sick girl, took her to the ER

[argulor]

hello as the title states i have taken my new girl to the ER because she was showing signs of an RI.
i took her to an exotics vet two days ago and they said they saw no signs of an issue but tonight she was gaping and almost gasping for air i have a video of how she looks. the vet told me to give her the high calorie booster and to take her in the room with me as i showered so she could get some warm mist , i did both and afterwards she looked worse than before so i rushed her to the er waited in the car for 3 hrs for them to see her and they are keeping her overnight to monitor her and so the reptile specialist can see her in the morning. he wants to take blood tests and run xrays,,, what will they do to diagnose her? and with the cost being extremely high what do you guys thing is a necessary test and what is unnecessary?

• Your Chameleon - female veiled , ive had her for 1 week she was born last september
• Handling - i have only taken her out of the box and to the vet
• Feeding - crickets,dubias, waxworms, gutloading with the biodudes bug grub. she has not eaten anything on her own in the time ive had her
• Supplements - calcium from bearded dragon. co and flukers Reptiboost since she hasnt been eating
• Watering - she has an exoterra monsoon misting system set to 30 seconds every 4 hrs
• Fecal Description - no poop in my care
• History - none known

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen, 2x2x4
• Lighting - reptisun T5 with a matching T5 HO bulb and a thrive 100 watt basking bulb
• Temperature - 72 in the cage and an 82 basking spot, floor is 70 and night temps are 70-72
• Humidity - humidity levels are around 60-70 during the day and jump to 90 overnight, i use my misting machine to moderate the levels
• Plants - Ficus begonia and snake plant
• Placement - cage is on carpeted floor on the ground highest point is 4 ft
• Location - New Jersey US

attached is a screenshot of a video i took of her gasping

 

[MissSkittles]

From the sounds of what you describe and the look of your poor girl, she most likely has a URI. While many exotic vets will see chameleons and other reptiles, it doesn’t always mean that they are experienced or very knowledgeable of them. If cost is a concern, tell the vet. Most are usually willing/able to try to find a plan of care within your budget.
Now, let me address your humidity. Your daytime levels should stay around 40%. At night the higher level is fine as long as it’s cool. The heat of the daytime combined with too high humidity causes RI. You should also reduce your misting to 2-3 times of 1-2 minutes per day.
Looking at the rest of your husbandry....
for supplements it should be calcium with no D at every feeding and calcium with D once every other week, alternating with a multivitamin.
wax worms should only be the occasional treat. Try adding some fresh greens and other veggies to your gutloading. Infographics attached.
Is always a good idea to have a fecal done to check for parasites.
Did you mean ficus benjamina and spell check changed it?
Do you have a lay bin? Mated or not, she will lay eggs like chickens do. She’s old enough to lay and is best to keep the bin in her enclosure permanently.
If you could post full pics of her and her enclosure, that would also help to see if all is correct.

 

[argulor]

thank you for your reply !! i have been monitoring her closely, we just went to a trained reptile vet and she was diagnosed with pneumonia and dehydration. he said my temps and humidity were fine and that the uris are caused by more than just humidity levels rip ,,,, she has been eating well ever since we brought her back, the waxworms were more to get some fat in her system, its not in her main feeder line up , just started gutloading with fresh greens for her roaches too ! she got a fecal done and it came back perfect, her plants are a ficus, begonia, and snake plant. her entire cage is bioactive with special soil so she can lay in it whenever she pleases ! she also hadnt pooped in a while so after the vet got her to poo she ate a lot better !!

 

[MissSkittles]

thank you for your reply !! i have been monitoring her closely, we just went to a trained reptile vet and she was diagnosed with pneumonia and dehydration. he said my temps and humidity were fine and that the uris are caused by more than just humidity levels rip ,,,, she has been eating well ever since we brought her back, the waxworms were more to get some fat in her system, its not in her main feeder line up , just started gutloading with fresh greens for her roaches too ! she got a fecal done and it came back perfect, her plants are a ficus, begonia, and snake plant. her entire cage is bioactive with special soil so she can lay in it whenever she pleases ! she also hadnt pooped in a while so after the vet got her to poo she ate a lot better !!

I’m glad you got your girl taken care of and hoping she has an easy & speedy recovery. You should still work to bring her daytime humidity down a bit though. Awesome that you’ve got bioactive! I just realized I forgot to attach the gutloading infographics. Doing so now...hope it helps.

 

[kinyonga]

One more thing...if you constantly overfeed a female once she's sexually mature, she will produce a large clutch, can develop MBD and other health issues as well as become eggbound or developlop dollicular stasis.
I'm not saying you're over feeding her since I don't know how much you're feeding her...I'm just giving you a heads up to be careful not to do it.

 

[argulor]

i just saw this ! thank you for the tip i have two girls and will definitely keep that in mind when feeding them. i feed begonia a small handful of soldier fly larvae and a roach or two a day , she doesnt eat everything in her dish.

 

[kinyonga]

That might be more than enough. How big are the roaches?

 

[argulor]

very very small , idek the exact measurement of each roach, but very tiny and she rarely eats them, she much prefers the larvae and eats i wanna say , 5 of them ?

 

[kinyonga]

I feed about 5 adult crickets every second day...but there is no exact amount. It varies a bit from chameleon to chameleon.

 

[argulor]

she is a bit too small for large adult crickets as of right now, i have offered them to her and she doesnt seem interested, but we will see what the vet has been feeding her these past days

 

[kinyonga]

I was just trying to give you an amount/volume of food I use...but mine is for a sexually mature female. If yours is younger/smaller then you're likely ok with what you're doing.

 

[argulor]

ohh sorry , i gotcha tho ! thank you for your time !

 

[argulor]

so we brought her back home 2 days ago, she has been getting more injections and a nebulizer treatment with antibiotics as well. she is doing much better, no more gaping or heavy breathing. we ran the CT scan on her and nothing obvious came back. hopefully she is on a road to recovery

 

[kinyonga]

Hopefully she is on the road to recovery!
Fingers crossed!

 

[argulor]

hey so she was confirmed to have pneumonia, she is doing much better now and is getting another CT scan to make sure its not a chronic issue

 

[kinyonga]

What do you have to do to get her over it?

 

[Prince of Duval]

thank you for your reply !! i have been monitoring her closely, we just went to a trained reptile vet and she was diagnosed with pneumonia and dehydration. he said my temps and humidity were fine and that the uris are caused by more than just humidity levels rip ,,,, she has been eating well ever since we brought her back, the waxworms were more to get some fat in her system, its not in her main feeder line up , just started gutloading with fresh greens for her roaches too ! she got a fecal done and it came back perfect, her plants are a ficus, begonia, and snake plant. her entire cage is bioactive with special soil so she can lay in it whenever she pleases ! she also hadnt pooped in a while so after the vet got her to poo she ate a lot better !!

Interesting! Are you monitoring your humidity levels with a hygrometer? I’d be interested to hear what else could lead to URIs/pneumonia. As a precaution, it might be best to lower those humidity levels and misting sessions just a bit during the day. I’m happy she seems to be on the road to recovery.

 

[argulor]

she is on a good deal of anti biotics and a parasite guard (she had some) she is on injections every other day for a month because we are scared that it is a chronic issue. after this she gets another CT scan to determine if it is chronic.

 

[argulor]

Interesting! Are you monitoring your humidity levels with a hygrometer? I’d be interested to hear what else could lead to URIs/pneumonia. As a precaution, it might be best to lower those humidity levels and misting sessions just a bit during the day. I’m happy she seems to be on the road to recovery.

yes i have been reducing the humidity a bit! ive been watching everything closely and we think she got it from the move across country, poor thing

 

[KittyB]

hello as the title states i have taken my new girl to the ER because she was showing signs of an RI.
i took her to an exotics vet two days ago and they said they saw no signs of an issue but tonight she was gaping and almost gasping for air i have a video of how she looks. the vet told me to give her the high calorie booster and to take her in the room with me as i showered so she could get some warm mist , i did both and afterwards she looked worse than before so i rushed her to the er waited in the car for 3 hrs for them to see her and they are keeping her overnight to monitor her and so the reptile specialist can see her in the morning. he wants to take blood tests and run xrays,,, what will they do to diagnose her? and with the cost being extremely high what do you guys thing is a necessary test and what is unnecessary?

• Your Chameleon - female veiled , ive had her for 1 week she was born last september
• Handling - i have only taken her out of the box and to the vet
• Feeding - crickets,dubias, waxworms, gutloading with the biodudes bug grub. she has not eaten anything on her own in the time ive had her
• Supplements - calcium from bearded dragon. co and flukers Reptiboost since she hasnt been eating
• Watering - she has an exoterra monsoon misting system set to 30 seconds every 4 hrs
• Fecal Description - no poop in my care
• History - none known

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen, 2x2x4
• Lighting - reptisun T5 with a matching T5 HO bulb and a thrive 100 watt basking bulb
• Temperature - 72 in the cage and an 82 basking spot, floor is 70 and night temps are 70-72
• Humidity - humidity levels are around 60-70 during the day and jump to 90 overnight, i use my misting machine to moderate the levels
• Plants - Ficus begonia and snake plant
• Placement - cage is on carpeted floor on the ground highest point is 4 ft
• Location - New Jersey US

attached is a screenshot of a video i took of her gasping

I wanted to quote a few of your posts but this forum layout is a bit foreign to me so forgive me.

I know that the common advice for a "dehydrated" Cham is the shower.. I did this and I am positive it caused an URI in my boy in addition to other issues he was facing.
You mention your Cham had a CT scan? pretty awesome.. my guy was diagnosed by bloodwork solely and my observations.
May I ask about the injections? are you doing them yourself? or are they done in clinic? and what abx do you know?

So glad your girl is turning the corner!