elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
I am sharing this information to hopefully help someone in the future. I have recently been catching my Treebeard (male panther) with his eyes closed during the day. Starting in July of this year I have been working on my skills to do my own fecals at home. The goal is to catch anything before it gets out of hand and treat it before any chams show signs of illness. The goal is also to help save money on fecals ($78 per fecal check from my vet). As of today (10/10/2024), two of the last 4 fecals from Treebeard has shown some blood in the fecal. His second most recent fecal I did see some oocysts that looked like entamoeba. What specific kind I am not sure. I took that fecal in for a check and it came back negative for any parasites....at this point I am assuming its the entamoeba that is not dangerous.
He had recent vet appointment this week, we did blood tests and lucky for us, he pooped while at the vet. We sent that fecal in for testing - also negative. The blood work done in-house showed that his kidney, liver and calcium to phosphorus ratios were all great.
Today they got the results back from the lab regarding further bloodwork for an infection. (You can find that attached here). His white blood cell count and Lymphocyte levels were both elevated, indicating an infection and inflammation.
Treebeard is currently taking:
- Ofloxacin Ophthalmic Solution (eye drops) 1x daily
- Omeprazole 10 mg (my mouth) 1x daily
- And an antibiotic (I'll get the name of that in a second) 1x daily
His symptoms are:
- Eyes closed during the day
- Lethargic
- Not active in his typical routine
- Closing 1 eye at a time and rolling turrets, to me this almost looks like his eyes are bothering him.
His appetite is still the same, he is hydrated and pooping regularly. I do strictly follow husbandry guidelines on here and the Chameleon Academy and am unsure where this infection came from. If anyone has any suggestions or has experienced something similar I would love to hear from you.
We will give meds for 2 weeks and then follow up with more bloodwork (as stated above), another thing my vet asked me to consider is getting him tested for Crypto. Where this is an uncommon parasite, and I have minimal reptiles I am hoping this is not the case. I'd also love to hear what others on here think of the possibility.
To help normalize the cost for vet care this is what I have currently spent for his medical care (love that Neptune is doing that BTW):
- $75 for first fecal
- $85 for exam from 1st exotic vet visit
- $448.13 - this includes his second exam, in-house bloodwork, bloodwork sent to the lab, his 2nd fecal check at the vet, the cost for eyedrops and the Omeprazole.
The antibiotic that I got today was $50
So far medicating him has been relatively easy. He loves his free range tree, I let him out for free range time for several minutes, then I show him a silkworm (one of his favorites), when he opens his mouth to shoot at it I sneak in 1 of the oral medications. I give him space to explore, then attempt the eye drops (this is tricky, if I figure out an easy way to administer these I will let you all know). After an hour on his free range, I'll give the 2nd and final medication. I am hoping that his love for being on his tree will help me not lose the trust I have built with him and will make the situation of medicating him not so bad. Will follow up on how this goes.
He had recent vet appointment this week, we did blood tests and lucky for us, he pooped while at the vet. We sent that fecal in for testing - also negative. The blood work done in-house showed that his kidney, liver and calcium to phosphorus ratios were all great.
Today they got the results back from the lab regarding further bloodwork for an infection. (You can find that attached here). His white blood cell count and Lymphocyte levels were both elevated, indicating an infection and inflammation.
Treebeard is currently taking:
- Ofloxacin Ophthalmic Solution (eye drops) 1x daily
- Omeprazole 10 mg (my mouth) 1x daily
- And an antibiotic (I'll get the name of that in a second) 1x daily
His symptoms are:
- Eyes closed during the day
- Lethargic
- Not active in his typical routine
- Closing 1 eye at a time and rolling turrets, to me this almost looks like his eyes are bothering him.
His appetite is still the same, he is hydrated and pooping regularly. I do strictly follow husbandry guidelines on here and the Chameleon Academy and am unsure where this infection came from. If anyone has any suggestions or has experienced something similar I would love to hear from you.
We will give meds for 2 weeks and then follow up with more bloodwork (as stated above), another thing my vet asked me to consider is getting him tested for Crypto. Where this is an uncommon parasite, and I have minimal reptiles I am hoping this is not the case. I'd also love to hear what others on here think of the possibility.
To help normalize the cost for vet care this is what I have currently spent for his medical care (love that Neptune is doing that BTW):
- $75 for first fecal
- $85 for exam from 1st exotic vet visit
- $448.13 - this includes his second exam, in-house bloodwork, bloodwork sent to the lab, his 2nd fecal check at the vet, the cost for eyedrops and the Omeprazole.
The antibiotic that I got today was $50
So far medicating him has been relatively easy. He loves his free range tree, I let him out for free range time for several minutes, then I show him a silkworm (one of his favorites), when he opens his mouth to shoot at it I sneak in 1 of the oral medications. I give him space to explore, then attempt the eye drops (this is tricky, if I figure out an easy way to administer these I will let you all know). After an hour on his free range, I'll give the 2nd and final medication. I am hoping that his love for being on his tree will help me not lose the trust I have built with him and will make the situation of medicating him not so bad. Will follow up on how this goes.
. Thank you for sharing this
I’m sorry you and Treebeard are going through this. Sending hugs and positive vibes. 
