Meller in BAD shape!!! HELP PLZ
- Thread starter CauseNAffect
- Start date
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
Um,
Taking a cham to a vet isn't going to kill it. Almost every cham I've ever kept has been to a vet for one reason or another (some multiple times over months and driving an hour or more to do it without trouble) and none of them reacted so severely to cause death! I say this from direct personal experience which is what you are demanding to hear. I'd like to suggest that YOU don't want to make the trip.
Whether you like the vet or not, agree with a diagnosis or not, you cannot deny that a vet practice has the tools to diagnose a problem as well as access to medications to treat them...and you do not. You may be able to treat visible symptoms with OTC meds or common sense, but a vet has access to testing, culturing, lab analysis, (including quickly diagnosing some fungal infections by something as non-invasive as a medical black light or a reactive stain test!), the correct prescriptions, dosing, surgery or other treatments. Because we are dealing with an exotic for which there are few perfect treatments, you should expect to work along side your vet and this forum to make the best decisions about your cham. I view any work with one of my pets to be a partnership...we inform each other, we discuss, theorize, suggest, observe, and question. I don't expect any vet to magically heal my animal without my input and my vet must look to me for my species-specific experience or the particular animal's past history and symptoms.
You want to "figure this out myself" before going to a vet...I certainly understand why, but the problem is you DON'T know what is wrong and could unintentionally complicate the original problem so no vet can tease it out from your attempts to treat it. You are also delaying treatment or could even make the cham sicker, cause it pain and suffering if you use a counter-indicated med on it. You are already on the wrong track if you think this "spreading" skin problem is going to respond to burn treatment. Now, if you were someone who had seen and treated burns on melleri before (as I have...so much for the high horse. And, looking at the pics I think this is trouble!), had first hand experience diagnosing melleri skin problems (I've seen some nasty things on melleri skin that ended in death) I'd say you have a chance to try home treatment. You do not. Use the vet for diagnosis at the very least.
Last edited:
CauseNAffect
Member
Thank you carlton excellent advice, i posted this to hear possible solutions, and there is an undeniably a strong chance transporting him could make further complications.
As i said i will try a few things in the next few days, if it ceases to spread, it is not a fungus and it is a burn, and if there is further spreading it needs a vet. That seems to be the best possible way of doing things
As i said i appreciated all of the help so far, and i'm glad ppl care enuff to offer it, but there is a fine line between suggestion and badgering nonsens like silverdragons who didn't even read my prior post.
Thanks to those who helped i keep it updated, no further comments needed from anyone at the time. Thank you very much everyone
As i said i will try a few things in the next few days, if it ceases to spread, it is not a fungus and it is a burn, and if there is further spreading it needs a vet. That seems to be the best possible way of doing things
As i said i appreciated all of the help so far, and i'm glad ppl care enuff to offer it, but there is a fine line between suggestion and badgering nonsens like silverdragons who didn't even read my prior post.
Thanks to those who helped i keep it updated, no further comments needed from anyone at the time. Thank you very much everyone
Silverdragon has more experience with this kind of stuff than you could ever dream of having btw, not that you care since you don't listen. You came here looking for people to affirm your bad decisions, whether it was in the best interest of your animal or not. We look out for the animal. Good luck, and for your cham's sake I hope he improves.
lindawaz
New Member
This thread started on the 30th. it is now the 2nd. You said a few days for your own attempts to cure them. The few days are up. How is your Cham doing? I really hope we were wrong and things are all better.
if they are not better I hope you took the time to research which vet would be most appropriate for your Cham in the few days you were treating them.
If they are not better i also hope you are taking them to a Vet. The Temps are mild for feb. They will not suffer in the short time it takes to transport. Use a small cooler with some of their vines or branches in it so they can hang onto something. You can put a hand warmer in there COVERED so it creates heat. you can close the lid anytime you are outside -the cooler will have air it there.
As for your comment on me preaching. All my pets including my exotics have a wellness check when I first get them with a vet that is appropriate for the species. I am not a wealthy person but a single Mom. A dead beat Dad for the ex husband. I figure it out. I go without since I chose to bring them in my door. I did take offense to your statement- but you nor I matter here. your Cham does!
if they are not better I hope you took the time to research which vet would be most appropriate for your Cham in the few days you were treating them.
If they are not better i also hope you are taking them to a Vet. The Temps are mild for feb. They will not suffer in the short time it takes to transport. Use a small cooler with some of their vines or branches in it so they can hang onto something. You can put a hand warmer in there COVERED so it creates heat. you can close the lid anytime you are outside -the cooler will have air it there.
As for your comment on me preaching. All my pets including my exotics have a wellness check when I first get them with a vet that is appropriate for the species. I am not a wealthy person but a single Mom. A dead beat Dad for the ex husband. I figure it out. I go without since I chose to bring them in my door. I did take offense to your statement- but you nor I matter here. your Cham does!
Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
I must not have learned anything in the nearly 3 years I've been keeping chameleons because I've taken mine not only to the vet, but to reptile shows, university expos, and on cross-state road trips more times than I care to count. It isn't the trip that kills them, like others have said, it is waiting until they are on the verge of death to take them, and then the stress of it all is too much to take.
I don't know if you've ever gotten burned but burns don't spread. You don't burn your hand on the stove and wake up with a burn on your shoulder as well, it just doesn't happen.
It sounds to me like you are fishing for excuses to not spend the $60-100. Take the poor animal to the vet or don't bother calling him your pet.
CauseNAffect
Member
I feel like this site is comprised literally of the most uptight an sensitive ppl on the face of the earth, I have no choice to be on here cuz I care about my creatures, and I absolutely was willing to go the vet at any point.. But adding stress on top of sickness is bad news so I looked for another solution first
......And I'm glad I did,
*update*
The spreading, was merely my Cham getting too close to his light daily while I was at work so he became more n more burned,
I put my wattage down to 60 and moved it out of range for him to climb too close yet he can still bask happily at 90degrees.
I've been using neosporin on the tender areas and he appears like he is doing much better, his colors look better, eye are alert an functional, and he active
Still not eating that much but it's free range so I'm doing my best
Thank for all of the help people once again, people who actually reccomended solutions an treatments like I asked and didn't just scold me for not seeking a vet immediately, glad it worked out
I'll post a picture of my apartment and chams soon which is basicly one huge free range
......And I'm glad I did,
*update*
The spreading, was merely my Cham getting too close to his light daily while I was at work so he became more n more burned,
I put my wattage down to 60 and moved it out of range for him to climb too close yet he can still bask happily at 90degrees.
I've been using neosporin on the tender areas and he appears like he is doing much better, his colors look better, eye are alert an functional, and he active
Still not eating that much but it's free range so I'm doing my best
Thank for all of the help people once again, people who actually reccomended solutions an treatments like I asked and didn't just scold me for not seeking a vet immediately, glad it worked out
I'll post a picture of my apartment and chams soon which is basicly one huge free range
