Here's the situation:

In a nut shell- I performed home surgery on the infected sinus of a Temporalis today. Sorry- no photos- I was home alone and only have so many hands. I have described the procedure below. My question is- concerning feeding. If he survives the surgery (he walked away from it, miraculously enough, and I just checked on him and he is still upright) how do I feed him without the food getting up into his sinus area? I would like to rig a feeding tube, perhaps using some kind of tube connected to a syringe. Have any of you done this?

The details:
We have a tiny temporalis, adult pygmy chameleon. He had a swollen area above the right side of his jaw, and a tiny "bubbled" looking area at his lip line. We had noticed this a few weeks ago, but my husband would not take a $25 chameleon to the vet. Please don't be critical of his decision. We take our other chameleons to the vet, even the WC guys, and we don't wait until they're at death's door. It's usually at the first sign of trouble, even if we're only imagining trouble. But this time my husband drew the line, and I supported his decision.

Anyway, that said, we had been treating him by dribbling a natural antibiotic into him. All this time he has been eating, pooping, walking all over, etc. But I knew in the back of my mind that the guy probably had a serious infection, and only opening it up and cleaning it out would help. Well, today I noticed the swollen area was now adjacent to his eye, and he was sitting around on the floor of his tank with his face pointed to the ground. So, I took him out and gently opened his mouth with a paper clip "speculum" to take a look. We have a set of head strap magnifiers that I wear to look at the tiny stuff. It allows my hands to stay free to work, and enables me to clearly see all the tissue layers. What I saw was horrible. From the roof of his mouth was coming yellow and black stuff. I could see I would need to clean this out right away, as I was afraid we were losing him. So I cleaned up some "instruments", paper clip, scissors, a tiny pin, tweezers, and sterilized using a match. I wedged open his mouth with the paper clip and used the end of the pin (not the sharp end put the "flat" end) to push the tissue away and scoop out the gunk. I used tiny manicure scissors to snip away black tissue. The gunk just kept coming. Several times when I thought I had it all, more came out. At the end I gently pressed on his face in a few areas to ease out the rest of it and clean it all out. I regret that I did not wash out the wound (didn't think of that til later). But I did smear thermazene (silvadene) up in there. He is now in his pygmy enclosure with a cover over it, resting. I just looked again, and his color is completely normal and he is upright. I didn't look closely enough to see if his eyes are open or closed.

I wish I had done this when we first noticed the problem, but I didn't realize it could be done. This situation today just sort of unfolded before my eyes, and one thing led to another. I felt that I had no choice but to do this today.

During the surgery at first he struggled. Then, as I cleaned him out, he lay still with his mouth open. He struggled again as I applied the silvadene. But when it was all over he was still very strong, and when I put him in his enclosure he walked away. What a trooper.

I am planning to wait until tomorrow morning before disturbing him again. Then, what should I do? Do I really have to go back in there and clean it again? I don't want to torture the poor guy to death. Literally.

And, then, what about feeding him? Do I need to create a way for the food to by-pass that area? The open wound in the roof of his mouth takes up the right side, and extends up into his sinus cavity. There are a few flaps of still-pink tissue overlapping the area. Is such an area usually sewn up after surgery?

I wish there were a way to manage his pain. I know I would not have just walked away from a procedure like that. Not without some morphine or something.

Also, I do want to add, that I don't recommend anyone ever try this at home. Honestly. The chances of this guy surviving til morning are probably very minimal indeed.

Thank you in advance for your help. Sandy

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http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com 360-893-6207

Sorry to hear about your little guy. I hope he gets better. I dont know if this would ease his pain or not but I have heard of using velarian root tea to "calm them down" before being packaged up and mailed out. Dont know if this is truly safe or if it will help but I thought I would try. The company I got 2 of mine off of said they do this. They are into the holistic thing.

I sent a pm.
Good luck!

Thank you, Guys, for your help. I'll let you know how it goes.

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http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com 360-893-6207

Wow, surgery on a pygmy... that must have been pretty intense, are you a qualified vet? Either way congrats on the work you've done, and i hope he will pull through.

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1.1 BB Ambilobes / 1.0 BB Ambanja / 0.0.1 Melleri / 1.1 Hypo Red Beardies

No, I'm a housewife with a strong stomach.

Thank you, sincerely, for the support. We hope he pulls through, too. He's still with us so far.

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http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com 360-893-6207

i will pray for u and the temporalis

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Not to unlearn what you have learned is the most necessary kind of learning. -Antisthenes

Wow, brave you! I will be rooting for the little guy, hope all goes well!

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Wendy (1 veiled cham, 3 red eye tree frogs, 1 ball python, 1 gecko, 3 parrots, 3 cats)

Sandy, I hope everything goes well. I wish I could offer you some advice! You are a brave woman!

Thank you for all you support, and for the PMs, and prayers. As of a moment ago I peeked in and he's still with us. But, I've GOT to stop looking in on him. No doubt it frightens him if he sees me.

Here is a photo of him from May. He got "fired up" at one of the Brevs (he lives separately from them). But it is unusual to see them fired up, he is such a little fighter.



AND HERE HE IS LOOKING VERY HANDSOME, MUGGING FOR THE CAMERA.



AND ONE OF HIM TRYING TO MAKE IT WITH A BREV BEFORE I SEPARATED THEM ALL. Definitely a strong-willed little guy!

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http://www.chameleonsnorthwest.com 360-893-6207