Just got back from the vets...

mbondy

New Member
Well just got back from the vets, I've good news and bad news. Well we don't believe my guy has MBD, the vets were just as puzzled as I am with my guy. But we believe that whatever is going on is neurological.

To give you some background, he's a 5 1/2 month old male Ambilobe. I've had him for about 2 1/2 months. He was on the smaller side when I bought him but healthy as can be. He's shed three times in the last two months, perfect droppings everytime, and eats like a pig. I first was concerned about his size as he's quite smaller then the average panther his age, more the size of a three month old. The size wouldn't concern me as much if not for his weird leg thing going on. He doesn't have great balance and would probably fall ALL the time if I didn't have such a thick plant in his cage where it's pretty impossible to fall far at all. He'd be dead meat in the wild long ago.

Back to his legs then, his front legs are completely healthy and normal but his hind legs are just plain weird. It's almost as if he doesn't have normal sensations in his rear legs and barely uses them. His bones are normal but you'll see him sticking his hind legs out and not putting any weight on them. Almost looks like he doesn't know where his legs are. So he compensates with his front legs and tail, his tail has become very strong due to this and he doesn't look like he's in any pain.

This has started since I brought him home but has become more noticeable as he's growing up, using more tail and less hind legs.

So the vets checked him out and we don't believe he has MBD, they did give me some calcium to give to him orally every day for the next few weeks. Though we do think whatever is going on is neurological and we'll be keeping on eye on how he's doing. It's really frustrating :eek::mad:

The vets took a video of him to have another very experienced reptile zoo vet check out what may be causing his issue. As well a vet student took a short clip to show to her professor...guess my guy will be famous :eek:
 
well thats somewhat good. I got to take my beloved pandora to the vets tomorrow cause i was wondering why she was looking depressed and when i took her out i saw some bit marks and she has a little black on her lips so i'm taking her tomorrow to get checked out and hopefully fixed and on the road to get better
 
Sorry they couldn't give you any better answers Michele. Sometimes I think chameleons will just always be a mystery to us. I know mine are.
 
But we believe that whatever is going on is neurological.
thing going on. He doesn't have great balance and would probably fall ALL the time if I didn't have such a thick plant in his cage where it's pretty impossible to fall far at all.

Occasionally someone ends up with a cham with neurological problems. Could be a developmental defect, some sort of brain or spinal cord lesion, tumor, even an infection. Who knows. I can think of a couple of odd chams off the top of my head.
 
I did buy him with a strange lip, looks as if it didn't fully develop...I'm wondering if there is possibly some correlation.

Thank you for your kind words Laurie. I'm sort of in a pickle in this situation because I love the guy and he has such a good soul. I gave him his calcium and he was great, the doctor was messing with him and he didn't even puff up. Just such a good guy. They had mentioned putting him to sleep but until he shows me he doesn't have the will to live I'm going to give him a darn good chance at having a good, long life. Just have to rethink my whole setup and see how he grows, he wants a bigger cage but I'm going to have to make him a little jungle so he won't injure himself. He just still so small!
 
But we believe that whatever is going on is neurological.

His bones are normal but you'll see him sticking his hind legs out and not putting any weight on them. Almost looks like he doesn't know where his legs are. So he compensates with his front legs and tail, his tail has become very strong due to this and he doesn't look like he's in any pain.

This has started since I brought him home but has become more noticeable as he's growing up, using more tail and less hind legs.

So the vets checked him out and we don't believe he has MBD, they did give me some calcium to give to him orally every day for the next few weeks. Though we do think whatever is going on is neurological and we'll be keeping on eye on how he's doing. It's really frustrating :eek::mad:

The vets took a video of him to have another very experienced reptile zoo vet check out what may be causing his issue. As well a vet student took a short clip to show to her professor...guess my guy will be famous :eek:
He is a special little guy :). he'll be like those dogs with 3 legs.......I don't suppose wheels would be any good to him, lol. Big fat tyres, for off road style :cool:
 
I did buy him with a strange lip, looks as if it didn't fully develop...I'm wondering if there is possibly some correlation.

Forum member lele had a panther named Cyrus who developed pretty major neurological issues over time. She made him quite an adapted habitat and he seemed pretty content for quite a long time. Maybe there are forum threads about what she did that could give you some ideas.
 
He is a special little guy :). he'll be like those dogs with 3 legs.......I don't suppose wheels would be any good to him, lol. Big fat tyres, for off road style :cool:

I know right! I could see him rolling around, that's cracking me up :D I was planning on buying a girlfriend for my other cham Herbie, but I'll be holding off for awhile until I can see how it's going with my special guy (Titus). The things we do for our chams :rolleyes::)
 
Forum member lele had a panther named Cyrus who developed pretty major neurological issues over time. She made him quite an adapted habitat and he seemed pretty content for quite a long time. Maybe there are forum threads about what she did that could give you some ideas.

Thank you, I'll definitely look into it and see what I come up with. I'm not afraid of the challenge but may just have to be a little more creative in my set up as he needs a bigger cage soon.

My only problem is I've no idea how big he will get, either his growth is stunted or greatly delayed. I do have another chameleon, my beloved fischer, in a 18x18x36. May move him up to a 24x24x48 and give Titus his cage and see how much he grows over the next few months.
 
It was lele who had Cyrus...she did an excellent job of giving him as full a life as could be expected under the circumstances.
 
It was lele who had Cyrus...she did an excellent job of giving him as full a life as could be expected under the circumstances.

I'll send her a pm, thank you. I'm sort of in a pickle because watching my guy is just incredibly sad. He can't hold onto branches well and watching him try to move around breaks my heart, not sure what to do.
 
This is just a shot in the dark but I understand your love for your cham and I had an idea for you that I wanted to share... I have a certain species of schefflera that is VERY dense and the branches grow very vertically.... They sell them at Home Depot in the low light section... Try that have it 3/4 as tall as the cage and throw horizontal vines deep within the bush... That way he'll ALWAYS have something to crawl onto even with just two legs... I hope the little guy pulls through... I really hate to see chams suffer especially when they have care as great as you are giving him :(
 
Heres a picture of the plant in Stan's enclosure... It's his FAVORITE hiding spot and he sleeps in it EVERY night
564d1aec.jpg
 
This is just a shot in the dark but I understand your love for your cham and I had an idea for you that I wanted to share... I have a certain species of schefflera that is VERY dense and the branches grow very vertically.... They sell them at Home Depot in the low light section... Try that have it 3/4 as tall as the cage and throw horizontal vines deep within the bush... That way he'll ALWAYS have something to crawl onto even with just two legs... I hope the little guy pulls through... I really hate to see chams suffer especially when they have care as great as you are giving him :(

Thanks for the pics Sean! I actually have one...well two! It covers his whole cage since it's so big and he doesn't fall, I just briefly put him in a larger cage with branches and bio-vines. He wants to explore but it just kills me watching how every second he can fall...I just am really not sure what to do at this point. He's healthy besides his awful mobility, just not a good situation.
 
I'd move to putting something soft to break the fall in case he does... Like covering sharp pot sides with baby-cornering (corny I know) and putting I guess something like paper towel in the bottom... If he's gonna fall at least it should be safe... I can't image your pain I'm so sorry... I'm pulling for the little guy
 
Thank you for your kind words, he hasn't fallen in quite awhile, seems like he knows what he can and can't handle. It's really hard to know what to do in a situation like this. He also has this great little temperament which makes it even harder to decide what to do. I think that I'll see how he does in the next few weeks, if he gets worst then I'll have a tough decision. I don't want him to suffer in any sense.
 
Really sorry your going through this mb, it is not an easy decision to make. My thoughts go out to you both:(
 
i wish him the best of luck with getting through this. it really sucks that you are going through this
 
Thanks guys, it means a lot. I will let you guys know my decision and see how he continues to do. He fired up for me today and was absolutely stunning, he shows colors of an 8 month old cham but in the body of a 3 month old, yet he's really 5 months.

I really wish Titus would just magically pull through :(
 
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