Good news/ bad news

Extensionofgreen

Chameleon Enthusiast
The good news is that my new male veiled chameleon, from FLchams arrives, safe and sound. When he relaxes and turns green, again, I'll update with photos. He's from the beautiful "Driskel" line, and I think I'll name him Sinbad, though I'm not sure.

The bad news is that my female parsonii had gained 20 grams, in a month. In less than a month, she's lost 11 grams. I did a visual inspection of her interior mouth and notice some small plaques, at the back of the throat. We are seeing Dr. Stahl, tomorrow. I'm not happy she may have an infection, though a small and early detected one, but I'd rather know that's the cause, because otherwise I'll have to consider the possibility that the enclosure is not enough to allow happy, healthy cohabitation and she will go back to her former enclosure, rather than the palace I built for her and the male. None of my observations point to this and she was eating up until 5 days ago and she accepted my placing feeders in her mouth, after the exam, so she hasn't been off feed or showing stress, in the larger enclosure.
Stress and suppression can be subtle and failing to gain weight, regardless of how things appear to be going, is a red flag and if other possibilities aren't found to be the cause, separation is eminent and will be permanent, until the male and female are breeding age.
 
Oh I am so sorry to hear about your female. I love parsonii, so I hope it turns out to simple to treat and is something you can still keep them together in a happy and healthy condition. Thoughts coming your way. YAY on the veiled though XD
 
Congratulations on your new veiled. Happy he made it to you safely. Sorry to hear about your paranoid....Will be hoping it is something minor.
 
Sorry about your female parsonii it's a wise thing you doing by separate them and putting her in a different enclosure help relieve the stress. Fingers crossed and hoping it's just something minor keep us posted...
 
Not the greatest picture, but once he's eating and settled, I'll get better ones of his enclosure and of him, without repatri screen in the way.

Thank everyone for their well wishes. I'll update, after the vet tomorrow.
 

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Dr. Stahl and I discussed at length what amounts to a VERY minor, barely noticeable, pin pricks of inflammation and these, when swabbed showed small areas of bacteria and inflammation. It's not on or near her jaws and doesn't involve bone.

We are treating with injecible Fortaz, which I have had excellent results for both efficacy and safety.

Her living arrangement with the male was discussed at length. No indications point to a problem with territory, subtle domination or submission, or any other forms of stress, associated with chameleons not coexisting well.
Dr. Stahl suggests that this is somewhat routine, from WC animals that have been adjusting to captivity. Once we treat this infection, if another occurs or her intake isn't improved, separation is going to be strongly considered.

The veiled is tiny. He manages 1/4" crickets with great effort. He is unhappily adjusting. He turns black as soon as I approach and green, with light tan markings, as soon as I'm away. He is eating, drinking, and enjoying a mild, sunny, and rainy day.
 
Sounds like she is going to do well and there is hope. I'm so glad for you ^^ Your veiled sounds like he already has his attitude, hopefully he'll cool down as he gets used to things.
 
An update on my Wild Caught parsonii, female, acquired in April:
She has had 3 doses of Fortaz, for exceptionally minor stomatitis. She gets a few feeders placed in her mouth, while she is being given the injection, as she was not eating, which is what prompted the oral exam and then, the oral exam, with the vet. She is eating on her own again, and being the picture of health and normal parsonii behavior. She spends a lot of time basking under the Mercury Vapor bulb, which is unusual for parsonii. I bulb is filtered by screen and over a foot away from her, so it is not dangerous and there was is no real heat, above 80-82F, due to the fans I have blowing through the enclosure.
Hopefully she continues to gain, feed on her own, and take to the Fortaz well. They really look perfect, in that cage!
 

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I'm glad she getting back to health..
I see your using a mercury vapor bulb so that part of the setup you planned with the enclosure of just added to help her get better?
 
I planned the cage to have the MV bulb. My enclosure is 6' 10" tall, so a 165w MV bulb is ideal for penetrating depth and the levels of foliage. It's only on for the middle of the photoperiod and helps to simulate afternoon/evening sun. I use linear 10.0 fluorescent tubes, for most of their UVB needs. They stay pretty concealed in the foliage, so I doubt the get much useable UVB from the 10.0s, but both of them use the tallest tree and sit in it, when the MV is on, though never at the same time.
 
What a relief! I can see a cham that has been "under the weather" basking a bit more...maybe she needs a bit more warmth and light exposure to help get her metabolic equilibrium back.
 
Dr. Stahl and I discussed at length what amounts to a VERY minor, barely noticeable, pin pricks of inflammation and these, when swabbed showed small areas of bacteria and inflammation. It's not on or near her jaws and doesn't involve bone.

We are treating with injecible Fortaz, which I have had excellent results for both efficacy and safety.

Her living arrangement with the male was discussed at length. No indications point to a problem with territory, subtle domination or submission, or any other forms of stress, associated with chameleons not coexisting well.
Dr. Stahl suggests that this is somewhat routine, from WC animals that have been adjusting to captivity. Once we treat this infection, if another occurs or her intake isn't improved, separation is going to be strongly considered.

The veiled is tiny. He manages 1/4" crickets with great effort. He is unhappily adjusting. He turns black as soon as I approach and green, with light tan markings, as soon as I'm away. He is eating, drinking, and enjoying a mild, sunny, and rainy day.

I'm not so sure you are correct about there being no problem housing them together. You've had minor problem after minor problem. Unthriftiness and illness are signs that all is not well, newly imported or not. Stress suppresses the immune system. She is telling you loud and clear that she is not doing well in her current set up.
 
I'm not so sure you are correct about there being no problem housing them together. You've had minor problem after minor problem. Unthriftiness and illness are signs that all is not well, newly imported or not. Stress suppresses the immune system. She is telling you loud and clear that she is not doing well in her current set up.


I'm not sure what you are referring to, with minor problem after minor problem. She was refusing food, as was the male, within the first few weeks they came to me and they were in separate enclosures, during that time. Nothing I have experienced has been outside of what happens when new animals are getting established. I am keeping a keen eye on things and have no motive to keep her in a situation that isn't ideal for her. She is eating, behaving normally, showing healthy coloration, stools, and all signs are that she is doing just fine and getting over a "bump in the road" to being well acclimated and settled.
 
I'm not sure what you are referring to, with minor problem after minor problem. She was refusing food, as was the male, within the first few weeks they came to me and they were in separate enclosures, during that time. Nothing I have experienced has been outside of what happens when new animals are getting established. I am keeping a keen eye on things and have no motive to keep her in a situation that isn't ideal for her. She is eating, behaving normally, showing healthy coloration, stools, and all signs are that she is doing just fine and getting over a "bump in the road" to being well acclimated and settled.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you had the two in one enclosure and they weren't eating and continued to not eat when you separated them. Now she has some sort of infection that requires injectable antibiotics.

Add up the stress and stress is cumulative:

Stress of import;
Stress of new home and housed with male;
Stress of not eating;
Stress of another new cage;
Stress of being housed with a male;
Stress of being in a cage that is barely adequate for one parsonii let alone a male and a female;
Stress of going to vet;
Stress of injections/handling;
Stress to her digestive tract from the antibiotics:
Stress of force feeding when giving injections.

Just add it all up. Those are only the stresses that I remember off the top of my head. I don't think you understand how stressful their housing is. And I generally have not found vets, even experienced vets, up on husbandry of chameleons. They might be good medical practitioners but in general they are not great with the fine points of husbandry.

Stress suppresses the immune system. It is never a surprise to me that chameleons under a lot of stress have minor problem after minor problem and often don't live long. Just my two cents.
 
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