Mouth injury? hoehnelii

[jubilee]

Hi all,

We have a 1.5 year old male hoehnelii. We’ve had him just over a year, no problems. But a few days ago I started to notice something kinda along his mouth. At first it just looked like his pattern so I just kept checking it. Then on Wednesday I could tell it wasn’t right and he had swelling right behind his jaw. Wednesday being a holiday we weren’t able to find a specialist to take us, but we were able to find one yesterday. At first the doctor couldn’t even see much and I think he was doubting there was much wrong. But when he got IN his mouth he was able to see he did indeed have a problem. He suspects it was an injury that is now infected. He thinks it was probably from a prey item since we don’t have substrate. He has an abscess located right behind his jaw. The doctor drained some puss and cleaned out his mouth, the corner of his mouth is irritated.

He is now on Baytril Oral, 1ml every 72 hours. The doctor went from optimistic to not optimistic. So now I am freaking out. He is still active and he is still eating and drinking so I feel like there is still a chance. He also felt like we should raise the temps, 75-90’s, which I had read was a little too hot for these guys. While he was a ‘reptile’ vet, he clearly wasn’t familiar with hoehnelii chams and I don’t fault him for that, but that is why I am reaching out to anyone that might have experience in this type of ailment or hoehneliis.

We had given him the Jamaican field crickets, since the last batch was received dead and this is what Ghann’s replaced them with. I don’t know if anyone else has used these before, but I find them to be more aggressive and bold and we ended up having to kill a lot of them as they got loose in the enclosure. (Personally I am not ordering from Ghanns anymore due to the repeated infected crix and these alternative crix.) Obviously we can’t ever really be sure what happened, but I am just putting that out there. We have little crix and soft worms for him at the moment.

I also picked up Reptaid which is supposed to be all natural for pretty much any ailment, sounds like it works as an immune booster. Haven’t used it yet, I overnighted that and it’s coming today. So any ideas or suggestions on that would be great too.

Pretty much ANY FEEDBACK would be appreciated. He's a really good little guy and I would like to do whatever I can.

 

[jubilee]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon – Hoehnelii , male, approx 1.5 yrs old had him just over a year.
Handling – Only when necessary which is very rare, only handful of times ever.
Feeding – Mostly crix, he has little interest in horned worms, phoenix worm, but we offer them anyway. Use fresh veg & fruit as gutload along with cricket crack and bug burger. Supplements – Cal almost every feeding, alternate the D3 and multi weekly. Use the recal brand on these.
Watering – Hand mist with pump style, fine mist bottle and yes he drinks.
Fecal Description – can find poop just about every day, black and white? Not test for parasites by me, purchased as CBB.
History – He is super active.

Cage Info:

Cage Type – Reptibreeze, can’t remember the dimensions though, um I think it’s the medium? I would have to measure that at home.
Lighting – Zoomed 5.0 tube not on timer so it’s usually 12 hours on/off.
Temperature – 70-80’s, with the summer. Gets a little cooler in the winter for the lows. Digital plus temp gun.
Humidity – 60 low to 90 when misting. Digital also.
Plants – Pothos and plastic vine in the corners. He also has various vines and sticks for climbing, he’s not a fan of the plants so much, he really loves the vines though.
Placement – he’s in the basement and the cage is on a table, standard height. Little to no traffic or noise. We do use a room fan just for circulation during hot days like today, not directly on or near him.
Location - Northeast

 

[camimom]

Can you post some pics of him please?

Ive heard the jamacian crickets are very aggressive, and it could be the cause of the injury.

I hope he does well for you, I also keep hoehnellis.

 

[Alexl]

He has an abscess located right behind his jaw. The doctor drained some puss and cleaned out his mouth, the corner of his mouth is irritated.

He is now on Baytril Oral, 1ml every 72 hours.

Has your vet done a swab? Would be very important to know which bacteria cause the infection. I would recommend a resistance test, too, to see which drug works best in this case. Maybe Baytril can't fight all involved bacteria. Those mouth infections can become difficult to treat. :/

Was it possible to remove the abscess capsula completely?

All the best for your little guy.

 

[jubilee]

I am at work, so i can't take a pic right now. I don't know that I would be able to get a pic that actually shows much anyways, like I said the doctor didn't even see it at first and I have no picture taking skills whatsoever.

I might have a pic of him though like if you just wanted to see him or his cage or whatever. I will look in my email.

Since you have hoes, can you tell me how you feel about the temps?

 

[camimom]

I feel that 90 would kill him.

I dont keep my guy at any temp over 83.

Another member raised her temps to around 85ish i think, but her female had an RI.

 

[camimom]

I also feel, and this is JMPO, that that is too much supplmenting.

I use the repashy all in one, and I only supplement once a week.

 

[jubilee]

picture, not of the problem though, just him in his cage. Only one I have with me here at work.

 

[camimom]

he looks good. how old is he now?

and random side note- the noses are awesome! haha.


do you just have the one male?

Where do you live? Whod you get him from?

 

[jubilee]

Ok, thanks, I feel like that is too high too.

 

[jubilee]

He's pretty cute

He's about a year and a half.

He came from TikiTiki. But we are in NY.

 

[jubilee]

He didn't do any lab work, only cleaned it out and drained it the best he could.

 

[camimom]

Very nice.

Been looking for some more. No one has them right now though. At least not anyone stateside.

If hes eating and drinking fine, then I would just keep an eye on him.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Has your vet done a swab? Would be very important to know which bacteria cause the infection. I would recommend a resistance test, too, to see which drug works best in this case. Maybe Baytril can't fight all involved bacteria. Those mouth infections can become difficult to treat. :/

Want to add support to this comment.
Also to suggest less supplementation

 

[jubilee]

So what would be the recommended supplement schedule? This is the schedule I got from this site.

 

[camimom]

htat schedule is for veileds and panthers.

before I switched to repashy, I used calcium once a week, and the d3 and multi once a month.

 

[jubilee]

Okay, this is what I think I was experiencing with the vet, getting info for chams in general. So we should cut everything in half?

 

[camimom]

Okay, this is what I think I was experiencing with the vet, getting info for chams in general. So we should cut everything in half?

At Least.

Hoes require less supplementation.

In fact, the person I got my boy from, doesnt supplement his hoes at all.

 

[jubilee]

Whoa, none?! Okay I will cut it in half to start. Maybe better yet I will just pick up the Repashy you use. You give your hoes what exactly?

 

[camimom]

Whoa, none?! Okay I will cut it in half to start. Maybe better yet I will just pick up the Repashy you use. You give your hoes what exactly?

Yea, he just gutloads his bugs well, and they stay outside alot, i think.

you can PM showjet95 for more info if you want.


I use the repashy all in one calcium plus (it has a crested gecko on the front)

I dust with that very lightly once a week.

on weeks my boy gets outside daily, I dont dust at all.

But I gutload real well. so that plays a part in it.