MzLaurie
Avid Member
This is a long one but the info I am sharing needs to be heard. My veiled Hunter has a hemipene protrusion that I posted about. After cutting off the blood flow with a rubber band he has continued to go downhill so I contacted the vet and wouldn’t you know it, he is on a three week vacation. The other vet does not handle reptiles. So I asked for my vets email and they said just send it here and we will forward it to him. They didn’t then at 9:30pm they contacted my son because I was asleep and got me on the phone saying the owner is going to come in tomorrow just to see Hunter. So I was there at 11am and met an amazing older vet who told me things that I want to share with everyone. He said he pulled hunters entire record and thinks there is something systemic going on. Told me his first chameleons were in the 1968. He got a male and female Jackson. At that time, there was no information about chameleons available to the public and only minimal to vets. There were also no things to buy to care for them. He said he killed his male he thinks by feeding him only crickets. He didn’t know that a one Item diet could be so destructive thankfully he had mated him with the female, and she gave birth to two live Jackson’s. So every day he took a hike to an area that wasn’t inhabited by humans so everything would be pesticide free and gathered up a big trash bag full of leaves grass everything he could find. Then let the babies crawl through everything they ate little spiders whatever was in there and it was keeping them alive and they actually grew up. He then asked me about calcium. He said that with reptiles it’s MBD but when pets became an industry the way they made pet food basically killed off any calcium and nutrition so they just threw tons of calcium at all animals not just reptiles that became a big problem. He saw dogs with swayed backs, etc. he said that they’ve straightened it out for our furry friends, but not for not for reptiles. I told him that it was daily as he was growing up by lightly dusting the crickets and then when he was about eight months old started feeding him every other day, but that I always have added different things to the diet instead of just crickets. He told me to stop all calcium intake and I said I had just switched to liquid to make sure that he got calcium because he’s not eating except for carnivore diet and I switched back-and-forth between that and hornworms. He said that’s actually really good but do not give any calcium Because calcium can cause major problems and that I should do some research on it. He said the feeders have enough calcium that you could cut it down to twice a month if at all. He said hornworms and silkworms are the best and crickets, Dubias, and super worms are sufficient. When they are young 12 crickets and BSFL will give them the calcium they need. Now this is against everything I have learned. But reading about the harm from too much calcium in reptiles I see what he means. Gout, kidney failure etc. I told him that I had put bubble wrap on the bottom of his cage to break his fall but he has gotten so weak that I set up a uvb light by my bed and he rests on a pillow by me but I was actually setting up a hospital cage. He said the stress from moving him to a hospital cage will do more harm than the fall. He said to keep his cage but put in netting to catch him. He then asked me about water. I told him that I have a drip system and hand mist two to three times a day. Since he is sick I give him water with a syringe by dripping it over his mouth to trigger the drink response. Then he told me something I have never heard before. He said many times they walk over wet leaves and if water has pooled in the leaf they will sit in it and absorb it thru their vent! He said there is one major thing I am going to add and that is probiotics. I asked how do I give it to him, with water? He said no. If he doesn’t like the taste it could cause him to avoid water. He said take a pinch like if you were going to add a pinch of salt to your food and mix it with a little carnivore diet then mix it so it’s liquidy and give it to him that way. He said to keep up with going back and forth with feedings between carnivore and hornworms. Continue with antibiotics and pain meds, no calcium, continue with the beta caratene, give probiotics daily if he makes it thru this then you need to continue the probiotics to ensure the good bacteria is in his system and will hopefully repair what all the antibiotics have done. He also told me to always remove the molt from the bottom of feet, toes and nails. He has seen so many chameleons, geckos, bearded dragons, etc lose fingers from the circulation cut off from partial sheds on the bottom of the feet.
I know a lot of this goes against what we were taught and what we tell others. But I think this vet truly loves animals and what he says, I believe. I did read about over doing diet with calcium. I suggest you all do too. The Fauna/Flora is the probiotic and it’s for all animals. Going to figure out how to give it to my cat! Can’t hurt.
I know a lot of this goes against what we were taught and what we tell others. But I think this vet truly loves animals and what he says, I believe. I did read about over doing diet with calcium. I suggest you all do too. The Fauna/Flora is the probiotic and it’s for all animals. Going to figure out how to give it to my cat! Can’t hurt.
