.