This is my first post, I have browsed here for a long time & have learned so much from everyone here. I have a Veiled named Houdini, he is now 5 yrs old , I have had him since he was 3 months old, he is a beautiful looking boy, I have enjoyed having him and taking care of him. I named him Houdini because he escaped instantly from the juvenile cage he was originally in and was hiding at the top of the curtains on the window, I had made the cage he was in and had used plastic mesh that had openings that I believed he could not squeeze through,(about the size of a nickel) he proved me wrong on that. I have noticed recently that he was favoring his right back leg, I took him to a Vet that works on reptiles to have him checked and as I suspected he has broken his leg, the break is in the upper leg bone, what would be a thigh bone in a human. He is scheduled for surgery this coming Wedsnesday, he is going to have his leg pinned, needless to say I am hoping for the very best outcome. This was Houdini's first Vet visit and he was not happy at all about the trip, the Vet is over an hour away so it was a little bit of a ride for him. It is amazing that he still uses his leg and acts like there is really nothing wrong, he is still eating and drinking well and has maintained his nice relaxed colors. He was very stressed at the Vet's as would be expected and was very willing to defend himself by puffing himself up and biting at anyone that came near him. We were at the Vets about an hour and with the trip included he was out of his cage about 4 hrs, when I got him back home and placed him back in his cage he drank water as I sprayed him for a very long time, he has always drank well when I have sprayed him but I have never seen him drink like this, must have been from the stress. I will post on the outcome of the surgery, keeping my fingers crossed.
Surgery For Houdini (My Chameleon)
- Thread starter vettpoor
- Start date
shaunaroxanne
Avid Member
Good luck to you and Houdini
Sorry it took you so long to post, and we hope to see you on here more often
Sorry it took you so long to post, and we hope to see you on here more often
I noticed when he was relaxing he would let his rear leg dangle, at first I thought he was just very relaxed, but the more often he sat this way the more I grew concerned, upon watching him walk I could noticed a dip in his thigh bone (which is where the break is) As I said earlier he still uses his leg and has good grip foot, the x-ray shows a clean break with both ends of the bone slighly over lapping eack other. His home is heavily planted which would be a good cushion if he did fall but I really dont believe he fell, I have never seen him fall, I wonder if maybe he got his leg caught and possible bent it and broke the bone, not really sure !
The Vet is going to use a removal pin that will align both bones by going through the center of each bone, she believes it will taks about three months to heal, She has done this type of surgery before on several femer breaks which is a more common break, she said a break in this bone is a lot more uncommon, She has two different ideas on how she wants to pin this break, she is going to consult with the U of I Vetrinary College (I live in Illinios)for a second opinion.
