Faly sick HELP.

[Echoezra]

Re: vit A diagnosis

You know what, may not be related, but thought id mention it anyway. the vet that I went to with my first chameleon immediately brought up vitamin A concerns as well, and what I later found was that he basically got all his chameleon knowledge from this one older article he pulled off the vet info network. He printed it off for me too, it's around here somewhere still. Anyways, that article basically implied that a lot of problems stem from that. What the vet was telling me is that there was some issues with oversupplementing before so everyone suddenly stopped supplementing vit A at all and now that's what's causing almost all the problems now.
So if this vet you saw did the same thing as the one I saw, and just googled chameleons on their vet network or whatever... Its possible that diagnosis may have stemmed more from an article than from the more likely cause of a digestion issue, such as temperature or hydration or feeding time or parasites or problems with the bugs themselves or whatever.
I'm not by any means saying vit A issues aren't a very real thing, I believe they probably are and in fact myself do put a drop from a capsule on my feeders every so often as a just in case. I'm just saying that I'm pretty sure that the vet I saw got the majority of his chameleon knowledge from one older article. That was kind of rubbed in by the fact that he said "turtles" more than "chameleons".
Never got to see if it really was parasites like I thought or if he was right about a vit A caused thing, cause the cham died the next day anyways.

 

[Davonat]

sorry, just davuns comments

Yes..... Im very sorry..... I too really want to help!..... How about the mold idea???.... You said it smells basementy.... Thats mold and must.... The vents could have been full of the junk!.... And when you fired it up all that stuff got flushed out. I would get rid of the filters on your furnace!!!!! Or at least go look at them.

 

[Canny Chams]

Now that i think about it, when we moved in, cheech and chong were put in new homemade cages when we moved in, they had a pine wood frame, they were the only ones who got new cages

 

[Davonat]

Now that i think about it, when we moved in, cheech and chong were put in new homemade cages when we moved in, they had a pine wood frame, they were the only ones who got new cages

Pine wood sap can be very over powering. I am a cabinet maker and cutting pine makes my eyes water BAD!!!! Were they painted?? and cured? Un cured silicone too has extremely bad fumes......It will choke you if you take a good whiff

 

[Hoj]

i use pine but i stain and verathayne it , havent had any issues.

 

[hilltowner]

So, so sorry to hear about your tragedy. 3 chams in one day. I can't imagine how you are feeling, but know you are in our thoughts!

 

[Canny Chams]

im gonna try and sell some other stuff so i dont have to sell my cham, like my bearded dragon and 2 ficuses and a 6X2X2 cage. Im paranoid as hell about my other cham now, i guess i need to wait till tomorow to find out exactly what it was and weather my other chams might have it too

 

[justjumpit621]

im gonna try and sell some other stuff so i dont have to sell my cham, like my bearded dragon and 2 ficuses and a 6X2X2 cage. Im paranoid as hell about my other cham now, i guess i need to wait till tomorow to find out exactly what it was and weather my other chams might have it too

That sucks hope you can sell some other stuff. You should apply for a care credit card, I use it for my reptiles. I love it. Just in case you have to ever bring one of them to the vet again. Unless they don't have one in canada, then you could find the equivalent.

 

[Canny Chams]

I havent gotten the results back yet. Il ask my dad about the credit card, im not 18 yet, so I cant get a credit card myself, il ask my dad about it though. Im trying to find an exotic pet insurance in canada, if anyone can find one please link me. Im gonna sell some of my crested geckos to pay off the rest of the bill, at least that shitty vet had a payment plan, i only had to pay the first half of the estimate anmd the rest i can do 100 bucks a month at a time. Hopefully after selling a couple of my breeder geckos i can get myself out of the hole, get insurance, and wont have to get rid of valaria. IF anyone wants a red Pinstripe, harlequin, or Bold pinstripe crested gecko message me. Il update you guys on the results when i get them

 

[Davonat]

Can you tell us more about the new cages?????.....I have a feeling something in there may have taken out your 2 Mitsie's.

 

[tdotcham]

From now on if you're in T.O. go here:

http://thelinksroadanimalclinic.com/

The vets are very good with chameleons and the prices are fair. Emergency vets in Toronto are insanely expensive. Our dog broke her leg and it cost almost 2000 at the local emergency clinic. Lucky for us there is such a thing as pet insurance.

I'd disagree with this statement. The links road vet charges more for fecals and didnt listen to me. I went to another vet in oavkille and they found the parasite immediately and ran the proper tests

 

[Chameleon Company]

Some random thoughts here, as there are enough scattered ideas in this thread to comment on forever. Sorry to hear of your calamities.

1) That red and blue chameleon ..... "Blue". That's a Locale hybrid. Was it supposed to be pedigree ?

2) A simple basic Vitamin A regimen will not harm your chameleon. It might not fix what ails it, but done in proper moderation, will cause no harm.

3) Your female was 3 years old. She was getting old for a panther female. They can live a bit longer, but in the best of conditions, she was near the end of the road regardless.

4) Coccidia can kill. Especially in a compromised chameleon. If you are dealing with coccidia, go 100% artificial plants with your animals for about 6 months. If you have dirt and live plants, coccidia will hang out a long time.

5) Your watering should match nature to the best of your abilities. There's no misters in the wild. Wet all the time is bad. Real bad.

6) Respiratory infections usually start for one of two reasons:

.... a) dirty bugs, where the upper esophagus becomes infected, and then spreads down to the lungs; or

.... b) A combination of too much moisture, too low ambient temps, for too long (2 days or more). A panther can be cooled into the mid 40's every night if it then is able to warm up to the upper 80's or higher (fahrenheit) every day. I don't recommend such, but that will not harm them. The lack of the daily warm-up will encourage infections, and is further aggravated by too much misting. Switch to drip. Misters are junk. Humidity is over-hyped, and over-managed. A cheap room humifidier is the way to go if need be. When its dry, such as in the winter, drip your animal's cage for 30 minutes twice a day. So that the animal can drink twice daily. That's less then 24 oz of water total.

7) Going to the vet is not always the best idea, all things considered. They mean well, but as you have found out, unless you have a good one, you may end up with a big bill and a dead animal. Experience can be purchased for less.

Good luck.

 

[gratefulj]

I'm sorry for your losses... that is a horrendous story . Best of luck to you!

 

[Canny Chams]

1) he was sired by raiden and nala, there is a whole thread about it, go to it.
the rest i already new, and he didnt have a respiratory infection, it was an initial guess

 

[Canny Chams]

BTW guys i got the results back, my vet couldnt even do a conlcusive blood test "the results were unconclusive, all we know is that he died from renal kidney failiure" . Now i have a giant vet bill and know answers, with no idea if the rest of my chams might have whatever happened to him. Does anyone know a good vet that isnt gonna rob the life out of me, i need to get valaria and katy checked up, but i can spend more than 150 on each, i have no money left, i sold a gecko yesterday for 300, thats all that i have. Anyone in GTA know a good vet?

 

[Chameleon Company]

1) he was sired by raiden and nala, there is a whole thread about it, go to it.
the rest i already new, and he didnt have a respiratory infection, it was an initial guess

I don't know where the thread is, and truly do not care to look. If I have this correct, you referred to it as a Faly. Is that correct ? I have no idea what that thread says, btw. It was not a Faly. Not ever.

I touched on respiratory infections as it was raised several times, and many do not have a sound understanding of such.

 

[Canny Chams]

Can you tell us more about the new cages?????.....I have a feeling something in there may have taken out your 2 Mitsie's.

They were pine frame, very dry wood, the door had a 1/16" chicken wire so you could see through it better, and the rest of walls were window screen. It has a 1/2 cm thick safety glass base. everything else was the same, ficus, vines, mercury vapour bulb

 

[Canny Chams]

oh and the vet was going on about the intestines being black being bad then she said its common and fine, she just wasnt making sense

 

[jaglon53]

Do U use mercury vapors on all your chams? Do u have a UV meter?

 

[Canny Chams]

so renal kidney failiure is either caused by dehydration or vitamin A defitiency. Im gonna upload some photos of valaria so you can see if she is dehydrated, i find it tricky figuring it out