Jackson Chameleon HELP ! ASAP

[sels]

I have been concerned about my Jackson Chameleon for a few months, I started to notice a few brown spots on him, one about an inch in length by his back and a few circular spots on his body. I know this means that he is generally not happy, and somthing is wrong. I figured if I changed up his diet, from mainly super worms to crickets/hornworms/silkworms to give him a variety that it may change is mood dramatically. That is not the case so far... although i have not gave it a significant amount of time to see any results, but I just noticed yesterday a Red bulge on the right side of his mouth, sorta looks like he has herpies. VERY concerned about that, i scedualed an apointment with my local vet but i want to make sure that this is a serious matter and that his health is in danger before i take on some vet bills only to find out it was very minor and it will get better in time.... So i would like to get your opinion ASAP on his general health and what you may think is wrong.

Thanks, much appriciated !

 

[yokman]

Spend the $$$ and get him to the vet!!! The longer you wait the worse it will get. Looks to be sum kinda mouth rot/infection. Very pretty cham though. Best of luck and maybe a pic or 2 of his set up will tell more.

 

[jessica]

Making a vet appointment was a good move. Looks like infection, could be an infected gland or mouth rot.

More then likely the vet will clean and scrape it out. I would ask the vet run a culture and sensitivity test so you know what bacteria is involved, it will also give you an idea of what antibiotic will work.

 

[sels]

Thank you all ! i appriciate it, i just took him to the vet this morning and they ran a few test cultrural and a white blood cell count test. Although the infection is not a good sign of health, the vet said things were on the up and up and should pull through this. He cleaned his mouth out and it looks a lot better than it did this morning. I will take pictures of my setup to provide more details, still no known cause for this ! waiting until monday for test results to come back from the vet, but i did discover his cage was pretty dirty.... my fault :/ but i had a few sticks on the bottom incase he ever wanted to chill down there, (its a 200 gallon cage) and all the misting had soaked these sticks and had began to rot, which i could definetely see some bacteria build up down there.I even baked them in the oven before i put them in there, and I just vaccumed out everything, took out his mats washed them out. Thats what i have managed to do so far, Also my Palm tree in there is dying ! i dunno if its from lack of light but i have 2 Uvb lights and a basking bulb. Do i need more UVb lights ? One is a high powerd bulb one of the top brands, and the other is of a lower wattage and brand. Pictures will be up soon !

 

[sels]

Also i have started him on shots, given to me by the vet. 14 shots 1 each day the anti biotic is called Baytril and each injection is 22.7 mg

 

[Carlton]

I will take pictures of my setup to provide more details, still no known cause for this ! Also my Palm tree in there is dying ! i dunno if its from lack of light but i have 2 Uvb lights and a basking bulb. Do i need more UVb lights ? One is a high powerd bulb one of the top brands, and the other is of a lower wattage and brand. Pictures will be up soon !

Jackson's are prone to mouth infections. They are painful! They have a gland in the corners of their mouth (the temporal gland) that can abscess and cause spreading infections under the skin of their face, eyes, and along the gum. They also tend to recur so you'll have to watch him during and after treatment. Any cham can get a cut on the gum from a feeder leg or piece of exoskeleton.

I don't have any scientific proof of this, but I've read that increasing the level of Vit. C in feeder gutloads can help prevent mouth infections (maybe because it changes the pH or boosts their immune response). There must be some dietary thing we are missing in jackson's...their temporal gland infections seem so common compared to other species.

 

[sels]

Jackson's are prone to mouth infections. They are painful! They have a gland in the corners of their mouth (the temporal gland) that can abscess and cause spreading infections under the skin of their face, eyes, and along the gum. They also tend to recur so you'll have to watch him during and after treatment. Any cham can get a cut on the gum from a feeder leg or piece of exoskeleton.

I don't have any scientific proof of this, but I've read that increasing the level of Vit. C in feeder gutloads can help prevent mouth infections (maybe because it changes the pH or boosts their immune response). There must be some dietary thing we are missing in jackson's...their temporal gland infections seem so common compared to other species.

Maybe thats why he hasnt eaten today ? The pain could be to much for him, but he is getting around just fine and drinking when i mist him so other than not eating he seems to be doing better. I had no idea jacksons were prone to mouth infections. I think you might be on to somthing with the vit. C, becuase i have never given him any vitamins other than a calcium supplement but still i do not give that to him very often. Where would i buy a Vitamin C powder ??

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

Start with slices of oranges in the feeders, its a start til you get test results.
im glad you took notice of his environment and made changes, sign of a compassionate owner wanting the best for his Cham
Not to mention taking responsibility for it!

 

[Carlton]

Start with slices of oranges in the feeders, its a start til you get test results.
im glad you took notice of his environment and made changes, sign of a compassionate owner wanting the best for his Cham
Not to mention taking responsibility for it!

Right...exactly what I do. My main fruit in insect bins are oranges. Let the insects metabolize the vitamins...don't risk overdosing your cham by giving Vit. C directly.

 

[Carlton]

Maybe thats why he hasnt eaten today ? The pain could be to much for him, but he is getting around just fine and drinking when i mist him so other than not eating he seems to be doing better. I had no idea jacksons were prone to mouth infections. I think you might be on to somthing with the vit. C, becuase i have never given him any vitamins other than a calcium supplement but still i do not give that to him very often. Where would i buy a Vitamin C powder ??

So you don't give any herp vitamins at all? Most of us give some (such as Herptivite) about once a month...but for a jax maybe once every 6 weeks.

 

[sels]

Ok , thank you for all the advice ! I will start putting oranges in my cricket keeper, although i do not gutload my superworms... first time i really thought about doing it becuase they come in a package of somewhat like woodshreddings. And yes, I do not give him any supplements. I used to the first 3-4 months i had him, and i stopped after that due to i thought that it can be dangerous for him,so i continued on with just gutloading crickets/hornworms. He was doing fine until about 1 month ago, started to notice brown spots on him which is a bad sign(if your cham is an adult) but everynow and then i would dust a superworm or a cricket and feed it to him, certainly not every 6 weeks tho.

 

[sels]

Also, any suggestions on how to get him to take shots better...? have been giving him 1 shot a day prescribed by my vet, and when i gave it to gim today i had him in 1 hand(shot in the other) and he was very aggressive towards escaping and getting rid of that needle. Which is understandable but it was difficult to give him the shot and he would kick his back foot to knock the needle away which im afraid he will end up provoking me to accidently cut him, i eventually was able to give it to him but i can tell its very stressfull on him and potentially dangerous if he gets to aggressive towards escaping

 

[FredChameleon]

while you have him in your hand, hold his nose horn between you index finger and thumb. it tends to calm them a bit.

 

[sels]

good idea, i will try that tommorow. Does anyone have any idea on why this mouth infection occured ? so i know how to prevent it..

 

[FredChameleon]

his food may have bitten him? super worms do bite!

 

[jessica]

Also, any suggestions on how to get him to take shots better...? have been giving him 1 shot a day prescribed by my vet, and when i gave it to gim today i had him in 1 hand(shot in the other) and he was very aggressive towards escaping and getting rid of that needle. Which is understandable but it was difficult to give him the shot and he would kick his back foot to knock the needle away which im afraid he will end up provoking me to accidently cut him, i eventually was able to give it to him but i can tell its very stressfull on him and potentially dangerous if he gets to aggressive towards escaping

I'm glad you got him to the vet, good job!

When I give injections I wrap the chameleon in a towel give them a couple minutes to calm down. Then I take the wrapped chameleon outside and sit down and set the wrapped chameleon on my lap. I pull the little leg through an opening in the towel and administer the injection.
When I finish I unwrap the chameleon and usually they are so distracted from the outside world they don't even realize what Ive just done lol
After a few times it gets easier.

Good luck!

 

[sels]

I'm glad you got him to the vet, good job!

When I give injections I wrap the chameleon in a towel give them a couple minutes to calm down. Then I take the wrapped chameleon outside and sit down and set the wrapped chameleon on my lap. I pull the little leg through an opening in the towel and administer the injection.
When I finish I unwrap the chameleon and usually they are so distracted from the outside world they don't even realize what Ive just done lol
After a few times it gets easier.

Good luck!

Thank you ! i tried this and it worked, still it was very difficult to get him wrapped in the towel hes just really aggressive i guess and does not like being handled,but after i got him wrapped up he accepted it.

 

[sels]

his food may have bitten him? super worms do bite!

Its possible, i was unaware that they bite and released 2 or 3 (not at the same time) on nearby branches during the day when i knew he was hungry. So its definetely possible one got him while he was sleeping or somthing, i ussually put all his food in a feeder i have made for him and its very rare that they ever escape from it so other than a few occasions, his food is mostly in a controled area. Im starting to worry a bit about his diet, he has not ate anything in 3 or 4 days, which i know 3 days is not very uncommen in adults but 4 i know is pushing it. I have a few crickets in there now and he has not touched them, which is very odd. Other than that he is acting very normal, basking in uva/uvb and drinking off leaves when i mist.

 

[AZChamFan]

his food may have bitten him? super worms do bite!

Very good point. Almost any feeder is capable of a pinch or bite, but superworms have an extra good ability to flip around and nail the cham in the mouth or even the eye, and they have very capable "jaws" for biting! I use 8 inch blunt nose tweezers to remove superworms from their bedding and then before feeding them to the cham, I pinch/crush the mouthparts of the worm. This may sound cruel, but the cham is going to crunch up the worm anyways, and this way there is no risk of the worm biting the cham. The worm will still wiggle and since I hand feed, it does not reduce the cham's interest in the worms. Still, you don't want to feed too many of these worms - just use them on occasion as a treat and for extra variety!!

 

[jessica]

Thank you ! i tried this and it worked, still it was very difficult to get him wrapped in the towel hes just really aggressive i guess and does not like being handled,but after i got him wrapped up he accepted it.

Glad it made things a little easier! Hey him fighting is a good , its when they just submissively lay there that makes me worry