Help!!! Chameleon Found!!!

Culichi33_TC

New Member
So we had old tenants vacate the property under their will, but they left many objects behind, from my understanding they had left without letting us know for about 5 days, when we walked into the property I made my way to the back part of a room and seen a cage and didn’t think much, as I made my way to it I seen something move, turned out to be a chameleon, seems to be in stable conditions (To my eyes) I do notice some type of white substance coming out of its butt not sure if that’s normal, I’ve been doing research the whole weekend for it’s care as I do wish to keep this beauty, all I know is that it’s a Ambilobe Panther Chameleon (Correct me if I misspelled it) and it’s a male. No lightings or mister were found on the property, I’ve been using a regular house lightbulb at a distance to keep at warmth, I have fed him super worms as the local pet store recommended and is drinking plenty of water... Any tips? I do ask for no rude comments, I am aware that it’s a leap of faith I’m taking but I’d rather much learn and give him a loving home, rather than give to a shop/stranger who might/may harm him, already named him “Reptar”
 
Please post a photo of him.
This is how I found him, I was completely shocked and took pictures for the case.
 

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Thank you for caring for him...there is alot of requirements he needs a linear uv bulb a heat bulb more branches vertical and horizontal live feeders, crickets, grasshoppers, bees, superior's, Dubai roaches, praying mantis, the feeders need gutload and dusted with vitamins, I use repashy lo-d with outdoor miner-all and he needs some running water drips, watch bill strand podcast lots of info there!!
 
Good luck with him, and feel free to ask any questions you need to - we're all here to help! Strangely this is the 2nd time in the past week I've heard of a person leaving behind a chameleon (though the last one was due to a death), and I can't help but wonder how many more this happens to that we don't hear about.
 
Looking at his living conditions, his body condition actually looks surprisingly well! I'm wondering if they just recently got him. He's extremely lucky to have been found by you! Best of luck with him. My first recommendation would be a vet visit to see just exactly what his health status is.
 
Wow, so sad someone would leave a chameleon like that.. :(
The white butt stuff could be sperm plugs, they come out when males poop and sometimes get stuck on their butts for a bit.
I would buys some big plants, like a ficus, so he has some comfortable branches to chill on.
Good luck!
 
good thing you found him when you did. They go down hill fast without water to drink.

I start off with the bare basic needs first and go from there. Such as UVB bulb, plants/branches, and supplements.

Are you misting him or do you have a water bowl?
 
Thank you for caring for him...there is alot of requirements he needs a linear uv bulb a heat bulb more branches vertical and horizontal live feeders, crickets, grasshoppers, bees, superior's, Dubai roaches, praying mantis, the feeders need gutload and dusted with vitamins, I use repashy lo-d with outdoor miner-all and he needs some running water drips, watch bill strand podcast lots of info there!!
Good luck with him, and feel free to ask any questions you need to - we're all here to help! Strangely this is the 2nd time in the past week I've heard of a person leaving behind a chameleon (though the last one was due to a death), and I can't help but wonder how many more this happens to that we don't hear about.
I myself was shocked, who in a right mind would leave any creature to fend for itself. I was more hurt than anything, I am trying my best to get as much knowledge and give him the best home he can get after being abandoned. I am trying to get in contact with a vet around my area but so far everyone seems to be for dogs and cats mainly.
 
Good luck with him, and feel free to ask any questions you need to - we're all here to help! Strangely this is the 2nd time in the past week I've heard of a person leaving behind a chameleon (though the last one was due to a death), and I can't help but wonder how many more this happens to that we don't hear about.
It really is sad, once i loaded his cage into my truck i went to the nearest pet shop I know and asked if i could turn him in or somewhere safe and the salesperson told me that they tend to get many abandoned reptiles or sick ones brought to them after people give up, that's why I decided to keep him, give him a chance.
 
We need pics of the white stuff, hopefully just urates but since he went a minimum of 5 days without water id expect the urates to be darker...
I will more than gladly upload pictures as soon as I'm home and i can take him out of the cage. So far there's no problem with handling him, I reach my hand out and he eagerly runs right on.
 
Wow, so sad someone would leave a chameleon like that.. :(
The white butt stuff could be sperm plugs, they come out when males poop and sometimes get stuck on their butts for a bit.
I would buys some big plants, like a ficus, so he has some comfortable branches to chill on.
Good luck!
Its outrageous that someone would leave a living being out like that, I bought him some of the vines that pet co sells but i am noticing that they might be too thin for him, as i do notice that he is having some trouble getting around the thinner branches that were placed in the cage. I am for sure going to be looking around for big plants to make him feel a bit better as I read that they like to hide around.
 
good thing you found him when you did. They go down hill fast without water to drink.

I start off with the bare basic needs first and go from there. Such as UVB bulb, plants/branches, and supplements.

Are you misting him or do you have a water bowl?
From what the neighbors in that area said, our old tenants moved out on the 19th and we didn't enter the property until the 24th, that's when i discovered the cage, I could only imagine the thirst of this poor guy, I couldn't find any water supply so I poked a hold on a water bottle I had and tilted the bottle so he can catch the drips, stood there maybe 20 minutes before it walked away. I am now aware that a uvb bulb is required and I purchased a pet co brand calcium "Repti Calcium" with D3 for dusting his crickets, they did not have a mister in stock so what i did was head over to homedepot and i got a water container with a pump and with pumping it for 2 minutes it lets out a misting of water for 10 minutes and he seems to be enjoying it.
 
I am very suprised he is looking as good as he does for being alone for 5 days! They can be tedious creatures to keep healthy, its very good that you found him and try to take care of him! Hes a beautiful boy, I bet his colors will pop once hes nice and warm and comfortable :)

For now I'd focus on getting him a warm basking spot, some foilage (chameleons can only drink water by licking droplets off of leaves or other surfaces) and some crickets as food.

If he still has the white subbstance on his butt, i'd try to mist that area with water a bit, it could help loosen it up.

And definitly get some horizontal branches in his cage, right now he only has really thick tree trunks to walk on, and he can only rest in vertical position. You can use bamboo twigs (home depot) or big wooden meat skewers for this, fasten them with tie rips around the thicker branches.
Good luck!
 
So good that you are going to look after the poor guy. If you hadn't found him he would have died a fairly slow death.

His eye is swollen and he shows signs of MBD in his right arm so a vet visit would be good.

The regular household incandescent light bulb in a dome hood is all you need for basking. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear ReptiSun 5.0 tube light. Basking temperature in the mid to high 80's ..make sure the bulb isn't so close to the top of the cage that he can end up burned if he hangs under it....hold your hand at the closest post he can get to it and if you don't have to move your hand away it should be ok.

You can make a dripper from a deli cup that has a very small hole punched in the bottom of it so it drips at the rate of one or two drops per second and use a plant mister to mist the cage and of course you will need a plant to mist/drip on so he can drink. Make sure that the plant is non toxic and well washed ...both sides of the leaves. Pothos is one of the best plants IMHO.

Insects should be well fed and gutloaded and dusted with the appropriate supplements. Crickets, silkworms, hornworms, roaches, locusts all make good food for them superworms and waxworms can be used as treats. Crickets, roaches, superworms, locusts can be fed/gutloaded with a wide range of greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc and a very little bit of fruit such as melon, apples, pears, berries can be used.
For supplements many people use the Repashy LoD but a lot of people also use these 3 different supplements...a phos free calcium powder at almost every feeding dusted lightly on the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon, a phos free calcium/D3 powder dusted lightly twice a month and a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A dusted lightly twice a month. The reasoning ...Most insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos so dusting with the calcium helps make up for it. D3 from supplements builds up in the system and can lead to health issues so we only do it twice a month and leave the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB. D3 produced from exposure to the UVB won't build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will. PrOformed vitamin A won't build up in the system like prEformed (palmitate, retinol, retinyl) sources will...but there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the prO to the prE so you may have to give it a bit of prEformed once in a while.

Hope this helps! Good luck with the poor chameleon!

Definitely would like to see a photo of its butt with the white stuff on it.
 
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