New Cham from LLLREPTILE

KingstonX

New Member
Hello all i got a new Ambanja Cham from LLL today at the pomona show
well, not sure how good lll is now :(

I just have a few questions for you but first here is his info

age Info: i would say about 4 months old

* Cage Type - right now his cage is a 15x15x24 half glass half screen.
* Lighting - I use a exo terra 5.0 uvb tube 15w
* Temperature - i have a 60w heat emitter, side of the cage 3/4 way up is at 79f
* Humidity - my humidity is high right now been misting him a lot.
* Plants - Hibiscus +fake plants
* Location - Where is your cage located? next to me veilded cham


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Ambanja 6hrs in my care
* Handling - leaving him in his cage till hes better
* Feeding - i have some dusted crickets running about about 5 of em if he feels better and wants to eat
* Supplements - reptive reptil cal
* Watering - Misting bottle on him atm
* Fecal Description - Fecal droppings were greenish black and his hmmm white part was really yellow :(
* History - was in a care with 2 other ambanja's the other two were a lot younger then this one, mine was the only bigger one.
* Current Problem - When i got him he was EXTREMELY dehydrated at the show he was sleeping while the others were active, he slept all the way home mostly besides when i moved him abit, his left eye was closed more then his right. His lights are on right now and he is still sleeping. When i misted him he woke up and drake for a very long time he could not get enough water. he charged the screen trying to drink the water off anything he could. after flooding is cage and he seemed to be done drinking i stopped misting and left him alone. came back 30mins later he was sleeping again. i went to move him slowly on his new plant about 10mins ago he wouldn't open his eyes and just held on to my hand, he is really weak, i got him on his new plant and misted him he woke up and started to drink again got active moving around his cage, But when i mist him you know how they close there eyes, he gets this BIG looking bubble in front of his eye (towards his nose) in his eye lid its not discolor or anything but its on both eyes and i have never seen that in my veiled He also seems pretty skinny.
If anyone could shed some light on me i would appreciate it :) also anything else i missed or i am not doing please tell me.


Also i was to post pics of it but someone seems to have stole me digital cam :(
 
Congrats on your new guy. Sounds like your on the right track in getting him hydrated, but no offense but I think that purchasing a chameleon that was asleep certainly wasn't the best move. Keep him hydrated and get him on a 12/12 sleep schedual but DO NOT let that guy go to sleep in a wet cage or you run the risk of URI. The best thing you can do right now is let him sleep in complete darkness for 12 hours and see how he is in the morning. The bubbling your seeing in his eyes is him cleaning his eyes out. If he is sleeping during the day tomorrow i would consult your nearest veterinarian.
 
But when i mist him you know how they close there eyes, he gets this BIG looking bubble in front of his eye (towards his nose) in his eye lid its not discolor or anything but its on both eyes and i have never seen that in my veiled He also seems pretty skinny.
If anyone could shed some light on me i would appreciate it :) also anything else i missed or i am not doing please tell me.


Also i was to post pics of it but someone seems to have stole me digital cam :(

Sorry about the camera.

The eye thing is him cleaning his eye out. Keep misting him and keep him fed. He should come around with a little time. If he doesn't eat let us know in a day or so.
 
Him cleaning it? really never seen that thats cool, thanks for the help,
I know that it wasn't a smart buy but i saw him and i had to have him :) but after lots of water he started to get his energy back. So is LLL like the walmart for chameleons? :(
 
Him cleaning it? really never seen that thats cool, thanks for the help,
I know that it wasn't a smart buy but i saw him and i had to have him :) but after lots of water he started to get his energy back. So is LLL like the walmart for chameleons? :(

lol WalMart? I guess you could say that... they buy animal wholesale from breeders and sell them for less than a breeder might. They won't usually know what cham is from whom so... ya hope you get something nice.

I go to the store often enough to to sorta get the feeling they don't mist much. So your guy prolly just has some dust in his eye and needs to clean it out. Tomorrow keep misting him. In the AM give him warm mist. Put HOT HOT HOT water into the bottle (don't boil the water.. just hot tap water) and mist him with that. It will trigger him to drink and he'll prolly bulge his eye out some more.
 
LLL buys chameleons from everyone. But obviously they only pay wholesale prices, and relatively low ones at that.. however they will almost always buy what you have.. so I think they get their chams from a lot of decent breeders, but its certainly not the pick of the litter.
BUT
at the end of the day they are a pet store, their chameleons are kept in pet store conditions, which are not typically ideal.

I wouldn't buy from them unless I picked the animal out by hand at a show or at their store.. which you did...

So while they're not the best way to buy a cham, there are worse ways :) Hopefully the little guy will pull through and be fine. Maybe he was just stressed from the show, the travel, etc.
 
Dehydration is only one reason out of dozens of reasons why your guy is keeping his eyes closed. If he isnt showing any signs of improvement tomorrow, you'll need to get him taken care of at a vet.
 
Ok thanks for the help :) takes some stress off me lol

So the guy at the show said he is pretty sure its a male, after i left i went to a reptile store and the guy there started to call him a she, so i asked him to take a better look, he said it looks like a female but after a minute started to say its male but was not sure. I know about the bulges at the back of the feet but he or she doesn't seem to have them.
i will try to find another camera soon, but as for colors "it" has a light light blue bar starting to apper with light reddish orange mixed with light blues
 
Panther chameleons do not have the spurs on the feet.

You're looking for a bulge at the base of the tail. Profile shots of where his tail meets his body will assist in sexing the little creature.

Depending on how young it is, it may not be possible to accurately sex it at this point.
 
Keep in mind to that they are very stressed out at the show, so it may take a few days to snap out of it.
 
Keep in mind to that they are very stressed out at the show, so it may take a few days to snap out of it.

New home, New conditiones..... A lot for a little cham to get used to... Deb is right, give him a little bit of time. If nothing at all improves... a vet is a good idea. But it seems most animals at shows are dehydrated a bit... My melleri from Mike drank pretty well when I got him home. I'll see in the morning if he ate anything (lights were out before I got home)


Although if you share a booth with HerpMist you have some pretty well hydrated chams...;)
 
Your getting pretty good advise.

If your not in work or school tomorrow, you could think of putting it in the shower on it's plant or in it's cage and spending 30 min misting it, of and on to similate a rain shower. let off on the mist a little when you see it drink, let it drink then mist some more.

If it doesnt improve with a day or two, there is something else the matter and as others have advised, it will require vet atttention.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, here is an update, at 8am his lights turn on, he didn't wake up, i just got home at 9am he was in the middle of his cage sleeping so i lightly misted him to wake him up so he would go to his basking spot but he didn't want to wake up or do anything. i gave him ten more mins of sleeping then deiced to lightly and slowly pick him up, he garbed my hand a lil i held him under his heat emitter for a few mins he didnt open his eyes, i slowly put him on his vine to warm up abit.. woot!!! he just woke up :D

ok so his left eye is opened and his right is closed, his left eye has that big bubble thing with the eye is opened or closed now, the bubble also gets big then small
 
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I didn't notice till now that you are using a heat emmitter. You need to change that to a household lamp. A 40w will be good, but double check the temps. He will perk up with the UVA provided in the lamp
 
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well here is an update, he is sleeping, lights are on, hes half way hanging on the vine, going to get a camera now.
So i called LLL they said that was kinda weird, i talked to the manager , he said that it was kinda of weird how he was sleeping at the show i also think he pointed a different chameleon out to me wanting me to pick it instead. Anyways he said i should bring him over to the store to check him out, he also said its probably a good idea to do it and take advantage of it. He wants to trade him i believe. Growing attached to this Cham already and not sure what to do, i don't want to get stuck with sick cham, i cant really afford the vet visits.

Any ideas? or advice on what i should do.

If i wake him up he does get active for a little while, well now when i wake him up he just sits there and goes back to sleep.
 
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well here is an update, he is sleeping, lights are on, hes half way hanging on the vine, going to get a camera now.
So i called LLL they said that was kinda weird, i talked to the manager named John he is the guy that sold it to me, he said that it was kinda of weird how he was sleeping at the show i also think he pointed a different chameleon out to me wanting me to pick it instead. Anyways he said i should bring him over to the store to check him out, he also said its probably a good idea to do it and take advantage of it. He wants to trade him i believe. Growing attached to this Cham already and not sure what to do, i don't want to get stuck with sick cham, i cant really afford the vet visits.

Any ideas? or advice on what i should do.

If i wake him up he does get active for a little while, well now when i wake him up he just sits there and goes back to sleep.


I'm sorry, but I don't think your cham is going to make it. It sounds like they are being totally reasonable and you should take advantage of that and trade out for a healthy cham.

Just my opinion. Good luck, whatever you do.
 
Probably best not to mention specific vendors (Site Rule: Conflicts between individuals and/or businesses should NOT be debated in the public forums)
If I were you, I'd take it back and pick a healthier looking animal before you are too attached to the possible sick one.
 
YOU said there were more active ones at the show.... why would you pick the sick one and expect it to be healthy as soon as you got home?
Either continue to try to nurse it back to health or exchange it, but sounds kinda funny lol
 
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