Damage to Lip From Force Opening to Feed Lethargic Cham

[Atlasi]

My little brother's south African flat neck cham became lethargic recently due to calcium deficiency. He took her to the vet for observing and health care, she had to stay at the vet for longer observations. 2 days later he took his cham home but he noticed bruising and a small but noticeable hole in her bottom lip, possibly from force opening her mouth using a blunt object. Should I be worried about the hole, if it's permanent, prone to bacteria infections or if it will heal? Please help. I don't know what to do.

 

[Atlasi]

Edit: she cannot open her mouth, very weak grip, constantly closed eyes. I've been looking after her and giving her calcium powder infused with pure spring water.

 

[MissSkittles]

Edit: she cannot open her mouth, very weak grip, constantly closed eyes. I've been looking after her and giving her calcium powder infused with pure spring water.

Hi and welcome. Poor little sweetheart doesn’t look nor sound very well at all. I have lots of questions, but let’s start from how long have you/your brother had her and where did you get her from? I’d like to see some pics of her enclosure, including the lights. I’d also like to see pics of the supplements she’s been getting and how often she gets them. What is she eating?

 

[Atlasi]

Hi and welcome. Poor little sweetheart doesn’t look nor sound very well at all. I have lots of questions, but let’s start from how long have you/your brother had her and where did you get her from? I’d like to see some pics of her enclosure, including the lights. I’d also like to see pics of the supplements she’s been getting and how often she gets them. What is she eating?

Hi there. We've had her since the beginning of the year (around 6 January). We received her from a friend that moved to a different country. We have been feeding her generic field crickets, my brother is in control of the enclosure cleanliness and feeding, I'm not entirely sure if he has been dusting the crickets with calcium powder or caring about the cham's waste in the enclosure... The poor thing.
She has 2 lights with domes for day/night cycle (UVB-75w & Infared-50w)
Her enclosure consists of cleaned wooden sticks and branches and fake branches, a water fountain, 1 smooth rock, 1 rough rock, spider peat + wood chip substrate.
The enclosure itself is brandless, it has a mesh ceiling and strong glass walls.
The tank is located next to a window inside of our kitchen, where it gets natural afternoon sunlight.
We were meaning to get her a bigger tank since I am concerned about the height of the tank (if it's not high enough) and give the tank new substrate and a water mister.

I'm not sure if she is getting enough water either because her waste has a yellow color.
We haven't collected the supplements for her from the vet, but I'll notify you once we get the medicinal treatments.

 

[elizaann2]

Poor little love. I'm so glad you found this forum, there are a lot of knowledgeable people on here who can help you out. Unfortunately, there are some things with her care that do need to change immediately. Chameleons come from many different places and will need different care requirements (temps, humidity, supplementation schedule etc). I am not familiar with your chameleons care but I can help you with what I do know:

UVB - unfortunately your baby girl does not have the proper UVB, this is needed in combination for proper bone and muscle development. Without proper UVB, calcium and vitamin D3 her bones will be come soft and rubbery and will break easily. If she is an egg laying chameleon, she will also need this for proper development of eggs. The proper UVB is a T5HO Arcadia 6% or Reptisun 5.0. I'll link what you need for this below:
UVB hood
Arcadia or
Reptisun

Enclosure size - she will need a 2ftx2ftx4ft enclosure, this is the minimum requirement size for most chameleons

Supplementation - she needs phosphorus free calcium with out vitamin D3 dusted on every feeding. She also needs multivitamins and D3, I like to use Repashy LoD which is both of those things combined. Some chameleons need this supplement 2x a month, others need it once a month so this is something we will have to look into.

Egg Laying - she looks a little plumb in her belly area, if she is an egg laying chameleon, she will lay eggs even without being with a male, much like chickens do. If thats the case and she hasn't been getting proper calcium and UVB and does not have a lay bin she very well could be egg bound, which is fatal.

Temps & Humidity - chameleons need specific temperatures and humidity levels in order to thrive in captivity, we will need to look into what your girls requirements are but this is really important as well. I would recommend moving her away from the window, the heat from the sun coming into the window could be blasting her during parts of the day. It could also cause unnecessary stress by seeing birds and other potential predators. Glass also blocks UVB so she is not getting anything she needs from the sun through the windows in your house.

@Beman @MissSkittles - do either of you know about the husbandry care for this little girl?

 

[Beman]

General husbandry would be similar to the standard guidelines for other species... So set up would be the same for UVB and cage layout.

So it would be good to read this https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

Big issue for this girl is the incorrect UVB. Depending on what is actually being used it may be far too weak of a UVI output or far too strong.

Removing the wood chips in the bottom and the rocks along with the fountain and then adding live plants that can be sprayed for a natural drinking surface.

How did they determine that it was a calcium issue? Over supplementation of fat soluble vitamins like A and D3 can cause them to shut down like this. Also not having the right UVB lighting.

If there is a hole in the mouth then it is susceptible to mouth rot. So she would need an antibiotic to treat this.

I would start with making cage changes and add the correct UVB lighting. An Arcadia pro T5 linear fixture that runs the width of the cage with a 6% bulb. You want 8-9 inches between the bottom of this fixture sitting on top of the cage and the highest branches below it.

 

[Sonny13]

Hello and welcome!
You’re already in good hands and getting great advice, but one things stands out to me, which is maybe the cause of all it at the moment.

You’re saying day/night cycles? May I assume you’re using the infrared also at night? If, this is your major problem right now, because your girl hasn’t had a good sleep for a long time which affects her over whole health and immune system. They need lower temps at night to get into a deep sleep for recuperating and even infrared light they can spot is light which also effects their sleep.

She has 2 lights with domes for day/night cycle (UVB-75w & Infared-50w)