I need immediate help!

[chamlover]

I have a 6 wk old panther that has a uri. I purchased 6 and 2 have already died. I believe i finally figured out what the problem is and that is that they have uri. But considering how small they are i don't know how much to give him. They seller sent them in a plastic container filled with wet paper towels, so when i received them they were all ice-cold. I don't think he was taking into consideration that the weather here was getting down to 50 degrees at night. I never even thought of them having a uri until tonite when the 3rd one started doing the same thing as the other 2 which was holding their head up to breath and opening their mouths. When this one did i noticed a bit of thick saliva on the side of his mouth and a few bubbles. I dont know if he will make it the night so i thought it is worth trying to give him something to help him. I would appreciate any advice at this point. LIke i said i will be surprised if he makes it the night.

Debby

 

[studiocham]

Are they too small to weigh on your digital scale? If you are talking about Baytril , you have to calculate dosage by animal weight.

Get the ceramic heat emitter plugged in and try to keep them toasty. Have a 24-hour emergency vet?

 

[TheMentor]

oh gosh, thats no good at all. my advice is to maybe lower the humidity, and feed them smaller food. other than that i'm not super experienced with URI, just thought i'd try to help because i hate the idea of a chameleon suffocating..good luck!

 

[chamlover]

I don't have a ceramic heater, i broke my last one and didn't think i would need one for another couple of months. I did put on a black light though. They are so small i doubt very much if they would even register on the scale. Actually let me go try.Nope, nothing. I figure i should just give him a drop or two.


Debby

 

[dodolah]

chamlover, optimally for respiratory infection, you should raise the temp to your chameleon's preferred optimal temp zone and i actually will defer and ask you to RAISE the humidity.

Here is one of my conversation with Dr.Wheelock about Respiratory infection:

Raised humidity will help your chameleon POTZ (preferred optimal temperature zone)- when a reptile is sick, we want to rev up the metabolism. This maximizes their immune system. We don't want to go too hot, but we do want to go to the high end of normal ambient temp for them to do this (example- you would only rais to mid eighties for a mountane species of cham that likes it cooler.) Give them a good basking area as well.

Humidity- nebulizers are good because if we can provide good humidity, it allows the mucus not to dry up and potentially move better. Did your mom every put a humidifier in your room if you were stuffed up?

Here's the rub- a lot of times the resp infection started not because of high humidty, but the high stagnant humidity in a cage. This is a great place to grow bacteria (warm and humid). In some cases, decreasing humidity while allowing the high POTZ would allow the cage to dry up and decrease the harmful bacterial colony that your cham is exposed to.
Ideally, you would be able to do both, but it depends mostly on your set up and what you are able to do space wise. Misting alot to break things up, but allowing things to dry up easily and quickly between mistings so that bacteria/fungus are not able to thrive.

Chams are not limited to such small areas in the wild and manipulate their own environment to get what they need. Unfortunately, as keepers we only seem to think 2 dimensionally. Needs humidity, doesn't need humidity. All these factors must be made in relation to time of day, heat, lighting, ability to move, cleaning, and the environment you have created (real plants, bioactive soil....)

Hope that helps

 

[PantherVeileD]

sorry to hear about this bad news.. your veiled past recently too right?

 

[chamlover]

Yes he did. I am not having a good week. I also had a tortoise that we just got pass. I realize that when you get new animals you never really know what you are getting into to, but that is 4 animal in less than a few days. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. I just feel so bad for these little babies. They are so small and when they get sick like this there is almost nothing you can do. It's soooo frustrating. Of course with my veiled, i had him since he was 2 mos old and i never had a problem with him until his eye issue came up.

 

[TreelionsUK]

This is bad news,they have a Very slim chance of making it,once there little lungs fill up it's more or less gameover
You could try misting with diluted baytril???

Sorry to hear about this

 

[kinyonga]

You seem to be having a lot of problems with your critters. Do you quarantine new-to-your-collection critters in separate rooms when you first get them? Do you wash your hands well between cages? Do you use any of the "tools" in more than one cage without sterilizing them?