Pierce21
New Member
My Nairobi Jackson’s Chameleon got sick about 2 weeks ago and hasn’t been doing well at all. He went ill so fast that honestly I thought he wouldn’t last more than a day. But, after he was still alive my wife and I ran him to a vet and thankfully got a lot of help. The vet told us it looked like possibly a calcium problem and/or a respiratory issue (after more research I am thinking it could be MBD) so he got a calcium shot and we are now giving him oral calcium as well as baytril every 12 hours. The last time we saw him eat on his own was Thursday the 2nd. Since taking him to the vet, we’ve been force feeding a mixture of crushed worms and either egg yolk or pediasure through syringe as recommended by people on the forums. We’ve been trying this once a day as it has been so hard to force feed him. Every time, he clamps his jaw shut so hard it’s nearly impossible to pry open. We’ve tried everything from q tips to guitar picks to water droplets to get him to open and have ended up resorting to tugging on the skin under his chin. Every time we do it, he seems so dejected.
Earlier today, we got some phoenix worms and I decided to try placing a live one in his mouth to see if he’d eat that at least. He bit down, but didn’t seem to chew so we just put him back in his cage. After getting him out again just now for more calcium and baytril, we noticed that he didn’t eat it at all, just let the thing die and turn black in his mouth. I feel like at this point we’ve tried everything. We’ve put small crickets in his cage, let worms crawl right in front of him in close enough reach to bite, and even put a worm directly into his mouth. It would appear that he just simply will not eat unless we make the crushed bug mixture and force it in.
Here’s my awful question. He’s making it clear that he absolutely will not eat and has no desire to. Is there ever a point to follow his cues and stop forcing the food? And what if he decides to never eat again because he is hurting so much and he dies? I absolutely want him to live and we’ve been trying so hard to save him, but it seems he really doesn’t want to. I don’t want to cause him undue distress all the time by forcing his mouth open twice a day forever. What should I do? I am so at a loss right now. I really don’t want to lose him, do I keep up with the force feeding?
Earlier today, we got some phoenix worms and I decided to try placing a live one in his mouth to see if he’d eat that at least. He bit down, but didn’t seem to chew so we just put him back in his cage. After getting him out again just now for more calcium and baytril, we noticed that he didn’t eat it at all, just let the thing die and turn black in his mouth. I feel like at this point we’ve tried everything. We’ve put small crickets in his cage, let worms crawl right in front of him in close enough reach to bite, and even put a worm directly into his mouth. It would appear that he just simply will not eat unless we make the crushed bug mixture and force it in.
Here’s my awful question. He’s making it clear that he absolutely will not eat and has no desire to. Is there ever a point to follow his cues and stop forcing the food? And what if he decides to never eat again because he is hurting so much and he dies? I absolutely want him to live and we’ve been trying so hard to save him, but it seems he really doesn’t want to. I don’t want to cause him undue distress all the time by forcing his mouth open twice a day forever. What should I do? I am so at a loss right now. I really don’t want to lose him, do I keep up with the force feeding?
