Chameleophlaged
Avid Member
I was at my local pet store yesterday picking up some emergency feeder horned worms and crickets for my chameleons, there was a very sickly looking juvenile male Jackson there. I asked if it was an Jacksonii female because of the curvature of the nasal horn, he said no its just a regular Jackson. Its mouth was crusted shut, eyes closed and deeply sunken, he said he didn't like them because they kept dying on him.
Today when I went to pick up my weekly order of assorted feeders I asked what he wanted for the poor guy because I LOVE these animals and I figured I could save him. Real sunlight and lots of water were in order. He told me that since I was one of his best customers I could have him.
I took him home, misted him with warm water, cleaned the crusties off his face, put him in an extra large screen cage on one of the basking branches near the top and put 5 dusted 1/4 in. crickets, 5 dusted 3/8 in. dubia and 2 one inch hornworms in a feeding dish near him. He looked in and seemed to be trying to tongue them, but couldn't. As he tried to open his mouth I saw that it was bright yellow inside. I took him out, gently opened his mouth and saw that it looked infected. I used a spray bottle with distilled water and sprayed a little in his mouth, loosening up some of the yellow. I put him back in the cage and he started walking downhill on a branch, his head was facing downward and water and bunch of yellow dripped out.
I watched him carefully for the next 5 or 6 hours, he was pretty active, moving all around the cage and he was opening and closing him mouth with ease, but I didn't see him shoot his tongue or eat anything. I wanted to check inside the mouth before he went to sleep so I took him out and examined the mouth, looks clean and I see no obvious tongue damage, so I feel pretty good about him lasting through the night and surviving to lead a happy life.
While doing that exam, I noticed a double horn above the right eye. I have read (can't remember where) that this is not common, but also not unheard of in female Merumontanus (a sub-species I have been trying to acquire for quite a while). Does anyone know anything about this?
Here is a picture;
![WP_20170801_001[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='1440' height='810' viewBox%3D'0 0 1440 810'%2F%3E "WP_20170801_001[1].jpg")
Today when I went to pick up my weekly order of assorted feeders I asked what he wanted for the poor guy because I LOVE these animals and I figured I could save him. Real sunlight and lots of water were in order. He told me that since I was one of his best customers I could have him.
I took him home, misted him with warm water, cleaned the crusties off his face, put him in an extra large screen cage on one of the basking branches near the top and put 5 dusted 1/4 in. crickets, 5 dusted 3/8 in. dubia and 2 one inch hornworms in a feeding dish near him. He looked in and seemed to be trying to tongue them, but couldn't. As he tried to open his mouth I saw that it was bright yellow inside. I took him out, gently opened his mouth and saw that it looked infected. I used a spray bottle with distilled water and sprayed a little in his mouth, loosening up some of the yellow. I put him back in the cage and he started walking downhill on a branch, his head was facing downward and water and bunch of yellow dripped out.
I watched him carefully for the next 5 or 6 hours, he was pretty active, moving all around the cage and he was opening and closing him mouth with ease, but I didn't see him shoot his tongue or eat anything. I wanted to check inside the mouth before he went to sleep so I took him out and examined the mouth, looks clean and I see no obvious tongue damage, so I feel pretty good about him lasting through the night and surviving to lead a happy life.
While doing that exam, I noticed a double horn above the right eye. I have read (can't remember where) that this is not common, but also not unheard of in female Merumontanus (a sub-species I have been trying to acquire for quite a while). Does anyone know anything about this?
Here is a picture;
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