Chameleon back from the dead pretty much!!

[Court11512]

In December I purchase a veiled chameleon from a pet store thinking I could most def. take care of it better than they could.
When January rolled around I had only had him for a few weeks when I started to notice some strange behavior from him.
he was hanging upside down from his branches for hours and sitting on the bottom of his cage and not eating much and eventually not being able to climb or walk in general at all.
After doing some serious in depth research in found that my poor guy had developed Metabolic Bone Disease. (Probably from the pet stores lack there of adequate care. I was doing everything by the book so to speak.)
Being a college student I didn't really have the funds to take him to the vet like I wanted to. So I took matters into my own hands.
I did more extensive research and figured out what I needed to do.
By this time Sprite I thought for sure was a goner because he was brown and sickly looking, couldn't move, couldn't eat and I was giving him water with supplements in it through a syringe along with what food I could get him to eat.
I made a platform in his cage so he would have to sit on ground the whole time.
After some time of pretty much overdosing on 3 different supplements I started to notice improvement and he started moving around a little more and eating on his own.
As of today 3/29/14 Sprite is a normal, happy, healthy, bright green chameleon that you would have never known just a month or so ago he was brown, unhealthy, sickly looking and unable to move.

I'm proud of myself for pretty much saving him and of him for pulling through and sticking with me.

I know this probly wasn't the most convention thing to do in that situation but it worked. I'll post some before and after pictures here shortly.

 

[Psychedelic Chams]

Gutliad your feeders and supplement him correctly and it shouldn't happen again

 

[ChamaeleonidaeHerper]

Congrats! It is always rewarding to help an animal in need. Some pet stores, especially commercialized ones, have nothing but sickly and close to dead animals. I recently bought a leopard gecko from a pet store that will remain nameless that was obviously wild caught and extremely sick (it was the worse one in the tank). I took him home and assessed him. After a look over I noticed he had an eye infection in both eyes, once removed you could see the true severity of its situation. Both infections were about the size of dimes. He kept his eyes closed, but would still move around the enclosure. He was extremely cold and kept moving away from the heat (since he couldn't see where the light was he kept ending up in a corner). I left for about an hour to get some small crickets for him, and when I returned he had passed. It was truly sad. The main reason I took the time on this leopard gecko was because it was a true dark leopard. Since there's only a few known in existence and the only other ones are speculated to be in the wild.

It's definitely worth while to help any animal in need, even if in the end it doesn't work out in their favor.

 

[Court11512]

I completely agree. Even if you cant save them its worth the try. That is why I am going school to be a veterinarian for reptiles and exotic animals. Sprite really gave me the drive to pursue it.