Help please Bodhi's leg

Banders675

Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Nosy be, sex: male, age: almost 2. How long has it been in your care? Since he was 3-4 months
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Evenly couple or other day he begs to come out.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Crickets and king worms What amount?8-10 every 2-3 days What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Feeders get bug burger.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Rapashy calcium plus I dust the crickets every time.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Spray/mist How often and how long to you mist? 2-3 times a day Do you see your chameleon drinking? Yes he drinks when I spray. I also take a shower with him once a week and he drinks in there too.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No tests. His poop is the same as its always been.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen 24-24-36 the one everyone else has from zoo med.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 25.0 UVB ( I just put new bulbs in today cause I was freaking out) 75 watt heat bulb
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? I can get a temp gun out but I don't think this problem is due to temp. Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? We use a gauge but it goes up and down all day.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Live ficus, same plant he has been in since I had him and a new one that we got a year ago. Also has fake plant and vines.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? He is at the foot of my bed next to the window. He has been there over a year.
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located? San Jose California

Current Problem - Back left leg not functioning? He grips my finger fine, but he can't walk on it and whe he try's he barbs his front leg like he had no control.

He is eating he got all pretty when I came home from work and got him out. He seems like normal Bodhi other then his leg. He is like one of my kids and I'm really worried any info can help. Could his leg be broken? He does fall in the cage sometimes. I pushed on different spots on the leg and it didn't seem to bother him. He just sat there, still has good grip too.
 
I will

please post pics so we can see what it looks like

I will, I just sprayed him so give him a chance to dry off. My girlfriend took a video I'm trying to have her send it to me. The leg does not look deformed it just twists in when he walks and it looks like he can't control it he can still grip my finger though.
 

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I don't know if it could happen or not, but maybe his leg is sprained or broken. MAYBE.

I would just take him to the vet just in case..
 
watching the video it looks broken to me, i would take him to the vet and get xrays.thats my opinion. a vet with experience in reptiles and chams is best, where are you located? if you let us know where you are located we may be able to recommend a good vet.
this link takes you to a site where you can locate vets experienced with reptiles near you http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/
 
watching the video it looks broken to me, i would take him to the vet and get xrays.thats my opinion. a vet with experience in reptiles and chams is best, where are you located? if you let us know where you are located we may be able to recommend a good vet.
this link takes you to a site where you can locate vets experienced with reptiles near you http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/

Just what I was thinking.. Usually MBD (what I had guessed before) they still try and move the leg except its super shaky and they can't hold their weight.

This guy just looks like his leg hurts and it can't move because his ankle is broken or something. :(

If that's the case, vet vet vet.
 
i asked ferretinmyshoes and Dr O to take a look and give their opinions, they are vets here on the forum so hopefully they will chime in soon! its late tho so they may not be back online until tomorrow. i dont think it looks like mbd in the video in the pics i did but not the video. but im not a vet so thats only my opinion based on the research i have done
 
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Hmm. It doesn't look obviously broken, however that doesn't mean that it still couldn't be broken. It's a little hard to tell from the angle of the video, but I agree it's definitely not normal. How long has this been going on? Was it just a sudden change? Does the other back leg seem to be working appropriately? It looked like the right was either normal, or less affected than the left. I'd definitely want to start with some x-rays to look for fractures and also to evaluate bone density. It is possible it's just a strain or soft tissue injury (best case scenario) but that ankle looks like it may be a bit swollen so I'd also want to look for joint infection or gout as well as fractures. Sometimes you can see hindlimb problems when there is kidney disease since the kidneys are just in front of the hindlimbs and so if they swell when diseased they can press on nerves to the back legs. But injury or infection would be higher on my list at this point. Since he does have so much trouble using it (it definitely appears to be painful) I agree that it's time for a vet visit to figure out what's going on before it gets worse.
 
Broken leg

A broken leg he would be in pain thought right? When I touch it it doesn't bother him and I squeezed his foot, ankle, knee, thigh and hip areas and it does not bother him at all. And his grip is strong in that foot. I will try to get him to the vet I found in reptiles USA. Maybe he just loves us so much that even when I cause him pain by touching the leg he still does not hiss or nip at us. If he were in pain from a break wouldn't he show stress colors?
 
Leg

Hmm. It doesn't look obviously broken, however that doesn't mean that it still couldn't be broken. It's a little hard to tell from the angle of the video, but I agree it's definitely not normal. How long has this been going on? Was it just a sudden change? Does the other back leg seem to be working appropriately? It looked like the right was either normal, or less affected than the left. I'd definitely want to start with some x-rays to look for fractures and also to evaluate bone density. It is possible it's just a strain or soft tissue injury (best case scenario) but that ankle looks like it may be a bit swollen so I'd also want to look for joint infection or gout as well as fractures. Sometimes you can see hindlimb problems when there is kidney disease since the kidneys are just in front of the hindlimbs and so if they swell when diseased they can press on nerves to the back legs. But injury or infection would be higher on my list at this point. Since he does have so much trouble using it (it definitely appears to be painful) I agree that it's time for a vet visit to figure out what's going on before it gets worse.

The right leg seems to be fine. I will take him to the vet tomorrow. Like I stated earlier I pushed on every part of the leg and either 1. He is not in pain or 2. He is in pain but still will not bite or hiss at me. The only time he every huffs is when I grab him over his back and try to put him back in the cage. He thinks if I'm home he should be out. Today when I took him out he colored up and was happy to be held. I hope it's something that can be fixed.

Thank you everyone for the help.
 
Posts

Not necessarily. Chameleons are prey animals, which means they are going to do everything possible to hide signs of pain.

I think I'm writing my posts while you are posting yours. We will get him to the vet tomorrow.

Should I also bring Ranger to get an exam also? He seems to be just fine but I don't want to assume anything at this point since they get the same care and feeders.
 
Taking one is stressful enough, maybe see what they can find on Bodhi first and go from there. Good luck tomorrow! Let us know what they find. Hoping for the best! :)
 
Vet

I will let you guys know ASAP. Bodhi is a good boy so it should be easy, Ranger is a S$#% disturber so he would be a handful and probably stress Bodhi and myself out.
 
vet visit

So it looks like we caught the MBD very early. The Vet put Bodhi on a calcium drop and he said use it on Ranger also for the next 45 days. Thank you everyone I will keep you posted on how he does. Any one have a recommendation for vitamin Supplements that do not have calcium since we are on the drops?
 
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