Help!! Jackson’s bleeding from mouth

Cheesecake19

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Jacksons’s; female; appx 2.5 years; have had in care for 2 years
  • Handling - Once a week or every other week
  • Feeding - 5 small or medium crickets daily; 3 mealworms a few times a week; calcium without d3 every other day; calcium with d3 and multivitamin 1x a month; have a cricket keeper and feed those orange squares to gut load
  • Supplements - Oops see above. Flukers.
  • Watering - dripper, I see her drink from that. Hand mist 2 times a day for about 10 seconds
  • Fecal Description - Slightly wet but formed droppings, brown, light colored, sometimes darker. No parasite testing
  • History - Nothing really. Historically she hasn’t had any issues. She’s a happy girl and usually green or green-blue.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - wire mesh. I think it’s 14x14x24?
  • Lighting - automatic timer on at 8am off at 8pm. 14” reptisun t5; can’t remember the heat lamp type
  • Temperature - Cage is around 75-80, basking 85-90, I have a thermometer in the cage. At night it gets down to like 65.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Yes I have a pothos ans dracaena
  • Placement - in my bedroom, no traffic, no vents, top of cage reaches halfway up wall, there is a stand under it
  • Location - richmond va

Current Problem

Chameleon has for a few days had trouble with her eye. It seems swollen shut. I tried misting it with water and it seemed to help a bit. I actually have Covid (I’m vaccinated) so have been in quarantine and haven’t been able to take her to get it looked at. She’s been eating and drinking normal. Seemed fine this morning. This evening went to mist her and she has blood all over her mouth dripping to her arm. She keeps closing her eyes and every now and then opens her mouth to seeemingly take a big breath. She is stable with her walking and is holding onto things. I’m working on getting someone to take her to an emergency vet for me but there isn’t one for 2.5 hours away. we have a local one who could see her at 11am tomorrow. Should I go ahead and do the emergency one? Or do you think she will be okay until tomorrow? I’m so scared for her and I don’t know if it’s right but I’ve been holding her since I saw her because I didn’t want her to be alone and suffering. She seems content sitting on my chest.

also a note-we’ve had cricket shortages often here. The store we went to only had small or large. I prefer medium for her. They questioned me when I said to just get the small and said it was too small for her. I got her the large. I saw her eat one of them and she seemed fine. The literal next day when I woke up is when the eye thing started. I’m so mad I listened to them. Could this be from the cricket?
 

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The best thing you can do for her now while you wait for a vet is to leave her alone in her cage. While it may seem like she is content sitting on your arms, she is stressed out and should be left alone. Chameleons, when perfectly healthy, can be held for infrequent short periods of time. Handling causes stress in any chameleon, so it should be avoided when a chameleon is injured or sick.

An emergency vet seems like the best option for her survival. I'm sorry that you are going through this. Hopefully, she pulls through!

Here's some feedback on the info you posted:

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Jacksons’s; female; appx 2.5 years; have had in care for 2 years
  • Handling - Once a week or every other week
  • Feeding - 5 small or medium crickets daily; 3 mealworms a few times a week; calcium without d3 every other day; calcium with d3 and multivitamin 1x a month; have a cricket keeper and feed those orange squares to gut load
Those orange cubes that you buy from the pet store are inadequate for gutloading. They hardly have any nutrition at all. If you want an easy commercial gutload, you should check out Repashy Burg Burger.

  • Supplements - Oops see above. Flukers.
Your supplement schedule could use some work. The multivitamin and D3 once a month is good; however, you need to dust crickets and mealworms with plain calcium at every feeding. You could keep the same routine, dusting every other day, but then you will need to get a feeder that doesn't need to be dusted like silkworms and bsfl.

Additionally, feeding 5 small to medium crickets every other day may be too much. It all depends on how big they are. If they truly are small feeders, then this might be an okay amount.

Would you mind posting pictures of the supplements you use? This way I can go through the ingredient list and make sure everything is good.

  • Watering - dripper, I see her drink from that. Hand mist 2 times a day for about 10 seconds
Misting should revolve around keeping a naturalistic hydration schedule. In the wild, the relative humidity increases as the temperature drops at night. And when the sun comes up and starts warming the environment, the reverse happens and the relative humidity decreases. This means that you should aim for high humidity at night and low humidity during the day. Having a hygrometer will help you determine these numbers. Humidity at night should be anywhere between 75% and 100% humidity and then the day should drop to around 30-50% humidity. The exact numbers don't matter too much as long as you can get in these ranges +-%5. While you can mist during the day, the best time to mist is at night which is why many of us have a mistking (automatic misting system). The most important part is that they get the proper hydration. If you are able to keep her alive, and you cannot afford a mistking, you need to mist her for more than 10 seconds. She needs time to drink, especially since her humidity during the other hours of the day and night is too low.

  • Fecal Description - Slightly wet but formed droppings, brown, light colored, sometimes darker. No parasite testing
Are there any white/orange parts in the urate? You want the urate (pee) in the poop to look primarily white, but some orange tinge to it is perfectly fine. I'm guessing that she is probably dehydrated.

  • History - Nothing really. Historically she hasn’t had any issues. She’s a happy girl and usually green or green-blue.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - wire mesh. I think it’s 14x14x24?
This is too small for a jackson's chameleon of the xantholophus subspecies. A well-planted 2Lx2Wx4H ft enclosure is the minimum recommended size.

  • Lighting - automatic timer on at 8am off at 8pm. 14” reptisun t5; can’t remember the heat lamp type
Is your T5 reptisun a 5.0? How far away is it from the nearest branch below?

  • Temperature - Cage is around 75-80, basking 85-90, I have a thermometer in the cage. At night it gets down to like 65.
Preferably, the ambient cage temperature should be between 68 and 75 degrees with a basking spot of around 80-85F. Once the cage temp reaches close to 80F, it's advisable to turn off the basking light. 85-90F is too hot. I'd either switch out the basking bulb with one of a lower wattage, or you can raise the basking bulb up off the cage to increase the distance between the basking spot and the light.

A nighttime temp of 65F is okay. But the lower you can go, the better.

  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Look at the watering section above. Make sure to get a hygrometer so you can adequately measure your humidity levels. Once you know the levels, you can fine-tune the humidity levels until they are perfect.

  • Plants - Yes I have a pothos ans dracaena
These are good plants. Make sure that she can get completely out of view if she wants to. This means that you should have parts of the cage heavily planted so she can hide if she wants to.

  • Placement - in my bedroom, no traffic, no vents, top of cage reaches halfway up wall, there is a stand under it
  • Location - richmond va

Current Problem

Chameleon has for a few days had trouble with her eye. It seems swollen shut. I tried misting it with water and it seemed to help a bit. I actually have Covid (I’m vaccinated) so have been in quarantine and haven’t been able to take her to get it looked at. She’s been eating and drinking normal. Seemed fine this morning. This evening went to mist her and she has blood all over her mouth dripping to her arm. She keeps closing her eyes and every now and then opens her mouth to seeemingly take a big breath. She is stable with her walking and is holding onto things. I’m working on getting someone to take her to an emergency vet for me but there isn’t one for 2.5 hours away. we have a local one who could see her at 11am tomorrow. Should I go ahead and do the emergency one? Or do you think she will be okay until tomorrow? I’m so scared for her and I don’t know if it’s right but I’ve been holding her since I saw her because I didn’t want her to be alone and suffering. She seems content sitting on my chest.

also a note-we’ve had cricket shortages often here. The store we went to only had small or large. I prefer medium for her. They questioned me when I said to just get the small and said it was too small for her. I got her the large. I saw her eat one of them and she seemed fine. The literal next day when I woke up is when the eye thing started. I’m so mad I listened to them. Could this be from the cricket?
 
The best thing you can do for her now while you wait for a vet is to leave her alone in her cage. While it may seem like she is content sitting on your arms, she is stressed out and should be left alone. Chameleons, when perfectly healthy, can be held for infrequent short periods of time. Handling causes stress in any chameleon, so it should be avoided when a chameleon is injured or sick.

An emergency vet seems like the best option for her survival. I'm sorry that you are going through this. Hopefully, she pulls through!

Here's some feedback on the info you posted:


Those orange cubes that you buy from the pet store are inadequate for gutloading. They hardly have any nutrition at all. If you want an easy commercial gutload, you should check out Repashy Burg Burger.


Your supplement schedule could use some work. The multivitamin and D3 once a month is good; however, you need to dust crickets and mealworms with plain calcium at every feeding. You could keep the same routine, dusting every other day, but then you will need to get a feeder that doesn't need to be dusted like silkworms and bsfl.

Additionally, feeding 5 small to medium crickets every other day may be too much. It all depends on how big they are. If they truly are small feeders, then this might be an okay amount.

Would you mind posting pictures of the supplements you use? This way I can go through the ingredient list and make sure everything is good.


Misting should revolve around keeping a naturalistic hydration schedule. In the wild, the relative humidity increases as the temperature drops at night. And when the sun comes up and starts warming the environment, the reverse happens and the relative humidity decreases. This means that you should aim for high humidity at night and low humidity during the day. Having a hygrometer will help you determine these numbers. Humidity at night should be anywhere between 75% and 100% humidity and then the day should drop to around 30-50% humidity. The exact numbers don't matter too much as long as you can get in these ranges +-%5. While you can mist during the day, the best time to mist is at night which is why many of us have a mistking (automatic misting system). The most important part is that they get the proper hydration. If you are able to keep her alive, and you cannot afford a mistking, you need to mist her for more than 10 seconds. She needs time to drink, especially since her humidity during the other hours of the day and night is too low.


Are there any white/orange parts in the urate? You want the urate (pee) in the poop to look primarily white, but some orange tinge to it is perfectly fine. I'm guessing that she is probably dehydrated.




This is too small for a jackson's chameleon of the xantholophus subspecies. A well-planted 2Lx2Wx4H ft enclosure is the minimum recommended size.


Is your T5 reptisun a 5.0? How far away is it from the nearest branch below?


Preferably, the ambient cage temperature should be between 68 and 75 degrees with a basking spot of around 80-85F. Once the cage temp reaches close to 80F, it's advisable to turn off the basking light. 85-90F is too hot. I'd either switch out the basking bulb with one of a lower wattage, or you can raise the basking bulb up off the cage to increase the distance between the basking spot and the light.

A nighttime temp of 65F is okay. But the lower you can go, the better.


Look at the watering section above. Make sure to get a hygrometer so you can adequately measure your humidity levels. Once you know the levels, you can fine-tune the humidity levels until they are perfect.


These are good plants. Make sure that she can get completely out of view if she wants to. This means that you should have parts of the cage heavily planted so she can hide if she wants to.
Thank you so much. If she pulls through I will get the mistking and whatever else she needs.
 
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