rescue

[krbshappy71]

Iam having trouble administering his oral meds. I never had this problem with my vieled because she has a bad attitude and hisses and gapes when you get anywhere near her. any suggestions?

Insult his mother.

Huh! He wont hiss and gape at you at all? I am a total new owner, but my first thought was what we do with hedgehogs. You wrap them gently in a towel, preferably having someone else hold them for you, and then gently press on the mouth opening with the syringe to pry it open. (if they don't then open their mouth themselves to bite you)

But wait for other responses as I don't know if this is allowed with chameleons or if it causes too much stress. With hedgies, its stress but the medication saves their life, so its worth the stress.

Found a link from on here that might be helpful, has more ideas on how to do it: https://www.chameleonforums.com/administering-medicine-41814/

 

[Benton1576]

I had the same problem trying to give George Baytrol for a URI. I was shown by my local chameleon breeder how to do it and it worked for me. hold him firmly in ur hand and turn him upside down so he is lying on his back, then tap his nose gently. he will eventually get pissed and pen up for you. alternatively, hold him in the same position and using ur forefinger and thumb, restrain his head, this works too as they feel uncomfortable whilst being restrained. hope that helps.

 

[PaulZarate]

It's terrible on what happened to his tail but luckily he's in great hands now! Looking forward to the report after the vet. Great job! I would've done the same thing.

 

[summoner12]

Sorry don't mean to hi-jack

When a cham won't take meds it's a good idea to sort of pinch between the lips on both sides of the mouth, just below the eyes. This works well most of the time for me. Sometimes it's just good to be firm with the cham and they will gape from the handling. Another trick... Most chams get upset with hands in their cage... Try just putting your hand in and when the gapes in disapproval of your hand, add the medication to the chams open mouth. Be careful not to squirt the medication, it could get sucked into the lungs. The gaping cham method works great with my aggressive male veiled. I just hold him from behind his neck with two fingers so he can't lunge, apply the med to the tongue and release him.

About the tail being removed. I have a melleri, Chris, who is a bit of a runt. When he was young he would get nibbles on his tail from crickets. It was a rough time for him.... he didn't eat much, I had to cup feed him, but he didn't take to it... he didn't gain weight... and his tail was damaged from the cricket bites from before. It got to the point where it seemed like the end of the tail just wasn't functioning and wasn't healing very well. I made an appointment with my vet (Dr. Greek) and took Chris in. Dr. Greek took a look and felt removal of the tail was best since Chris didn't seem to have control of the tail. I agreed and he took Chris in the back.... seriousl not more then 10 minutes later Dr. Greek came back with Chris in hand, with a shorter tail. I was shocked how quickly he did the procedure. here are some pics.

After removing the tail he quickly gained weight. He is still 'small' for his age, but he eats well and get around just fine. He does seem to forget his tail isn't long enough for some of his maneuvers... but I've only seen him fall once.

Your cham should recover well. Glad you saved the guy!

 

[ChameleonRave]

When a cham won't take meds it's a good idea to sort of pinch between the lips on both sides of the mouth, just below the eyes. This works well most of the time for me. Sometimes it's just good to be firm with the cham and they will gape from the handling. Another trick... Most chams get upset with hands in their cage... Try just putting your hand in and when the gapes in disapproval of your hand, add the medication to the chams open mouth. Be careful not to squirt the medication, it could get sucked into the lungs. The gaping cham method works great with my aggressive male veiled. I just hold him from behind his neck with two fingers so he can't lunge, apply the med to the tongue and release him.

About the tail being removed. I have a melleri, Chris, who is a bit of a runt. When he was young he would get nibbles on his tail from crickets. It was a rough time for him.... he didn't eat much, I had to cup feed him, but he didn't take to it... he didn't gain weight... and his tail was damaged from the cricket bites from before. It got to the point where it seemed like the end of the tail just wasn't functioning and wasn't healing very well. I made an appointment with my vet (Dr. Greek) and took Chris in. Dr. Greek took a look and felt removal of the tail was best since Chris didn't seem to have control of the tail. I agreed and he took Chris in the back.... seriousl not more then 10 minutes later Dr. Greek came back with Chris in hand, with a shorter tail. I was shocked how quickly he did the procedure. here are some pics.

After removing the tail he quickly gained weight. He is still 'small' for his age, but he eats well and get around just fine. He does seem to forget his tail isn't long enough for some of his maneuvers... but I've only seen him fall once.

Your cham should recover well. Glad you saved the guy!

that is such a nice thing you did for him or her... mellers remind me of big dogs that want to always be on your lap

 

[laurie]

Welcome to the world of special needs chameleons. I have been taking them in for a few years. I have even taken several from forum members. I find sometimes the best thing I can do is lots of water, food given in smaller amounts more often, and go on from that for what ever each cham needs. You have saved this guy and will have lots of time to enjoy him. Great Job!!

 

[jastate09]

Glad to see you took him to the vet right away. May he have a speedy recovery.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Great news that he should recover. Too bad it seems from your description that he has a more laid back demeanor. Its usually easier to give meds to the feisty ones. You could try misting him before administering the meds. While hes opening his mouth to catch some water slip the syringe in and give him his meds then just keep on misting. Ive found sometimes they dont even seem to know whats happened. Oh and while hes taking his meds up his water intake they seem to get more dehydrated while on meds.

 

[bradmeyer57]

Thank you all for your imput. I just got done doing his meds i went with holding him upside down and then all i had to do was touch his nose a couple times with the syringe and he opened up. I wish there was a different way but he has no problem with my hand in his cage ( unlike my vieled) he actually comes to my hand to get out when i stick my hand in. Misting himand trying to catch hims drinking is impossible because he hates being sprayedand runs away and returns to drink when the sprayer turns off so i guess i will have to stick with what worked for me this morning.He is still not eating yet and giving meds with no food worries me. Would the gerber chicken baby food be good for him if i put some in a syringe?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Ive never tried the baby food w/chams so I dont know about that? I do know he can go several days without food at his age w/no issues. As long as he's drinking I wouldnt worry too much. If it goes past a week or so you could try giving him blended crix in the syringe. Ive seen threads on here talking about the recipe. I think it is basically just crix and pedialyte blended up. But I wouldnt worry about that yet. Good luck

 

[Carlton]

I really love your last pic of Chris snoozing. One of many things I enjoyed about melleri were their "overfed green leopard" poses on favorite perches. Sometimes the only thing connecting them to the branch was the tip of a tail or a couple of toes. I wonder how many of those historic observations of melleri crashing down out of large rainforest trees without hurting themselves were simply results of extreme relaxation?

 

[summoner12]

I really love your last pic of Chris snoozing. One of many things I enjoyed about melleri were their "overfed green leopard" poses on favorite perches. Sometimes the only thing connecting them to the branch was the tip of a tail or a couple of toes. I wonder how many of those historic observations of melleri crashing down out of large rainforest trees without hurting themselves were simply results of extreme relaxation?

lol extreme relaxation

Henry sleeps like you see Chris in that photo, quite often.... one foot secure and the others all loose and open. He normally keeps his tail straight along the vine except the last couple of inches which he'll hook around the vine. Airin does this as well... but the others, Alex, Lenny, Sam, and Chris all sleep with their tails curled right under their vents. I think the new guy, Jaimee, does too... but he's young and might still be developing his sleeping routine. I don't get to see him much in his cage cause it is well filled by his Ficus tree.