Max not better

[Maximillion]

I am so upset my sweet little Max is no better today so I took him back to the vet. He forced water down him and injected water under his skin. I don't know what else to do. I know it will be my fault if I lose him I should have gotten more knowledge before he was purchased. Now this magnificent creature may lose his life for the amusement of a human. We are the worst creatures..

 

[ridgebax1]

It is hard not to feel that way. I came into the hobby with an impulse purchase of an adult veiled, who was not cared for properly because I did not have good information. You must examine your motives, did you truly buy it for amusement or entertainment without bad intentions? Or did you buy it cause it was cool and to hell with care requirements? Or did you buy it for the companionship it provides and give it the best care you were able to with the information you were give. I am sorry your little one is sick and I hope he recovers but if not take the learning you have experienced to improve things for your next pet.

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post a photo of him please? Did you remove the substrate? Can you answer the questions in the how to ask for help thread at the top of the health forum please paying particular attention to the supplements.

 

[junglefries]

I am going to leave the criticism out. The act of remorse says everything. You are human, therefore incapable of perfection, even with the best preplanning. Everyone makes mistakes. I am not familiar with your particular scenario, but understand your frustration. Take comfort in the fact you tried to do the right thing. Take a deep breath, gather your composure and go from there. Good luck to you and your little one.

 

[Lovereps]

First, welcome to the forum!
Sorry your Max is having troubles but you've found an excellent forum with people who range from new to chams, to people who have kept chams for many years.
It is safe to say that probably every single one of us has made at least one cham care mistake, if not more, before we learned what we should have been doing.
You care.
You've found the forum.
Now we can help you to straighten things out

One thing I saw in a previous post is that he has a red light in his cage.
Many people have been incorrectly told by sellers to use a red light at night for their cham.
This is wrong. It keeps chams awake and makes them ill from lack of sleep.
Lighting is a very important part of a cham's setup and we can tell you if the other parts of his lighting are good or if it needs to be changed.
Unfortunately, many sellers really don't know how to properly care for a cham and then they tell people all sorts of harmful things.

Max may be overheating and dehydrating, which is why he turns a lighter color and wants to go to the coolest part of his cage---the bottom, where he is farthest from the heat source.

Lights that Max does need are a special UVB bulb, like the Reptisun 5.0 and a regular household lightbulb as a basking bulb to help him digest his food.
How strong the light bulb should be depends on how warm it makes the basking area.
This is different depending on how warm the room is , how large the cage is and how close to the bulb the basking branch is.
I suspect that poor Max has been kept too hot and is getting dehydrated as a result, but you'll need to accurately measure cage temperatures, basking area temps and humidity, to know for sure.

Experienced cham keepers here can point out things that are off in his caging and care, if you will provide the information in a post.
The best way to do that is to copy and paste the questions from https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
then add all of your answers.

This way, we can let you know what is good and what changes to make for Max to be happier and healthier.

 

[Maximillion]

Max

Max is doing a little better he is now climbing some and not staying on the bottom of his cage. We have been to the vet three times and here is what she is having us do. We give him 1/2 cc of calcium 2 times a day, I now have a cricket keeper so I gut load them with what he needs, also we dust his crickets every time we feed. I have to get him to drink water out of a dropper as he want drink from dripping water in his home, I wait till he hisses at me then place the water in the pouch at the bottom of his chin I never put it near the throat.
I give him 2 cc 3 times a day. I promptly put him to bed at 9pm with no lights or noise and wake him with his lights at 9am. This is when he gets his first dose of calcium and his first water. So please share your opinions on this treatment program as all advice is appreciated.
Thank you,
Debra