Mouth infection? AGAIN????

Mozart

New Member
Your Chameleon - He is a Male Jackson around 1 and a half year old. I got him exaclty 1 year ago from petsmart.
Handling - 1 every 2 or 3 weeks. Usually to move him around before bed or to take him into a humid room.
Feeding - His diet is mainly large crickets... I gut load them with flukers orange cubes. I dont feed him crickets that have grown wings. Althought he hasnt eaten in two or three days, but he does have interest in his food. He will go after it and stick his tongue but then settles back down and forgets about it.
Supplements - I use Rep-cal calcium on the crickets.
Watering - I have a mister lizard mister bottle. due to the fact i just never have the money for a real mister. I mist him often unless im at school which i in the case my mother helps out
Fecal Description - It looks to be fine.
History - He has had mouth rot before. And i got him on an anti biotic treatment and it took 6 weeks. he has been healthy for 8 months straight with no problems

Cage Type -It is a Large ReptiBreeze 18x18x36 all screen cage
Lighting - I have a infared heating lamp. and a 5.0 repti glow light
Temperature - Its usually at 75 when my fan is on high to 80-85 when its not on.
Humidity - I try to keep it up between 80-90 but however its hard to when the screen cage doesnt keep in much moisture and since i live in arizona its always hot so we must have fans on almost on the time, drying up some of the moisture.
Plants - Ii have various climbing branches for him to climb on and 3 fake vines that give him goo camoflauge
Placement - My cage is away from windows and air vents, set up against my wall and is sitting on a night stand so it isnt on the ground or too high
Location - pheonix Arizona

Current Problem - My Jackson did have mouth rot before due to a nasty cricket with wings i didnt see was in his cage. He has been healthy for almost nine months now. and when he did have a infection he was acting strange. always closing his eyes and wasnt moving around much also his throat was swelled up and on one side of his mouth was kind of red and scabby around the gum line. This time just a small part of his throat is swelled and he just started closing his eyes randomly today. He did not eat a bad cricket this time for sure. The only thing im concerned about is that his mouth is slightly open like his tongue might be swollen. . He acts like this in the cage but when i take him out his swollen throat goes away and he climbs and acts normal turning his bright greens also his coordination is fine. He is drinking normally and when he does it doesnt seem like his mouth has any problems. However i could just be paranoid it does seem like on side of his mouth is turning a bit darker around the gum line. Any suggestions? or ideas. i will most likely call a vet tomorrows which is difficult due to there arent a lot of chameleon specialists in arizona.:(
 
Thanks for the reply and Sorry that i didnt reply all to quick. Turns out my little boy was in kidney failure and i decided to put him down on monday :( i miss him greatly. And hopefully ill get up my heart more to buy another cham.
 
Sorry to hear you lost him. I have a question for you....how often were you using the Repcal and did it contain d3? The reason I am asking is because repcal calcium with d3 should not be used daily, especially on a Jackson's and if it contained d3 that could have even been more harmful to him.
 
i wasnt using a reptical that often. The vet said he went into kidney failure due to not as much vitamin a. I have a question for you. i am new to cham care and i thought they lived 5-8 years ( jacksons that is) however the vet said they only live 1-2 years in captivity and in homes. But i see people on here with 5 year olds and 7 year olds. I want another cham. but i hate going through the pain of losing a pet. Do they really only live 1-2 years in captivity?
 
In our Chameleon Care Resources, it states they can live anywhere from 3-6 yrs on average with the proper care. There are many members on here who have Jacksons who have lived past a year or two. I am not sure what your vet meant by lack of vitamin A causing kidney failure.
 
A Panther or Veiled cham would be better in your climate

It is very sad that your cham had to be put down but it was kind of you to end his suffering.

Chams in general are not hardy like Bearded Dragons and far too often, people are given poor instructions on their care.
This is why your vet says they die within a year--many chams do.

Looking online, I've seen some sites which state that Jackson's chams generally live for 5-8 years but that isn't true.
3 to 5 years is possible with proper care.
They are a bit more difficult to keep than Veileds or Panthers and their care needs are different.

Panther and Veiled chameleons typically have longer lifespans and 5-8 years with proper care isn't uncommon.

Since you're in Arizona, it would be a lot easier for you to meet the needs of a Veiled cham or Panther cham which need less humidity than Jackson's do.

AZ air is dry to begin with and A/C takes moisture out of the air.
Without a humidifier, misting system and several live plants in the cage it would be very difficult to keep the humidity at the level that Jackson's need.

On this forum, it is recommended that you feed your cham a variety of feeder insects--not just crickets--and feed the feeders a nutritious diet--to make them as nutritious as possible for your cham.

The commercial insect diets and gutloads are very convenient but they are generally lacking when it comes to nutrients.
Nutritional deficiencies are not uncommon, unless a varied, well fed diet is given to your cham.

I've never heard of vitamin a deficiency causing kidney failure.
Chronic, low level dehydration is one cause of kidney failure.

Again, sorry for your loss.
 
Thanks for the reply. And I know I miss my little man. I was unaware that the care between Jackson's and veileds are that way off. I however got my care info from pet smart so probably not the best way to get info ( including some research on line) and even so people would tell me all sorts of numbers the humidity and heat was suppose to be at. And again the people at petsmart only told me he was eating crickets and wouldn't nt take interest in any worms. and I had him for a year on only crickets. I would have gotten a veiled but petsmart only sells Jackson's which is strange however I'm thinking of ordering a Cham online instead next time if I do want another Cham that is. Which site is the best to order from? Flchams I've heard of but I don't know if they are great. Also my friend who has a ton of exotic reptiles told me the best place to get chams would be from a reptile show? I might do that.
 
Thanks for the reply. And I know I miss my little man. I was unaware that the care between Jackson's and veileds are that way off. I however got my care info from pet smart so probably not the best way to get info ( including some research on line) and even so people would tell me all sorts of numbers the humidity and heat was suppose to be at. And again the people at petsmart only told me he was eating crickets and wouldn't nt take interest in any worms. and I had him for a year on only crickets. I would have gotten a veiled but petsmart only sells Jackson's which is strange however I'm thinking of ordering a Cham online instead next time if I do want another Cham that is. Which site is the best to order from? Flchams I've heard of but I don't know if they are great. Also my friend who has a ton of exotic reptiles told me the best place to get chams would be from a reptile show? I might do that.

I would always recommend a breeder, rather than a petsmart. You really don't know the true history of the animal that you are buying. I myself would recommend Kammerflage Kreations, this is where I got my male ambanja (who I just had to put down a few days ago). He was (by the way), 7 years old, He came to me healthy and stayed healthy. You can check them out online.
 
I've gotten chams from Florida Chams and they know what they are doing. Their care sheets are good and the setups they sell are as well. I second the comments about the fact that it would be much much easier for you to keep a veiled or a panther in the AZ climate. Unless you are willing to commit a room of your house to keeping montane chams (including AC and humidifier), then they just aren't going to do very well.

I have "adopted" chams from my LPS who have come in injured. I take them off their hands and try to nurse them back to health (they do not charge me for the chams when they are ill). I have done this with mixed success. These are WC's who have been through hell in shipping and I have the room and local reptile vet who takes my calls. :) The one thing they all have in common is dehydration. If they get too far on the other side of being dehydrated, they die because they cannot recover. IF they are teetering on the edge, then they need subcutaneous injections to try to tip the balance. A dehydrated cham is a really sick cham pretty quickly.

For someone with limited chameleon keeping experience, certain species give you a bit more wiggle room. The tougher species with fairly strict water ad humidity and temperature requirements are not forgiving. A CBB cham is most always going to do better than a WC because the inherent stress factor is not there. They cost more money but they usually are a healthier animal. There are some very reputable breeders and the good ones will talk to you or email with you to determine what is best.
 
I've gotten chams from Florida Chams and they know what they are doing. Their care sheets are good and the setups they sell are as well. I second the comments about the fact that it would be much much easier for you to keep a veiled or a panther in the AZ climate. Unless you are willing to commit a room of your house to keeping montane chams (including AC and humidifier), then they just aren't going to do very well.

I have "adopted" chams from my LPS who have come in injured. I take them off their hands and try to nurse them back to health (they do not charge me for the chams when they are ill). I have done this with mixed success. These are WC's who have been through hell in shipping and I have the room and local reptile vet who takes my calls. :) The one thing they all have in common is dehydration. If they get too far on the other side of being dehydrated, they die because they cannot recover. IF they are teetering on the edge, then they need subcutaneous injections to try to tip the balance. A dehydrated cham is a really sick cham pretty quickly.

For someone with limited chameleon keeping experience, certain species give you a bit more wiggle room. The tougher species with fairly strict water ad humidity and temperature requirements are not forgiving. A CBB cham is most always going to do better than a WC because the inherent stress factor is not there. They cost more money but they usually are a healthier animal. There are some very reputable breeders and the good ones will talk to you or email with you to determine what is best.

I absolutely concur with you regarding Florida Chams..... awesome breeders. Here's my thought process on that. I believe that Florida Chams and Kam Kreations both offer the very best in babies. But Kam Kreations is in CA... the shipping time for the baby would be so much less stressful... just 2 or 3 hours compared to 6 or 8.... it's just something to consider. Consider the baby's ordeal.
 
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