Valcakey
New Member
I made prior posts about her health and got amazing responses from amazing people, but I don't want to keep bothering them.
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - Ever since the vet visit, (described in history section) things have been doing downhill rapidly. Her eyes keep getting more and more sunken in. She rarely opens her right eye (the one I made a comment on at the vet). After the second day of force feeding, she started sitting with her head tilted upwards or standing on her hind legs to get vertical, which I was informed on my other post may unfortunately be due to how I was administering the liquid diet in the syringe. The last 2 days, I've been taking her outside for some natural sun and she seems to do so well from then on until nighttime rolls around. When I come home from work, she'll be sleeping, but trying to keep herself upright. She also moves around a lot when it's lights out recently even though she should be sleeping. Today, I went to feed her and I could only get in ½ a milliliter out of the 2 mL she's supposed to get daily. The rest of the day, she would not open her mouth for me at all. So, our big lot of problems are that:
a.) she's starving herself and won't let me get the force feeding syringe in her mouth
b.) she's showing obvious signs of dehydration, but will only drink in certain circumstances
c.) might have an RI
d.) something's wrong with her right eye
e.) I'm a college student whose vet bill was $423 and I want to be able to give Chamomile the world, but I cannot afford another vet visit. She's dying and I'm trying the best I can to make her better, but it's getting harder and harder. If anyone has any tips, tricks, suggestions, please I am all ears.
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Female veiled chameleon named Chamomile. She's approximately a year and a half and I've had for a year on the 12th.
- Handling - Had never handled her up until a few days ago. Now, I take her outside for sun/UVB once a day for about 15-20 minutes
- Feeding - She hasn't been eating, but when she was it was 10 crickets every 2 days. They were gut- loaded with squash, kale, spinach, flax and sesame seeds, carrot, strawberries, etc. (depending on what we had at the time). We recently had a vet visit and I received Oxbow "Carnivore Care" and "Critical Care" to force feed to her. It's day 4 of that, but today I couldn't get her to open her mouth at all.
- Supplements - I was dusting the crickets every feeding with Zoo Med Repticalcium without D3 and then using Zoo Med Reptivite twice a month. However, at the vet visit, she gave me some Repashy vitamin with D3 to use instead of the Reptivite. I was also given calcium glubionate, which I mix into her force feeding diet.
- Watering - I have a automister that mists every 4 hours. I also set the dripper back up after she was showing signs of dehydration and would leave it on for 15-25 minutes twice daily. She was drinking furiously when the dripper was on, but not recently. Today, I made sure I had warm water and misted her with that and she was drinking what fell from her face.
- Fecal Description - She had stopped eating for about 2 weeks and wasn't having bowel movements, but I have seen 3 bowel movements of the liquid diet that look like the diet itself as a chameleon egg.
- History - Chamomile laid her first clutch of eggs 3 weeks ago. Ever since, she hasn't been eating. I've seen her eat a total of 2 crickets since she's laid. She started to get so skinny that her ribs were showing. She also stopped drinking from the mister and was making herself dehydrated, so I hooked her dripper back up and she went at the puddles on the leaves like crazy. I made her a vet appointment, which was last Friday. They did x-rays and an ultrasound and confirmed that she was not egg bound. I was given the 2 Oxbow powders to force feed to her along with the liquid calcium. The doctor also said her bone density looks good. so no MBD. They also injected her with what I believe to be saline solution just to make sure she was hydrated. When Chamomile was brought back into the room, I commented that one of her eyes was closed while the other was open. The doctor didn't think anything of it and said to come back if she doesn't start eating again and they'll do blood work.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - 2x2x4 screen cage (Reptibreeze)
- Lighting - I have both her heat bulb and UVB bulb in a dual dome atop the cage. The heat bulb is a Daytime Blue 100 watt bulb and the UVB is a Reptisun 5.0. She is on a 7pm to 7am lights out schedule
- Temperature - Temperature is 85-88 degrees on her basking branch and goes as low as 75 at the bottom. At night, the temperature drops to about 69 degrees. I have a temperature probe on top as well as a thermometer and hygrometer inside of the cage.
- Humidity - Humidity is typically in the 40-50% range, but it increases to 60% when the lights are out
- Plants - The only live plant I'm using is a pothos plant suspended by wire (the ends of the wire are wrapped in electrical tape)
- Placement - The cage is located in my bedroom, which is in the basement. It sits on a tiny nightstand that is only about a foot and a half high, which means the top of the cage is about 5' 6'' above the ground
- Location - New Jersey
Current Problem - Ever since the vet visit, (described in history section) things have been doing downhill rapidly. Her eyes keep getting more and more sunken in. She rarely opens her right eye (the one I made a comment on at the vet). After the second day of force feeding, she started sitting with her head tilted upwards or standing on her hind legs to get vertical, which I was informed on my other post may unfortunately be due to how I was administering the liquid diet in the syringe. The last 2 days, I've been taking her outside for some natural sun and she seems to do so well from then on until nighttime rolls around. When I come home from work, she'll be sleeping, but trying to keep herself upright. She also moves around a lot when it's lights out recently even though she should be sleeping. Today, I went to feed her and I could only get in ½ a milliliter out of the 2 mL she's supposed to get daily. The rest of the day, she would not open her mouth for me at all. So, our big lot of problems are that:
a.) she's starving herself and won't let me get the force feeding syringe in her mouth
b.) she's showing obvious signs of dehydration, but will only drink in certain circumstances
c.) might have an RI
d.) something's wrong with her right eye
e.) I'm a college student whose vet bill was $423 and I want to be able to give Chamomile the world, but I cannot afford another vet visit. She's dying and I'm trying the best I can to make her better, but it's getting harder and harder. If anyone has any tips, tricks, suggestions, please I am all ears.