My newest chameleon, Flip. I caught him in the wild, weak, skinny, and with a severely broken jaw.

[MarkP6644]

Here are before and after pics. I ended up having to wire his jaw and used a dental composite material. He seems much happier now, and for the first time since I caught him hasn't even tried to open his mouth at me--he also already eats from my hand and I've only had him 3 days.

Here's a link to a short clip of him trying out his newly fixed jaw for the first time after the surgery.

 

[Charmeleon005]

You sir are f********** awesome

 

[laurie]

Here are before and after pics. I ended up having to wire his jaw and used a dental composite material. He seems much happier now, and for the first time since I caught him hasn't even tried to open his mouth at me--he also already eats from my hand and I've only had him 3 days.

Here's a link to a short clip of him trying out his newly fixed jaw for the first time after the surgery.

Wow, he is lucky that you knew how to fix his jaw! I would have been off to a vet. Where are you located? Is this one of the chams roams lose in Florida?

 

[Carlton]

Here are before and after pics. I ended up having to wire his jaw and used a dental composite material. He seems much happier now, and for the first time since I caught him hasn't even tried to open his mouth at me--he also already eats from my hand and I've only had him 3 days.

Here's a link to a short clip of him trying out his newly fixed jaw for the first time after the surgery.

WOW!!!

 

[eahoormann]

Here are before and after pics. I ended up having to wire his jaw and used a dental composite material. He seems much happier now, and for the first time since I caught him hasn't even tried to open his mouth at me--he also already eats from my hand and I've only had him 3 days.

Here's a link to a short clip of him trying out his newly fixed jaw for the first time after the surgery.

Holy cow!! What a lucky guy!! You sound like one of those guys who just "Whips up" a generator with a paperclip, a piece of gum, and a pine cone when the power goes out!

 

[JacksJill]

That's amazing. I'm confused about the time line. Sorry if I missed something. How long did it take to heal? or is the repair embed in his jaw permanently?

 

[MarkP6644]

You sir are f********** awesome

Thank you, I received a lot of hate and disrespect over on reddit at /r/chameleons. The mod advised him to be put to death, others said such things as; I was basically "kidnapping him", accused me of animal cruelty "for fixing his jaw", and I was also accused of breaking his jaw myself! LOL.

 

[MarkP6644]

Here are before and after pics. I ended up having to wire his jaw and used a dental composite material. He seems much happier now, and for the first time since I caught him hasn't even tried to open his mouth at me--he also already eats from my hand and I've only had him 3 days.

Here's a link to a short clip of him trying out his newly fixed jaw for the first time after the surgery.

I just noticed today his right forearm had been fully broken in half before, but is now healed (I guess I was too concerned with the severity of his broken jaw to notice). You can slightly tell in the video and one of the pics, but ill attach another pic where you can see how bad it is. It almost looks like he has two elbows.

 

[MarkP6644]

That's amazing. I'm confused about the time line. Sorry if I missed something. How long did it take to heal? or is the repair embed in his jaw permanently?

I caught him 4 nights ago and did the surgery yesterday. His jaw itself has a wire holding it together and dental composite material that matches his tooth color so you can barely notice it (and covers the wire). But the tissue around the center of his mandible (were the break was) is still he healing and may take a couple weeks (especially for the skin on his lip to be able attach to his jaw bone again).

 

[MarkP6644]

Holy cow!! What a lucky guy!! You sound like one of those guys who just "Whips up" a generator with a paperclip, a piece of gum, and a pine cone when the power goes out!

Like Macguyver? hahaha

 

[MarkP6644]

Wow, he is lucky that you knew how to fix his jaw! I would have been off to a vet. Where are you located? Is this one of the chams roams lose in Florida?

Yes he was a wild caught in Florida, in the Ft. Lauderdale area. The hardest part was fixing his occlusion-making sure all his maxillary and mandibular teeth contacted evenly when chewing so the force is spread evenly along all his teeth and his jaw. Also, the vet that provided me with the anesthetic/sedative wanted me to do it because of my dentistry background and experience working with herps and chameleons.

 

[jamest0o0]

That's amazing!

 

[leedragon]

he is an invasive species. so don´t sweat it if someone says you kidnaped it. you are doing a dubble good deed. taking him out of the emviroment where it does damage and healing him up. great work on the jaws. stick around. you are most likely do more contributions to the chamelons husbandry an rehabilitation in general.

 

[eahoormann]

Like Macguyver? hahaha

YEAH! That too!!

 

[yuuku]

I saw that thread, glad you didn't let the self righteous reddit kids discourage you.

 

[Fireborn]

You deserve a medal! Wonderful that you can help that guy out!

 

[JacksJill]

Very impressive work. Nice reduction. Much more sophisticated than what is usually done for cats with a symphyseal fracture.

 

[MarkP6644]

Very impressive work. Nice reduction. Much more sophisticated than what is usually done for cats with a symphyseal fracture.

Thanks! With my dental background I should have known what that is, but I admit I had to look up a symphyseal fracture. The way they wire the mandibles together is very similar to what I did (I actually did "Macguyver" it, literally hahaha). The dental composite alone would not hold the jaw together. And I happen to see a "U" shaped fence stale On my floor that gave me the idea. I also drilled two small holes where I looped the wire through. I should have tried to take more pics, but time was essence! I basically did almost exactly like the wire in this pic, but after I put the dental composite on I shaved the wire down completely flush. Here is also a pic after I aligned his jaw and right before I drilled the holes and put the wire through.