Vieled with yellow legs

T

thatguy

New Member
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - male vieled, i have had for about 2 weeks
  • Handling - three times for only a minute or two
  • Feeding - about 10 small crickets once a day
  • Supplements - I just got calcium and D3 products although i dont know what kind (they are at home)
  • Watering - mist twice a day by hand, homemade drip vine fed by a little dripper
  • Fecal Description - blackish brown 'turd' with white on one end
  • History - i beleive he was a baby when i got him at petco
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - 18*18*36 screen
  • Lighting - incandesent 60W and 18" UVb light, probably zoomed
  • Temperature - 80-82 basking spot, around 70 on the floor
  • Humidity - unsure, i dont measure
  • Plants -no, i use plastic. I started with lots of variation in density and climbing locations, but since he is having troublecontroling his legs i removed a bunch of the greenery and made it more handicap accessable. Basically there are a bunch of braches but only vegitation in a coupl of places so he can move from place to place easier, but has plenty of cover when he gets where he is going.
  • Placement - in the corner of my office, low traffic, minimal breeze, we have radiant heat so it is pretty steady. The top of his enclosure is about 5 1/3 feet off the floor. Near a window so as to get passing sun on parts of the cage for a couple hours
  • Location - maryland
Current Problem - shortly after i got him he molted. i noticed his front right leg shed oddly and it looked like his foot didn't peal correctly. After that he stopped using it and his entire leg seemed nearly paralyzed. He couldn't grip, but could move it. Then it turned yellow up to the shoulder. Today i noticed his bak right leg looked yellow. on further inspection i noticed it looked like he isn't gripping with that leg either, and it may have a buldge between the foot and the knee. I am guessing the dreaded MBD and maybe dehydration. any pointers will be aprecitated.


BTW, i plan to get him to the vet, but the closest is a couple hours away and my work schedule wont allow me to get up there until next week

Should i figure out a way to put a flase floor in the cage so if he falls he doesn't fall far?
 
So he's a pretty young juvenile right? A pic would really help here. Have you checked to see if there is any stuck skin that might be constricting those legs? Trouble shedding is a sign of dehydration and the old stuck shed can harden and constrict blood flow. As you don't measure humidity yet and have no live plants, this could be part of the problem. I would pay more attention to getting him to drink as much as you can, mist his cage down very well (he'll like it a little better if you spray with very warm water) and use the supplement dusts correctly until you can see the vet. The proper supplementation dust schedule is:

Plain calcium dust (no added vit D3) daily.
Calcium dust containing added vit D3 once every 10 days to 2 weeks
Herp multivitamin dust once every 10 days to 2 weeks.

Also gutload your feeder insects very well as most of his basic nutrition should come from prey, not dusts. If you don't have a quality insect gutload right now, you can feed your insects fresh fruit such as oranges, dark green veggies (no broccoli or spinach), fortified cereal grains such as Total. In future there are good gutloads available from this forum's sponsors so check them out.
 
Carlton said:
So he's a pretty young juvenile right? A pic would really help here. Have you checked to see if there is any stuck skin that might be constricting those legs? Trouble shedding is a sign of dehydration and the old stuck shed can harden and constrict blood flow. As you don't measure humidity yet and have no live plants, this could be part of the problem. I would pay more attention to getting him to drink as much as you can, mist his cage down very well (he'll like it a little better if you spray with very warm water) and use the supplement dusts correctly until you can see the vet. The proper supplementation dust schedule is:

Plain calcium dust (no added vit D3) daily.
Calcium dust containing added vit D3 once every 10 days to 2 weeks
Herp multivitamin dust once every 10 days to 2 weeks.

Also gutload your feeder insects very well as most of his basic nutrition should come from prey, not dusts. If you don't have a quality insect gutload right now, you can feed your insects fresh fruit such as oranges, dark green veggies (no broccoli or spinach), fortified cereal grains such as Total. In future there are good gutloads available from this forum's sponsors so check them out.
Click to expand...
thanks, i read the shedding thread and i think that is my problem. It did look like he had a bit of skin stuck on his front shoulder. I will try giving him a shower as they suggested in that thread.

I am currently using a commerical cricket diet that contains supliments, but i am not sure which one.
 
thatguy said:
thanks, i read the shedding thread and i think that is my problem. It did look like he had a bit of skin stuck on his front shoulder. I will try giving him a shower as they suggested in that thread.

I am currently using a commerical cricket diet that contains supliments, but i am not sure which one.
Click to expand...

You do want to check the ingredients in the gutload. Most commercial gutloads sold at retail shops are pretty incomplete.
 
Is the shed that's stuck on the shoulder or leg go all the way around the appendage? If it doesn't then it's not cutting off the circulation to that appendage. If it is then it's like a tourniquet and you need to remove it immediately! Is the appendage swollen on the side away from the heart? That will tell you if it's cutting the circulation. It's a 2 person job to remove the old dead shed skin: one to hold the cham still and the other to cut the shed so it can be removed. You'll need a very sharp knife or better a razor blade.
Pictures woUld help!
 
So we gave him a shower and then the wife and I held him down and cut off the shed. The front leg still had a full wrap but the back was only partially covered. We got most off and I will give him another shower in the morning. Unfortunately it doesn't look good for the front leg. I am hopeful for the back one. In any case, he gets around well and was eating, drinking and changing colors even with his injury. It's been about twelve years since I had my last Cham. I don't remember having any issues with shedding.

Also my humidity is right around 60%. Other than him basking a lot when he shed I am not sure how this happened. I guess he is going to get lots of misting when he sheds from now on

Here is an after surgery photo. You can still see some shed is stuck to the back thigh and flakes on the front shoulder.
 

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Carlton said:
You do want to check the ingredients in the gutload. Most commercial gutloads sold at retail shops are pretty incomplete.
Click to expand...
A lot of them have D3 .... So I'm assuming feeding feeders this passes along it to the reptile. And every day use of it is a booboo.
 
Yikes, that front leg looks almost... withered around the foot. Definitely seems like something a vet is going to need to look over. Does he move it at all or have any feeling in it?
 
Good lord...what is that? I hope it turns out alright but could you let us all know what's going on with that there little guy for future reference's sake? Looks like it lost blood flow or something.
 
It was definitely shed skin wrapped around the leg. I am taking him to the vet next week, but as shriveled as it is I am sure he is going to lose the front one. He doesn't have any feeling in it but he can move it from the shoulder. The back leg is looking a little better since we got the shed off. I am hopeful.

In any case I will let you know what the vet says.
 
Well I took Thomas to the vet and it was not good. The front right leg was too damaged to save and he right rear had no feeling below the knee. Then the vet determined that Thomas couldn't fully use his front left foot. The vet suspected he was sick when I got him and recommend I have him put down. he has been falling several times a day so it was the right choice even if a hard one.
 
I'm sorry for you. I've been in the position to have to put a Cham down and it's very hard. It was the right decision, but yes, very difficult. Sleep well, little Thomas.
 
Sad outcome... At least he isn't having to go through that anymore. It's hard, but like Lathis said, it was right. I'm very sorry things turned out this way.
 
First off, I'm truly sorry for your loss, I can only imagine how hard it must be for you, even or especially that you've only had him for quite a short time. May he rest in peace!

Also, this might be a very stupid question so don't hate me pls but I was wondering if they do like... amputations for chams? Like eg dogs can live with two legs. I know that it's completely different bc chams climb and everything, and also I know that any surgery is very risky bc they're so small and fragile and even a very small amount of blood loss can be fatal (I'm reconsidering even asking at this point but oh well..). So I was wondering if any of have ever seen anything like that or is that like impossible for them to live that way, even with extraextra care and everything?
Sorry for the stupid question...
 
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