If it's any consolation, I don't think the wide swathes of dry shed are a big issue. When melleri are captured and thrown together into cages, climbing all over each other, they get these body scratches. The body just sheds them in its own time. Do NOT try to scrub it off, that could cause an infection.

Here are pix taken this morning of my CB gravid. Her scratches are from breeding contact, and as you can see, her body is slowly shedding the damaged skin. A certain amount of scruffing up is part of the melleri life cycle, and they have an effective way of healing. It just takes time. On occasion, I gently wipe the areas with the chlorhexidine solution and allow to airdry.





She's super-grouchy these days, covered in that pending shed (this is her minutes ago, she's still basking there):


The dorsal crest scrapes do best with a bit of Silvadene cream, after the chlorhex wipe-and-dry. You can also apply Silvadene to the scrapes on the orbital crest and lower edge, but do not get the chlorhex near the eyes.

Yes, yours lost its annulated horn, as did mine. The big belly may be holding a lot of feces, some hold it in when stressed by importation...

Good luck!

__________________
Kristina Francis
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the
body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
- Peter B. Medawar
Nobel Prize-winning immunologist

PS to Suzanne- see the short lobe on Akia? She lost all that, and the horn, when she had seizures last year, scraped it up on the perches and plants... naturally, it healed shorter.

Uh oh, she's ready for her shower...

__________________
Kristina Francis
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way the
body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."
- Peter B. Medawar
Nobel Prize-winning immunologist

hey guys... at work.. wouldn't mind some input...

Lenny hasn't pooped. and hasn't been eating much. This morning he drank when I was misting him for a couple of minutes. He hate one big horn worm and one other medium... then I gave him two more mediums... biggest I had. He doesn't seem to have much interest in the Dubia. Not sure if hes eating the crickets or if they are escaping. let me know what ya think... should I just feed him horn worms?

Hey Summoner!

congrats on your new melleri. looks like a really great WC. much better than others i have seen.

Most would not recommend a diet of only horn worms. They are fatty and don't really offer much roughage for their systems.

If he is impacted you could try using a drop or two of Mineral oil found and most supermarkets / drug stores and use it as a laxative before taking him to the vet.

I have used it successfully for my bearded dragon when he would not pass for about a week. haven't had a need to use it on one of my chams. But was recommended to me by an experienced breeder.

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

Lots of water for now. Read the back issue in, Chameleons! On-line e-Zine Chamaeleo (Triceros) melleri - Acclimating Nov. 2002 about acclimatizaton of giant one horns. Food takes a backseat to hydration, if this is indeed a newly imported animal. You want to lube up the insides, so when he does poop, it's a smooth easy function for Lenny.

__________________
Steve

Aight, More showers!

He drank well this morning for me... but I can't mist too long because I do not have a way to drain water yet. I will work on this problem. My idea right now is to creat a giant funel from a shower curtain. Have the center cut so it can go around the trunk of the Ficus. Then have all the water drain into the ficus and out the bottom, into a bucket. This way I can run a misting jet above his new home. I also plan to hang a sheet or (yes... I use them a lot) shower curtain from the ceiling to kinda creat some privacy.

Today when I was getting ready he would watch me... if I came closer to him he would gape a little. Then he would calm down after a minute. I tried to avoid him as much as possible. I do not want to stress him out right now.

Do you think it will be ok to shower him tonight about an hour before lights out? I need to figure out a way to get him out of the tree without stressing him.... grrrrr Stress!!

Edit: thanks for the reading Steve! just stressed me out even more lol!

Indeed, these are like a sugary sweet to a child

Im just getting through the acclimation stage myself. I have two melleri, one with quite a nasty case of dried skin, and the other with a likely worm infection.
I've been administering medicines/cream over the last week and they're both showing amazing recoveries.

I use a shower base at the bottom of my cage which funnels the waste into a caravan bucket type thing.
Last night I plumbed my mist king in and the cage is now complete

I thought that horn worms were good staple foods.... and that meal worms and wax worms were bad? Am I wrong?

Mublerry needs to get thier stuff together so I can get some silkies! He seems to really like the worms though...

This morning I hooked up a humidifier. It seemed to steam up the whole room last night after having it on for an hour. Is this kinda normal? Since im going to run the AC I figure it'll be ok... since AC removes moisture from the air.

Pretty much all 'worms' are relatively high in fat. Silkworms seem to be big exception.
Hornworms are better than mealworms or waxworms, but still too fatty to be a staple diet.

How are you offering the roaches? In a cup or by hand? I find that roaches in a feeding cup often don't move around enough to get a chameleon attention. Especially if they aren't used to cupfeeding yet.

__________________
1.2.1 Ch. (T.) melleri, 1.2 Ch. (T.) jacksonii xantholophus
My work: www.gibbonsrock.com

I offer the roaches in a cup. Lenny has eaten from it before. Steve was over last night and told me I had too many in the cup. He said to try just a couple and that is what I did today. I left three medium/large and offered him two horn worms. The cup is 8 or 9 inches wide and about 5 inches deep. The cup is clear and sits below his perching area, he seems to have figured the cup out because I have not seen him try to hit food from the side. I think steve is right about him being over welmed with too much food. We'll see how it goes today. Tonight I want to try and get his misting setup... hes relying on showers and hand misting.