Another sick one

[AnimalLover]

I have a male veiled cam that is about 6 months old. He lives in a large mesh cage with a pothos plant on the inside and a money tree on the outside. About two days ago I noticed that he was not really interested in his dusted crickets. Since then he has been very slow dragging his body across the ground and his limbs seem to not know where it's grabbing. He is grabbing his face and body and looks very weak. His back left leg looks like it is all twisted and is in the air while he walks with his other three legs. He drank and ate a cricket today but I am still very worried about him. Can anyone help me? Also another question.. how much are vet visits for cameleons?

The attached picture is him grabbing onto his face and his body and getting stuck...

 

[slownlow32tl]

I am also a partial owner of this rept and was wondering if it might be MBD. Thanks for all the help guys we are new here but have delt with chams before. and know that this is not a good sign.

 

[Mr Green]

I am not really qualified to comment on his health. He does not look good though. A visit to the vet can vary in cost depending on where you live and the type of vet you go to. A general vet will be cheaper than an exotic animal vet. Taking your cham to a vet in my area would be from 125-200. Depends on where you go. Try calling around for a vet who knows about chameleons.

 

[Lady cham]

I don't know if it what is wrong with him (poor Baby!) but your pothos plant is toxic if it's eaten. check to see if he's eaten any of it, if you can see any bites or leaves missing. I'm having issues with my cham and my vet wanted to make sure I didn't have any toxic plants. Ficus, ivy, and pothos, are the first three she mentioned.

 

[ChamFreak]

Omg! This chameleon is suffering from dehydration and respitory issues! You must see vet or he will be dead with in few days to week! You must clean cage and give proper lighting and hydration. He has sunken eyes and he is so weak he can't stand. All the dead crickets in background dead give away from respitory issues! You have to keepp cage clean. The condition he is in right now is very poor and most likely cant be saved. I am sorry to bring this bad news, please read up about veileds and there needs before taking one on. Also try taking action sooner next time as well. Good luck

 

[Brad]

Hello AnimalLover,
Your cham looks to be in very poor health. He needs to visit an experienced reptile vet asap. The problem could be mbd. It could also be gout or some other problem. As Lady cham suggested, toxic plants could be the cause as well. Whatever it is, it looks very serious and I doubt he will survive without the help of an experienced vet. Stop adding supplements to his food until you talk to the vet. Try to add some pedialyte to his water. Give us the details of your setup.

Wanted to add that he definetely does look dehydrated like ChamFreak said, and probably has been for a while. Dehydration will eventually shut down organs and cause all kinds of terminal problems.

 

[ChamFreak]

MBD will have signs before the condition he is in now. His stomach is " wrinkling " and that is sign of dehydration. Sunken eyes, another sign. As well as no strenght to stand. Also the encaved chest typically sign of respitory, as well as no strenght. Does he gasp for air swaying back and forth? Does he make and noises at all, kinda like coughing sound?

 

[slownlow32tl]

thank you for the input guys. But we have had chameleons before and know how to keep them. We have him in a 4x2x2 ventilated cage but he is usually allowed to rome free aroud it and the plants around it. has a zoomed uv bulb and a basking lamp on all the time. he gets water and is still drinking (even in his current state). The crickets you saw there are alive they are just in the glass container we feed him with. his cage is clean of most feces (some very dried stuff one a few leaves but not much) and he is also near a window for vent and natural sun. So im not sure what is going on but we are going to take him in to a vet whithin the next few days.

oh and we will check on the plant thanks. i have seen him eat the money tree but never the pothos. and that picture was taken on top of his cage which is where we usually feed him.

 

[ChamFreak]

Money tree could be fatal....

 

[AnimalLover]

i just got home and looked at him, he doesnt look great. He has good color and looks physically fine but he is just laying there and it seems like his muscle want to move (twitching) but they just dont. We got some pedialyte and got him to drink some of it from the dropper so hopefully that helps. seemed very eger to drink it so i guess thats good. he cant even even move really now its really weird. he still is atracted (eyes wise) to stimulus but i havnt seen this behavior in any other cham before. we are going to take him to the vet tomorrow. hope it turns out ok

 

[DextersDad]

I just went through a similar thing with my male veiled. If you want, read, "Dexter's in trouble..."

Dexter had very similar symptoms, with one leg moving in a very bizarre way in relation to the others, sometimes as if he were trying to scratch himself. He had very weak and shaky movements, little or no appetite, nor desire to drink. I believe it was caused from a toxic plant he ate that was in the cage, (of course I didnt know it was toxic, if it was, until later) because one day he threw up while I was force hydrating him, and found some plant matter along with undigested crickets. I continued to force hydrate him with Pedialyte, which seemed to really help, attempting to dilute the toxin. I also took him outside for an hour or so every day to give him some sun. He has slowly improved, with a couple of setbacks. He still isnt eating like he used to, but he is eating and drinking, and pretty active.

This may or may not help, and I hope your chameleon recovers

 

[AnimalLover]

We got Moe into the vet today and they said that it was prolly MBD which is what i suspected. So they cave him a CA+ shot and gave us some suppliments to take home but he has been drinking pedialyte and ate a cricket right after we got him home and dranks some more so thats good. Hopefully we can get him to recover fully cuz he still seems to be strong. Thanks again guys for the advise it did help and will hopefully continue to help.

 

[Lady cham]

Did they do any blood work? That is how they test for MBD. It's expensive but how whould they know for sure how to treat him. do you trust you vet? Not trying to raise unnecessary concern.

 

[AnimalLover]

No they did not take any blood work. It has been a day since we brought Moe into the vet. He seems to be doing better. His arms look like they are gaining strength. He trys to crawl but only is able to move about an inch away. He seems to have a better sense of his limbs now. He is not latching onto his face or body anymore. He is still drinking water and today had 3 crickets. You guys have been so helpful. Thanks! I'll let you know how Moe progresses.