New rescued cham

[Doodleh]

Hi everyone.
I went into a pet store yesterday afternoon, and saw this fully grown male veiled chameleon.
He was been housed with two fully grown females, who both seemed gravid. Both were hissing at him and one was about to bite his tail when I asked to look at him.
Poor guy seemed to be suffering mbd, or suffered from it in the past, he has a slightly deformed face and legs. He also had a big burn on his head, and possibly suffering from eye infections, both of his eyes are enormous.
I couldn't bring myself to leave the poor boy there in those conditions, so I bought him and brought him home. He's got a fantastic character, so fiesty, and I'm determined to get him back to health as soon as possible.
I will take him to the vets in the next couple days, but in the mean time I was hoping for some advice on how to deal with his eyes until we can get to the vets? I gave him a long shower earlier today which he seemed to love.
Another problem he seems to be having is he mis-fires his tongue and misses his food, which I assume would be due to the mbd, I he hand fed him and once he gets the crickets in his mouth he eats enthusiastically!
Thanks for any advice you can give me!

 

[PardalisGirl]

What a lucky boy that Veiled is.........Going to the vet is a good idea. Make sure you take a fecal sample with you. With the lack of care given to him up to this point, chances are that he has some sort of parasite issue. The tongue misfire problem could be from the MBD but it is also likely due to the eye problem. He may not be able to see or focus properly. Thorough showers like you have done will help. If you have any contact lens saline solution you can carefully squirt some of that into the eyes to help wash them out too. People saline solution (not the lens cleaner or multipurpose stuff) is benign and gentle. The vet will probably give you some sort of antibiotic ointment or drops for the eye. Until then you can use a very small amount of Neosporin on a Q-tip to clean out any remaining gooey stuff from the corners of the eyes, if there is any. Don't put it in the eye, just gently touch the corner. You don't want to get a bunch of Neosporin in the eye. It's great that you can hand feed the poor guy. Please update us all on what the vet says later on and please post a pic of this lucky guy

 

[Doodleh]

Here's a couple quick photos, he doesn't like been disturbed right now, so they're not the best. When I first got him home I had to handle him to get him into cage, and because he's stressed he held my hand so tight and made me bleed, so I'm taking no risks and using my mums gardening gloves. lol.
He's a pretty boy.

Here's a photograph to show his eye and burn.

 

[davemailcall]

He's a good looking boy!

 

[PardalisGirl]

Good pictures! He looks a lot better than I expected. The curved arms do seem to be caused by MBD. His eyes don't look that bad either. It looks like the vet should be able to help you get him tuned up. His coloration is nice too. He's actually a very nice looking boy. Keep doing what you have been doing. Let us know what the vet says. I'm glad you saved him

 

[Kent67]

I certainly commend you for rescueing this unfortunate fellow and he is lucky to now be in the hands of someone dedicated to proper care. From your spellings and such I've a sneaking suspicion you're not from the US? I don't know if you have Bausch and Lomb products there, but they make a product that is safe for chameleons and works very well. http://www.bausch.com/en_US/consumer/visioncare/product/drops/eyewash.aspx If that manufacturer isnt available there, I've found similar products from other manufacturers called Sterile Eye Wash. It's late and I'm too comfy in my lazyboy to really feel like going to rummage thru the medicine cabinet right now, but if you have any doubts about eye wash ingredients just send me a pm and I'll get them all for you.

Also, I just wanted to address something that Doodleh did not bring up. When we do these pet store rescues it is important to let a manager, owner, whatever, know WHY the chameleon is being purchased. Although this male may have been purchased from a private hobbyist and then resold by the store, it is frequently the store's improper care that results in symptoms that compel us to rescue these animals. If they don't realize this, all they know is that they can get away with x amount of poor care before someone pays the asking price. Not saying Doodleh didn't make them aware of that fact, just wanted to address it.

 

[Jamie]

His casque appears to have been burned at some point.
From the pic's, I don't see blinding symptoms of "bone density" problems, he looks rather good, considering. The slight angle of the front leg that is showing in the pic looks like "muscle definition" to me, not "MBD". I think he will be fine with the proper husbandry.

Also, I just wanted to address something that Doodleh did not bring up. When we do these pet store rescues it is important to let a manager, owner, whatever, know WHY the chameleon is being purchased. Although this male may have been purchased from a private hobbyist and then resold by the store, it is frequently the store's improper care that results in symptoms that compel us to rescue these animals. If they don't realize this, all they know is that they can get away with x amount of poor care before someone pays the asking price. Not saying Doodleh didn't make them aware of that fact, just wanted to address it.

I couldn't agree more..

 

[Doodleh]

Hi, just to update you guys on my special guy!
He's doing absolutely fantastic. We went to the vet and he said that he seems to have recovered from MBD, but is now clear of it, and also his eyes are much better! And now I do not have to hand feed him because his aim with his tongue is near perfect.
The only problem we seem to be having is his poor burnt head. The vet gave us some antiseptic liquid to use,just to make sure it doesn't get infected, but apparently there is nothing more he can do, we just have to wait for it to heal.
He's just had a fantastic shed, I'm proud of him =D