Kent67
Retired Moderator
I believe a couple of days ago was the one year anniversary of this pair of Parson's chameleons being placed in my care so I figured it was time for an update. I'll try to keep the beginning brief for those already familiar with the story. This time last year I started seeing advertisments on Kingsnake.com from an individual near me who had imported a group of Parson's. They came in with CITES documentation as captive bred, were inspected by USF&W, and were released to the importers. Parson's chameleons from Madagascar were suspended from export by CITES in 1995 and the likelihood of any being produced today from bloodlines collected prior to that ban is basically none. I have, for a long time now, had the position that I would rather do my small part in conservation and support the CITES suspension than purchase smuggled animals, no matter how much I've wanted to work with Parson's chameleons again. I would much rather see the community working towards having small export quotas allowed from Madagascar than having them sent from country to country until they can pick up papers USF&W will accept.
Soon after seeing the ads, I heard through the grapevine that the importer did not have the proper facilities and experience to take care of them for very long. After some internal debate I decided that, as the animals were in the US to stay, their best interest would be served by offering to help him assess their health, try to figure out the best temporary housing, and find more experienced owners for them as soon as possible. Over the next week or so San Diego experienced some very high daytime temperatures with low nights and the importer was not able to control enclosure temps, apparently leading to the quick demise of three. He quickly decided that he couldn't bear the thought of losing any more of them and started trying to place them into good homes that night. He offered a pair to me under the agreement that I would always provide the best home I could for them and that they would never be for sale.
Now the fun stuff. I heard fecal results from 5 of the 8 chameleons and all had heavy parasite loads of a number of different types. Two vets made comments about the slides wiggling or the sample almost jumping off the microscope! Both have a large number of missing toenails as is common in wildcaught chameleons that have been pried off of screen mesh by uncaring workers. On arrival both had infections, as a result of ripped out toenails, that had spread up into bone as verified by xrays. As your reptile vet will tell you, usually they just amuputate infected bone in reptiles because it is so difficult to completely treat. Rather than handicapping them, they both went through a series of antibiotic shots and topical gels that seem to have stopped the infection. Later, the female also had an infection and swelling in her lower jaw which had to be treated with another round of antibiotics. A couple of months ago it became aparent that the male had begun using his tail less and less so off to the vet we went. After xrays we found that two of his vertebrae, one above his pelvis and another a few bones further into his tail, were swollen. With no external trauma the doctor said he feared it could be cancer. After anesthetising him again to perform a fine-needle aspirate on his vertebrae a sample was sent to a pathology lab but it came back as infection only, no cancer. Ok, so how do infections end up in bone like that? Back to the vet(s) we went for a specialist's ultrasound, looking for another infection, specifically in the heart, that could be throwing off infectious material that could have gathered in the bone. Nothing was found. He just completed two straight months of injections last weekend and is using and curling his tail much better. We're hoping that he is only left with some oddly reconstructed bone in those two places but time will tell.
I had our custom cage builder for FL Chams make two cages for them, both 5 feet tall and 3 x 4 feet on the ground. When the weather is nice, which it's about to be all the time, they have their big outdoor cage which they really seem to enjoy. Both exemplify the picky eater chameleon and will occasionally refuse to eat until I find something new for them or figure out exactly where they wish it to be placed. They are pains in the butt that I find myself doting over way too much. Although I kept Parson's chameleons in the early 90's, I hadn't yet gained the experience I have now with so many different chameleon species and perhaps took them for granted. Up until the last year I had continued to think of them as just another chameleon, albeit a big one. But, now I realize that there really is something different and special about the species and I've found a new respect and awe for them that is both a lot of fun and a continuing challenge. I guess that's it for now, wish us luck for year 2!
April 20, 2010
August 13, 2010
October 27, 2010
December 4, 2010
February 27, 2011
April 23, 2011
April 20, 2010
October 20, 2010
December 4, 2010
April 23, 2011 ("Hmmm, what do I want for desert?")
Soon after seeing the ads, I heard through the grapevine that the importer did not have the proper facilities and experience to take care of them for very long. After some internal debate I decided that, as the animals were in the US to stay, their best interest would be served by offering to help him assess their health, try to figure out the best temporary housing, and find more experienced owners for them as soon as possible. Over the next week or so San Diego experienced some very high daytime temperatures with low nights and the importer was not able to control enclosure temps, apparently leading to the quick demise of three. He quickly decided that he couldn't bear the thought of losing any more of them and started trying to place them into good homes that night. He offered a pair to me under the agreement that I would always provide the best home I could for them and that they would never be for sale.
Now the fun stuff. I heard fecal results from 5 of the 8 chameleons and all had heavy parasite loads of a number of different types. Two vets made comments about the slides wiggling or the sample almost jumping off the microscope! Both have a large number of missing toenails as is common in wildcaught chameleons that have been pried off of screen mesh by uncaring workers. On arrival both had infections, as a result of ripped out toenails, that had spread up into bone as verified by xrays. As your reptile vet will tell you, usually they just amuputate infected bone in reptiles because it is so difficult to completely treat. Rather than handicapping them, they both went through a series of antibiotic shots and topical gels that seem to have stopped the infection. Later, the female also had an infection and swelling in her lower jaw which had to be treated with another round of antibiotics. A couple of months ago it became aparent that the male had begun using his tail less and less so off to the vet we went. After xrays we found that two of his vertebrae, one above his pelvis and another a few bones further into his tail, were swollen. With no external trauma the doctor said he feared it could be cancer. After anesthetising him again to perform a fine-needle aspirate on his vertebrae a sample was sent to a pathology lab but it came back as infection only, no cancer. Ok, so how do infections end up in bone like that? Back to the vet(s) we went for a specialist's ultrasound, looking for another infection, specifically in the heart, that could be throwing off infectious material that could have gathered in the bone. Nothing was found. He just completed two straight months of injections last weekend and is using and curling his tail much better. We're hoping that he is only left with some oddly reconstructed bone in those two places but time will tell.
I had our custom cage builder for FL Chams make two cages for them, both 5 feet tall and 3 x 4 feet on the ground. When the weather is nice, which it's about to be all the time, they have their big outdoor cage which they really seem to enjoy. Both exemplify the picky eater chameleon and will occasionally refuse to eat until I find something new for them or figure out exactly where they wish it to be placed. They are pains in the butt that I find myself doting over way too much. Although I kept Parson's chameleons in the early 90's, I hadn't yet gained the experience I have now with so many different chameleon species and perhaps took them for granted. Up until the last year I had continued to think of them as just another chameleon, albeit a big one. But, now I realize that there really is something different and special about the species and I've found a new respect and awe for them that is both a lot of fun and a continuing challenge. I guess that's it for now, wish us luck for year 2!
April 20, 2010
August 13, 2010
October 27, 2010
December 4, 2010
February 27, 2011
April 23, 2011
April 20, 2010
October 20, 2010
December 4, 2010
April 23, 2011 ("Hmmm, what do I want for desert?")
