Abbylesperance
New Member
Chameleon Info:
◦Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 years and 11 months old, she has been in my care since she was 3 months old.
◦Handling - I rarely did before she got sick. Now I have to daily to administer medications.
◦Feeding - Mainly crickets, hornworms, nutri-grubs, and an occasional mango . Around 6-8 crickets every other morning. I try to mix it up by giving her different worms and mango. I have tried feeding her Dubia roaches but she is not interested
I gut load with various fruits and vegetables including mustard greens, turnips, carrots, sweet potato, orange, apple, mango, bee pollen, and acorn squash. I also add Rapashi Bug burger in with it and a few chunks of water gel.
◦Supplements - I dust her crickets with "Zoo Med Repti Calcium Without D3" every other day and "Zoo Med Reptivite without D3 Reptile Vitamin" once every other week and
◦Watering - I try to keep her little dripper running for a good portion of the day and she has a mist king set up but I have turned it off and started manually misting her with warm water because her mist king would scare her and she would fall because she is so weak. She also has a humidifier that is usually set to around 60% humidity. I occasionally turn it up to 75% for a little while to help with shedding. I have been syringe feeding her water along with her antibiotic to keep her hydrated.
◦Fecal Description - Her feces seem normal, they are a little bit runny sometimes after she eats a hornworm. She has not been tested for parasites.
◦History - I have had her to the vet 3 times now. Originally I took her in for a small lump on her eye. The first vet didn't know what they were talking about so I took her to a different vet. Both of them told me the lump was nothing to worry about. Kiwi seemed ok so I went on vacation out of state for a week. My mom cared for her and followed a feeding/vitamin schedule. When I got back, both of her eyes were swollen shut and she was extremely weak. She kept falling from her branches. I rushed her to the vet and they told me that she had a vitamin A deficiency with possibly a bacterial infection. They gave me oral antibiotics and eye drops to give her daily, vitamin A dosage to give her every 5-7 days, as well as Carnivore Care to syringe feed her. The swelling in one eye went down so she was able to see a little bit. She has been able to eat a little bit but I still give her Carnivore Care on her bad days. I have now finished all of the vitamin A doses and she has been on antibiotics for about a month. She had a follow-up appointment and they just told me to continue with the medication and maybe flush her eye with saline solution, so I do that every couple days. I posted a couple months ago when I first noticed the lump. I had some husbandry issues back then but they have been corrected. Here is the link to that post if you want to see it https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/lump-on-veileds-eye.168330/#post-1465762. Kiwi Is not getting any better. She is still weak and doesn't have much of an appetite. Her tail is also black which is concerning.. I read that is a sign of vitamin A deficiency. I will attach a picture if it when she is sleeping because that's when it's most visible. Some days her eyes are more swollen than others. The one improvement she has made is she has started shedding after a very long time of not being able to. She is so weak.. It breaks my heart seeing her so miserable all of the time and I hate ripping her out of her cage every day and stressing her out. I just don't know her quality of life at this point. I love her so much and I don't want her to suffer any more.. If there is nothing else you guys can recommend, I might consider euthanizing her... as much as it breaks my heart.
Cage Info:
◦Cage Type - Completely screen with a drainage system in the bottom. Dimensions are 48"H x 24"W x 24"D. I will attach a picture of her enclosure.
◦Lighting - Her UVB bulb is a "Zoo Med Repti Sun 10.0 UVB" and her heat bulb is a 75-watt "Zoo Med Repti Basking Reptile Spot Lamp"
◦Temperature - Her basking spot is around 85 degrees and her cage floor is around 68 degrees. Her lowest temp overnight is probably around 67 degrees. I measure her temps with a temperature gun.
◦Humidity - it stays around 60-65% with occasional highs of 75%
◦Plants - I have one Schefflera plant at the bottom of her cage.
◦Placement - It is by a window in the dining area next to the living room.
◦Location - United States, Wisconsin
◦Your Chameleon - Veiled, female, 2 years and 11 months old, she has been in my care since she was 3 months old.
◦Handling - I rarely did before she got sick. Now I have to daily to administer medications.
◦Feeding - Mainly crickets, hornworms, nutri-grubs, and an occasional mango . Around 6-8 crickets every other morning. I try to mix it up by giving her different worms and mango. I have tried feeding her Dubia roaches but she is not interested
I gut load with various fruits and vegetables including mustard greens, turnips, carrots, sweet potato, orange, apple, mango, bee pollen, and acorn squash. I also add Rapashi Bug burger in with it and a few chunks of water gel.◦Supplements - I dust her crickets with "Zoo Med Repti Calcium Without D3" every other day and "Zoo Med Reptivite without D3 Reptile Vitamin" once every other week and
"Zoo Med Repti Calcium With D3" on the alternating week
.◦Watering - I try to keep her little dripper running for a good portion of the day and she has a mist king set up but I have turned it off and started manually misting her with warm water because her mist king would scare her and she would fall because she is so weak. She also has a humidifier that is usually set to around 60% humidity. I occasionally turn it up to 75% for a little while to help with shedding. I have been syringe feeding her water along with her antibiotic to keep her hydrated.
◦Fecal Description - Her feces seem normal, they are a little bit runny sometimes after she eats a hornworm. She has not been tested for parasites.
◦History - I have had her to the vet 3 times now. Originally I took her in for a small lump on her eye. The first vet didn't know what they were talking about so I took her to a different vet. Both of them told me the lump was nothing to worry about. Kiwi seemed ok so I went on vacation out of state for a week. My mom cared for her and followed a feeding/vitamin schedule. When I got back, both of her eyes were swollen shut and she was extremely weak. She kept falling from her branches. I rushed her to the vet and they told me that she had a vitamin A deficiency with possibly a bacterial infection. They gave me oral antibiotics and eye drops to give her daily, vitamin A dosage to give her every 5-7 days, as well as Carnivore Care to syringe feed her. The swelling in one eye went down so she was able to see a little bit. She has been able to eat a little bit but I still give her Carnivore Care on her bad days. I have now finished all of the vitamin A doses and she has been on antibiotics for about a month. She had a follow-up appointment and they just told me to continue with the medication and maybe flush her eye with saline solution, so I do that every couple days. I posted a couple months ago when I first noticed the lump. I had some husbandry issues back then but they have been corrected. Here is the link to that post if you want to see it https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/lump-on-veileds-eye.168330/#post-1465762. Kiwi Is not getting any better. She is still weak and doesn't have much of an appetite. Her tail is also black which is concerning.. I read that is a sign of vitamin A deficiency. I will attach a picture if it when she is sleeping because that's when it's most visible. Some days her eyes are more swollen than others. The one improvement she has made is she has started shedding after a very long time of not being able to. She is so weak.. It breaks my heart seeing her so miserable all of the time and I hate ripping her out of her cage every day and stressing her out. I just don't know her quality of life at this point. I love her so much and I don't want her to suffer any more.. If there is nothing else you guys can recommend, I might consider euthanizing her... as much as it breaks my heart.
Cage Info:
◦Cage Type - Completely screen with a drainage system in the bottom. Dimensions are 48"H x 24"W x 24"D. I will attach a picture of her enclosure.
◦Lighting - Her UVB bulb is a "Zoo Med Repti Sun 10.0 UVB" and her heat bulb is a 75-watt "Zoo Med Repti Basking Reptile Spot Lamp"
◦Temperature - Her basking spot is around 85 degrees and her cage floor is around 68 degrees. Her lowest temp overnight is probably around 67 degrees. I measure her temps with a temperature gun.
◦Humidity - it stays around 60-65% with occasional highs of 75%
◦Plants - I have one Schefflera plant at the bottom of her cage.
◦Placement - It is by a window in the dining area next to the living room.
◦Location - United States, Wisconsin
