Help!!! Baby chameleon hind legs bleeding.

[rango32]

Hi, I just recently bought a baby male chameleon and put it in the cage with my older female. They were fine and then all of a sudden she ran up to him and struck and hissed at him right after he started to drag his hind legs and his bottom half turned black but he was not bleeding. We could not tell if she actually bit him since it happened so fast. It's been 3 days and he is still dragging his legs and bottom half is still dark. He can use them and his tail still but only to grip a branch it is only sometimes and not for long the majority of the time he is hanging from his front legs and does not walk with them at all. Just last night he started bleeding on both sides right above his hind legs. Does anyone have an idea of what is going on and how I can care for his wounds?

 

[Lathis]

They need to be separated RIGHT NOW. This is exactly why chameleons need to be kept separately. One chameleon per cage.

Take the baby to a vet as soon as you can get an appointment. He sounds very injured.

 

[MelissaB]

I'm sorry this has happened. He needs to see a vet, and I hope they have their own separate cages. You really can't keep two chameleons in the same cage, especially when they're two different sizes. They are solitary animals that only come together during breeding, and then go on their own way. They don't need or want companions, and when forced to live together, it usually means death for one or both.

Here is a care sheet that explains how you should keep them:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[jpowell86]

You need to get him to a vet asap. If he is dragging his hind legs, more than likely they are broke. A full grown adult female could break the legs of baby with ease.

Please do not house your chameleons together. They live very solitary lives and being housed together triggers territorial responses. This kind of aggression is to be expected always.

The black area is more than likely bruising....but if he is starting to bleed from the area, that could be something much more serious.

 

[rango32]

Thanks everyone. After he was bit we put him in a separate cage we already had but we put him in with our other chameleon who is about 8 months (I was told my baby is about 4 months but to me he seems younger) because it is a larger cage and the person we bought him from said they would be fine (which was obviously very bad advice). I didn't think they were broken because he can move them just doesn't use them much. Does he need to go to some kind of exotic reptile vet? I live in a small town in Texas not too many vets around with chameleon experience. I will upload some pics.

 

[jpowell86]

Thanks everyone. After he was bit we put him in a separate cage we already had but we put him in with our other chameleon who is about 8 months (I was told my baby is about 4 months but to me he seems younger) because it is a larger cage and the person we bought him from said they would be fine (which was obviously very bad advice). I didn't think they were broken because he can move them just doesn't use them much. Does he need to go to some kind of exotic reptile vet? I live in a small town in Texas not too many vets around with chameleon experience. I will upload some pics.

I live in Texas as well. If you let me know where you are, I could probably find you a vet that could look at him.

 

[rango32]

 

[rango32]

The first two pictures are the day he was bit, he had no open wound so that is why I'm not sure what is going on and don't think she actually bit him. We feed him crickets, do they bite and are they capable of doing this? When we saw he had a cut on his leg last night a cricket was sitting on his wound and seemed to be feeding on it.

 

[rango32]

They need to be separated RIGHT NOW. This is exactly why chameleons need to be kept separately. One chameleon per cage.

Take the baby to a vet as soon as you can get an appointment. He sounds very injured.

Thanks I posted pics of him and my older female. The first two were taken a few hours after he was bit, he had no wounds then that is why I'm not exactly sure what happened. Do the crickets bite?

 

[jpowell86]

Absolutely. Crickets are notorious biters and especially if there is a wound. He needs a vet big time in my opinion. When I zoomed in on the picture, it looked as if there was dying tissue around the base of his leg. They may have to debride that area.

If you are letting the crickets roam the enclosure, I would make sure and get them out tonight. They generally will bite and feed at night time when the chameleon is asleep.

 

[Clint526]

Wow, all I can say is I hope he recovers.

 

[rango32]

Absolutely. Crickets are notorious biters and especially if there is a wound. He needs a vet big time in my opinion. When I zoomed in on the picture, it looked as if there was dying tissue around the base of his leg. They may have to debride that area.

If you are letting the crickets roam the enclosure, I would make sure and get them out tonight. They generally will bite and feed at night time when the chameleon is asleep.

So then they wounds are more than likely from the crickets? He had no cuts until the 2nd night, which was the day we left a couple crickets in there that he did not eat.

 

[jpowell86]

Could be. Obviously she attacked him because the whole back end of the little guy is bruised. This could have attracted the crickets to feed on this area.

 

[jpowell86]

I would pm @ferretinmyshoes with some pictures of this. She is a vet and can give you some insight on this. Also, pm @jajeanpierre about a vet.

 

[brownie64]

From the looks of his hind area I would say it could be both. Please get this poor animal to a vet he is seriously injured.

 

[rango32]

I would pm @ferretinmyshoes with some pictures of this. She is a vet and can give you some insight on this. Also, pm @jajeanpierre about a vet.

Thank you so much you have been so much help hopefully we can find an open vet ASAP.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Ouch. Unfortunately you learned the hard way why chameleons have to be kept by themselves. She did a number to him. Even if she didn't cause the open wounds she still did a good amount of damage. The open wounds are either the direct result of her bite and it just took a day or two for the full damage to show its ugly head because of damage to the blood supply or infection, or crickets nibbled on him too. I'd be leaning toward the first to at least some degree. He needs to be on antibiotics asap. In the meantime you can use povoiodine that you can find at your local grocery or pharmacy store and dilute it with water until it just looks like tea. Dip a qtip in that and gently clean the wounds to try to keep them from getting any more infected. Can he use his back legs? If not then it doesn't look good for the little guy.

 

[rango32]

Ouch. Unfortunately you learned the hard way why chameleons have to be kept by themselves. She did a number to him. Even if she didn't cause the open wounds she still did a good amount of damage. The open wounds are either the direct result of her bite and it just took a day or two for the full damage to show its ugly head because of damage to the blood supply or infection, or crickets nibbled on him too. I'd be leaning toward the first to at least some degree. He needs to be on antibiotics asap. In the meantime you can use povoiodine that you can find at your local grocery or pharmacy store and dilute it with water until it just looks like tea. Dip a qtip in that and gently clean the wounds to try to keep them from getting any more infected.

I know unfortunately I did learn the hard way and now I feel so bad and really upset that the seller told me they would be fine also because I have a baby female the same age as him in there with her and she does not mess with her at all they can lay right next to each other. Would this be because they are both female? He is not using his hind legs to walk but he sometimes uses them to grab onto things as well as his tail so I don't think they are broken, are they? His bottom half is darker than his top half. I'm not exactly sure if he was bit but he did not have any cuts until last night which I am assuming is from the crickets we left in his cage with him last night (which I am NEVER doing again, I removed ALL of them already). Do you think he will be able to fully use his legs again?

 

[rango32]

ferretinmyshoes, Is it povoiodine or povidone iodine? Is Neosporin safe for him?

 

[wodesorel]

There were three of them in the same cage? Your larger female could turn on the smaller one at any moment and do the same thing. Just because they've been fine doesn't mean they are going to stay that way. It really is safest for each chameleon to have their own enclosure!