Hi there.
Here's all the info. on my cham. He seems to have an infected sore/wound in the corner of his mouth/cheek. There's an obvious bulge on the left side of his face. Any insight would be appreciated.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Jackson’s chameleon, male, just under 1 yr.; I’ve had him since the end of Aug. 2011.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Rarely in the beginning months, I would just move his whole cage outside on sunny days. Currently, maybe 2-3x week to take him out and let him roam on one of my larger house plants for a few hours.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Feeding mainly crickets. Tried wax worms etc. and he wasn’t interested. During summer months he was loving house flies.
Usually he gets 3-4 med. crickets/day.
Flucker’s Cricket Diet; kale, sweet potatos, apples, oranges, carrots
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Rep-cal Herptivite Multivitamins 2x/mo.
Rep-cal Calcium w/D3 2x/mo.
Plain calcium carbonate 4x/wk
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Spray bottle 4-5x/day for @ 2mins or more. I also put a couple of ice cubes on top of his cage to drip if I’m not going to be home for a while. Just using tap water. Yes, I see him drinking. The last few days he’s been drinking a lot.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Usually white and dark brown, looked normal. Actually found some this morning that was white, sort of tan and a darker brown; seemed a little watery. But I was glad to see some brown…assuming this means he is eating some and I’m just missing it.
Never tested for parasites. Vet did not think it was necessary.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Captive born. Got from a person who seemed to know what he was doing. I went to his house, saw his set up and was able to select the cham myself.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Zoo Med, all screen. Dimensions: 4’ x 2’x 2’. When he was younger he was in a smaller cage, also all screen. Has been in this one for @ 3months now. Problem started when he was in the smaller cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 long tube light for UVB/UVA. Zoo Med Reptisun Basking Spolight 100W for the winter.
12hr on starting @ 6:20am; off @ 6:20pm
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
75-80 near basking light; 69-71 near floor; lowest overnight temp @59.
Zoo Med digital thermometer.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Humidity @ 75-85%. Live plants and misting. Zoo Med Humidity gauge
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yes. A schleffera (umbrella plant) & a pothos.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Cage is in a back bedroom that gets little traffic & is by a window (I put down the blind at night). There is air vent nearby. Before getting the larger cage he was in my bedroom (still low traffic), by a window but not near an air vent.
Top of cage is @ 6-7 feet from floor. It sits on a low table.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Pacific NW, Lummi Island, WA
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
He seems to have an infected sore or wound on the left side corner of his mouth. His cheek on that side bulges out noticeably and that corner of the mouth turns down slightly. Did not interfere with his eating or drinking, but he seemed a bit lethargic. First called the person I got him from. He thought it sounded like maybe something like a cricket’s leg might have got stuck or poked him or something like that. Took him to a vet that had some experience w/reptiles (It was a Fri. and the vet that’s known to have a lot of experience w/reptiles wasn’t in and I didn’t want to wait until Mon.). She felt it was an infection, cleaned it out a bit and gave me some Nolvasan to clean it with along w/ an ointment (EnteDerm Ointment) to help it heal & get the swelling down. This seemed to help reduce the swelling a bit but not much. So after @ a month, I decided to take him to the other vet.
At first he thought MBD…before he even examined him (I guess because it’s such a common problem). I didn’t appreciate his jumping to a conclusion before a closer look. Once he examined him, he agreed that it was just some type of infection. Said he seemed strong & healthy otherwise. Rx’d Baytril in liquid form (a strong antibiotic). Tried that but I ended up having a hard time getting it in him and then I was gone for a week. Went to the vet again and this time he wanted me to try Baytril in pill form. A quarter of a pill every 2 days. Within a day after his first dose from the vet, he was very lethargic, dark and not interested in eating but he was drinking more than usual. Took him out and let him climb around for awhile the day he was due for his 2nd dose. He was a bit more energetic and his color was better. Got his second dose and same result. He was due for another dose today but I decided not to give it to him mainly because I’m worried he’s not eating. Usually he takes the crickets offered right off my hand or I see him get one shortly after they’re in. And since being on the antibiotic he hasn’t been interested at all. I was going to try force feeding him but couldn’t get his mouth open, though I didn’t try super hard. His color is better again and he must have ate something given the brown in his fecal today. So…..I’m wondering what any of you suggest I do. Keep giving him the baytril pills and force feed if necessary? Is there some other topical I could use, maybe something more natural, like tea tree oil or something similar?
Vet said if I can do the 2 week course of antibiotics and it still doesn’t clear up he’d like to take a sample to see if it’s something more than an infection.
I do not have a digital camera so no picture right now.
Also, just as a general health thing he says what he suggests for reptiles in this part of the country is a Vit. D3 shot in Oct. & Feb. to help get them thru the winter. And also to take them outside on sunny days to get at least 10 mins. of direct sunlight when I can keep him warm enough. In the summer I did put him outside on sunny days. Do the D3 shots sound reasonable?
Here's all the info. on my cham. He seems to have an infected sore/wound in the corner of his mouth/cheek. There's an obvious bulge on the left side of his face. Any insight would be appreciated.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Jackson’s chameleon, male, just under 1 yr.; I’ve had him since the end of Aug. 2011.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Rarely in the beginning months, I would just move his whole cage outside on sunny days. Currently, maybe 2-3x week to take him out and let him roam on one of my larger house plants for a few hours.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Feeding mainly crickets. Tried wax worms etc. and he wasn’t interested. During summer months he was loving house flies.
Usually he gets 3-4 med. crickets/day.
Flucker’s Cricket Diet; kale, sweet potatos, apples, oranges, carrots
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Rep-cal Herptivite Multivitamins 2x/mo.
Rep-cal Calcium w/D3 2x/mo.
Plain calcium carbonate 4x/wk
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Spray bottle 4-5x/day for @ 2mins or more. I also put a couple of ice cubes on top of his cage to drip if I’m not going to be home for a while. Just using tap water. Yes, I see him drinking. The last few days he’s been drinking a lot.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Usually white and dark brown, looked normal. Actually found some this morning that was white, sort of tan and a darker brown; seemed a little watery. But I was glad to see some brown…assuming this means he is eating some and I’m just missing it.
Never tested for parasites. Vet did not think it was necessary.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Captive born. Got from a person who seemed to know what he was doing. I went to his house, saw his set up and was able to select the cham myself.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Zoo Med, all screen. Dimensions: 4’ x 2’x 2’. When he was younger he was in a smaller cage, also all screen. Has been in this one for @ 3months now. Problem started when he was in the smaller cage.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 long tube light for UVB/UVA. Zoo Med Reptisun Basking Spolight 100W for the winter.
12hr on starting @ 6:20am; off @ 6:20pm
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
75-80 near basking light; 69-71 near floor; lowest overnight temp @59.
Zoo Med digital thermometer.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Humidity @ 75-85%. Live plants and misting. Zoo Med Humidity gauge
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yes. A schleffera (umbrella plant) & a pothos.
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Cage is in a back bedroom that gets little traffic & is by a window (I put down the blind at night). There is air vent nearby. Before getting the larger cage he was in my bedroom (still low traffic), by a window but not near an air vent.
Top of cage is @ 6-7 feet from floor. It sits on a low table.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Pacific NW, Lummi Island, WA
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
He seems to have an infected sore or wound on the left side corner of his mouth. His cheek on that side bulges out noticeably and that corner of the mouth turns down slightly. Did not interfere with his eating or drinking, but he seemed a bit lethargic. First called the person I got him from. He thought it sounded like maybe something like a cricket’s leg might have got stuck or poked him or something like that. Took him to a vet that had some experience w/reptiles (It was a Fri. and the vet that’s known to have a lot of experience w/reptiles wasn’t in and I didn’t want to wait until Mon.). She felt it was an infection, cleaned it out a bit and gave me some Nolvasan to clean it with along w/ an ointment (EnteDerm Ointment) to help it heal & get the swelling down. This seemed to help reduce the swelling a bit but not much. So after @ a month, I decided to take him to the other vet.
At first he thought MBD…before he even examined him (I guess because it’s such a common problem). I didn’t appreciate his jumping to a conclusion before a closer look. Once he examined him, he agreed that it was just some type of infection. Said he seemed strong & healthy otherwise. Rx’d Baytril in liquid form (a strong antibiotic). Tried that but I ended up having a hard time getting it in him and then I was gone for a week. Went to the vet again and this time he wanted me to try Baytril in pill form. A quarter of a pill every 2 days. Within a day after his first dose from the vet, he was very lethargic, dark and not interested in eating but he was drinking more than usual. Took him out and let him climb around for awhile the day he was due for his 2nd dose. He was a bit more energetic and his color was better. Got his second dose and same result. He was due for another dose today but I decided not to give it to him mainly because I’m worried he’s not eating. Usually he takes the crickets offered right off my hand or I see him get one shortly after they’re in. And since being on the antibiotic he hasn’t been interested at all. I was going to try force feeding him but couldn’t get his mouth open, though I didn’t try super hard. His color is better again and he must have ate something given the brown in his fecal today. So…..I’m wondering what any of you suggest I do. Keep giving him the baytril pills and force feed if necessary? Is there some other topical I could use, maybe something more natural, like tea tree oil or something similar?
Vet said if I can do the 2 week course of antibiotics and it still doesn’t clear up he’d like to take a sample to see if it’s something more than an infection.
I do not have a digital camera so no picture right now.
Also, just as a general health thing he says what he suggests for reptiles in this part of the country is a Vit. D3 shot in Oct. & Feb. to help get them thru the winter. And also to take them outside on sunny days to get at least 10 mins. of direct sunlight when I can keep him warm enough. In the summer I did put him outside on sunny days. Do the D3 shots sound reasonable?
