Chameleon seems weak, possible bowel impaction--please help!

[alfred]

Hi, everyone,

I joined this forum about 12 hours before this problem began, so I'm sorry that my first post is going to be on a rather sad topic. I'm going to try and give you all the information you'll need.

At home in Chapel Hill, NC, I keep my 5-6 month old veiled (male, I think, because of the tarsal spurs), Alfred, in a 4'x1.5'x1.5' screened cage with a misting system and plenty of vines and fake plants. I've never had problems with his health in this environment. He is misted hourly for 20 seconds and has constant access to a dripper for water. His basking area is within 90-100F and his cooler area is around 70-75F. His nighttime temperature is between 65-70F. He gets 12 hours of basking time with a heat bulb and a UVB bulb (a compact fluorescent light at the moment) and 12 hours of nighttime.

I came home to visit my family for two weeks in Charlotte, NC. I packed up Alfred in a shoebox with some fabric bedding, a warm water bottle to help regulate temperature, and a fake plant. He dozed the entire way, and I misted him twice on the two-hour journey.

Here in Charlotte, he lives in his old "baby" cage: an 18"x12"x12" Exoterra glass-walled, screen-topped terrarium with the chimney-style convection (hot air escapes through the top and more is sucked in beneath the doors). His misting system is set up in there to mist for 8 seconds every hour (the cage was flooding). His heat lamp is set up with his UVB bulb and he still gets a 12-12 ratio.

Yesterday around 4pm, I fed Alfred 6 small crickets and left him to it. Two hours later, I walked upstairs to find Alfred on the floor of his cage, dark grey, on his side and back, hardly moving, mouth open. My heart stopped. I pulled him from his cage and found that he seemed to have no control over his hind legs or his tail. They weren't moving at all, his tail wouldn't curl around my finger, and his feet wouldn't grab me. After a minute or so of handling him, he seemed to "come to" and began dragging himself about with his front limbs.

I called an exotic vet and she said that without looking at him (consultation for $200) she couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a spinal injury. I can't afford the treatment for that, so I decided to think on it a bit and let Alfred rest in his cage. I had a concert to go to, anyway, so I left for two hours.

I came home around 9:30 to find him dangling from one of his upper vines (smaller cage) from his two front legs. I took him out and found that he seems to have regained *some* mobility in his hind legs and tail (although not all of it). I suppose that rules out spinal injury (is this correct?).

I began to suspect an impacted colon. I haven't seen any feces since I got him to Charlotte on Sunday. I did some research and gave him a 15-20 minute "bath" (as much as possible) in a 50% Pedialyte 50% water mixture. I gave him two drops of mineral oil and then set him in his cage. I supervised him until about 11:30pm, when I turned out the light and made sure he fell asleep on a towel.

Around 11:30am today, I woke Alfred by turning on his light. A few hours ago I gave him another Pedialyte bath and another drop of mineral oil. He's moving slowly and as though he is very weak. I still haven't seen any defecation.

I'm misting him more often and ensuring he stays hydrated. I have set up a broad canopy of vines, towels, and plants at the top of the cage so he can't fall, as he seems to have some difficulty staying upright.

I have calcium supplements in Chapel Hill, but I haven't been treating the crickets with them because some websites said that too much calcium can be worse than none at all. I suppose I should change that, but I think I'll need some feedback on how to do so.

At any rate, this doesn't look like MBD, as his casque isn't crooked, his bones aren't bowed out, etc. This was a VERY sudden-onset problem, from what I can tell.

At the time of posting, I still haven't seen a bowel movement since Sunday morning, and I'm not sure when his last one was, as I'm not sure whether he had one Sunday or not (it's now Wednesday evening).

What are your suggestions? Diagnoses? Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[alfred]

A few other relevant tidbits:

--His eyes seem normal, healthy.
--When I turn on the misting system, he moves toward the spout--although whether this is to turn it off or to get closer, I can't know!
--I haven't seen him drink anything, and I haven't tried feeding him, since the problem started yesterday.
--He ate four or five of the crickets I fed him yesterday.
--He occasionally opens his mouth and then closes it again, particularly during misting.

 

[Carlton]

Based on what you describe he may not necessarily be impacted, but injured. There are some hints that suggest impactions including obvious dehydration, feeding too many hard shelled insects such as mealworms, hard orange or brown urates showing up over time (before the impaction), partial intestinal or hemipeni prolapses. So far I don't see these. Something sudden like this (on the floor, grey colored, not moving, gaping) could have been caused by some sort of intestinal trauma (maybe a jammed feeder leg, perforation, or something) or spinal trauma. Still in such a small cage it's hard to imagine he could injure himself that badly. If he has a severe spinal trauma I would think not only would he not have control of his tail, hind legs, etc. but that his coloration might also change in the same area. Not a vet, don't know really.

A vet exam could give you access to xrays or ultrasound that might show an injury or a blocked bowel at least. Without being able to look inside we may not be able to guess much more.