The most COMMON sickness and easy fixes
- Thread starter DABRUTE
- Start date
trevev
New Member
To be honest, their isn't usually a quick fix to a chameleon illness. If you suspect your cham is sick, you should fill out the cham help form. You should also get it to the vet ASAP. Once a cham gets sick it can be difficult to get it back on track. This is one of the reasons they are not considered a beginning reptile ( not saying that you can't successfully start with a cham as first reptile). Good luck!
DABRUTE
New Member
what are they considered as? have you ever had a sick one?
Miss Lily
Chameleon Enthusiast
Chameleons are excellent at masking signs and symptoms of illness. Often, by the time you notice something is not quite right, the chameleon is far more ill than you think. Take my first female, for instance, she started closing her eyes on one Monday afternoon, and I knew that was a sign of trouble so off we went to the vets the very next day. Sadly, she was dead within 5 days. As soon as I notice ANYTHING, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant going on with one of my chameleons, it's straight to the vets.
DABRUTE
New Member
how much do vets cost? or it depends on whats wrong?
Here are the most common illnesses we see in chameleons:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/healthx/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/healthx/
DABRUTE
New Member
thanks!!!!
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
The above is a good general listing, and clicking on each section title will take you to more useful info. do check it out!
You might also find these of interest:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/152-health-issues-reference-links.html
DABRUTE
New Member
wait...they are in the area?
DABRUTE
New Member
i see it now. lol thanks!
The best at home fix for health problems is preventing them with good husbandry from the very start.
Psychobunny
Avid Member
Yes, but what about the feeders?
Even clean crickets from a crick farm can be loaded with pin worms, or worse!!
I have heard of some ppl giving their chams a low dose of de-wormer twice a year and dont bother to do a fecal float!!
Pinworms are one of the most insignificant intestinal parasites fortunately. Unless they are in gigantic numbers or causing symptoms they usually don't even need to be treated. In tortoises there is some evidence that pinworms have a symbiotic relationship in the gut.
Why treat if there's nothing actually there? Since chameleons can be sensitive to side effects if medications you are risking overall health for something that may not even be there. And not every parasite is suspectible to every dewormer, so depending on what dewormer and what parasite that may not even be treating the problem if it is there. Using dewormers indiscriminately is an excellent way to create super parasites that are resistant to dewormers. Read about Haemonchus contortus, a very common worm of goats that used to be no problem and now that it's resistant is causing huge losses for farmers, to see it in action.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
EXACTLY! Sure parasites can cause problems but think about it...if all parasites were terrible they would never survive because killing the host creature dooms them too. Most organisms live with some sort of parasite (including humans)...its when the host has other health problems that they get out of balance. A healthy cham can manage a low parasite load. Get fecal checks as part of routine health care...and only treat if necessary.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
YEP! Couldn't have said it better.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
100 percent agree.
Unfortunately it seems like most, not all, are in search of shortcuts when it comes to chameleon husbandry. Bad lighting, stuffy conditions, too wet for too long, etc.
Chameleons kept properly are usually quite hardy.
