Jackson with infections and not eating.

M

Madisonsb27

New Member
Hi there, my Jackson Chameleon, Karma, has been struggling for a few months now. Starting in April, he started to get an infection in one of his feet. We moved him to a bigger better cage and took him to a vet. The vet gave us oral antibiotics to give him which we were able to sneak in as he ate his crickets. He got a bit better until he got worse. He now has infections on 3 of his feet and his tail. He hasn’t shed since April and he is not eating. We took him to a vet who specializes in reptiles and he gave us antibiotic injections which we give him every 2-3 days. He still is not eating and he has very limited grip strength. We give him iodine soaks and have started soaking him in a bowl of water from which he drinks from since the past few days his eyes have sunken due to dehydration.

We have had him for about 2 years. I am not sure how long he was in the previous owners home for but he was in really bad shape. The first doctor suggested he may be around 7 years old (not sure how accurate that is).

What can I do to help him? Will force feeding help? He seems to be getting worse, please help!
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SteveH said:
Wondering if there is something in the enclosure that's scratching him or maybe his enclosure is getting a drying out period during the day 🤷‍♂️ what is your hydration cycle and schedule ? Fogging and misting mainly...
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Second this... I know the jungle vines that they are using can be pretty harsh on the feet.
 
Hi. How often are you doing the iodine soaks and is it what your vet recommended? Are you putting anything like antibiotic cream (silver sulfadiazine specifically) on the wounds? Has your vet taken a culture from one of the wounds?
 
MissSkittles said:
Hi. How often are you doing the iodine soaks and is it what your vet recommended? Are you putting anything like antibiotic cream (silver sulfadiazine specifically) on the wounds? Has your vet taken a culture from one of the wounds?
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Hi! We are doing them once daily per the vet’s instructions. We are not currently putting any cream on his wounds. The vet said the next step would be to take a culture from his infected area but he said with after wound care it costs over $500. I just dont want to put him under that much stress being as weak as he is.
 
Beman said:
Second this... I know the jungle vines that they are using can be pretty harsh on the feet.
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Oh wow I didnt know that about those vines! What do you suggest using instead? His wounds are all on the tops of his feet for reference as well.
 
SteveH said:
Wondering if there is something in the enclosure that's scratching him or maybe his enclosure is getting a drying out period during the day 🤷‍♂️ what is your hydration cycle and schedule ? Fogging and misting mainly...
Click to expand...
Our first vet said to keep his cage dryer in order to let his wounds heal to prevent further infection. Im thinking its been long enough with no real improvement so we may go back to misting. We used to mist his full enclosure twice a day (one morning, one mid afternoon). We have a Big Dripper as well as get him water through a dripping spray bottle.

Would these wounds keep him from eating too? Another problem is his eating cycle now, i have a feeling its contributing to him not healing.
 
Some questions which I could contribute to these infections. Do you have UVB light in this setup? What are his daytime and nighttime temps? When are you using that emitter heat light?

IMHO he doesn’t look like 7 years to me. More like 3 years if you already have him for 2 years.
 
Madisonsb27 said:
Hi! We are doing them once daily per the vet’s instructions. We are not currently putting any cream on his wounds. The vet said the next step would be to take a culture from his infected area but he said with after wound care it costs over $500. I just dont want to put him under that much stress being as weak as he is.
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Ok. Are any of the wounds moist on their own? When I ask about a culture, that is just wiping a cotton swab on the moist wound to determine what bacteria is present. I think your vet may be talking about a biopsy, which is taking a sample of the wound tissue and usually involves cutting or scraping and is a different diagnostic that looks for abnormal cells. Silver sulfadiazine is something very often used with any wounds (and especially burns) as an antibacterial and imo promotes good healing. I’m not a vet though - just a human nurse.
I know you’ll probably be getting several of our differing opinions and mine may not make much difference, but…..
You have a lot of plastic plants and only one live one that I can see. The plastic has sharp edges and can be scratchy. I also only see the one vine. It’s already been mentioned about the rough texture of that particular vine (Fluker’s foam vines are a better option). However, regardless of the vine, chameleons need branches or vines of varied diameters to properly exercise their feet and leg muscles. You can use natural branches from outside. Give a little scrub with dish soap, rinse very well and dry. Avoid ones from pine, eucalyptus and other trees with sticky sal or strong odor. Remove most or all of the artificial plants and replace with some safe live ones. Usually adding one nice tall plant in the center, like a ficus benjamina or schefflera and a couple of pothos vining in the corners are perfect. This is a great resource on safe live plants. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
Doing this may contribute to helping to heal his poor little feet, or at the least will provide him a more natural and kinder (less sharp and scratchy) environment. I’d also think a full husbandry review might help to make sure there’s nothing off. Sometimes the smallest of things can make the biggest of differences. I’ll post the questions separately and you can just copy/paste with your answers if you choose to have a review. I’m not at all up on Jackson’s husbandry, so am leaving you with our wonderful and skilled Jackson’s keepers. I do wish you and your beautiful little guy the very best and hope you can find the answers that will heal him. 💗
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • 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?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? 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?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:
  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
Hopefully the injectable antibiotics will be the right one. Fingers crossed. I an concerned that he's not eating and thirsty enough to drink from the bowl he's soaking in. Don't let him drink the iodine solution. I would start force feeding. I use a small syringe and a gruel made from bug juice or a ground cricket powder. I avoid using carnivore care diet for Jackson's and other montanes as it contains D3 and Vit. A and may cause an overload if used for very long. You can add a bit of calcium as you would normally supplement as you go along. I don't try to replace all that they would eat volume wise normally but rather just give them a bit to sustain them when they very sick. You don't want to burden them with too much to digest when they are frail.
I use Entomo Farms cricket powder. There are other brands. Just don't get anything flavored or with added supplements. You want nothing but ground crickets.
A link to force feeding instructions chameleonforums.com/care/health/vet/
 
Madisonsb27 said:
Our first vet said to keep his cage dryer in order to let his wounds heal to prevent further infection. Im thinking its been long enough with no real improvement so we may go back to misting. We used to mist his full enclosure twice a day (one morning, one mid afternoon). We have a Big Dripper as well as get him water through a dripping spray bottle.

Would these wounds keep him from eating too? Another problem is his eating cycle now, i have a feeling its contributing to him not healing.
Click to expand...
If you can do real branches that would be the best in the end. These dry out naturally and provide different gripping dimensions for them. You just can not use branches from sap producing trees like Pine, Cedar, and Eucalyptus. If real branches are not an option then the only fake vines I like are the flukers vines. These at least can be bought in different sizes and do not have a coating that flakes off or holds water. They can also be wiped down if needed.
 
Thank you all for your help and guidance, I read everything and immediately went out to get thermometers, humidity trackers, new real plants, and protein powder. Unfortunately Karma passed away last night. Its always hard letting go of a family member, but I hope he is in less pain now. We are having a burial service today for him. Thank you all for everything, I hope when I’m really to adopt another chameleon I will have so much more knowledge on how to make them happy, healthy and safe. 💕💕💕💕
 
MissSkittles said:
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • 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?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? 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?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
Click to expand...
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Male jackson chameleon, about 3 years old, was in our care for 2 years after rescued from previous owner
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We were needing to handle him daily to give him iodine soaks or injections. Before he got sick, we handles him maybe once every 2 weeks.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He barely ate at the end but we fed him solely crickets and dipped them in calcium powder every few crickets. When he was healthy he was eating 3-5 a day once a day as we fed him with long tweezer tongs or placed the crickets on a leaf near him. We recently had bought him a feeder (magnetic and the crickets crawl on the mesh cage). He would eat from that but was sick starting before we started using that. He wouldn’t eat any mealworms or anything else.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Calcium powder, not sure exactly the brand but I remember it had a chameleon pictures on it. Usually every few days fed a calcium dusted cricket.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? We used to squeeze a spray bottle to let out a steady drip of water drops and he would drunk daily that way. Then we used a big dipper and he would occasionally drink from that as well. Before his infections we misted twice a day. We stopped misting all together the last 3 months per the direction of our vet
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? He was never tested but usually brown or white poop. One time he had orange poop from what I saw on a leaf when we went to clean it out.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He used to be extremely malnourished when we got him and completely dark brown. He also did not shed once he got sick


Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? He used to live un a small glass cage with a mesh top before his current cage which us a 7 foot mesh cage (5 foot of enclosure space with a 2’ by 3’ width and length). All sides and roof are mesh with wood bottom.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Lighting is set to 12 hours from 6am-6pm. 80W 110 volt for silver shiny one (powersun basking lamp). 60W 120 volt for blue UVA one (zoo med).
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Didnt measure the temps but the building he was in is consistently in the 65-68 range. We recently got him a ceramic lamp that we kept on at the bottom of his cage all hours of the day. We notice he came down to the middle of the cage a ton more once we installed the lamp. He used to be right up under the other lamp.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? No humidity usually in my understanding. He is in a building with AC all day.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? We recently bought him new plants before he died. They are 2 pothos, 1 brasil philandendron, 1 ficus benjamana, 1 schefflera
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It is located in a high traffic area with dozens of people passing daily. No fans or air vents directly near it. Top of the cage measures 7’ from the floor.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? Located in hawaii


Current Problem - chameleon passed away and wanting to see if there was anything we did in caring for him that may have caused any issues
 
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