Syringe feeding

Karancon

Member
Vet has told us to syringe feed Vanessa Carnivore care 2x daily and give a liquid calcium supplement - she is not eating at all and stopped eating crickets weeks ago - So how do we do it? How do we get her mouth to open? The dehydration has shut her eyes, so she doesn't see the hand coming at her
 
I gently spray the face with water to induce drinking, then dropper feed. Life is so much easier with a dropper trained reptile, but most of mine are not. In extreme cases I will constantly drip or spray the mixture on the head if they fail at dropper feeding using the previous method. yes you end up with a sticky lizard, but at least its still alive and getting proper treatment.

2nd to last resort is shoving the dropper in the cheek or inbetween the lips.
Last resort is force feeding from the front. It gets ugly, slightly dangerous due to aspiration possibilities, and severally stressing out the animal.
 
So using a dropper may be easier than the syringe? Its a long metal tube with a little ball on the end -
 
So using a dropper may be easier than the syringe? Its a long metal tube with a little ball on the end -

This is what i use for medicine and "dropper" feeding/watering.
bd-1-ml-tuberculin-syringe-without-needle-309.jpg


You can get bigger ones for feeding(because it doesnt mater if you loose alot of fluid) but its easier to measure medicine with the smaller ones.
 
This is what i use for medicine and "dropper" feeding/watering.
bd-1-ml-tuberculin-syringe-without-needle-309.jpg


You can get bigger ones for feeding(because it doesnt mater if you loose alot of fluid) but its easier to measure medicine with the smaller ones.

She gave us this - and charged us $17 for a long metal "needle" with a bulb on the end to squirt it through
 
She gave us this - and charged us $17 for a long metal "needle" with a bulb on the end to squirt it through
Its what ever works for the cham. The needle with a bulb might be easier to squirt inbetween the teeth if you cant get the cham to just drink it from the tip of the plastic part.
 
She gave us this - and charged us $17 for a long metal "needle" with a bulb on the end to squirt it through

You've got the best tools. It's called a crop feeder and is so you can get the fluid deep in the throat past the opening to their trachea. Did the vet not explain how to do it?

This photo below from a post by @ferretinmyshoes who is a reptile vet. Go to this thread and look for Message #26 where she gives a very good explanation:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/warning-to-all-chameleon-owners.80201/page-2

Although I have force fed a lot of chameleons I am not the best. I can't seem to get them to gape for me. You want to try to get them to gape at you. Often just gently holding them behind their jaws will cause them to open for you. I'm just not good at doing that. I end up resorting to using something like stiff business card or a credit card that has not sharp edges to try to get them to open up. If you slip the edge of the credit card under their top front teeth, they often will open up. Sometimes I've pulled on their the skin under their jaws, but you have to be really really careful because the bones in the tongue are right there, too. I use a syringe and put it deep in their throat well past the opening to the trachea. The trachea moves forward and back in the throat depending on what it is doing with its mouth and tongue. It won't always be at the front like the picture.

Be careful not to damage the delicate throat and tongue structures when you do put something hard deep in the throat. People have torn holes in the esophogus being too rough. Hope that helped.



full
 
You've got the best tools. It's called a crop feeder and is so you can get the fluid deep in the throat past the opening to their trachea. Did the vet not explain how to do it?

This photo below from a post by @ferretinmyshoes who is a reptile vet. Go to this thread and look for Message #26 where she gives a very good explanation:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/warning-to-all-chameleon-owners.80201/page-2

Although I have force fed a lot of chameleons I am not the best. I can't seem to get them to gape for me. You want to try to get them to gape at you. Often just gently holding them behind their jaws will cause them to open for you. I'm just not good at doing that. I end up resorting to using something like stiff business card or a credit card that has not sharp edges to try to get them to open up. If you slip the edge of the credit card under their top front teeth, they often will open up. Sometimes I've pulled on their the skin under their jaws, but you have to be really really careful because the bones in the tongue are right there, too. I use a syringe and put it deep in their throat well past the opening to the trachea. The trachea moves forward and back in the throat depending on what it is doing with its mouth and tongue. It won't always be at the front like the picture.

Be careful not to damage the delicate throat and tongue structures when you do put something hard deep in the throat. People have torn holes in the esophogus being too rough. Hope that helped.



full
 
Thank you - I'm not the one who took her - my son did - He said he did better today - hes afraid of stressing her out - shes so delicate - going to send this to him
 
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