Urgent please

K

Klripp

New Member
came home to our VC (under age 1) looking wrinkled and weak,,thought maybe she was gonna shed at first, I looked closer and longer and she appears ill,,very weak,,cannot pull herself up on a branch even,,I began misting her and she very weakly started attempting to lick..So I thought she is dehydrated, took her in for her first shower, about 8 min and returned her to cage..attempting to give drinks with dropper but she is not opening her mouth..

The odd thing is she appears like she had a stroke,,her back end is flacid, just hanging there,,not using her back legs or tail...
I propped them up now to support her...

Please EXPERTS help us save our beloved Rexy..
 
Has she had a recent weight gain or change in appetite? A scary thing can be that egg-bound females sometimes lose function of their back end. Does she have a laying bin in her cage, and what kind of supplements is she on? I am sorry to hear that your girl is not doing well. What might help is if we get a little more info:

-Describe her enclosure (Screen? Glass? Dimensions?)
-Describe her watering schedule (How often/long do you spray?)
-Describe her supplement schedule (What kind of supplements, and when?)
-Describe her feeding schedule (How many bugs/day, what kind of bugs?)
-Describe her lighting (What kind of bulbs? What temps under the bulbs?)
-Describe what is in her enclosure (Real plants? Fake plants? Bedding/substrate?)
-Describe her general care (How long has she been in your care? How often handled?)
-Describe where her cage is located (In a busy room? Near a vent? In a quiet room? In front of a window?)

Hope this helps, please try to describe these things as best you can, and we will try to help you as best we can! :)
 
Cami, Thank you for your kindness.
Rexy has a screen enclosure, Repti Breeze Large to be exact.
I spray her and her enclosure for 1 min 3 x/day
She eats crickets, about 6-8 day. She occas has wax worms. She will not eat anything else. I dust once a week with calcium with D3
She has her light repti sun 5.0 and since it is summer I take her entire enclosure out on the deck about 3 -4 times a week watching temps and leaving half cage in shade.
Her plants are fake and she has branches and a big log.
I want to put real plants in but with the garden centers always spraying everything I am not sure how to get it clean and safe.

She is located in our bay window in the kitchen as she loves to look out esp at the bugs at night and we all like looking at her as often as we can.
She is handled about 3 times a week.
We have had her only about 4-5 months.

I notice she is getting a tiny bit better but still very weak, she is shedding as I suspected also.
There is no laying bin in her cage,,does she need this?

I am doing frequent misting with very warm water and trying to dropper feed every 5 min,,it runs down her mouth but she wont open it,,I wish I could get her to open it..

Please tell us what to do for our beloved Rexy
 
is there any dark marks on the rear area (around the back and legs) could have been a bad fall..either way..most of us give d3 once a month, and calcium without d3 every feeding..i really hope its not MBD..i would schedule a vet visit asap..
 
Thank you so much for your advice sdheli420.
Your advice is noted and will be followed. I do not see any dark mark.
There is no vet open at this hour or I would take her,,What can I do to hydrate her until morning..
 
At this point, I would schedule a vet visit before anything else. There are a few things to change with her current care, but if she is weak and not using her back-half, then a vet is absolutely necessary (in my opinion).

Her D3 should be given every two weeks. Too much D3 can cause numerous problems, though I do not know of it causing paralysis in the hind end. Vitamins withOUT D3 should be supplemented every feeding, and a multivitamin should be given once monthly. Also, she should have a basking area of around 82ish degrees. Being in the bay window is fine so long as it does not get too hot in there. Sometimes being in windows can make chameleons way too hot, and this can result in heat-stroke, dehydration, etc. The bay window also does not supply UV lighting (if this is the reason she is in the window, it might not be). Windows block UV rays from coming in, just a fun fact :) Also, I always put a laying bin in with my females after about 6 months of age. Females reach sexual maturity around 5-6 months. Although they reach sexual maturity at this age, I believe that they should not be bred at this age. Even without the presence of a male, females can and most often will lay infertile eggs. A lay bin should always be an option for a sexually mature female. I use a 5 gallon bucket with clean, new play-sand in it, and fill it about 14 inches with sand. The sand should be moist enough to dig a tunnel, but not wet or dry enough for it to cave in.

Start calling vets, usually vets who do not specialize in exotics know at least 3 vets who do! :)
 
Thank you Cami,,,
She is only in the window for our viewing pleasure. Her home is usually 80 degrees.
Def never gets to hot.

My big concern is HOW to get her through the night for the vet tomm.
I am almost positive she this is dehydration issue,,she is using her back legs some now but she is very very weak...

Do I keep misting frequently,,Cant get her to drink from dropper even dripping on her nose..She also feels cold...

Please help us get her through the night...There is no vets at this hour to get her to..
 
Hi, I'm sorry Roxy is in a bad way. I would keep dripping water directly on her nose. You might try warming the water up. I would make it a comfortable bath texture. Keep dripping it, don't do a drop then wait...drop, drop, drop....often when they get wet enough they'll open their mouths, letting water in.
 
I cannot Thank You all enough,, Please pray for Rexy,,I cannot believe how distraught I am..I will stay up all night if I have to dripping water,,I did get a half dropper in when she opened her mouth, she is responding slowly to hydration..
Once again,,You are all my heroes..Thank you for giving my family your time..
 
I will keep Rexy and your family in my prayers. These little animals are so very special and have a way of getting right into our hearts.
 
Thank you Jannb,,one person did ask about dark spots,,she has a few freckle like dark spots on her back thighs?? I just assumed it was markings?? Is this a bad sign??
 
Best leave her alone for the night. she can only rehydrate so much at once and going dormant tonight should help slow down her metabolism and water needs. also for those reasons i advise against keeping her anywhere near 80. this assuming that you have correctly diagnosed heat or dehydration as the problem.
 
Thank you for your advice Seeco,,I will let her rest as I have gotten a few times to get in half droppers full of water.
Thank you for taking your time to give me your advice,,it means alot.
Praying we make it to the vet in the morning..
 
Hi there, I'm so sorry you're having troubles :(

I would like to ask, has she been pooping ok? I've read cases on here about chameleons with limp back legs and it turned out they were impacted. Do you have any substrate in your enclosure?

And is it possible that she has eggs? Females will produce eggs even if they have not been mated. A laying bin should be available to her at all times because the signs can be easilly missed! I'm going to give you a link to jannb's blog about egg laying and laying bins :) https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

I hope you guys get on ok! Please give us an update when you can :)
 
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