Chameleon still not eating & lethargic after treating respiratory infection??

[carljr]

Hello,

My chameleon got a respiratory infection this month.. I'm not sure from what, but I'm guessing it was when his lightbulb blew up I ran and got a replacement from the pet store, completely my fault I bought the wrong type of light (it was a mercury or something and wasn't compatible with my dimming thermostat) so it would shut off randomly during the day while I was at work without me knowing.. so for a few days the temperature was really low. We've replaced it now and I'm checking the temperatures all the time now to make sure the basking spot is always at 90F, but ever since then our chameleons been very sick.

We went to the exotic vet who said he thought it was a respiratory infection because our chameleon was putting his head high up in the air, and wasn't eating. So we had to give him treatment for 10 days with antibiotics (baytril, loxicom) and he gave us carnivore care to force feed him 2/3 times a day (which I thought was kind of weird since chameleons are insectivores?), and an f10 solution to use with a nebulizer 3 times a day. We just finished the treatment a few days ago and everything seemed fine, he even started eating again, and he was drinking a lot of water, but for some reason he seems to be sick again. I've made another appointment with the vet to check up on everything, but was wondering if any of you had the same experience so I can help him out until we see the vet. He's not sticking his head up in the air, but his grip doesn't seem strong anymore and he's "resting" and putting his head on the branch a lot. 30 minutes ago he just randomly fell off of his branch.. so he must be getting weaker. He isn't interested in eating anymore, I've only seen him eat one calcium fly and a few calcium worms the other day, but he won't touch his locusts. His eyes have seemed a bit sunken as well since we finished the treatment, but he's been drinking a LOT more water than usual, so I don't think he's dehydrated or anything. One thing that I'm worried it could be is possibly the beginning of MBD because we weren't dusting calcium over the carnivore care - because I read the ingredients and it said there was calcium in it.. and the vet didn't instruct us to do so. I should've asked the vet but I didn't think to at the time.

But yeah, if anyone could give us any advice that would be great. I'm super worried about him! I just want him to be better and eating again

 

[Mawtyplant]

Hello,

My chameleon got a respiratory infection this month.. I'm not sure from what, but I'm guessing it was when his lightbulb blew up I ran and got a replacement from the pet store, completely my fault I bought the wrong type of light (it was a mercury or something and wasn't compatible with my dimming thermostat) so it would shut off randomly during the day while I was at work without me knowing.. so for a few days the temperature was really low. We've replaced it now and I'm checking the temperatures all the time now to make sure the basking spot is always at 90F, but ever since then our chameleons been very sick.

We went to the exotic vet who said he thought it was a respiratory infection because our chameleon was putting his head high up in the air, and wasn't eating. So we had to give him treatment for 10 days with antibiotics (baytril, loxicom) and he gave us carnivore care to force feed him 2/3 times a day (which I thought was kind of weird since chameleons are insectivores?), and an f10 solution to use with a nebulizer 3 times a day. We just finished the treatment a few days ago and everything seemed fine, he even started eating again, and he was drinking a lot of water, but for some reason he seems to be sick again. I've made another appointment with the vet to check up on everything, but was wondering if any of you had the same experience so I can help him out until we see the vet. He's not sticking his head up in the air, but his grip doesn't seem strong anymore and he's "resting" and putting his head on the branch a lot. 30 minutes ago he just randomly fell off of his branch.. so he must be getting weaker. He isn't interested in eating anymore, I've only seen him eat one calcium fly and a few calcium worms the other day, but he won't touch his locusts. His eyes have seemed a bit sunken as well since we finished the treatment, but he's been drinking a LOT more water than usual, so I don't think he's dehydrated or anything. One thing that I'm worried it could be is possibly the beginning of MBD because we weren't dusting calcium over the carnivore care - because I read the ingredients and it said there was calcium in it.. and the vet didn't instruct us to do so. I should've asked the vet but I didn't think to at the time.

But yeah, if anyone could give us any advice that would be great. I'm super worried about him! I just want him to be better and eating again

Perso.. I think baytril is not a good antibiotic.. to much prescribed and lot of bacteria probably resist to it, also hard on the kidney etc. etc.

But, can you fill the how to ask for help form in the help section? (copy paste here) this will help us to help him.

No way he can develop MBD in such small time.. this condition caused by chronic problem over long period of time

When the treatment did finish? you might want to check on your vitamin schedule too,? anyway fill the form plz!

 

[carljr]

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah I'm not too sure about the exotic vet we saw, he didn't seem very experienced with chameleons (he said that we should keep our basking temperature at 100F! we told him that was too hot, so he looked it up on the internet and was like "oh yes, sorry 90 is the right temperature). We normally see another vet but she's always booked and during emergencies the other vet is the only one available.

We finished the treatment last Thursday, so it's almost been one week.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male panther chameleon - almost 8 months old. Had him for 4 months.
• Handling - Every 1-2 days for about 10-15 minutes, he loves to come out and explore
• Feeding - Feed mainly locusts, along with calcium worms + flies, and 3/4 wax worms a week as a treat. We feed the locusts watercress, kale, sweet potatos every 2 days and dust the gultload overtop the veggies once per week. Would feed more variety of bugs but not sure where to buy them - that's all that we have at the petstore
• Supplements - Use repashy superload gutload formula over veggies once per week, repashy calcium plus over all his bugs and then twice a month we use nutrical which has D3 over his bugs too (not going to lie, the D3 twice a month we haven't been doing the past month, but have started to do again)
• Watering - Spray him once in the morning and once in the evening with a water bottle, I try to mist for about 10 minutes per time. I also have a dripper that I put on for an hour in the mornings which he loves to drink from.
• Fecal Description - His droppings during the treatment were abnormal - they were a very light brown colour. but his poop now is back to a normal brown with white urates. after we finished treatment they were an orangey colour, but it's gone back to white.
• History - N/A

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - We use an exoterra screen glass tank since we live in England the dimensions are 61x46x90 cm, and have heat mats wrapped around the sides during winter to keep the heating in.
• Lighting - Keep the lights on from 8am-8pm, have a 150W basking light and a Arcadia T5 UVB 14% above the mesh (we were told that it cuts in half if it's over the mesh, so the breeder recommended to get this)
• Temperature - Use a temperature gun and thermometre. The basking area is around 90-95F with a 31 degree ambient temperature. The bottom of the tank is around 70-75 with an ambient temperature of 24 degrees. During the night it stays around 19-20 degrees - we use the heat mats to keep it warm since we had an issue with out house temperature dropping in the night.
• Humidity - Humidity levels are around 70-80 during the morning and evenings, and are 50 during the day.
• Plants - Yes, hibiscus plants.
• Placement - It is located on top of the exoterra cabinet, in the living room.
• Location - England

 

[Mawtyplant]

Yeah I'm not too sure about the exotic vet we saw, he didn't seem very experienced with chameleons (he said that we should keep our basking temperature at 100F! we told him that was too hot, so he looked it up on the internet and was like "oh yes, sorry 90 is the right temperature). We normally see another vet but she's always booked and during emergencies the other vet is the only one available.

We finished the treatment last Thursday, so it's almost been one week.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male panther chameleon - almost 8 months old. Had him for 4 months.
• Handling - Every 1-2 days for about 10-15 minutes, he loves to come out and explore
• Feeding - Feed mainly locusts, along with calcium worms + flies, and 3/4 wax worms a week as a treat. We feed the locusts watercress, kale, sweet potatos every 2 days and dust the gultload overtop the veggies once per week. Would feed more variety of bugs but not sure where to buy them - that's all that we have at the petstore

Thats good!

• Supplements - Use repashy superload gutload formula over veggies once per week, repashy calcium plus over all his bugs and then twice a month we use nutrical which has D3 over his bugs too (not going to lie, the D3 twice a month we haven't been doing the past month, but have started to do again)

Thats way to much D3, considering you got Arcadia 14% + there D3 in the super load + there D3 in the calcium + the D3 twice a month you run straight into a tragedy, So this might be a target because, if my memory good, fatty vitamins accumulate and compete together for absorption so this too much of D3 can quick turn to be a "not enough A and this is a reason to develop respiratory problems stop all the D3 for the next months

• Watering - Spray him once in the morning and once in the evening with a water bottle, I try to mist for about 10 minutes per time. I also have a dripper that I put on for an hour in the mornings which he loves to drink from.
• Fecal Description - His droppings during the treatment were abnormal - they were a very light brown colour. but his poop now is back to a normal brown with white urates. after we finished treatment they were an orangey colour, but it's gone back to white.ause Baytril is hard on kidney so he did suffer little during the treatment, important to keep them super hydrated and to cut on supplement during medication.. im a big fan of probiotic

This was bec

• History - N/A

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - We use an exoterra screen glass tank since we live in England the dimensions are 61x46x90 cm, and have heat mats wrapped around the sides during winter to keep the heating in.
• Lighting - Keep the lights on from 8am-8pm, have a 150W basking light and a Arcadia T5 UVB 14% above the mesh (we were told that it cuts in half if it's over the mesh, so the breeder recommended to get this)

14% is intense ive never try si I can say if good or bad

suggest you to change your 150w for a 100w (even 75 will be good ) don't bother cook th entire upper part, if he hav one eating spot he will use it it make things more comfy and prevent for dehydration and burn caused by too intense basking

• Temperature - Use a temperature gun and thermometre. The basking area is around 90-95F with a 31 degree ambient temperature. The bottom of the tank is around 70-75 with an ambient temperature of 24 degrees. During the night it stays around 19-20 degrees - we use the heat mats to keep it warm since we had an issue with out house temperature dropping in the night.
• Humidity - Humidity levels are around 70-80 during the morning and evenings, and are 50 during the day.
• Plants - Yes, hibiscus plants.
• Placement - It is located on top of the exoterra cabinet, in the living room.
• Location - England

wish it help you,

Ps ont this vet

 

[Mawtyplant]

? any update ?

 

[carljr]

Hey thanks for your advice! I'm going to stop using D3 because everytime I've given it to him he seems.. a bit off for a couple days.

I talked to the breeder where we got him from, and recommended us to see his vet (who we're seeing on Monday) because he was upset that the other vet didn't do a culture test to see what bacteria our chameleon was infected from, and said that baytril is more of a general antibiotic and would be a reason why his respiratory infection wasn't treated if we don't know what bacteria it was! So we're not sure what it is yet.. but hopefully this vet will help us.

 

[Mawtyplant]

Hey thanks for your advice! I'm going to stop using D3 because everytime I've given it to him he seems.. a bit off for a couple days.

I talked to the breeder where we got him from, and recommended us to see his vet (who we're seeing on Monday) because he was upset that the other vet didn't do a culture test to see what bacteria our chameleon was infected from, and said that baytril is more of a general antibiotic and would be a reason why his respiratory infection wasn't treated if we don't know what bacteria it was! So we're not sure what it is yet.. but hopefully this vet will help us.

finding a good chameleon vet is equivalent to find a brookesia micra in a forest of junk good luck