GoodKarma19
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hey guys. I regret to post that Lily is doing pretty poorly right now, and I'd like to ask y'all for advice. She has a vet appointment on Monday (earliest availability, and the only accessible clinic for me at this time), but I was hoping you can look through my husbandry in advance and see if anything is off. There have been a lot of recent environmental changes, and I fear the stress might have set her off!
I'll be upfront and immediately fess up to not paying as much attention for the last month as I should have, and I should have caught this sooner. Life caught me up, and I'm doing my best to fix this!
I tried to keep the form as concise as I could, and highlighted a few areas that I'm especially concerned about. I'd really love to hear y'alls thoughts in general!
Current issue(s): puffy/swollen lesion on the outside of her mouth (lip), lethargic, dark/muddy colors, resting/laying on her branch, eyes closed, slow to respond. Re: the lesion - i've witnessed superworms latch on to this spot once or twice, and she rubs her face on branches on occasion. Unsure if this is the cause, or just making things worse - the inside of her mouth/gum line seemed unaffected when I last checked, but I'll try to get a better look (and a picture).
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Lily's lesion (I'll try to get a better angle/get her mouth open when I get home):
I'll be upfront and immediately fess up to not paying as much attention for the last month as I should have, and I should have caught this sooner. Life caught me up, and I'm doing my best to fix this!
I tried to keep the form as concise as I could, and highlighted a few areas that I'm especially concerned about. I'd really love to hear y'alls thoughts in general!
Current issue(s): puffy/swollen lesion on the outside of her mouth (lip), lethargic, dark/muddy colors, resting/laying on her branch, eyes closed, slow to respond. Re: the lesion - i've witnessed superworms latch on to this spot once or twice, and she rubs her face on branches on occasion. Unsure if this is the cause, or just making things worse - the inside of her mouth/gum line seemed unaffected when I last checked, but I'll try to get a better look (and a picture).
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Female Panther chameleon, about a year and a half old. Lily has been in my care for 6 months.
- Handling - I handle Lily if I need to move her for whatever reason, but otherwise leave her alone. When she was feeling better, she would occasionally come out on her own terms and I'd bring her outside. Almost too chilly for that, now! It's nice today, so I'll try to coax her out.
- Feeding - Lily's diet primarily consists of large crickets, about 3 every couple days as well as one or two superworms and BSF for enrichment. She also gets 1-2 hornworms a week, and silkworms when they're available. Once a month or so I'll give her a pinkie mouse. Crickets are gutloaded with Repashy Bugburger, Superload, bee pollen, and veggie scraps. Supers and BSFL get veggie scraps and some Bugburger.
- Supplements - Repashy SuperCal LoD on all crickets and supers (accounting for about 80% of her diet). For the first month and a bit when I brought her home and she was sickly, I was directly by my vet to give her an aggressive vitamin regimen of Repashy SuperVite on 2/3 of her feeders, and plain calcium on the rest. (See History)
- Watering - The enclosure is hand sprayed x2/day (morning/evening) for 2-3 minutes, with a shorter session in the afternoon when I'm around. I often see Lily drink during evening misting. Note: while I was building up her smaller enclosure, I kept her in my larger finished bioactive build for a month, the last two weeks of which I had my MistKing system running at 7a, 2p, 7p, and a quick spritz at 10p to maintain humidity overnight for a total misting time of 12 minutes. Lily seemed very stressed by the MistKing, and I believe this contributed to her downward spiral. She's been placed her her refurbished cage for the last 2 days, and is back to her old hand misting schedule.
- Fecal Description - nothing of note; well formed moist feces, urates cream colored with a yellowish cap. She was treated for pinworms in April/May, and has been clear since. Last fecal run 2 months ago.
- History - Lily was quite ill when I first brought her home, and had been at a petstore for the first 8 months of her life. She had issues with her left eye, a small mouth lesion (also on her left side), and had issues firing her tongue/aiming. She was initially treated with BNP +H eye ointment and betadine + flamazine for her mouth lesion, and was put on a somewhat aggressive vitamin regimen to get her back up to snuff. She improved within a month, and all meds were discontinued. At that point, I weaned her off onto Calcium LoD, instead of Repashy Supervite on 2/3 of feeders and plain calcium on the rest.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - 16x16x30 ReptiBreeze, on top of a planter box. This is a bioactive enclosure, and while I realize it's on the smaller size Lily's also a very petite girl and isn't very active.
- Lighting - Currently running a 24" 5.0 UVB (brand new) and a low wattage incandescent bulb on a dimmer, alongside 2 6500k plant lights. Lights are on from 7a-7p
- Temperature - Basking temp peaks at 83, and the cage floor is 71 (ambient temp). Lowest overnight temp recorded was 68. I measure with a temp gun and a digital thermometer.
- Humidity - generally ranges between 40-50, with spikes after misting. I have a digital hydrometer, but I believe I damaged the probe with an accidental direct spray, and it needs replacing. I'm placing shower curtains today on the remaining 2 open sides to boost humidity some more.
- Plants - pothos, heartleaf philodendron, boston fern, rainbow moss, and a China doll that I'll be swapping out for a larger tree-like plant shortly.
- Placement - The cage is in my bedroom area, and is low traffic. The only one in there is me, and I'm very conscious of quick movements. The cage is nearly 6 feet off the ground at the very top, and is located about 6 feet away (horizontally) from a closed ceiling vent.
- Location - British Columbia, Canada
Lily's lesion (I'll try to get a better angle/get her mouth open when I get home):