I mainly only want to take him to the vet to get recommendation to treat for the parasites, it's one of my main concerns as I have nothing to deal with them now or even later, not to mention they come with a large parasite load. I plan to take him later, as I really don't know how to treat that, I'm used to captive bred Chams. Honestly my first WC Cham.
Hydration is going good! I sprayed him and he drank like a monster had me tiring out, definitely going to need that mist king.
As you mention the shower ordeal, I never bothered to think to aim it at the wall and bounce softer spray back. Good advice! See I love you guys!
For food I'm doing Superworms currently, till the Dubia's come in. I've got them in a shallow bowl with a natural stick going straight through it so they can climb up the stick and he can just take his aim whenever he feels ready. So far all the superworms are still accounted for
, but that's okay poor guy doesn't have the stomach to eat yet...
"If necessary" exactly what would be Necessary? If the skin looked worsened or didn't seem to get any better? I have neosporin now, just need to know when would be the right time to give the wounds some.
and yes I've seen some unboxing videos of BackWater, usually in bad shape and never recommended. I'm understanding and optimistic though, I don't expect an animal to be kept in a box for half a day plus, and be in great condition, especially delicate creatures like Chams.
How would I do fecals? this refers to my original scare of not sure how to treat for parasites, being primarily a CB owner of smaller more common Cham breeds.
I don't think you have any idea what this animal went through or how many died for every live one that made it into the hands of the final purchaser. He should have come out of the box from Backwater in as good condition as he went in. That shipping is nothing for him. What you are seeing is the result of the importation process, not the shipping from Backwater.
It would break your heart if you really knew. Your animal was probably knocked out of a tree with a stick and then dumped into a bag or bucket with another 100 chameleons of all shapes and sizes. Eventually, they were taken to wherever they were held until they were exported. They would be over crowded, with not enough water and everything would be wrong. Probably a lot more will die at that export center than will ever be exported, and if it is breathing, it is healthy enough to ship. Then it will be boxed up and shipped to the US through Europe. Tanzania is a 10-hour flight to Europe. If it is an expensive animal like a Parsons, it might be lucky enough to be well taken care of and shipped in its own box. If it is a cheap chameleon like your Mellers and my quads, it will be packed in a big mass of writhing, biting animals. The whole wild-caught industry is cruel. Your animal went through H*ll and must be a really tough animal to still be alive. Treat him like the traumatized wild creature that he is. He is nothing like any captive born.
For the wounds and black marks, I would just watch for changes such as more swelling. I wouldn't put anything on a mark unless it was fresh, but that's just my opinion. Chameleon's in their natural state--in the wild--have an amazing immune system. It is only when we stress them in captivity that they become fragile, so keep that in mind and do everything to make their life as close to "the wild" as you can.
The black marks will take ages to go away. Mine still have awful black mark from rubs, even the ones that started at 12g who now weigh well over 70/80g. The black marks I would worry the most about are the marks along the the dorsal crest--those little tiny black marks at the end of their spinous processes all up his back. That is a rub right down to the bone that left the bone exposed before it scabbed over. They can get a bone infection. One of mine got a bone infection and the tiny bone rotted and fell out. He was treated for the infection and he walled it off. Months and months later, the abscess started to get bigger and at that point the vet decided it was time to lance it and clean it up. Watch for swelling. I would take pictures of my animals' injuries so I would have a photo to actually look at to compare the differences. It is easy for things to get worse slowly without you noticing.
Keep in your mind, especially with wild caughts, treating something can kill the animal. Wild caughts really are different from a captive breds. My vet was constantly weighing the benefit of a particular treatment with the risk that the treatment would kill the animal. That is especially important now for the first few months.
When an animal is stressed there is a cascade of hormones that flood the animal. Stress is a physiological condition, not an emotion. It isn't how they feel, but what is happening to their body that you can't see or know unless you have access to sophisticated testing. One of those hormones that floods the system is cortisol. That hormone suppresses the immune system. If an animal is under chronic stress, their immune system is in tatters and just not functioning, which just sets them up to be that "90-day chameleon."
Since the December shipment of the quads, I've dealt with 9 of those wild caught quads, so I've had a crash course in dealing with wild caughts. I spent a fortune at my vet's because I had so little experience. My vet has been really good about was trying to educate me.
Your chameleon is probably loaded with parasites. He has a much larger parasite infection than he had in the wild because his immune system hasn't worked well since he was captured. Common sense suggests getting that parasite load down is the most important thing you can do, but don't. Wait. The parasites themselves are not likely to kill him any time soon but the treatment might. When there is a massive die off of parasites, there are all kinds of toxic garbage released (maybe JoeVet could explain what goes on) but the presence of so many dead parasites can be a huge problem. He might even get a blocked intestinal tract from the massive amount of dead round worms.
Parasites aren't just in the intestinal tract. Their life cycle takes them through the body. They don't get into the circulatory system, the lungs, the liver or the muscles by opening any doors and swimming through. No, they pierced through the intestinal wall--and the intestines are full of bacteria--and out into the body. All those piercings are potential sites for entry of infection throughout the body. That's why my vet thinks OldChamKeepers shotgun treatment with antibiotics for crashing wild caughts works.
As far as parasites are concerned, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
The importer of my quads (also the importer of your Mellers, I believe) lives in the city near where I live so I was able to use him as a resource. He was adamant that they not be wormed until they had been really well settled into captivity. He was also adamant that when you worm, you use much lower dosages than normal. You don't want a massive parasite die off, you just want to reduce the number of parasites. He said the biggest concern is hydration, hydration, hydration.
There are a few reasons to delay worming your newly acquired wild caught. It's a given that he is loaded in parasites. First, let his immune system deal with it and get the numbers under control. Remember, mass die offs of parasites are dangerous. Second, he had and possibly still has hydration issues, so adding meds that suppress the appetite (and probably drinking) and are hard on the kidneys is not what you want to do. You might cure the parasite problem but kill the animal with kidney failure from chronic dehydration or toxic shock. Worming itself is quite stressful. Others with much more experience than I have might just put a drop of Panacur (I think they use the strength used for horses that is sold as a paste) on their nose or on a feeder but I want to be a little more accurate with my dosing than that.
I went the expensive route when treating my wild caughts. Each one has had multiple fecals done by a vet. My vet and I expect to be dealing with parasites until the day these animals die because there are so many just sitting in their tissues waiting to be awakened to continue their journey to the intestinal tract. I was/am very fussy with my bio security, washing my hands after any interaction with each animal or their cage. Anything that goes into a cage stays there or is flushed down the toilet or thrown out in the garbage. I am meticulous about picking up stool several times a day. Even though the last fecals were clear, there are lots of parasites lurking in their tissues, just waiting to come out.
Each of my animals has been to the vet at least once, partly because she refused to prescribe enough worming medication to do my whole group unless she had seen each animal. By law, she was correct, but it really was a waste of my money. It would have been a lot cheaper for me to deal with my shipment as a group and practice herd management. You are only dealing with one, so it isn't such a big issue.
I think I've had a pretty good success rate with my wild caught quads and part of that is because I was such a novice, I panicked at the slightest drop in their condition and took them in to the vet sooner rather than later. They are housed in my office and I watched--still watch--them constantly. I kept really accurate weight records, so I knew immediately how they were doing.
I think it's great you want to consult with your vet about the ongoing parasite problem you will be dealing with. I would suggest you take a fresh stool--one you know was produced within the past hour or two, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge and immediately get it to the vet's. You want it fresh so they can find some of the single-celled parasites that will die (and often not be found) in an older stool sample. Your vet will probably find all kinds of bacteria they have never seen before but those are probably natural gut flora. We never treated for the numerous giant bacteria she found nor did we sent it off for culture. It wasn't bothering the animal so we left it alone.
If you take a stool in now, it will have a much higher parasite load than it will have in two weeks as the immune system starts to kick into gear and get control of the parasites. If the animal is doing well--and you can tell by observation and keeping accurate weights--I would hold off. I don't think treating for parasites now is in the animal's best interest and I know I would be unable to NOT treat knowing what the animal was harboring.
I don't think your vet is going to be able to tell you much about the condition of your chameleon. If he is eating--you might only know by finding stool--and holding/gaining weight you don't have an immediate problem. My vet relies on what I tell her, on my feelings on the condition/behavior of the animal to get an idea of what is going on. Unless it is really, really, really sick or has an obvious issue a check up isn't going to tell you much and will only stress the animal a lot. A check up is a waste of time on a healthy animal, and even a sick animal will be pretty excited by the event and appear strong and healthy at a vet's. The danger in taking your wild caught to the vet is that they will be once again incredibly stressed for hours. It is not without cost to your animal. Zoos have the vet come to the animal so the stress is much less.
I think you need to improve your feeding. Few of my wild caughts have ever eaten from a dish. Dubias are not a natural food and don't behave in ways that will trigger a feeding response from a chameleon, whose natural diet is mainly flying insects--bees I think. (African bees have a very weak poison in their sting, unlike the docile English honey bee.) You really need to get some bugs in that will attract his attention. Why haven't you given him crickets? I watched cages of crowded, newly imported chameleons (super stressed) that snapped up crickets. The importer told me that in general the wild caughts were good about eating, even when stressed.
Others will recommend an immediate shotgun approach to parasites. (That's where you treat without finding out what the animal has.) I don't for the reasons listed above. I think you can do more damage by treating immediately. Let him get over the importation process first.
Wild caughts are an incredible challenge but they will teach you so much about keeping chameleons. Good luck.
