ccowingzitron
New Member
Hello,
I've got a sick chameleon and several questions. I'll give the background and general info first, as well as my questions, and then fill out the recommend info for help form.
My chameleon (male panther chameleon, ~2 1/2 years old) isn't doing well, and hasn't been well for a few weeks. I'll briefly explain the symptoms and then fill out the 'chameleon help questionnaire'. I first noticed that he was sleeping during the day as well as at night, only opening his eyes to feed or get water or climb to another part of his cage. His eating slowed, to the point that he would only eat maybe once a week, two or four giant mealworms at a time, and then stopped completely. He was drinking water fine, but stopped opening his eyes to see the drops; he would nuzzle leaves to find it. One day I found a orange-white mass, the size of a pea, stuck in his cloaca. I was quite concerned and took him to a vet, but they didn't know lizards well. The removed the mass after moistening it. One sub-q shot of fluids, and one of cimetidine, $160. He has slowed even more. A week and a half ago I came home to find him asleep on the soil in the pot for one of his trees. I thought he wouldn't make it, but I warmed him up by holding him to his lamp. Since, while he's been extremely lethargic, he has been putting up a strong fight when I care for him and he doesn't like what I'm doing. That he has that strength seems a good sign, but I'm still very worried. For the last week I've been force feeding him, using 1ml syringes without needles, water and mushed mealworms mixed with supplement powder. Reading these forums, I thought it might be an eye infection, so I've been giving him terramycin and artificial tear eye-drops twice a day, though it's hard to do without him closing his eyes. He's keeping eyes open more, but I'm not sure he can see because he doesn't hunt and climbs randomly by touch instead of looking where he's stepping. He pooped on me today, and it was not like what I've read on these forums, so that's why I'm posting. I've found a vet who is a reptile specialist, but I don't want to go again and spend a large percentage of my paycheck if I don't have a good idea what to expect and what might be the problem. Can you give me any ideas what's up, what would be done at a real reptile vet, and the likelihood of benefit from diagnostics and treatment?
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon: Panther Chameleon, male. I got him at 7 months old, and have had him for 1 1/2 years.
Handling: I had been picking him up maybe once every five days, but since he's been sick I've been picking him up every 1-2 days to care for him.
Feeding: Superworms and giant mealworms. He'd been eating 2-3 of them per day, but has now stopped feeding completely.
Supplements: I alternate dusting his worms with herptivite and reptical.
Watering: I spray 3 times per day, 1-2 liters of water each time. I had been using just filtered bottle water, but I've switched to distilled as I've been told it's better.
Fecal Description: I've posted two pictures of what he pooped on me today. There were four components: a black-brown mass, 2 cm x 1 cm, consistency of the taro balls in boba tea; a white mass just like the black-brown one; a red-orange-whitish mass, firmer and stringier than the other two, but the same overall size; and it was all suspended in a liquid very similar to uncooked egg whites. I've attached pictures.
History: Perhaps 10 months ago I took him to the vet because he'd been eating less. Palpitations showed tenderness in his belly, and the vet suggested it was impaction in his digestive tract. She gave me laxative (lactose syrup) to feed him, and he recovered in a few days.
Cage Info:
Cage Type: Screen cage, 4 ft tall, 2 ft wide and deep. It's sitting in a washing machine tub to protect the floor.
Lighting: I just replaced the bulb, thinking that was at least part of the issue. He now has a Reptiglo bulb, 5.0 uvb, 26 watt. It's on 12 hours per day, 6:30am to 6:30pm.
Temperature: His cage is in a room that which has the thermostat kept between 80 and 85 degrees farenheit at all times. I was unsure of the accuracy of the thermostat, so I bought an infrared thermometer. I just measured his cage, right where he is resting under his heat lamp, to be 82.7 degrees farenheit. For reference, it's 11:33 pm right now, so that's a night time temp. When I measured in the daytime, it was around 78 degrees, but I had just given the cage a heavy misting, so that probably lowered the temp.
Humidity: I don't know the exact humidity. I live by the coast, and it's often very foggy, but I don't know how much that raises the humidity of the room and his cage. As I said, I mist him 2 or 3 times per day, 1-2 liters each time. To keep moisture in, I've started draping plastic garbage bags on three sides of his cage, until I get a shower curtain thing. I just bought a water dripper for a drinking drip, and a reptifogger to keep overall humidity up. I'll install them tomorrow. Next on my list is to get a humidity meter.
Plants: He lives on a pair of ficus benjamina. I hosed them both down heavily, and then further washed them with filtered water, before putting them in the cage. He's had one for at least a year, and the other about a month.
Placement: His cage is on the floor, sitting in a washing machine tub. It's several feet from windows, and they are kept shut to keep the temperature of the room up and stable. There is a fan in the room but I don't use it. My neighborhood is very quite and he is almost never disturbed.
Location: I live in San Diego, on a hillside about 1/2 mile from the ocean, 400 feet above sea level.
I'm sorry for this hugely long post, but more info means better help. Thank everybody in advance for your help, and just for having this forum in the first place! Have a good evening,
-- Chris
I've got a sick chameleon and several questions. I'll give the background and general info first, as well as my questions, and then fill out the recommend info for help form.
My chameleon (male panther chameleon, ~2 1/2 years old) isn't doing well, and hasn't been well for a few weeks. I'll briefly explain the symptoms and then fill out the 'chameleon help questionnaire'. I first noticed that he was sleeping during the day as well as at night, only opening his eyes to feed or get water or climb to another part of his cage. His eating slowed, to the point that he would only eat maybe once a week, two or four giant mealworms at a time, and then stopped completely. He was drinking water fine, but stopped opening his eyes to see the drops; he would nuzzle leaves to find it. One day I found a orange-white mass, the size of a pea, stuck in his cloaca. I was quite concerned and took him to a vet, but they didn't know lizards well. The removed the mass after moistening it. One sub-q shot of fluids, and one of cimetidine, $160. He has slowed even more. A week and a half ago I came home to find him asleep on the soil in the pot for one of his trees. I thought he wouldn't make it, but I warmed him up by holding him to his lamp. Since, while he's been extremely lethargic, he has been putting up a strong fight when I care for him and he doesn't like what I'm doing. That he has that strength seems a good sign, but I'm still very worried. For the last week I've been force feeding him, using 1ml syringes without needles, water and mushed mealworms mixed with supplement powder. Reading these forums, I thought it might be an eye infection, so I've been giving him terramycin and artificial tear eye-drops twice a day, though it's hard to do without him closing his eyes. He's keeping eyes open more, but I'm not sure he can see because he doesn't hunt and climbs randomly by touch instead of looking where he's stepping. He pooped on me today, and it was not like what I've read on these forums, so that's why I'm posting. I've found a vet who is a reptile specialist, but I don't want to go again and spend a large percentage of my paycheck if I don't have a good idea what to expect and what might be the problem. Can you give me any ideas what's up, what would be done at a real reptile vet, and the likelihood of benefit from diagnostics and treatment?
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon: Panther Chameleon, male. I got him at 7 months old, and have had him for 1 1/2 years.
Handling: I had been picking him up maybe once every five days, but since he's been sick I've been picking him up every 1-2 days to care for him.
Feeding: Superworms and giant mealworms. He'd been eating 2-3 of them per day, but has now stopped feeding completely.
Supplements: I alternate dusting his worms with herptivite and reptical.
Watering: I spray 3 times per day, 1-2 liters of water each time. I had been using just filtered bottle water, but I've switched to distilled as I've been told it's better.
Fecal Description: I've posted two pictures of what he pooped on me today. There were four components: a black-brown mass, 2 cm x 1 cm, consistency of the taro balls in boba tea; a white mass just like the black-brown one; a red-orange-whitish mass, firmer and stringier than the other two, but the same overall size; and it was all suspended in a liquid very similar to uncooked egg whites. I've attached pictures.
History: Perhaps 10 months ago I took him to the vet because he'd been eating less. Palpitations showed tenderness in his belly, and the vet suggested it was impaction in his digestive tract. She gave me laxative (lactose syrup) to feed him, and he recovered in a few days.
Cage Info:
Cage Type: Screen cage, 4 ft tall, 2 ft wide and deep. It's sitting in a washing machine tub to protect the floor.
Lighting: I just replaced the bulb, thinking that was at least part of the issue. He now has a Reptiglo bulb, 5.0 uvb, 26 watt. It's on 12 hours per day, 6:30am to 6:30pm.
Temperature: His cage is in a room that which has the thermostat kept between 80 and 85 degrees farenheit at all times. I was unsure of the accuracy of the thermostat, so I bought an infrared thermometer. I just measured his cage, right where he is resting under his heat lamp, to be 82.7 degrees farenheit. For reference, it's 11:33 pm right now, so that's a night time temp. When I measured in the daytime, it was around 78 degrees, but I had just given the cage a heavy misting, so that probably lowered the temp.
Humidity: I don't know the exact humidity. I live by the coast, and it's often very foggy, but I don't know how much that raises the humidity of the room and his cage. As I said, I mist him 2 or 3 times per day, 1-2 liters each time. To keep moisture in, I've started draping plastic garbage bags on three sides of his cage, until I get a shower curtain thing. I just bought a water dripper for a drinking drip, and a reptifogger to keep overall humidity up. I'll install them tomorrow. Next on my list is to get a humidity meter.
Plants: He lives on a pair of ficus benjamina. I hosed them both down heavily, and then further washed them with filtered water, before putting them in the cage. He's had one for at least a year, and the other about a month.
Placement: His cage is on the floor, sitting in a washing machine tub. It's several feet from windows, and they are kept shut to keep the temperature of the room up and stable. There is a fan in the room but I don't use it. My neighborhood is very quite and he is almost never disturbed.
Location: I live in San Diego, on a hillside about 1/2 mile from the ocean, 400 feet above sea level.
I'm sorry for this hugely long post, but more info means better help. Thank everybody in advance for your help, and just for having this forum in the first place! Have a good evening,
-- Chris
. A vet can run blood tests to give insight into what is going wrong and the possibility of turning it around.
