Broken ribs?

[OrangeJuice]

So I saw this post on Facebook and most of the comments are saying broken ribs. What do y'all think? When I bought Yoyo he had a few that looked like it, but he's always even on both sides, so I'm not too worried. But this lady's Cham looks messed up

 

[OrangeJuice]

Here's the pic

 

[Graves923]

Looks to be broken but healed ribs. That cham must have fallen hard on its left side.

 

[jajeanpierre]

@OrangeJuice @Graves923 It does look like broken ribs. However, chameleon ribs are just not very easy to break. They are incredibly flexible. A fall is not going to do anything to a rib. You can injure the lungs in a fall, but not healthy ribs.

With that said, if the animal had severe MBD, they might break. Or maybe is you stepped on one. I can't imagine squeezing a small baby chameleon like that veiled between your fingers and causing bone fractures unless the bones were fragile to begin with.

 

[OrangeJuice]

The lady who got the Cham got it from petsmart. They buy from some awful breeders so I wouldn't put it past them. Is it something she should go to the vet for? Or does it not even matter anymore since they healed

 

[jajeanpierre]

The lady who got the Cham got it from petsmart. They buy from some awful breeders so I wouldn't put it past them. Is it something she should go to the vet for? Or does it not even matter anymore since they healed

I just read my post and, boy, it did not make a lot of sense. I hope you understood what I was trying to say. Sometimes babies escape out of an enclosure without anyone seeing it happen and they can end up on the floor and stepped on. I actually stepped on one of my babies but didn't have any shoes and reacted instantly so baby was just fine.

If it were mine, I wouldn't take it to the vet. There isn't a lot the vet can do for broken ribs. I would treat it as if it had MBD and increase natural sunlight, calcium and pay particular attention to nutrition. I've dealt with lots of broken and mangled wild caughts that healed up just fine on their own.

However, a novice might really need the guidance of a good vet especially since it is a commercially produced veiled. Doubly so if it is a female. Veileds wholesale for about $8 apiece and there is no way you can possibly properly nourish the mother and the babies for that price. These PetSmart chameleons have a lot of problems.