morkie
New Member
I could really use some help with a veiled chameleon I just rescued. I found her on craigslist and saw she was very ill. I just couldn't leave her to die. She's still young, no more than 6 months max. She fits in the palm of my hand.
The first thing I noticed about her was her color. She's very yellow, not the bright green that they typically are. I figured it may be because she was cold, as her previous owner didn't even have a proper basking light for her. But several days later, she's still this color which is worrisome. Her ambient cage temp is about 80 or 85 now, with her basking spot temp slightly above 90. I'm worried to let it get any higher than that with how weak and frail she is.
The next most obvious thing is her eyes. They were very sunken in, which I know is a common side effect of dehydration. I've been misting her cage every few hours and at any given time her humidity is now about 70%.
She's also very malnourished. The man that owned her was giving her large crickets, which makes no sense to me as they're bigger than her head. I had to fish out several large crickets and even a gigantic beetle from her cage when I brought her home. She now has a few tiny crickets in there and a dish with waxworms but she has no interest in them.
She will not eat or drink on her own no matter how hard I try. I've been giving her some "reptile appetite booster" mixed with warm pedialyte through a syringe, it's about the only thing that I can get into her other than plain water also with a syringe. She will not even open her mouth for water that is sitting right on her face. I'm very careful while syringe feeding, I give very small drops one at a time, one about every minute or two. She does swallow them, but it takes time. When I first brought her home, her mouth was very sticky and dry. That's been much better now. I've tried to put small insects into her mouth but she won't swallow them. They just sit in her mouth until they disintegrate.
She's very weak, although she seems capable enough to hang on to her vines and branches and move around a little in her cage. In the past day or so she seems a tiny bit stronger in trying to keep me from opening her mouth to get the water and liquid food in. But she still seems weak and frail.
I don't think she has MBD, as the one thing her previous owner did right was have a proper UVB light and dust her food with calcium. I'm concerned about liver problems because of the dehydration, although I read that the inside of their mouths get white if they have a liver condition and hers is a normal pink.
Is there anything more I can do to help her? She's hardly gotten any better in the days that I've had her, although she also doesn't seem to have gotten worse which is keeping my hopes up. The only reptile vet in the area is a Cornell University which I really can't afford. Any help is very much appreciated.
The first thing I noticed about her was her color. She's very yellow, not the bright green that they typically are. I figured it may be because she was cold, as her previous owner didn't even have a proper basking light for her. But several days later, she's still this color which is worrisome. Her ambient cage temp is about 80 or 85 now, with her basking spot temp slightly above 90. I'm worried to let it get any higher than that with how weak and frail she is.
The next most obvious thing is her eyes. They were very sunken in, which I know is a common side effect of dehydration. I've been misting her cage every few hours and at any given time her humidity is now about 70%.
She's also very malnourished. The man that owned her was giving her large crickets, which makes no sense to me as they're bigger than her head. I had to fish out several large crickets and even a gigantic beetle from her cage when I brought her home. She now has a few tiny crickets in there and a dish with waxworms but she has no interest in them.
She will not eat or drink on her own no matter how hard I try. I've been giving her some "reptile appetite booster" mixed with warm pedialyte through a syringe, it's about the only thing that I can get into her other than plain water also with a syringe. She will not even open her mouth for water that is sitting right on her face. I'm very careful while syringe feeding, I give very small drops one at a time, one about every minute or two. She does swallow them, but it takes time. When I first brought her home, her mouth was very sticky and dry. That's been much better now. I've tried to put small insects into her mouth but she won't swallow them. They just sit in her mouth until they disintegrate.
She's very weak, although she seems capable enough to hang on to her vines and branches and move around a little in her cage. In the past day or so she seems a tiny bit stronger in trying to keep me from opening her mouth to get the water and liquid food in. But she still seems weak and frail.
I don't think she has MBD, as the one thing her previous owner did right was have a proper UVB light and dust her food with calcium. I'm concerned about liver problems because of the dehydration, although I read that the inside of their mouths get white if they have a liver condition and hers is a normal pink.
Is there anything more I can do to help her? She's hardly gotten any better in the days that I've had her, although she also doesn't seem to have gotten worse which is keeping my hopes up. The only reptile vet in the area is a Cornell University which I really can't afford. Any help is very much appreciated.
