Meller's Coloring

Thanks Julirs, here is a photo. It's not the best but does show his/her color.

003-1.jpg
 
He is normal, stressed, dirty import colors and very dehydrated-those eyes are so sunken. Hopefully you are showering them and letting them drink as much as they want.
 
Ok thanks. And yes he gets 30 minute showers every day plus lots of extra misting. I would love to give him pedialyte but I can't get him to open his mouth no matter what I try.
 
He hasn't eaten yet but he is drinking the entire time he is in the shower. I let him drink till he stops then I turn the shower off.
 
How much time, outside of showers, is water available for him in his enclosure?

LPR08
 
All day long. I leave the dripper on all day and I spray until everything is soaked about 5 times a day right now. I'm trying to give him as much water as I can. My routine this morning was lights on, gave him about 45 minutes to warm up under the lights then a 30 minute shower. I have seen him drink both in the shower and in his enclosure while I'm spraying. My sprayer is this one http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/mister.php
 
If he is really drinking as much as you say, there has to be something else going on like a bacteria or something.

Hope you figure it out :(
 
Figure out what's going on before you start medicating.

I think a vet visit is in order. If you can't get a fecal though, tests could be pretty difficult
 
My vet won't do fecals on chameleons anyway. I tried with the senegal. And he is an exotic vet. But thank you!
 
Poor guy looks horrible! Sounds like you are getting him rehydrated though. Hydration is the most important thing and he should be getting enough with 30 minute showers. I might suggest you do two showers a day instead though. It may be a long road to recovery. From the way he looks, I doubt you could even administer panacur without killing him.

Seeing that picture really pisses me off at whoever was keeping him before you. We rip these beautiful animals out of an environment they are thriving in and toss them in a box.
 
Thanks! He is in the shower again right now and drinking like crazy. I agree 2 showers a day will be better. I didn't want to give him any meds until I get him hydrated since I know how hard they are on his kidneys. I will just keep up with this until I see some improvement. Do you guys thinking doing some sub Q fluids would be a bad idea? I'm afraid of the extra stress it would cause him.
 
Subcutaneous fluids would probably be a really good idea, but I have no experience how they are administered with reptiles so someone else would have to chime in there.

You have a very big heart to rescue him. I hope things will turn out for the best!
 
Thank you Eka!
On a positive note I left him in the shower until the water got cold and he drank like crazy. Once I got him out I was finally able to get his mouth open and give some pedialyte. I also examined his mouth and there are no signs of a mouth infection or URI.
 
I have heard that WC melleri sometimes drink too much and it causes their death (the eplanation is, that in the wild nature, they do not have opportunity to drink very often, so they tend to drink a lot when the opportunity comes). Actually, my CB melleri drink much less than pardalis, etc.
 
Your vet does not do fecals? And he is an exotics Vet? That is really strange. What does he do for testing all of his other "patients"?
 
farrahsc said:
My vet won't do fecals on chameleons anyway. I tried with the senegal. And he is an exotic vet. But thank you!
Click to expand...

A fecal is paramount.... The hardest thing for melleri is parasites taking over and dehydration when imported. You need to get a fecal exam, maybe find another vet.

Meds must be taken very lightly. If you'd like to see what the kidney's look like, I have necropsy photos of Pat. They are much smaller than other species of chameleon. Melleri are sensitive to meds.... The issue must b identified and then treated. Melleri do not do well with shot gun treatment.

My melleri prolly get 90 minutes worth of misting a day.... (maybe more) water is key to success.

The colors in that photo tell me he is stressed and has internal issues and still adjusting to the new home. I had a melleri named Alex who seemed to be that color for quite some time. I thought I had him checked out OK for parasites. When Alex went to a new home it was found that he had cocidia. He was able to manage OK... but had a semi stressed coloring.... Even though we can maintain them, they might have issues that restrict they full recovery. Get your guys check for any parasite, and get multiple opinions. You might want to look up Dr. Funk in AZ... he is a parasite expert. If you can get digital images of the fecal exam, have them sent to Dr. Funk. He might be able to identify something that was missed by your vet.
 
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