My baby isn't doing too well :/

SaxyTayTay

SaxyTayTay

New Member
Hello, I'm new to this website but I have a veiled chameleon named Petri. My family moved recently and the change in humidity gave my baby tail rot. That being said, we had to take her to the vet and get part of her tail amputated otherwise the infection would lead to her/his organs, killing her/him. The surgery went well and she was healthy.

But when we took them home, she WOULD NOT use her 2 back legs and kept falling because he cannot balance.The thing is that it has been going on for at least 2 months now. She gets bruises and cuts from falling in her terrarium and I have to sort of hand feed her. My family went and bought a smaller cage to allow heat to get to her more easily and added a towel at the bottom for a soft landing if she does fall, and we put moss in their water bowl so that in case she fell in her water bowl, she wouldn't drown because the moss would absorb the water. We also added a lot more vines and leaves so that they could grab on to more things when climbing. I also try and give her physical therapy by taking them out and moving her back legs. But it's not preventing her from falling.

If any of you guys have any ideas on ways to help my baby, that would be EXTREMELY helpful and appreciated.
 
Where did you move from? Too? I'm just curious about the humidity.
How do you know it caused the tail rot?
Did the vet put it on antibiotics after the tail was amputated?

How old is your UVB light? What's the basking temperature? Do you let the cage dry out at night?
How do you provide water? What specific supplements do you use and how often for each? What do you feed/gutload the inscets with? Be specific please!
 
kinyonga said:
It would work!
To sex a veiled look at the back of the heels if there a spur it's male...
http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html
So is it male or female?

Is it pooping?
Why do you have a water bowl? I would remove the moss. If your chameleon ingests it it can cause an impaction.
Click to expand...

Just checked and she is a female. The reason I have a water bowl is that it's used to catch water from her dripping system and she hasn't been seen to eat any vegetables or greens because she's a picky eater. She is still pooping and she is relatively healthy and still eats, it's the fact that she keeps injuring herself on accident.
 
How old is she? She could be full of eggs if she's old enough. Does she have mustard yellowish splotches of color on her?
Didn't the vet say anything about that? It could be why she can't use her legs.
I need to see some recent photos please.
 
kinyonga said:
Where did you move from? Too? I'm just curious about the humidity.
How do you know it caused the tail rot?
Did the vet put it on antibiotics after the tail was amputated?

How old is your UVB light? What's the basking temperature? Do you let the cage dry out at night?
How do you provide water? What specific supplements do you use and how often for each? What do you feed/gutload the inscets with? Be specific please!
Click to expand...

It wasn't a dramatic move but the humidity in the room her terrarium is in changed and the vet specifically said that her tail rot was most likely caused by the humidity for everything else about Petri and her environment was healthy. The vet didn't apply antibiotics but I had to give her antibiotic shots once a day for 5 days along with pain medication. My UVB light was changed just a month ago and her basking area is generally at 86 degrees F on average. She has an open breeze terrarium so it's a little hard to keep the humidity and temperature the same but it usually does stay the same. And yes I let the cage dry out at night. My water system is a small dripper that produces a steady dripping system that is collected in a waterbowl that I empty every day. I gutload my crickets and roaches with leftover salad from my tortoise and iguana, and use vitamin cubes as their water source. I like to cut up celery and carrots for my worms (hornworms, superworms and mealworms). I will put calcium powder on my insects every Tuesday and Thursday and feed those to her.
 
kinyonga said:
How old is she? She could be full of eggs if she's old enough. Does she have mustard yellowish splotches of color on her?
Didn't the vet say anything about that? It could be why she can't use her legs.
I need to see some recent photos please.
Click to expand...

She is about 4 years old and there are no yellow patches on any parts of her. Ever since I started doing physical therapy with her, she has been using her back legs a lot more. The reason she falls so much is that she will grab her front leg with her back leg and will not let go (if that makes sense) and ends up falling. I do not know how to help her stop doing this. Would a picture of her help??
 
She also doesn't change her coloring often (only when she's stressed or mad). I do not know if that is a bad thing or something normal, and like an idiot I forgot to ask the vet about it.
 
Sorry for all the questions but it's the only way I can figure out what's going on.
Things sound pretty good but Im not a fan of those orange cubes. I feed/gutload my crickets, superworms, etc with a lot of greens such as dandelion greens, kale, escarole, endive, collards and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, melon, berries.

I've had iggies and different species of tortoises and water dragons and beardies that all ate those same greens and veggies and fruit so I always just made a salad for the crickets and superworms too. What kind of tortoise do you have?
 
kinyonga said:
Sorry for all the questions but it's the only way I can figure out what's going on.
Things sound pretty good but Im not a fan of those orange cubes. I feed/gutload my crickets, superworms, etc with a lot of greens such as dandelion greens, kale, escarole, endive, collards and veggies such as carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, melon, berries.

I've had iggies and different species of tortoises and water dragons and beardies that all ate those same greens and veggies and fruit so I always just made a salad for the crickets and superworms too. What kind of tortoise do you have?
Click to expand...

I have a red footed tortoise named Tortellini, and I don't mind the questions as long as they help. And I didn't know water dragons ate veggies, I have one as well and would feeding him veggies be a good idea?
 
The leg grabbing can be a sign of MBD. I recommend that you dust the insects at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder and twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder.

It's also important not to overfeed female veileds...it csn lead to reproductive issues and impaction and mbd. It's important to provide them with a laying bin in their cage all the time once they're mature. They can produce eggs without mating and I'm surprised she hasn't already. Being full of eggs and not having a place to lay them can also cause her not to be able to use her back legs.
 
Can you show a picture please? I have heard of the leg grabbing, and I forgot if it indicates MBD, but just to be safe, a picture would be good.
 
kinyonga said:
The leg grabbing can be a sign of MBD. I recommend that you dust the insects at almost every feeding with a phosphorous-free calcium powder and twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder.

It's also important not to overfeed female veileds...it csn lead to reproductive issues and impaction and mbd. It's important to provide them with a laying bin in their cage all the time once they're mature. They can produce eggs without mating and I'm surprised she hasn't already. Being full of eggs and not having a place to lay them can also cause her not to be able to use her back legs.
Click to expand...
Well @kinyonga posted it while I was typing, but still post a picture soon.
 
43B189C4-E821-4290-A1B6-1C8BFD181730.jpeg
 

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You said..." have a red footed tortoise named Tortellini, and I don't mind the questions as long as they help. And I didn't know water dragons ate veggies, I have one as well and would feeding him veggies be a good idea?"... I love your tortoise's name! Red foots are great!
I fed my water dragons (and beardies and tortoises) the same greens and veggies and fruits I listed above. I had them for years and they gave me lots of babies. If I remember correctly they can also lay eggs sometimes without having mated. Is yours a male or female?
 
She's cute and I'm surprised to see no splotches! I don't see any signs of MBD either and no real signs of egg production either.
Did the vet take blood from her tail area?
 
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