Rescue Male Panther Covered in Sores

[dhm198555]

Alright....I picked this poor guy up yesterday. He was listed for sale on my local craigslist site and looked nice and healthy in the pics so went for a ride to check him out in person and this was what I found. I couldn't in good conscience leave him there for some other inexperienced keeper to come along and get him so I payed the kid and took him home with his whole set up. Funny (well not ACTUALLY funny) thing is the set up is quite nice, good quality large metal screen cage and a big pro mist system with multiple nozzles fed through the top, digital thermostat, double zoo med heat dome, and various other supplies but with a few big big mistakes, one of which being a normal florescent light in the uvb fixture and a live rhododendron plant. Anyway, as you can see in the pics he is COVERED in sores. There were two large abscesses on his face when I picked him up but in the process of bringing him home the lower of the two must have rubbed off cuz there was a large hole in his face when I took him out of the carrier. I just took the pics so the hole looks to have scabbed over overnight. The bumps go from his nose to his tail and are all over his eye sockets. He's a good weight and alert and active and even quickly hunted down a few crickets and handful of mealies as soon as I got him all situated. I've been researching what these bumps/sores can be and have found things varying from fungal infections to cancer and was just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this. I know I need to bring him to a vet, and plan to, but I guess my question is does this look like something that's even able to be treated or should I just keep him comfortable. I don't mind trying to save him by spending some money going to a vet but at the same time have a family of my own that includes a 5 month old daughter so don't want to waste hundreds of dollars if it's a futile attempt. He seems okay today, is feeding and drinking fine and milling around the enclosure. Ill do what I can for him but at the very least he'll have a better life then he has. I replaced the toxic plants for an umbrella tree and put proper uvb bulbs in the fixtures which he already seems to be responding to. Feel so bad for him.....his name is Picasso, by the way...

 

[junglefries]

wow

Wow wow wow. i am at a loss for words. i would just rather not comment. good luck on curing him.

 

[FlChamMom]

Poor guy- that is horrible. Hopefully one of the vets will chime in. You have a good heart to take him in!

 

[dhm198555]

also, he's seems to either be going blind or had what looks like cataracts in the eye with the most bumps and by the looks of his ankles am pretty sure he's got pretty substantial MBD.

 

[MelissaB]

That breaks my heart. I'm glad you took him in, and hope you can help him. Poor thing.

 

[Kate]

Thank you for taking him, you have a good heart. Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately this Cham has a lot of infection in him. If you are going to save him he needs to see a vet ASAP. He will need antibiotics first. If he has mbd a vet will help you with that. You need a vet with reptile experience. Good luck.

 

[ColorbyChameleon]

Good for you! I am so glad you took him when some people may of just walked away. I am sure what ever you can do for him he is better for it. I wish I had some answers but maybe a good vet can get him taken care of and not charge you an arm and leg since you rescued him. Good Luck! Hang in there Picasso

 

[sandrachameleon]

poor creature. I hope you told the kid how awful the condition was and got the price knocked down for taking on the challenge.

I suspect he is not beyond saving though, so I would take him to a vet. Its entirley possible the wounds, even as bad as they seem, are treatable. The eyesight issue could be related to infection and may be reversable. An experienced exotics vet should be able to give you a realistic idea of outcomes/treatment costs.

cancer is quite rare. Many other (and probably less scary) possibilities. For example, it could be infections from cricket bites, exaserbated by lack of nutrition/UVB

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Welcome to the forums!

Unlikely (but not impossible) that there would be that many separate infections going on. I'd be most suspicious of a virus of either papilloma or pox origin to cause that many proliferative skin growths. My veiled chameleon has papilloma virus causing several very warty looking growths similar to some of those. The only way to know would be to have a few surgically removed and sent in for histopathology where they can look at all the cell layers and organization within the growths and any viral particles. Depending on the cause it may continue to spread or the growths already present may continue to grow. The ones on the eyes are the most concerning as they could affect sight (or are already). The only way to figure out where to go from here is to see a good reptile vet.

There is not much published on these viruses in chameleons but I am actually working with a pathologist currently to publish information on papilloma viruses in chameleons. If you are interested in getting a better idea of what's going on with your guy by having a few of the growths surgically removed please let me know and we might want to see some of the samples for analysis to add to our data.

His ankles look fine btw. They will have a bit of swelling around the ankles from the natural shape of their bones. I don't see any major evidence of MBD.

 

[dhm198555]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys and thanks for the warm welcome, sorry it couldn't have been under better circumstances. Im going to contact my local herp vet in the morning and make him an appointment, in the meantime and until he can be seen (my local vet is usually pretty busy so it's quite possible he won't get seen till the end of the week or maybe even next week) what can and should I do to try and give his immune system a boost? I was considering adding some pedialite to his drip system for some probably much needed electrolites and put some triple antibiotic ointment on the open sores to help any infection from spreading or getting worse. The "bumps" fall off quite easily, I could put some in a specimen petri dish or something and send them to you to have a look at? I honestly don't know if I can afford to go all out with aggressive treatment right now, I can swing a vet visit or two and antibiotics but surgerys and biopsies are a little out of my budget, Im really hoping he responds to antibiotics and proper lighting and nutrition. Here's a pic of his revised set up, does it look adequate or is there anything I need to add? There's a mist/drip system hanging from the left side that is set on a 6 hour 10 second cycle and that's a digital thermometer/humidity gauge sitting on top with the probe hanging close to the center of the upper part of the cage. Although alert he is a bit on the sluggish side so I attached a small tupperware near where he likes to sit to put the gutloaded worms in for him so he won't have to work to hard for his food and figured removing crix from his diet for a while until I pinpoint where the sores are coming from. Thanks so much for all the great advice, Ill keep you all posted on how he does. Keeping fingers crossed

 

[dhm198555]

Oh, and great to hear he doesn't at least seem to have a bad case of mbd. He was sold to me as a 2 year old so considering he's probably never felt ANY uvb lighting that's at least a plus

By the way, as badly as I wanted to punch the kid right in the face for how this guy looked, I held my tongue and just nodded and agreed with his diagnosis of "Oh, he's fine and in GREAT health! Just has a little stuck shed". I didn't want to piss him off and him refuse to sell the cham to me, I did talk him down a little but still ended up giving him about $250. He was trying to sell him for $500.....some people, right?

 

[NosyBe15]

500 for this poor sick Cham.. You gotta be kidding me... Personally I think I would of went with the face punch!

Good patience you showed...

I cant even look at the pics.. Poor cham.. I hope you get him all better!

 

[sandrachameleon]

i wouldn't take crickets out of the diet in favour of mealworms if I were you. Gutloaded crickets are more nutritious.

 

[dhm198555]

Digging in dirt?

Im sorry, I didn't mean cut out completely, just restrict as a precaution until I know whether or not the wounds are from cricket bites. Im a stay at home mommy and have nothing but time on my hands so was actually thinking maybe removing most of the crix legs and putting in the little Tupperware cup I have in there for him so they can't get away and I can make sure he gets them all. Not only am I a mom, but a NEW mom, and I can already feel my new mom super worry, overprotective, maternal instincts kicking in with him

Question: I heard him moving around just now so went to see what he was up to and he was digging in the soil of the potted umbrella tree I put in there. Is this a normal behavior for a male cham? I know females dig in soil to lay their eggs but why would a male? Then I watched him dive to the bottom of the cage trying to go after a cricket. He's got life left in his little body for sure, hope I can get him better. He's GORGEOUS when fired up

 

[SaintJimmy]

That is so sad that he has all those bumps. I hope he does well with you.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Another thing you can do is get him outside for some real sun. This is very helpful to sick chams. I have seen a couple male chams dig but they were both at petsmart and in really bad shape. It appeared to me that the temps were way to hot in the cage and they were digging in the substrate to find a cooler locale. This may be way off but I dont think digging is normal. You should put some river rocks on the soil so he cannot access the substrate. I have known chams to eat the dirt and it can cause impaction.

 

[sandrachameleon]

...was actually thinking maybe removing most of the crix legs and putting in the little Tupperware cup I have in there for him so they can't get away and I can make sure he gets them all.

sounds like a good plan. They don't get far without the jumping hind legs. Indeed even removing one of the two jumping legs might be sufficient.

Not only am I a mom, but a NEW mom, and I can already feel my new mom super worry, overprotective, maternal instincts kicking in with him

well I think he could use some TLC so this isn't a bad thing.

Question: I heard him moving around just now so went to see what he was up to and he was digging in the soil of the potted umbrella tree I put in there. Is this a normal behavior for a male cham? I know females dig in soil to lay their eggs but why would a male?

no not normal for a male. Perhaps trying to escape / test the limits of the new cage? cover the soil with river rocks (too large to eat).

 

[dhm198555]

He's a quirky little guy, Ill give him that. I thought chams were more active during the day and so far he's been the opposite, sleeps on and off all day and at night, like literally right now, he's just cruising all over. Right now he's clinging steadfast to the front side of the cage after doing 2 lazy laps around it. I think he's checking it out since I completely revamped it, taking away highways here and adding new ones there. He seems to like the new roads better, the kid only had one piece of grapevine and that toxic rhododendron plant in the for him to climb on. An a piece of bendy vine. Yikes.

hmmm...looks like he fell asleep glued in his position stuck to the front of the screen. He still seems to have plenty of strength and when he's fired up he is GORGEOUS. Ill try n snap a shot in the morning before he wakes up.

 

[teejayteej]

The bumps to me look like a rash or allergic reaction ...reminds me of my eczema. if this is the case the antibiotic cream will make them worse, they will blister and ooze. A hydrocodone cream is what is needed. ( but I am not sure if you can use this on Chams. ) maybe it was the plant that was causing the problem the sap from some plants can be very toxic (so i have read)
Let us know what the vet says, I hope that it is something easy to fix so that the little guy can get better soon.

 

[Lathelia]

It's not a good sign when a cham sleeps during the day. Also, they should be sleeping at night. Do you have a night bulb? I've noticed four different lights in his cage.