Can anyone help?

rummbo

New Member
Ambilobe Panther, Male, 4.10.2013 DOB, under my care for just under a month.
Handling - daily, moving to the outdoor enclosure.
Feeding - He is on Fruit flies and pin heads. My guess is about dozen of flies and about 3 pinhead to small size crickets. I gut load the crickets with carrots, lettuce, apples, oranges. Dust Calcium on all crickets daily and multivit once a week.
Watering - I mist 4 times a day and I have a dripper running for about 3 hours a day
Fecal Description - 85% dark dark brown with the rest in white and rust color. He has not been tested for parasites.

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - since he is so tiny, I put him in a 14"x12"x14" plastic container.
• Lighting - Zilla Slimline 50 UVB T8 Fluorescent Bulb. Basking light is a 60W regular light bulb.
• Temperature - 85-90 degree basking spot. Lowest overnight temp 65 degree. Both thermometer and hygrometer are the old fashion gauge kind.
• Humidity - 50-80%
• Plants - none in his temporary cage but his outdoor enclosure has a ficus and a pothos.
• Placement - Its on top of a waist-high bookshelf. Not near a window or fan. Cage is in the middle between floor and ceiling.
• Location - Northern cali bay area.

Current Problem - earlier this week, I noticed yellowish gunk in his left eye. After consulting with my breeder and look through the forum on treatments. I did saline rinse and shower in the tub to flush out. After couple of days, his condition improved. Until yesterday, during his morning shower, he fell and hasn't been the same ever since. He didn't have any movement after his fall, just laid there. Even after I picked him up in my palm, still no movement(pic below). I then put him on a warm surface and few minutes later he began to move but extremely slowly. The vet suspected that it might have had a concussion. He is kind of off balance and can fall easily. Lethargic and very dark in color. Since it happened in the morning, he didn't eat anything the entire day and looked very weak. I took him to the vet this morning and the vet said to keep the temp humidity level up. She prescribed Gentacimin Sulfate Ophthalmic eye drop. Told me to monitor his food intake and asked to syringe feed meat product baby food if he doesn't eat on his own. I cleaned his temporary enclosure and put in 2 screened windows for improved ventilation. He has been hanging upside down like a bat and barely moving.
 

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Wow, that little dude looks dead. Nothing really to advise on here. Follow the vets instructions. Try some natural sunlight, it can't hurt. Say a prayer for the little dude.
 
Oh I am so sorry about your little one. I don't think he is gonna make it. He must have got injured from the fall.
 
He is in a 14"x12"x14" plastic tote.
1. With a dripper going. How are you getting rid of the waste water? Was water pooling in the bottom? Stagnant high humidity can cause sinus, eye, respiratory infections.
2. How are you providing a temp gradient? With a basking spot of 90* the rest of the tote is going to be hot. They have to have a place where they can retreat to cool off.
 
in his plastic tote, he only gets mist and dried out between misting. the dripper is set up in his outdoor enclosure.
I think the fall did it.
I aimed the shower at the wall and he gets his shower that way. What I learned from this is that shower for such young cham is not a good idea because it can get splashed off the plant.
 
Shower method is definitely not intended for babies :/ It can be done but with a few different steps.

Watering babies:
With babies it is best to give them a lot of foliage to collect water when you mist. I dont particularly aim to mist the babies, even though they will get misted. My intent is to thoroughly spray all of the leaves and areas to have enough drops of water for them to drink from.
 
So Sad :(

Honestly I'm not sure why the breeder would even sell babies that small. Almost all of the reputable breeders I found, don't sell them younger than 3 months. I'm so sorry for your situation. I'll pray for your little guy :(
 
Honestly I'm not sure why the breeder would even sell babies that small. Almost all of the reputable breeders I found, don't sell them younger than 3 months. I'm so sorry for your situation. I'll pray for your little guy :(

I have bought chams just a week or two old. It really is not such a rare thing. I think its okay.
 
Here is a progress report on Morgan.

Well, he is still alive but still quite lethargic, his color is changing more often but mainly solid dark to very pale almost white. Still hanging upside down most of the time. I haven't seen him hunt for food yet. So I have been syringe feeding him since Saturday and eye drop twice a day for his eye infection. Saw he took the biggest dump just now. The poo looked healthy. However the amount of white part seemed to have doubled compared to his normal. Not sure if its because he hadnt gone in the past 2 days. I hope this is a good sign.

Hope to have good news to share soon.
 

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Wow, I am amazed from your post pic that your chameleon is still alive. I never thought he was going to make it. He sure looks a lot better than the first picture you posted. I hope he continues to improve for you.
 
:( how heartbreaking :( don't give up on the little one !! that is very young to get one - but he is there now, so I am sure you are doing all you can for him. will pray for you and your little guy , he does look much better in this last pic :)
 
Still not eating on his own yet but saw him drinking lots of water. His movements have improved a bit. Dont see him hanging upside down as often.
Here is a quick snap while he got some natural sunlight this morning.
His color is showing a bit. Thats a good sign.
 

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GOOD NEWS! I saw him hunt and ate a fruit fly.
I didnt syringe feed him this morning in hoping he would be hungry enough to hunt on his own and he DID! Well at least one when I was watching. I have been praying for him to eat on his own. I am 70% relieved, 100% if he takes down a cricket.

Hope to have more good news to share.
 
Morgan is BACK!

He been eating well, not as much as I'd like him to. But nonetheless he is hunting and slowly regaining his balance. Eyes are looking healthy after a week of eye drops. Yesterday was the first time I saw his color return back to normal before the accident. This photo was taken this morning.
 

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Here is a progress report on Morgan.

Well, he is still alive but still quite lethargic, his color is changing more often but mainly solid dark to very pale almost white. Still hanging upside down most of the time. I haven't seen him hunt for food yet. So I have been syringe feeding him since Saturday and eye drop twice a day for his eye infection. Saw he took the biggest dump just now. The poo looked healthy. However the amount of white part seemed to have doubled compared to his normal. Not sure if its because he hadnt gone in the past 2 days. I hope this is a good sign.

Hope to have good news to share soon.
I'm so sorry! Its heart wrenching when something is wrong! Good pooping is a great sign, keep up the care, I hope he gets better!
 
Ahh man thats so awesome, poor guy looked pretty bad i thought he was dead in that one picture. You did good by sticking with it and doing your best for the guy. Im happy to see that some ones best enough as these guys can be very fragile, especially at that age. I have a question for you said that his basking is 85-90? I could be completely wrong and hope someone more experienced will chime in and correct me, but with him being so young should his basking be a little lower? I don't know but for some reason that is sticking out at me. Well either way happy he is back and he looks great puffing up his throat and getting his big boy on lol!
 
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