PANICK! I just bought a 3 week old cham!!

[jadeladine]

I know your all gonna think im totally stupid with this one, but I had no choice!! I really need some help!

Last week I saw an add on reptile forum for a 14 week old female yemen for £40 down in the midlands. I asked for a photo and she looked about 2 inches long. So I texted her back and said she is deffo not 14 weeks old! So she got back to me and said she’d spoken to the breeder that she got it from and that she is deffo 8 weeks old. I thought that wasn’t so bad, plus she said price was £30 as she was younger.

So I travelled down to see her, 70 miles there 70 miles back! Im so angry! Firstly she had 2 chams in a bearded dragon viv. The older one looked about 8 weeks old and then there was then one she was supposed to be selling me. Now the lil thing is no bigger than 1 inch and she expected me to believe she was 8 weeks old!!

She said she thought they wouldn’t fight because they were sisters. But now they are fighting so she is selling one. She had soil at the bottom of the viv with a water bowl!

Ive never seen a baby cham younger than 5 weeks so im not sure how old the lil one is. If I was to hazard a guess ide say about 3 weeks old, and only because she said she’s had her for 2 weeks. Oz was twice her size at 5 weeks.

I know I should have left it but I felt so sorry for the poor thing. This woman with her bearded dragons and corn snakes didn’t have the foggiest and I thought 1 or both would of died soon if I didn’t. She wanted too much money for the 8 week old so I just bought the wee thing for £20.

Concerns:

She told me she has been ‘fattening her up’ to try to make her grow. She was feeding her size 2 crickets! Her belly looks really big and swollen to me but again ive never seen a cham younger than 5 weeks!

Plus she has these lumps in her belly, im thinking the soil maybe??

How old do you think she is from the pics?
Do you think she is in fact a ‘she’ or a ‘he’ because im just taking her word for it at the mo??
Does she look ill to you?
What should I be feeding her? Ide say fruit flies, but will she be hungry if she’s been eating size 2 crickets?
How often do I need to feed her? Ive never looked after wee babys before. Kammy was an adult, Salsa was 3 months and Oz was 5 weeks.

This is her/him and the viv I have set up for her. 40w bulb, 5.0 UV strip light, 30x30x45 viv. Please give me some advice, I need it!!!

Viv:

Can you see the lumps in her belly?

Thanks,

Jade

 

[bradleymarky]

im not an expert but she looks to be around 6-7 weeks, her head is pretty flat with no signs of the casque yet, my veiled was 2 months old when i got her and her head was almost flat

her stomach does look fat and lumpy, i was feeding size 2 crickets to my cham at 2 month old, the lumps dont look good hopefully a experienced owner will answer you soon, good luck

 

[dreamforthedead]

I'd say the cam was about 5-6 weeks old. Those lumps look awful, i'd get your little pal to a vets soon as.

 

[jadeladine]

What do u think the lumps could be?? Soil or over feeding maybe?

 

[jessica]

IMHO that cage is wayyyy to big for a baby, especially one that looks like there's some health problems.

You should get a clear bin and make a bay bin here is a couple of many I found in searching

https://www.chameleonforums.com/baby-bin-design-40372/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/raising-neonates-32735/

http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=115

This way she wont have to work real hard for food or have a far fall.

You should also visit a vet asap, those lumps do not look right, could be trauma.

 

[jadeladine]

I know but i went there thinking she was gonna be 14 weeks!! I have a large plastic container i could put her in. What about heat and UV though?

 

[jannb]

I have veiled babies that will be 5 weeks old Sunday. It's very hard to tell from a picture but my guess would be that your baby might be a little older than mine.

Babies need to have their warmest temps around 80. I do not use a basking light at all. They need low UVB. I have a double tube fixture handing about 10 inches over my tubs (baby bins) with a 5.0 Reptisun in one side and a regular GE tube in the other and this keeps my babies about 80.

 

[jadeladine]

Thanks. She's sleeping now but i think im going to put her in a large plastic tub tomorrow. Its roughly 20x15x20. Ill just put the 5.0 UV strip light across it and monitor the temps. Will make it easier for her to eat in there. Hopefully she will be reet x

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You said shes sleeping now? What time is it where you are? Sleeping during the day is not a good sign for a cham.

 

[Miss Lily]

She's in the UK. It's 10pm over here!

 

[jadeladine]

Thanks everyone x

 

[Eszzie]

It looks like the little girl didn't get any UVb, calcium, vitamins or what so ever so you better give her extra calcium, especially when she is growing too fast because of feeding too much, the bones need a lot of calcium and vitamin D3 to develop a strong skeleton. I don't know what could have caused the lumps though, never seen it before.

 

[jojothefirst]

its a shame you lived so far from me as you showed some interest in buyin 1 of my babies on rep forums.
Those lumps are v strange. Dont believe its from over feeding as at this age i believe that as long as there eatting the right stuff then they can eat almost as much as they want, and non of mine have ever had those lumps.
Mine are 8 weeks old aswell.

 

[jessica]

How is she doing? Did you get a chance to make a bin?

 

[sallyb]

It`s so sad to see the poor little girl with her tummy all lumpy looking like that I have no idea what it could be, but a vet is definitely a great idea. I really hope everything goes well for you and the little one. Thank heavens you were prepared to take her even in such poor health, good luck.

 

[gabzzy]

gosh how cute such a small one , all eyes, sweet. I too would have taken either one with me just to provide a healthy enviroment for it ; or a small piece of strawberry will always clean them out right away, it's gonna have to be mush, and sorta kinda force it to eat the mushed and she should poop,any dirt or whatever it is out,
i'm no expert and have never handeled an baby chamili but i would try it, also, pedilite for dehydration is good too, maybe for the first 2 weeks, I would make sure about it first though, and good luck on the new addition

 

[laurie]

gosh how cute such a small one , all eyes, sweet. I too would have taken either one with me just to provide a healthy enviroment for it ; or a small piece of strawberry will always clean them out right away, it's gonna have to be mush, and sorta kinda force it to eat the mushed and she should poop,any dirt or whatever it is out,
i'm no expert and have never handeled an baby chamili but i would try it, also, pedilite for dehydration is good too, maybe for the first 2 weeks, I would make sure about it first though, and good luck on the new addition

Please don't force that baby to eat anything!! Until you see a vet there is no way to know what is going on and you could do a lot of damage to one that small if you are not very familiar with how to give food or fluids. A vet is very much needed at this point. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[jadeladine]

I took her out the big viv and put her in a small plastic container, one of these:

http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/plastic-faunarium-tanks.html

Ive been dusting her fruit flies and small crickets with either calcium, calcium with D3, Vits or multivits. When she looks a little better ill stick to 5 days normal calcium and 1 day just vits. Feeding her once a day and she's eating great. Seen her drinking off the plastic sides.

A friend of mine came and had a look. He breeds chams. He said she looked malnutritioned and her belly looked swollen because of that. He said if she was living with a bigger one, maybe she never got any food. Possibility...

The lumps seem to have gone down a little but they did really concern me. Took her to the vets yesterday who said he didnt know what the lumps were either. She seems to be pretty healthy and alert. He said he could do some tests but to be honest its a whole lot of money for a possible chance something will come up, an he didnt think it would. So i passed and ill continue to look after the little cutie, hoping she stays alert, eating, drinking and pooing as she is now.

Ill post some new pics a little later, she's eating at the min (10am).

Thanks again x

 

[jadeladine]

gosh how cute such a small one , all eyes, sweet. I too would have taken either one with me just to provide a healthy enviroment for it ; or a small piece of strawberry will always clean them out right away, it's gonna have to be mush, and sorta kinda force it to eat the mushed and she should poop,any dirt or whatever it is out,
i'm no expert and have never handeled an baby chamili but i would try it, also, pedilite for dehydration is good too, maybe for the first 2 weeks, I would make sure about it first though, and good luck on the new addition

Thanks for the advice but ide never force a baby to eat anything really, way too much stress for them and will do more harm than good. She is cute isnt she x

 

[laurie]

I think you are taking excellent care of her. Just let her eat and grow at her own pace. If the vet said to wait on the lumps then let's hope they correct themselves with proper lights and nutrition.